Non-Perturbative phenomena in non-abelian gauge theories in first-order form

• Grant number: 25/16156-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: January 01, 2026
• End date: December 31, 2028
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Physics - Elementary Particle Physics and Fields
• Principal Investigator: Gastão Inácio Krein
• Grantee: Sérgio Martins Filho
• Host Institution: Instituto de Física Teórica (IFT). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de São Paulo. São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 21/14335-0 - ICTP South American Institute for Fundamental Research: A Regional Center for Theoretical Physics, AP.ESP

Abstract

We propose the study of non-perturbative phenomena in gauge and gravitational theories using the first-order formalism, with emphasis on quantum chromodynamics (QCD) and extensions of general relativity with torsion, such as the Einstein-Cartan theory. In QCD, the objective is to investigate dynamical mass generation, confinement, and chiral symmetry breaking, particularly in the strongly coupled regime in vacuum and at finite temperature. Non-perturbative methods such as Dyson-Schwinger equations will be used, along with techniques that reorganize the perturbative expansion, including screened perturbation theory and hard thermal loop resummation. In the gravitational sector, the focus will be on the study of mass generation mechanisms for quarks induced by torsion-driven quartic fermionic interactions, which naturally arise in effective formulations of M-theory with compact extra dimensions. To that end, we will explore the quantization of Einstein-Cartan theory at zero temperature, especially in the presence of fermionic fields. The proposal aims to develop a robust theoretical framework and computational methods applicable to both strongly and weakly coupled regimes, establishing connections between characteristic QCD phenomena and the quantum dynamics of gravitation.