Computation of quark mass anomalous dimension at O(1/Nf2) in quantum chromodynamics

We present the formalism to calculate d-dimensional critical exponents in QCD in the large N-f expansion where N-f is the number of quark flavours. It relies in part on demonstrating that at the d-dimensional fixed point of QCD the critical theory is equivalent to a non-abelian version of the Thirring model. We describe the techniques used to compute critical two- and three-loop Feynman diagrams and as an application determine the quark wave function, eta, and mass renormalization critical exponents at O(1/N-f(2)) in d dimensions. Their values when expressed in relation to four-dimensional perturbation theory are in exact agreement with the known four-loop <(MS)over bar> results. Moreover, new coefficients in these renormalization group functions are determined to six-loops and O(1/N-f(2)). The computation of the exponents in the Schwinger Dyson approach is also provided and an expression for eta in arbitrary covariant gauge is given. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.