arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Agostino Patella.
Taming finite-volume effects is a crucial ingredient in order to identify the existence of IR fixed points. We present the latest results from our numerical simulations of SU(2) gauge theory with 2 Dirac fermions in the adjoint representation on large volumes. We compare with previous results, and extrapolate to thermodynamic limit when possible.
We present a first exploratory study of SU(2) gauge theory with one Dirac flavour in the adjoint representation. We provide initial results for the spectroscopy and the anomalous dimension for the chiral condensate. Our investigation indicates that the theory is conformal or near-conformal, with an anomalous dimension of order one. A discussion of the relevance of these findings in relation to walking technicolor scenarios is also presented.
The lattice phase structure of a gauge theory can be a serious obstruction to Monte Carlo studies of its continuum behaviour. This issue is particularly delicate when numerical studies are performed to determine whether a theory is in a (near-)conformal phase. In this work we investigate the heavy mass limit of the SU(2) gauge theory with Nf=2 adjoint fermions and its lattice phase diagram, showing the presence of a critical point ending a line of first order bulk phase transition. The relevant gauge observables and the low-lying spectrum are monitored in the vicinity of the critical point with very good control over different systematic effects. The scaling properties of masses and susceptibilities open the possibility that the effective theory at criticality is a scalar theory in the universality class of the four-dimensional Gaussian model. This behaviour is clearly different from what is observed for SU(2) gauge theory with two dynamical adjoint fermions, whose (near-)conformal numerical signature is hence free from strong-coupling bulk effects.
The recent introduction of the gradient flow has provided a new tool to probe the dynamics of quantum field theories. The latest developments have shown how to use the gradient flow for the exploration of symmetries, and the definition of the corresponding renormalized Noether currents. In this paper we introduce infinitesimal translations along the gradient flow for gauge theories, and study the corresponding Ward identities. This approach is readily generalized to the case of gauge theories defined on a lattice, where the regulator breaks translation invariance. The Ward identities in this case lead to a nonperturbative renormalization of the energy-momentum tensor. We discuss an application of this method to the study of dilatations and scale invariance on the lattice.
We study the phase diagram of the SU(2) lattice gauge theory with fundamental-adjoint Wilson plaquette action. We confirm the presence of a first order bulk phase transition and we estimate the location of its end-point in the bare parameter space. If this point is second order, the theory is one of the simplest realizations of a lattice gauge theory admitting a continuum limit at finite bare couplings. All the relevant gauge observables are monitored in the vicinity of the fixed point with very good control over finite-size effects. The scaling properties of the low-lying glueball spectrum are studied while approaching the end-point in a controlled manner.
A strategy for computing the psibar-psi anomalous dimension at the fixed point in infrared-conformal gauge theories from lattice simulations is discussed. The method is based on the scaling of the spectral density of the Dirac operator or rather its integral, the mode number. It is relatively cheap, mainly for two reasons: (a) the mode number can be determined with quite high accuracy, (b) the psibar-psi anomalous dimension is extracted from a fit of several observables on the same set of configurations (no scaling in the Lagrangian parameters is needed). As an example the psibar-psi anomalous dimension has been computed in the SU(2) theory with 2 Dirac fermions in the adjoint representation of the gauge group, and has been found to be 0.371(20). In this particular case, the proposed strategy has proved to be very robust and effective.
We discuss the dependence of observables on the chemical potential in 't Hooft's large-N QCD. To this end we use the worldline formalism to expand the fermionic determinant in powers of 1/N. We consider the hadronic as well as the deconfining phase of the theory. We discuss the origin of the sign problem in the worldline approach and elaborate on the planar equivalence between QCD with a baryon chemical potential and QCD with an isospin chemical potential. We show that for C-even observables the sign problem occurs at a subleading order in the 1/N expansion of the fermionic determinant. Finally, we comment on the finite N theory.
A generalization of the GMOR relation to the case of infrared-conformal gauge theories is discussed. The starting point is the chiral Ward identity connecting the isovector pseudoscalar susceptibility to the chiral condensate, in a mass-deformed theory. A renormalization-group analysis shows that the pseudoscalar susceptibility is not saturated by the lightest state, but a contribution from the continuum part of the spectrum survives in the chiral limit. The computation also shows how infrared-conformal gauge theories behave differently, depending on whether the anomalous dimension of the chiral condensate be smaller or larger than 1.
Many evidences from lattice simulations support the idea that SU(2) with two Dirac flavors in the adjoint representation (also called Minimal Walking Technicolor) is IR conformal. A possible way to see this is through the behavior of the spectrum of the mass-deformed theory. When fermions are massive, a mass-gap is generated and the theory is confined. IR-conformality is recovered in the chiral limit: masses of particles vanish in the chiral limit, while their ratios stay finite. In order to trust this analysis one has to relay on the infinite volume extrapolation. We will discuss the finite volume effects on the mesonic spectrum, investigated by varying the size of the lattice and by changing the boundary conditions for the fields.
We address the question of whether the large-N expansion in pure SU(N) gauge theories requires that k-string tensions must have a power series expansion in 1/N^2, as in the sine law, or whether 1/N contributions are also allowable, as in Casimir scaling. We find that k-string tensions may, in fact, have 1/N corrections, and consistency with the large-N expansion in the open-string sector depends crucially on an exact cancellation, which we will prove, among terms involving odd powers of 1/N in particular combinations of Wilson loops. It is shown how these cancellations are fulfilled, and consistency with the large-N expansion achieved, in a concrete example, namely, strong-coupling lattice gauge theory with the heat-kernel action. This is a model which has both a 1/N^2 expansion and Casimir scaling of the k-string tensions. Analysis of the closed string channel in this model confirms our conclusions, and provides further insights into the large-N dependence of energy eigenstates and eigenvalues.
We present a numerical study of spectroscopic observables in the SU(2) gauge theory with two adjoint fermions using improved source and sink operators. We compare in detail our improved results with previous determinations of masses that used point sources and sinks and we investigate possible systematic effects in both cases. Such comparison enables us to clearly assess the impact of a short temporal extent on the physical picture, and to investigate some effects due to the finite spatial box. While confirming the IR-conformal behaviour of the theory, our investigation shows that in order to make firm quantitative predictions, a better handle on finite size effects is needed.
We consider "Orientifold field theories", namely SU(N) gauge theories with Dirac fermions in the two-index representation at high temperature. When N is even these theories exhibit a spontaneously broken Z2 centre symmetry. We study aspects of the domain wall that interpolates between the two vacua of the theory. In particular we calculate its tension to two-loop order. We compare its tension to the corresponding domain wall in a SU(N) gauge theory with adjoint fermions and find an agreement at large-N, as expected from planar equivalence between the two theories. Moreover, we provide a non-perturbative proof for the coincidence of the tensions at large-N. We also discuss the vacuum structure of the theory when the fermion is given a large mass and argue that there exist N-2 metastable vacua. We calculate the lifetime of those vacua in the thin wall approximation.
Walking technicolor is a mechanism for electroweak symmetry breaking without Higgs field. The Higgs mechanism is provided by chiral symmetry breaking in the technicolor theory. An essential ingredient is the vicinity to an IR fixed point, which could reconcile technicolor with the electroweak precision tests. SU(2) gauge theory with two Dirac adjoint fermions has been proposed as a candidate for walking technicolor. Understanding whether this theory is confining or IR-conformal is a challenging problem, which can be addressed by means of numerical simulations. We have pointed out that a clean signal for the existence of an IR fixed point in this theory can be obtained by comparing the mesonic and gluonic sectors. We review some technical details of our calculations. Possible systematic errors are discussed.
We present an improved study of spectroscopic observables in the $SU(2)$ Yang-Mills theory with two adjoint fermions. We make an improvement on the precision of previous results which clarify the scale of finite volume effects present. This analysis adds to the evidence for near-conformal dynamics of this theory, while indicating a preference for a low anomalous mass dimension of the massless theory.
A numerical study of Orientifold Planar Equivalence is performed in SU(N) Yang-Mills theories for N=2,3,4,6. Quenched meson masses are extracted in the antisymmetric, symmetric and adjoint representations for the pseudoscalar and vector channels. An extrapolation of the vector mass as a function of the pseudoscalar mass to the large-N limit shows that the numerical results agree within errors for the three theories, as predicted by Orientifold Planar Equivalence. As a byproduct of the extrapolation, the size of the corrections up to O(1/N^3) are evaluated. A crucial prerequisite for the extrapolation is the determination of an analytical relationship between the corrections in the symmetric and in the antisymmetric representations, order by order in a 1/N expansion.
We measure on the lattice the quenched pseudoscalar and vector meson masses at a fixed value of the lattice spacing for SU(N) gauge theory with fermions in the adjoint, in the symmetric and in the antisymmetric representations of the gauge group. Simulations are performed for N=3,4,6 in all those representations, with the addition of N=2 for the adjoint representation. We illustrate a strategy for separating the even from the odd-power contributions in 1/N in the masses. Using this technique, we extrapolate the vector mass to the large-N limit in the chiral region and show that at N = infty this mass is the same within errors in all the three representations, as predicted by orientifold planar equivalence. Possible implications of our investigation for studying orientifold planar equivalence in the dynamical case are discussed.
We discuss the lattice formulation of gauge theories with fermions in arbitrary representations of the color group, and present in detail the implementation of the HMC/RHMC algorithm for simulating dynamical fermions. We discuss the validation of the implementation through an extensive set of tests, and the stability of simulations by monitoring the distribution of the lowest eigenvalue of the Wilson-Dirac operator. Working with two flavors of Wilson fermions in the adjoint representation, benchmark results for realistic lattice simulations are presented. Runs are performed on different lattice sizes ranging from 4^3x8 to 24^3x64 sites. For the two smallest lattices we also report the measured values of benchmark mesonic observables. These results can be used as a baseline for rapid cross-checks of simulations in higher representations. The results presented here are the first steps towards more extensive investigations with controlled systematic errors, aiming at a detailed understanding of the phase structure of these theories, and of their viability as candidates for strong dynamics beyond the Standard model.
We investigate the structure and the novel emerging features of the mesonic non-singlet spectrum of the Minimal Walking Technicolor (MWT) theory. Precision measurements in the nonsinglet pseudoscalar and vector channels are compared to the expectations for an IR-conformal field theory and a QCD-like theory. Our results favor a scenario in which MWT is (almost) conformal in the infrared, while spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking seems less plausible.