Quark fragmentation as a probe of dynamical mass generation

Abstract: We address the propagation and hadronization of a struck quark by studying the gauge invariance of the color-averaged cut quark propagator, and by relating this to the single inclusive quark fragmentation correlator by means of new sum rules. Using suitable Wilson lines, we provide a gauge-invariant definition for the mass of the color-averaged dressed quark and decompose this into the sum of a current and an interaction-dependent component. The latter, which we argue is an order parameter for dynamical chiral symmetry breaking, also appears in the sum rule for the twist-3 $\tilde{E}$ fragmentation function, providing a specific experimental way to probe the dynamical generation of mass in Quantum Chromo Dynamics.