We compute the energy spectrum of gluelumps defined as gluonic excitations bound to a localized, static octet source. We are able to reproduce the nontrivial ordering of the spin-parity levels and show how this is related to the non-abelian part of the Coulomb interaction between color charges.
Using the non-relativisitc reduction of Coulomb gauge QCD we compute spectrum of the low mass hybrid mesons containing a heavy quark-antiquark pair. The gluon degrees of freedom are treated in the mean field approximation calibrated to the gluelump spectrum. We discuss the role of the non-abelian nature of the QCD Coulomb interaction in the ordering of the spin-parity levels.
We calculate the ghost two-point function in Coulomb gauge QCD with a simple model vacuum gluon wavefunction using Monte Carlo integration. This approach extends the previous analytic studies of the ghost propagator with this ansatz, where a ladder-rainbow expansion was unavoidable for calculating the path integral over gluon field configurations. The new approach allows us to study the possible critical behavior of the coupling constant, as well as the Coulomb potential derived from the ghost dressing function. We demonstrate that IR enhancement of the ghost correlator or Coulomb form factor fails to quantitatively reproduce confinement using Gaussian vacuum wavefunctional.
The variational approach to QCD in Coulomb gauge developed previously by the Tubingen group is improved by enlarging the space of quark trial vacuum wave functionals through a new Dirac structure in the quark-gluon coupling. Our ansatz for the quark vacuum wave functional ensures that all linear divergences cancel in the quark gap equation resulting from the minimization of the energy calculated to two-loop order. The logarithmic divergences are absorbed in a renormalized coupling which is adjusted to reproduce the phenomenological value of the quark condensate. We also unquench the gluon propagator and show that the unquenching effects are generally small and amount to a small reduction in the mid-momentum regime.
The variational Hamiltonian approach to QCD in Coulomb gauge is reviewed and the essential results obtained in recent years are summarized. First the results for the vacuum sector are discussed, with a special emphasis on the mechansim of confinement and chiral symmetry breaking. Then the deconfinement phase transition is described by introducing temperature in the Hamiltonian approach via compactification of one spatial dimension. The effective action for the Polyakov loop is calculated and the order of the phase transition as well as the critical temperatures are obtained for the color group SU(2) and SU(3). In both cases, our predictions are in good agreement with lattice calculations.
I will review essential features of the Hamiltonian approach to QCD in Coulomb gauge showing that Gribovs confinement scenario is realized in this gauge. For this purpose I will discuss in detail the emergence of the horizon condition and the Coulomb string tension. I will show that both are induced by center vortex gauge field configurations, which establish the connection between Gribovs confinement scenario and the center vortex picture of confinement. I will then extend the Hamiltonian approach to QCD in Coulomb gauge to finite temperatures, first by the usual grand canonical ensemble and second by the compactification of a spatial dimension. I will present results for the pressure, energy density and interaction measure as well as for the Polyakov loop.