The impact of the ghost-gluon vertex on the ghost Schwinger-Dyson equations

Abstract: We derive an approximate dynamical equation for the form-factor of the ghost-gluon vertex that contributes to the Schwinger-Dyson equation of the ghost dressing function in the Landau gauge. In particular, we consider the "one-loop dressed" approximation of the corresponding equation governing the evolution of the ghost-gluon vertex, using fully dressed propagators and tree-level vertices in the relevant diagrams. Within this approximation, we then compute the aforementioned form factor for two special kinematic configurations, namely the soft gluon limit, in which the momentum carried by the gluon leg is zero, and the soft ghost limit, where the momentum of the anti-ghost leg vanishes. The results obtained display a considerable departure from the tree-level value, and are in rather good agreement with available lattice data. We next solve numerically the coupled system formed by the equation of the ghost dressing function and that of the the vertex form factor, in the soft ghost limit. Our results demonstrate clearly that the nonperturbative contribution from the ghost-gluon vertex accounts for the missing strength in the kernel of the ghost equation, and allows for an impressive coincidence with the lattice results, without the need to artificially enhance the coupling constant of the theory.