Gluon mass and small-x dynamics in hadrons

Abstract

Precise derivation of the logarithmically scale-dependent Hamiltonian eigenstate picture for hadrons in the space of virtual quark and gluon states of the canonical front form of QCD requires addressing first the problem of divergences stronger than logarithmic, and especially the small-x divergences in the dynamics of gluons. We propose to facilitate the regularization and cancellation of these divergences using a gluon mass parameter and an auxiliary color-octet scalar field corresponding to the longitudinally polarized gluons. The auxiliary field decouples from the hadronic constituent dynamics when the mass parameter tends to zero, as required in the gauge theory. The same method applies in the cancellation of the quadratic ultraviolet transverse divergences in the self-interactions. After explaining how the method works in computations of the scattering amplitudes, we describe its application to the bound-state eigenvalue problems. We focus on the results it leads to already in the second-order weak-coupling expansion for effective Hamiltonians of heavy quarks. They include the concept of confinement in an effective theory with the gluon mass parameter sent to zero and a heuristic scenario concerning extension of the Hamiltonian approach to the dynamics of light quarks.