The Gluon Propagator in Minkowski and Euclidean Space: Role of an A^2 Condensate

Abstract

In a recent work we described the form taken by the Minkowski-space gluon propagator in the presence of an A^2 condensate. This condensate has been seen to play an important role in calculations which make use of the operator product expansion. The latter work has led to the publication of a large number of papers which discuss how the A^2 condensate could play a role in a gauge-invariant formulation. In the present work we discuss the properties of both the Euclidean-space and Minkowski-space gluon propagator. In the case of the Euclidean-space propagator we can make contact with the results of QCD lattice calculations of the propagator in the Landau gauge. With an appropriate choice of normalization constants, we present a unified representation of the gluon propagator that describes both the Minkowski-space and Euclidean-space dynamics in which the A^2 condensate plays an important role.