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Asymptotic gauge symmetry and UV extension of the nonperturbative coupling in holographic QCD

Guy F. de Téramond1,*, Arpon Paul2,†, Hans Günter Dosch3,‡, Stanley J. Brodsky4,§, Alexandre Deur5,∥, Tianbo Liu6,7,¶, and Raza Sabbir Sufian8,9,10,** (HLFHS Collaboration)

  • *Contact author: guy.deteramond@ucr.ac.cr
  • †Contact author: paul1228@umn.edu
  • ‡Contact author: h.g.dosch@gmail.com
  • §Contact author: sjbth@slac.stanford.edu
  • ∥Contact author: deurpam@jlab.org
  • Contact author: liutb@sdu.edu.cn
  • **Contact author: gluon2025@gmail.com
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Phys. Rev. D 112, 094010 – Published 6 November, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/tdyb-7ddp

Abstract

We extend our recent analytic study of the strong coupling αeff in the nonperturbative and near-perturbative regimes [Phys. Rev. Lett. 133, 181901 (2024)] by imposing rigorous renormalization-group constraints from asymptotically free gauge theories at Q2→∞. The asymptotic boundary conditions modify the scaling properties of αeff at large values of the momentum transfer Q2 and lead to a scale-dependent confinement strength κ(Q2). This requires that both κ(Q2) and αeff(Q2,κ(Q2)) remain holomorphic in the complex Q2 plane, except at the physical cuts associated with the heavy-quark thresholds and the singularity flow trajectory studied in our previous Letter. For color SU(3), a precise connection is found between the scaling exponent of κ(Q2) in the ultraviolet, the value of the infrared fixed point of the strong coupling, and the number of flavors in agreement with observations. The nonperturbative analytic model gives an accurate description of the strong coupling across all scales, up to the highest available data.

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Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

See Also

QCD Running Coupling in the Nonperturbative and Near-Perturbative Regimes

Guy F. de Téramond, Arpon Paul, Stanley J. Brodsky, Alexandre Deur, Hans Günter Dosch, Tianbo Liu, and Raza Sabbir Sufian (HLFHS Collaboration)
Phys. Rev. Lett. 133, 181901 (2024)

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Phys. Rev. D 112, 094010– Published 6 November, 2025
  • Received 5 June 2025
  • Accepted 1 October 2025
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