A perturbative framework to probe infrared sensitivity in non-Abelian gauge theories

Understanding the infrared sensitivity of perturbative predictions in QCD is
important for assessing the magnitude of possible non-perturbative power corrections to
processes with large momentum transfer. In renormalon models, this sensitivity can be related
to computable dependences of perturbative quantities on a small gluon mass. However, this
procedure cannot be applied to collider processes with gluons at the Born level. To address
this problem, we promote the gluon mass to a parameter of a consistent non-Abelian quantum
field theory where the gauge symmetry is spontaneously broken through the Higgs mechanism.
Working in the limit in which the gluon mass m$_g$ is the smallest dimensionful parameter, we
compute through two loops the O(m$_g$) contributions to the relation between the pole and
MS masses of a heavy quark and to the relation between corresponding field counterterms.
We expect that the proposed framework will provide a useful laboratory for probing linear
infrared sensitivity of collider observables in QCD.