Related papers: Fixed and Unfixed Points: Infrared limits in optim…
In QCD with 16\half-epsilon massless quark flavours there is an infrared fixed point with alpha_s/pi = (8/321)epsilon in the limit epsilon -> 0+. I develop the idea of Banks and Zaks to expand about N_f=16\half. This expansion is certainly…
The new result for the third-order QCD corrections to R_{e^+e^-}, unlike the old, incorrect result, is nicely compatible with the principle-of-minimal-sensitivity optimization method. Moreover, it leads to infrared fixed-point behaviour:…
We consider the behaviour of the perturbative QCD corrections to the R(e+e-) ratio in the limit that the c.m. energy sqrt(s) vanishes. We find that for N(f)<9 flavours of massless quarks, the perturbative correction to the parton model…
We apply the optimization procedure based on the Principle of Minimal Sensitivity to the third-order calculation of $R_{\tau}$. Since the effective couplant remains finite, freezing to a value $\alpha_s/\pi = 0.26$ at low energies, we can…
We address whether Pad\'e-summations of the $\bar{MS}$ QCD $\beta$-function for a given number of flavours exhibit an infrared-stable fixed point, or alternatively, an infrared attractor of a double valued couplant as noted by Kogan and…
A physical characterization of Landau singularities is emphasized, which should trace the lower boundary N_f^* of the conformal window in QCD and supersymmetric QCD. A natural way to disentangle ``perturbative'' from ``non-perturbative''…
The perturbative expression of the running strong coupling constant \alpha_{\rm s}(Q^{2}) has an unphysical singularity for Q^{2} = \Lambda^{2}_{\rm QCD}. Various modification have been proposed for the infrared region. The effect of some…
Perturbative QCD with nf flavours of massless quarks becomes simple in the hypothetical limit nf -> 16.5, where the leading beta-function coefficient vanishes. The Banks-Zaks (BZ) expansion in a0=(8/321)(16.5-nf) is straightforward to…
Evidence is reviewed suggesting that QCD remains a perturbative theory with a (relatively) small coupling constant down to a distinct infrared boundary on perturbative physics, a boundary corresponding to the momentum scale associated with…
The leading order coefficients of the beta-function of QCD are computed in a large N_f expansion. They are in agreement with the three loop MSbar calculation. The method involves computing the anomalous dimension of the operator (G^2_{mu…
Pade-approximant treatments of the known terms of the QCD $\beta$-function are seen to develop possible infrared fixed point structure only if the number of fermion flavours is sufficiently large. This flavour threshold is seen to be…
A physical characterization of Landau singularities is emphasized, which should trace the lower boundary N_f^* of the conformal window in QCD and supersymmetric QCD. A natural way to disentangle ``perturbative'' from ``non-perturbative''…
We uncover a novel solution of the 't Hooft anomaly matching conditions for QCD. Interestingly in the perturbative regime the new gauge theory, if interpreted as a possible QCD dual, predicts the critical number of flavors above which QCD…
The freedom one has in constructing locally gauge invariant charged fields in gauge theories is analyzed in full detail and exploited to construct, in QED, an electron field whose two-point function W(p), up to the fourth order in the…
In both QCD and supersymmetric QCD (SQCD) with N_f flavors there are conformal windows where the theory is asymptotically free in the ultraviolet while the infrared physics is governed by a non-trivial fixed-point. In SQCD, the lower N_f…
We investigate the possibility that alpha_s freezes as function of N_f within perturbation theory. We use two approaches -- direct search for a zero in the effective-charge (ECH) beta function, and the Banks-Zaks (BZ) expansion. We…
Physical quantities in QCD are independent of renormalization scheme (RS), but that exact invariance is spoiled by truncations of the perturbation series. "Optimization" corresponds to making the perturbative approximant, at any given…
Pade-approximant methods are used to extract information about leading positive zeros or poles of QCD and SQCD beta-functions from the known terms of their perturbative series. For QCD, such methods are seen to corroborate the…
The SU(3) gauge theory with fermions in the sextet representation is one of several theories of interest for technicolor models. We have carried out a Schrodinger functional (SF) calculation for the lattice theory with two flavors of Wilson…
Following previous work we further explore the possibility that the chirally broken phase of gauge theories admits an infrared fixed point interpretation. The slope of the $\beta$ function, $\beta'_*$, is found to vanish at the infrared…