Unraveling the Mystery of the Gluon's Wave Function

[earth2]

Hi there,

I have question about a gluon's wave function.

First of all, I thought it is just the vector potential A_\mu but I read several papers and they keep referring to the helicity \epsilon_\mu as the wave function. At least this is what I understand from the context. See for instance (Peter Svrceks thesis, chapter 2) I don't understand that - is that just a misuse of terms? Where does it come from?

Cheers,
earth2

 

[blechman]

I would not call EITHER the "wavefunction" - if you knew the wavefunction of the gluon, you can win $1,000,000 from the Clay Math Institute!

A^a_\mu is the FIELD that annihilates a "gluon state" (another funny thing), and it is given in terms of the polarization tensor \epsilon_\mu. So these two things are effectively equivalent.

But I wouldn't call either the "wavefunction".

 

[earth2]

Thanks a lot!
So, if it is not a real wf, why do people sometimes call it that way?

Cheers,
earth2

 

[blechman]

who are "people"?

 

[earth2]

Well, by people i mean those guys working in the amplitude business and writing papers about it :)

 

[blechman]

names, please! i can't respond without details!

i don't call it a wavefunction, but I consider myself one of "those guys"!