The (IR-)relevance of the Gribov ambiguity in image gauge theories with fundamental Higgs matter Original Research Article

It is well accepted that dealing with the Gribov ambiguity has a major impact on correlation functions in gauge-fixed Yang–Mills theories, in particular in the low momentum regime where standard perturbation theory based on the Faddeev–Popov approach fails. Recent results, derived from functional tools (Dyson–Schwinger equations or exact RG) or the effective Gribov–Zwanziger action method, pointed towards e.g. gauge boson correlation functions that are not compatible with the properties of observable degrees of freedom. Although such an observation is a welcome feature for gauge theories exhibiting confinement, it would be a discomfort for gauge theories supplemented with Higgs fields, cf. the experimental success of the electroweak model based on a image gauge group. The purpose of this short note is to assure that the effective action resolution to the Gribov ambiguity reduces to the standard Faddeev–Popov method in the perturbative regime of sufficiently small coupling/large Higgs condensate, thereby not compromising the physical particle spectrum of massive gauge bosons and a massless photon for the image gauge–Higgs model. The closer the theory gets to the limit of vanishing Higgs condensate, the more the Gribov problem resurfaces with all its consequences. We give some speculations w.r.t. the Fradkin–Shenker insights about the phase diagram.