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Anna Hasenfratz

Publications and source records attributed to Anna Hasenfratz.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
arXiv2008

Epsilon regime calculations with reweighted clover fermions

We perform fully dynamical simulations at small quark masses by reweighting in the quark mass, calculating the weight factors stochastically. This approach avoids some of the technical difficulties associated with direct simulations. We find that the weight factors fluctuate only moderately on nHYP smeared dynamical Wilson-clover ensembles, and demonstrate that the overlap between the original and reweighted configurations is large both for short and long distance observables. We could successfully reweight 16^4, (1.85fm)^4 volume configurations from m_q 20 MeV to m_q~5 MeV, and 24^4, (2.77fm)^4 configurations from m_q~8MeV to m_q~MeV quark masses, reaching the epsilon-regime. Using the pseudoscalar and axialvector correlators we predict the low energy constants Sigma and F and study their volume and mass dependence.

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arXiv2008

Low energy chiral constants from epsilon-regime simulations with improved Wilson fermions

We present a lattice QCD calculation of the low energy constants of the leading order chiral Lagrangian. In these simulations the epsilon regime is reached by using tree-level improved nHYP Wilson fermions combined with reweighting in the quark mass. We analyze two point functions on two ensembles with lattices of size (1.85fm)^4 and (2.8fm)^4, and at several quark mass values between 4 and 20 MeV. The data are well fitted with next-to-leading order chiral perturbative formulae and predict F=90(4)MeV and Sigma^(1/3)=248(6)MeV in the MS-bar scheme at 2 GeV.

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arXiv2008

Reweighting towards the chiral limit

We propose to perform fully dynamical simulations at small quark masses by reweighting in the quark mass. This approach avoids some of the technical difficulties associated with direct simulations at very small quark masses. We calculate the weight factors stochastically, using determinant breakup and low mode projection to reduce the statistical fluctuations. We find that the weight factors fluctuate only moderately on nHYP smeared dynamical Wilson-clover ensembles, and we could successfully reweight 16^4, (1.85fm)^4 volume configurations from m_q = 20MeV to m_q = 5MeV quark masses, reaching the epsilon-regime. We illustrate the strength of the method by calculating the low energy constant F from the epsilon-regime pseudo-scalar correlator.

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arXiv2007

Non-perturbative improvement of nHYP smeared Wilson fermions

Using Schroedinger functional techniques, we determine the coefficient of the clover term necessary for non-perturbative O(a) improvement of hypercubic smeared Wilson fermions on a quenched plaquette action background. Unlike for unsmeared Wilson fermions, the resulting clover coefficients are close to the tree-level value even at coarse lattice spacings, indicating the absence of large cutoff effects. A number of exploratory tests are also performed with the improved action.

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arXiv2007

The impact of localized overlap eigenmodes on RMT measurements and topology

The low energy eigenmodes of the continuum QCD Dirac operator are extended, but on the lattice, due to discretization effects, the Dirac operator can have localized eigenmodes. These non-physical modes can introduce strong lattice artifacts for observables that are sensitive to chiral symmetry, especially in mixed action simulations. We study how these lattice artifacts depend on the parameters of the overlap operator and their affect on the distribution on the Dirac eigenmodes and the topological susceptibility.

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arXiv2007

Dynamical simulations with HYP-link Wilson fermions

We present results from simulations of two dynamical flavors of improved Wilson fermions with nHYP smeared gauge links. We demonstrate that the simulation is stable at a pseudo-scalar mass of 360MeV, a 2.1fm box and a lattice spacing of 0.13fm.

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arXiv2007

Localized eigenmodes of the overlap operator and their impact on the eigenvalue distribution

In a system where chiral symmetry is spontaneously broken, the low energy eigenmodes of the continuum Dirac operator are extended. On the lattice, due to discretization effects, the Dirac operator can have localized eigenmodes that affect physical quantities sensitive to chiral symmetry. While the infrared eigenmodes of the Wilson Dirac operator are usually extended even on coarse lattices, the chiral overlap operator has many localized eigenmodes in the physical region, especially in mixed action simulations. Depending on their density, these modes can introduce strong lattice artifacts. The effect can be controlled by changing the parameters of the overlap operator, in particular the clover improvement term and the center of the overlap projection.

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arXiv2007

Hypercubic Smeared Links for Dynamical Fermions

We investigate a variant of hypercubic gauge link smearing where the SU(3) projection is replaced with a normalization to the corresponding unitary group. This smearing is differentiable and thus suitable for use in dynamical fermion simulations using molecular dynamics type algorithms. We show that this smearing is as efficient as projected hypercubic smearing in removing ultraviolet noise from the gauge fields. We test the normalized hypercubic smearing in dynamical improved (clover) Wilson and valence overlap simulations.

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arXiv2006

First results in QCD with 2+1 light flavors using the fixed-point action

This is a progress report on 2+1 flavor simulation with the FP action on a lattice with spatial size L=1.2fm. Since m_{ud} is quite small in our simulation we are in the delta regime for the two light flavors where the low lying excitations are described by a quantum mechanical rotator. From here we extract the low energy constant F. We also measure the AWI mass and present results on numerical issues like low-mode averaging and autocorrelation times.

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arXiv2006

The chiral condensate on 2-flavor staggered configurations from an overlap operator

We measure the low lying eigenmodes of an overlap Dirac operator on 2--flavor staggered configurations. By comparing the eigenmode distribution to the predictions of Random Matrix Theory we test to what accuracy staggered configurations describe continuum QCD. The agreement between the numerical data and RMT implies that at our quark mass values the lattice artifacts of the staggered configurations are comparable to overlap configurations. We identify the overlap valence mass that best matches the staggered sea quarks and predict the value of the infinite volume 2-flavor chiral condensate.

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arXiv2006

Mixed Action Simulations on Staggered Background; Interpretation and Result for the 2-flavor QCD Chiral Condensate

Growing evidence indicates that in the continuum limit the rooted staggered action is in the correct QCD universality class, the non-local terms arising from taste breaking can be viewed as lattice artifacts. In this paper we consider the 2-flavor Asqtad staggered action at a lattice spacing of approximately 0.13 fm and probe the properties of the staggered configurations by an overlap valence Dirac operator. By comparing the distribution of the overlap eigenmodes to continuum QCD predictions we investigate if/when the lattice artifacts are small as a function of the staggered quark mass. We define a matching overlap quark mass where the lattice corrections are minimal for the topological susceptibility and from the eigenmode distribution we predict the 2-flavor chiral condensate. Our results indicate that the staggered configurations are consistent with 2-flavor continuum QCD up to small lattice artifacts, and predict a consistent value for the infinite volume chiral condensate.

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arXiv2006

The rooted staggered determinant in the Schwinger model

We investigate the continuum limit of the rooted staggered action in the 2-dimensional Schwinger model. We match both the unrooted and rooted staggered determinants with an overlap fermion determinant of two (one) flavors and a local pure gauge effective action by fitting the coefficients of the effective action and the mass of the overlap operator. The residue of this fit measures the difference of the staggered and overlap fermion actions. We show that this residue scales at least as O(a^2), implying that any difference, be it local or non-local, between the staggered and overlap actions becomes irrelevant in the continuum limit. For the model under consideration here, this observation justifies the rooting procedure for the staggered sea quark action.

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arXiv2006

Universality and Quark Masses of the Staggered Fermion Action

Staggered fermions with 4 tastes are expected to describe 4-flavor QCD in the continuum limit, therefore at finite lattice spacing the staggered determinant should be equivalent to an SU(4) flavor-symmetric system up to lattice artifacts. This equivalence is the starting point of the 4th root trick used to reduce the number of fermion flavors and provides the only consistent description of 2 or 1 flavor systems. In this paper we argue that the quark mass of the underlying flavor symmetric theory differs from the staggered mass by an additive term due to the taste breaking of the staggered action. The relation is the same for 2 and 1 flavor fermions. This additive mass shift implies that at finite lattice spacing staggered simulations correspond to heavier quark masses than indicated by the staggered Goldstone pion and that staggered fermions cannot reach the chiral limit at finite lattice spacing.

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arXiv2006

Validity of the Rooted Staggered Determinant in the continuum limit

We investigate the continuum limit of the rooted staggered determinant in the 2-dimensional Schwinger model. We match both the unrooted and rooted staggered determinant with an overlap fermion determinant of two (one) flavors and a local pure gauge effective action by fitting the coefficients of the effective action and the mass of the overlap operator. The residue of this fit measures the difference of the staggered and overlap fermion actions. We show that this residue scales at least as O(a^2), implying that any difference, be it local or non-local, between the staggered and overlap actions becomes irrelevant in the continuum limit. This observation justifies the rooting procedure.

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arXiv2005

Simulating Full QCD with the Fixed Point Action

Due to its complex structure the parametrized fixed point action can not be simulated with the available local updating algorithms. We constructed, coded, and tested an updating procedure with 2+1 light flavors, where the targeted s-quark mass is at its physical value while the u- and d-quarks should produce pions lighter than 300MeV. In the algorithm a partially global gauge update is followed by several accept/reject steps, where parts of the determinant are switched on gradually in the order of their expenses. The trial configuration that is offered in the last, most expensive, stochastic accept/reject step differs from the original configuration by a Metropolis + over-relaxation gauge update over a sub-volume of ~(1.3 fm)^4. The acceptance rate in this accept/reject step is ~0.4. The code is optimized on different architectures and is running on lattices with L=1.2fm and 1.8fm at a resolution of a=0.15fm.

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arXiv2002

Improving the Chiral Properties of Lattice Fermions

The chiral properties of lattice fermions can be improved by altering either their fermion-gauge coupling or the pure gauge part of the action (or both). Using both perturbation theory and nonperturbative simulation, we compare a simple alteration of the gauge action (which encompasses the Wilson, Symanzik, Iwasaki, and DBW2 actions), and HYP-blocked links in the fermion action. Perturbative tests include calculations of the potential, flavor-changing quark scattering amplitudes, and matching factors for currents. Non-perturbative tests include the potential, measurements of flavor symmetry breaking for staggered fermions, the behavior of topological objects, and properties of overlap actions. Our results display the bad properties of these actions as well as their good ones.

hep-lat↗
arXiv2002

Dynamical Simulations with Smeared Link Staggered Fermions

One of the most serious problems of the staggered fermion lattice action is flavor symmetry violation. Smeared link staggered fermions can improve flavor symmetry by an order of magnitude relative to the standard thin link action. Over the last few years different smearing transformations have been proposed, both with perturbatively and non-perturbatively determined coefficients. What hindered the acceptance and more general use of smeared link fermions until now is the relative difficulty of dynamical simulations and the lack of perturbative calculations with these actions. In both areas there have been significant improvement lately, that I will review in this paper.

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