  We study a gauge-invariant variational framework for the Yang-Mills vacuum
wave functional. Our approach is built on gauge-averaged Gaussian trial
functionals which substantially extend previously used trial bases in the
infrared by implementing a general low-momentum expansion for the vacuum-field
dispersion (which is taken to be analytic at zero momentum). When completed by
the perturbative Yang-Mills dispersion at high momenta, this results in a
significantly enlarged trial functional space which incorporates both dynamical
mass generation and asymptotic freedom. After casting the dynamics associated
with these wave functionals into an effective action for collections of soft
vacuum-field orbits, the leading infrared improvements manifest themselves as
four-gradient interactions. Those turn out to significantly lower the minimal
vacuum energy density, thus indicating a clear overall improvement of the
vacuum description. The dimensional transmutation mechanism and the dynamically
generated mass scale remain almost quantitatively robust, however, which
ensures that our prediction for the gluon condensate is consistent with
standard values. Further results include a finite group velocity for the soft
gluonic modes due to the higher-gradient corrections and indications for a
negative differential color resistance of the Yang-Mills vacuum.
