Banks-Zaks fixed point

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In quantum chromodynamics (and also N = 1 superquantum chromodynamics), for certain values of

Nc,

the number of colors, and

Nf,

the number of flavors, and assuming chiral symmetry (meaning that the quarks are massless), there is an infrared fixed point corresponding to a nontrivial value of the coupling constant, (i.e., neither zero indicating triviality nor infinity indicating confinement).

This means the theory approaches a conformal field theory, the Banks-Zaks fixed point. This is also called the conformal window.

This is an exact conformal field theory: it has no mass gap and there are bound particles whose mass is continuous and can take on any positive value.