Abstract.
The QCD analytic running coupling αan which has no nonphysical singularities for all Q 2>0 is considered for the initial perturbation-theory approximations up to four-loop order. The finiteness of the analytic coupling at zero is shown to be a consequence of the asymptotic freedom property of the initial theory. The nonperturbative contributions to the analytic coupling are extracted explicitly. For all Q>Λ they are represented in the form of an expansion in inverse powers of Euclidean momentum squared. The effective method for a precise calculation of the analytic running coupling is developed on the basis of the stated expansion. The energy-scale evolution of the analytic running coupling for the one- to four-loop cases is studied and the higher loop stability and low dependence on the quark-threshold matching conditions in comparison with the perturbative running coupling were found. Normalizing the analytic running coupling at the scale of the rest mass of the Z boson with the world-average value of the strong coupling constant, αan(M Z 2)=0.1181±0.002, one obtains as a result of the energy-scale evolution of the analytic running coupling αan(Mτ 2)=0.2943+0.0111 −0.0106 that is notably lower than the estimations of the coupling strength available at the scale of the mass of the τ lepton.
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This work has been partly supported by RFBR under Grant No. 02-01-00601
E-mail address: alekseev@mx.ihep.su
Received November 24, 2002; accepted February 19, 2003 Published online June 27, 2003
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Alekseev, A. Strong Coupling Constant to Four Loops in the Analytic Approach to QCD. Few-Body-Systems 32, 193–217 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00601-003-0005-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00601-003-0005-3