TRANSPORT-EQUATIONS AND QCD COLLECTIVE MODES IN A SELF-CONSISTENT COVARIANT BACKGROUND GAUGE

Following an interpretation of high-temperature instabilities of perturbative QCD, a self-consistent covariant background gauge quantization is proposed. Non-perturbative classically gauge invariant gluon, ghost, and quark equations of motion for coupled one- and two-point functions are derived in binary collision approximation (RPA). A stability analysis is described to determine coloured and colourless collective modes. Preliminary results indicate non-perturbative behaviour of the quark-gluon plasma involving self-consistent classical background fields. It leads to mass generation for gluons as well as for collective modes. © 1990 Springer-Verlag.