Improvement of perturbation theory in QCD for e ⁺ e ⁻ →hadrons and the problem of α _s freezing

Abstract

A method of improving perturbation theory in QCD is developed which can be applied to any polarization operator. The case of the polarization operator Π(q ²), corresponding to the process e ⁺ e ⁻→ hadrons, is considered in detail. By the use of the analytical properties of Π(q ²) and a perturbation expansion of Π(q ²) for q ²<0, the function ImΠ(q ²) at q ²>0 is defined in such a way that the infrared pole is eliminated. The convergence of the perturbation series for R(q ²)=σ(e ⁺ e ⁻ →hadrons)/(e ⁺ e ⁻→μ ⁺ μ ⁻) is improved. After substitution of R(q ²) into the dispersion relation an improved Adler function D(q ²) is obtained, having no infrared pole and a frozen α _s (q ²). Good agreement with experiment is achieved.