In quantum chromodynamics (QCD), the gluon condensate is a non-perturbative property of the QCD vacuum which could be partly responsible for giving masses to light mesons.
If the gluon field tensor is represented as G<sub>μν</sub>, then the gluon condensate is the vacuum expectation value <math>\langle G_{\mu\nu}G^{\mu\nu}\rangle</math>. It is not clear yet whether this condensate is related to any of the known phase changes in quark matter. There have been scattered studies of other types of gluon condensates, involving a different number of gluon fields.
For more on the context in which this quantity occurs, see the article on the QCD vacuum.
See also
- Quantum chromodynamics
- QCD vacuum and chiral condensates
- Vacuum in quantum field theory
- Quark–gluon plasma
- QCD matter