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Introduction to QCD - a bound state perspective

These lecture notes focus on the bound state sector of QCD. Motivated by data which suggests that the strong coupling α_s(Q) freezes at low Q, and by similarities between the spectra of hadrons and atoms, I discuss if and how QCD bound states may be treated perturbatively. I recall the basic principles of perturbative gauge theory bound states at lowest order in the \hbar expansion. Born level amplitudes are insensitive to the iεprescription of propagators, which allows to eliminate the Z-diagrams of relativistic, time-ordered Coulomb interactions. The Dirac wave function thus describes a single electron which propagates forward in time only, even though the bound state has any number of pair constituents when Feynman propagators are used. In the absence of an external potential, states that are bound by the Coulomb attraction of their constituents can be analogously described using only their valence degrees of freedom. The instantaneous A^0 field is determined by Gauss' law for each wave function component, i.e., for each position of the valence constituents. Solutions for A^0 obtained with a boundary condition that imposes an asymptotically constant energy density give rise to a linear potential for color singlet q\bar q and qqq states. The strength of the linear potential is determined by the boundary condition and is of lower order in α_s than the gluon exchange interaction, which may then be treated as a higher order perturbative correction. Bound states evaluated to a given order in α_s and \hbar must have the full symmetry of the exact theory, including the dynamic boost invariance of states quantized at equal time. The wave functions are indeed found to have such a hidden invariance, which ensures the correct dependence of the energy eigenvalues on the center of mass momentum. Thus relativistic bound states can be studied using perturbative methods.