GLUON PROPAGATOR IN THE INFRARED REGION - ART. NO. 031501

The gluon propagator is calculated in quenched QCD for two different l attice sizes (16(3) x 48 and 32(3) x 64) at beta = 6.0. The volume dep endence of the propagator in the Landau gauge is studied. The smaller lattice is instrumental in revealing finite volume and anisotropic lat tice artifacts. Methods for minimizing these artifacts are developed a nd applied to the larger lattice data. New structure seen in the infra red region survives these conservative cuts to the lattice data. This structure serves to rule out a number of models that have appeared in the literature. A fit to a simple analytical form capturing the moment um dependence of the nonperturbative gluon propagator is also reported . [S0556-2821(98)50215-9]