Gribov horizon and Gribov copies effect in lattice Coulomb gauge

Abstract

Following a recent proposal by Cooper and Zwanziger we investigate via $SU(2)$ lattice simulations the effect on the Coulomb gauge propagators and on the Gribov-Zwanziger confinement mechanism of selecting the Gribov copy with the smallest non-trivial eigenvalue of the Faddeev-Popov operator, i.e.~the one closest to the Gribov horizon. Although such choice of gauge drives the ghost propagator towards the prediction of continuum calculations, we find that it actually overshoots the goal. With increasing computer time, we observe that Gribov copies with arbitrarily small eigenvalues can be found. For such a method to work one would therefore need further restrictions on the gauge condition to isolate the physically relevant copies, since e.g.~the Coulomb potential $V_C$ defined through the Faddeev-Popov operator becomes otherwise physically meaningless. Interestingly, the Coulomb potential alternatively defined through temporal link correlators is only marginally affected by the smallness of the eigenvalues.