Glueball Regge trajectories and the pomeron: a lattice study

Abstract

We perform lattice calculations of the lightest J = 0, 2, 4, 6 glueball masses in the D=3+1 SU(3) gauge theory and extrapolate to the continuum limit. Assuming that these masses lie on linear Regge trajectories we find a leading glueball trajectory α(t) = 0.93(24) + 0.28(2)α ′ R t, where α ′ R ≃ 0.9 GeV −2 is the slope of the usual mesonic Regge trajectory. This glueball trajectory has an intercept and slope similar to that of the Pomeron trajectory. We contrast this with the situation in D=2+1 where the leading glueball Regge trajectory is found to have too small an intercept to be important for high-energy cross-sections. We interpret the observed states and trajectories in terms of open and closed string models of glueballs. We discuss the large-N limit and perform an SU(8) calculation that hints at new states based on closed strings in higher representations.

Introductory lectures to large- QCD phenomenology and lattice results

“…In ref. [143], large-N lattice results for mesons [141] and glueballs [135,136] have been shown to be in agreement with the predictions of a topological field theory underlying the large-N limit of pure Yang-Mills [18]. Figure 12: Glueball spectrum in the large-N limit of SU(N) Yang-Mills theory, at a fixed lattice spacing, from ref.…”

“…Lattice results for the spectrum of these states at large N were reported in refs. [136,[199][200][201]212]: the results show that the mass gap remains finite in the 't Hooft limit, and that dimensionless ratios of masses in different channels are only mildly dependent on N.…”

SO(N) gauge theories in 2 + 1 dimensions: glueball spectra and confinement

“…However there are known counter examples in the closely related case of SU(N ) gauge theories. In particular there is very good evidence that the ground state '0 − ' state is in fact 4 − [29,[53][54][55] and also that the lightest 'J = 1' state is in fact J = 3 [29,[53][54][55]. In principle one could imagine using parity doubling to distinguish J = 4 states from J = 0 states (more discriminatory in D = 3 + 1 because of the varying multiplet structure) but the anticipated 4 + mass is in a region of the 'J P = 0 + ' spectrum which is already quite dense and identifying near-degeneracies, given the usual statistical errors, would pose a formidable numerical challenge.…”

Multiscale confining dynamics from holographic RG flows

“…It would be very interesting to know whether such pattern also emerges in the large-N c extrapolation of lattice calculations (see [145][146][147][148][149]). Since this extrapolation is difficult (see below), in the last column of figure 14 we compare with finite-N c lattice data taken from [150].…”