Abstract

We discuss QCD condensate contributions to the gluon propagator both in the fixed-point gauge and in covariant gauges for the external QCD vacuum gluon fields with the conclusion that a covariant gauge is essential to obtain a gauge-invariant QCD vacuum energy density difference and to retain the unitarity of the quark scattering amplitude. The gauge-invariant QCD condensate contributions to the effective one-gluon exchange potential are evaluated by using the effective gluon propagator, which produces a gauge-independent quark scattering amplitude. ©1999 The American Physical Society.