More on Gribov copies and propagators in Landau-gauge Yang-Mills theory

Fixing a gauge in the nonperturbative domain of Yang-Mills theory is a nontrivial problem due to the presence of Gribov copies. In particular, there are different gauges in the nonperturbative regime which all correspond to the same definition of a gauge in the perturbative domain. Gauge-dependent correlation functions may differ in these gauges. Two such gauges are the minimal Landau gauge and the absolute Landau gauge, both corresponding to the perturbative Landau gauge. These, and their numerical implementation, are described and presented in detail. Other choices will also be discussed. This investigation is performed, using numerical lattice gauge theory calculations, by comparing the propagators of gluons and ghosts for the minimal Landau gauge and the absolute Landau gauge in SU( 2) Yang-Mills theory. It is found that the propagators are different in the far infrared and even at energy scales of the order of half a GeV. In particular, the finite-volume effects are also modified. This is observed in two and three dimensions. Some remarks on the four-dimensional case are provided as well.