Verifications of running charge / running mass

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    Charge Mass Running
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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the concept of running charge and running mass in quantum field theory (QFT), focusing on experimental verifications and the distinctions between mass and coupling. Participants explore the implications of these concepts in the context of particle physics, particularly regarding quarks and their measurements.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant inquires about canonical experiments confirming the running charge and whether there has been similar confirmation for running mass.
  • Another participant asserts that mass is not the same as coupling and that physical mass is independent of the renormalization scale, referring to the pole of the propagator.
  • A participant mentions measuring the running mass of the bottom quark from Z-boson decays and compares it to values measured at lower scales, citing specific experimental results.
  • There is a discussion about the definition of pole mass and its relevance to quarks, with one participant questioning whether the running mass measured is different from the mass of the bottom quark itself.
  • A later reply emphasizes that due to confinement, the pole mass of a quark is not a physical mass and discusses the ambiguities associated with its definition.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing views on the relationship between mass and coupling, as well as the implications of pole mass in the context of quarks. There is no consensus on the definitions and measurements discussed, indicating ongoing debate and exploration of these concepts.

Contextual Notes

Participants highlight limitations in the definitions of mass due to non-perturbative effects and the ambiguity in pole mass values, particularly for quarks, which may affect interpretations of measurements.

metroplex021
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TL;DR
Looking for citations of experimental confirmations of electronic running charge, and also running mass (if these exist).
Hi everyone,
I understand that the phenomenon of running charge predicted by QFT has been experimentally verified: the physical charge on an electron really does vary with the energy at which it is measured. I have two questions:
(1) Does anyone know what the canonical experiments confirming this are?
(2) Has there been a similar experimental confirmation of its 'running mass' (since formally mass behaves just like a coupling here)?
Any input most appreciated. Thanks!
 
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You can for example measure the running mass of the bottom quark from Z-boson decays and compare it to the running mass measured at lower scales:

https://arxiv.org/abs/hep-ph/9905495v2 states a value of
##m_b(m_Z)=2.56\pm 0.72(\rm{stat.})^{+0.28}_{-0.38}(\rm{syst.})^{+0.49}_{-1.48}(\rm{theor.})## GeV,
the PDG quotes
##m_b(m_b)=4.18^{+0.03}_{-0.02}## GeV.
 
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Orodruin said:
https://arxiv.org/abs/hep-ex/0507078
Mass is not the same as coupling. The physical mass is independent of the renormalisation scale. It refers to the pole of the propagator.
Thank you Orodruin. I thought the pole mass was just the mass of the *free* particle in its own frame -- which is why, given confinement, the pole mass isn't well-defined for quarks. And I thought that the 'running' mass of the particle was its effective mass when undergoing interactions at scale E. Is that not right?
 
Reggid said:
You can for example measure the running mass of the bottom quark from Z-boson decays and compare it to the running mass measured at lower scales:

https://arxiv.org/abs/hep-ph/9905495v2 states a value of
##m_b(m_Z)=2.56\pm 0.72(\rm{stat.})^{+0.28}_{-0.38}(\rm{syst.})^{+0.49}_{-1.48}(\rm{theor.})## GeV,
the PDG quotes
##m_b(m_b)=4.18^{+0.03}_{-0.02}## GeV.
Thank you Reggid. Is this consistent with what Orodruin writes above - ie what we're measuring when we measure this 'running mass' is something different from the mass of bottom quark itself?
 
Due to confinement the pole mass of a quark is not more a physical mass than any other mass scheme. The pole mass is only a strictly perturbative concept, since the full propagator of a quark does not have a pole due to non-perturbative effects.

This leads to an ambiguity in the definition of the pole mass of order ##\mathcal{O}(\Lambda_{\rm{QCD}})##, which is the reason why you will usually not see pole mass values for quarks very often. The only exception is the top quark, but also here this ambiguity might start to play a role when LHC takes more data and gains higher precision on top mass measurements, definitely with possible future lepton-colliders.
 
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