Center Vortices and Ghosts

Abstract

Assuming that center vortices are the confining gauge field configurations, we argue that in gauges that are sensitive to the confining center vortex degrees of freedom, and where the latter lie on the Gribov horizon, the corresponding ghost form factor is infrared divergent. Furthermore, this infrared divergence disappears when center vortices are removed from the Yang-Mills ensemble. On the other hand, for gauge conditions which are insensitive to center vortex degrees of freedom, the ghost form factor is infrared finite and does not change (qualitatively) when center vortices are removed. Evidence for our observation is provided from lattice calculations.