The Running Coupling from SU(3) Potentials

Non-perturbative scale-dependent renormalization problems are ubiquitous in lattice QCD as they enter many relevant phenomenological applications. They require solving non-perturbatively the renormalization group equations for the QCD parameters and matrix elements of interest in order to relate their non-perturbative determinations at low energy to their high-energy counterparts needed for phenomenology. Bridging the large energy separation between the hadronic and perturbat...

In infinite volume the gradient flow transformation can be interpreted as a continuous real-space Wilsonian renormalization group (RG) transformation. This approach allows one to determine the continuous RG $\beta$ function, an alternative to the finite-volume step-scaling function. Unlike step-scaling, where the lattice must provide the only scale, the continuous $\beta$ function can be used even in the confining regime where dimensional transmutation generates a physical sc...

We compute the running QCD coupling on the lattice by evaluating two-point and three-point off-shell gluon Green's functions in a fixed gauge and imposing non-perturbative renormalisation conditions on them. Our exploratory study is performed in the quenched approximation at beta=6.0 on 16^4 and 24^4 lattices. We show that, for momenta in the range 1.8-2.3 Gev, our coupling runs according to the two-loop asymptotic formula, allowing a precise determination of the correspondin...

The scale-dependent renormalized coupling of SU(3) gauge theory coupled to Nf = 2 flavors of massless Dirac flavors in the sextet representation is presented in the range 0 < g^2 < 6.5. This range includes the location where the beta-function turns zero in the MSbar scheme to 3-loop and 4-loop approximations, however our non-perturbative result shows a monotonically increasing beta-function. Our lattice calclulations are carried out at several lattice spacings allowing for a ...

We present a proposal for calculating the running of the coupling constant of the $\mathrm{SU}(3)$ pure-gauge theory, which combines the Twisted Gradient Flow (TGF) renormalization scheme with Parallel Tempering on Boundary Conditions (PTBC). The TGF is a gradient flow-based renormalization scheme formulated in an asymmetric lattice with twisted boundary conditions. Combined with step scaling, it has been successfully used to calculate the $\mathrm{SU}(3)$ $\Lambda$ parameter...

We report some preliminary results of our ongoing non-perturbative computation of the twisted 't Hooft running coupling in a particular set-up, using the gradient flow to define the coupling and step scaling techniques to compute it. For the computation we considered a pure gauge SU(3) theory in four dimensions, defined on the lattice on an asymmetrical torus endowed with twisted boundary conditions in a single plane, and related the energy scale of the coupling to an effecti...

We present a lattice determination of the $\Lambda$ parameter in three-flavor QCD and the strong coupling at the Z pole mass. Computing the nonperturbative running of the coupling in the range from $0.2\,$GeV to $70\,$GeV, and using experimental input values for the masses and decay constants of the pion and the kaon, we obtain $\Lambda_{\overline{\rm MS}}^{(3)}=341(12)\,$MeV. The nonperturbative running up to very high energies guarantees that systematic effects associated w...

The potential between a static quark and antiquark in pure SU(3) Yang-Mills theory is evaluated non-perturbatively through computations on the lattice in the region from short to intermediate distances (0.05 fm < r < 0.8 fm). In the high energy regime the results are compared with the parameter-free prediction of perturbation theory obtained by solving the Renormalization Group equation at two and three loops. The choice of the renormalization scheme to define a running coupl...

We study the scaling properties of the static quark potential and the ratio of the critical temperature $T_c$ to the square root of the string tension $\sigma$ in the SU(3) pure gauge theory using a renormalization group improved action. We first determine the critical coupling $\beta_c$ on lattices with temporal extension $N_t=3$, 4, and 6, and then calculate the static quark potential at the critical couplings on lattices at zero temperature. We note that the static quark p...

Through a finite size renormalization group technique we calculate the running coupling constant for quenched SU(2) with a few percent error over a range of energy varying by a factor thirty. The definition is based on ratio of correlations of Polyakov loops with twisted boundary conditions. The extrapolation to the continuum limit is governed by corrections due to lattice artifacts which are proportional to the square of the lattice spacing and appears rather smooth.