Gribov

Gribov is a surname of Russian origin. It is associated with several individuals, most notably Vladimir Gribov, a Soviet theoretical physicist whose work on gauge theories led to the identification of what is now known as the Gribov problem in the quantization of non-Abelian gauge fields. In gauge theories such as quantum chromodynamics, fixing a gauge with procedures like the Landau gauge does not always uniquely select a single representative from each gauge orbit; instead, multiple gauge-equivalent configurations, called Gribov copies, satisfy the same gauge condition.

Gribov proposed restricting the functional integral to a region where the Faddeev-Popov operator is positive, known as the Gribov region, and described its boundary as the Gribov horizon. This framework aimed to improve the consistency of gauge fixing and has influenced subsequent developments, including the Gribov-Zwanziger approach, which introduces a local action to account for confinement effects. The concepts of Gribov copies, the Gribov region, and the Gribov horizon remain relevant in the study of non-Abelian gauge theories and quantum chromodynamics.

Outside physics, the surname Gribov may refer to other individuals in various fields, but in scientific contexts it is primarily linked to Vladimir Gribov and the associated gauge theory concepts. The term Gribov, in its scholarly usage, often signals discussions of gauge fixing and the subtleties of quantizing non-Abelian gauge fields.