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One-loop analytic structure of the deep-infrared Landau-gauge gluon propagator at finite temperature

Giorgio Comitini*

  • *Contact author: giorgio.comitini@dfa.unict.it
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Phys. Rev. D 112, 094016 – Published 10 November, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/p1qb-zccy

Abstract

With the aim of looking for signatures of deconfinement, the poles and the spectral function of the Landau-gauge gluon propagator are investigated at one loop, vanishing spatial momentum, and finite temperature within the framework of the screened massive expansion of pure Yang-Mills theory and of full QCD. When computed using both temperature-independent parameters optimized by principles of gauge invariance and temperature-dependent parameters obtained by fitting lattice data at zero Matsubara frequency, the propagator is found to have a pair of complex-conjugate poles in its squared complexified frequency variable throughout the considered temperature interval, ranging from T=0 to temperatures T>Tc of interest to quark-gluon plasma phenomenology. The spectral function is found to violate positivity and not to develop sharp peaks over said temperature interval. In full QCD, a simple model is used for mass generation in the infrared quark sector; the dependence of our results on the quark masses is discussed.

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Phys. Rev. D 112, 094016– Published 10 November, 2025
  • Received 28 September 2025
  • Accepted 21 October 2025
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