Abstract:
In this thesis, Yang-Mills theory in Coulomb gauge in its Hamiltonian formulation is investigated by applying the method of the functional renormalization group. Yang-Mills theories form the basis of the Standard Model of elementary particle physics. The focus of this work is in particular on quantum chromodynamics, which describes the strong interaction.
In Chap. 1, the method of the functional renormalization group is introduced. At first, it is presented in its usual formulation in Lagrangian quantum field theory. The flow equation for the propagator of scalar quantum field theory is derived.
Chap. 2 contains an overview of Yang-Mills theory in Coulomb gauge in its Hamiltonian formulation as opposed to the Lagrangian approach.
In Chap. 3 the functional renormalization group is transferred to the Hamiltonian setting of Yang-Mills theory in Coulomb gauge. With this new tool, the flow equations for the gluon and ghost propagators are derived. The equations are solved numerically using two different approximations. The results are compared to those obtained in the variational approach.
Chap. 4 deals with the derivation and solution of a flow equation for the colour Coulomb potential between two heavy colour charges. The corresponding Dyson-Schwinger equation is derived and the conditions for the existence of solutions are examined.
The inclusion of dynamic quarks into this formalism is the subject of Chap. 5. The static quark propagator is calculated in order to obtain the mass function, which shows the dynamic generation of the constituent quark mass. The influence of the gluon propagator and of the quark four-point function on the mass function are examined.
In the last chapter, a short summary and an outlook are given. Some definitions and several longer calculations are presented in the appendices.