Form invariance, topological fluctuations and mass gap of Yang–Mills theory

Abstract

In order to have a new perspective on the long-standing problem of the mass gap in Yang–Mills theory, we study in this paper the quantum Yang–Mills theory in the presence of topologically nontrivial backgrounds. The topologically stable gauge fields are constrained by the form invariance condition and the topological properties. Obeying these constraints, the known classical solutions to the Yang–Mills equation in the three- and four-dimensional Euclidean spaces are recovered, and the other allowed configurations form the nontrivial topological fluctuations at quantum level. Together, they constitute the background configurations, upon which the quantum Yang–Mills theory can be constructed. We demonstrate that the theory mimics the Higgs mechanism in a certain limit and develops a mass gap at semiclassical level on a flat space with finite size or on a sphere.