Three-gluon running coupling from lattice QCD at N f = 2 + 1 + 1: A consistency check of the OPE approach

Abstract

We present a lattice calculation of the renormalized running coupling constant in symmetric (MOM) and asymmetric (MOM¿) momentum substraction schemes including u, d, s and c quarks in the sea. An Operator Product Expansion dominated by the dimension-two ¿A 2¿ condensate is used to fit the running of the coupling. We argue that the agreement in the predicted ¿A 2¿ condensate for both schemes is a strong support for the validity of the OPE approach and the effect of this non-gauge invariant condensate over the running of the strong coupling.