arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to K. Langfeld.
Recently, a novel algorithm for computing the density of states in statistical systems and quantum field theories has been proposed. The same method can be applied to theories at finite density affected by the notorious sign problem, reducing a high-dimensional oscillating integral to a more tractable one-dimensional one. As an example we applied the method to the relativistic Bose gas.
Finite density quantum field theories have evaded first principle Monte-Carlo simulations due to the notorious sign-problem. The partition function of such theories appears as the Fourier transform of the generalised density-of-states, which is the probability distribution of the imaginary part of the action. With the advent of Wang-Landau type simulation techniques and recent advances, the density-of-states can be calculated over many hundreds of orders of magnitude. Current research addresses the question whether the achieved precision is high enough to reliably extract the finite density partition function, which is exponentially suppressed with the volume. In my talk, I review the state-of-play for the high precision calculations of the density-of-states as well as the recent progress for obtaining reliable results from highly oscillating integrals. I will review recent progress for the $Z_3$ quantum field theory for which results can be obtained from the simulation of the dual theory, which appears to free of a sign problem.
We present a novel algorithm to compute the density of states, which is proven to converge to the correct result. The algorithm is very general and can be applied to a wide range of models, in the frameworks of Statistical Mechanics and Lattice Gauge Theory. All the thermal or quantum expectation values can then be obtained by a simple integration of the density of states. As an application, a numerical study of 4d U(1) compact lattice gauge theory is presented.
We apply the relative weights method (arXiv:1209.5697) to determine the effective Polyakov line action for SU(2) lattice gauge theory in the confined phase, at lattice coupling beta=2.2 and N_t=4 lattice spacings in the time direction. The effective action turns out to be bilinear in the fundamental representation Polyakov line variables, with a rather simple expression for the finite range kernel. The validity of this action is tested by computing Polyakov line correlators, via Monte Carlo simulation, in both the effective action and the underlying lattice theory. It is found that the correlators in each theory are in very close agreement.
The frustrated Ising model on a two-dimensional lattice with open boundary conditions is revisited. A hidden Z2 gauge symmetry relates models with different frustrations which, however, share the same partition function. By means of a duality transformation, it is shown that the partition function only depends on the distribution of gauge invariant vortices on the lattice. We finally show that the exact ground state energy can be calculated in polynomial time using Edmonds' algorithm.
We develop a numerical formulation to calculate the classical motion of charges in strong electromagnetic fields, such as those occurring in high-intensity laser beams. By reformulating the dynamics in terms of SL(2,C) matrices representing the Lorentz group, our formulation maintains explicit covariance, in particular the mass-shell condition. Considering an electromagnetic plane wave field where the analytic solution is known as a test case, we demonstrate the effectiveness of the method for solving both the Lorentz force and the Landau-Lifshitz equations. The latter, a second order reduction of the Lorentz-Abraham-Dirac equation, describes radiation reaction without the usual pathologies.
We consider two very different models of the flux tube linking two heavy quarks: a string linking the matter fields and a Coulombic description of two separately gauge invariant charges. We compare how close they are to the unknown true ground state in compact U(1) and the SU(2) Higgs model. Simulations in compact U(1) show that the string description is better in the confined phase but the Coulombic description is best in the deconfined phase; the last result is shown to agree with analytical calculations. Surprisingly in the non-abelian theory the Coulombic description is better in both the Higgs and confined phases. This indicates a significant difference in the width of the flux tubes in the two theories.
We argue that screening of higher-representation color charges by gluons implies a domain structure in the vacuum state of non-abelian gauge theories, with the color magnetic flux in each domain quantized in units corresponding to the gauge group center. Casimir scaling of string tensions at intermediate distances results from random spatial variations in the color magnetic flux within each domain. The exceptional G(2) gauge group is an example rather than an exception to this picture, although for G(2) there is only one type of vacuum domain, corresponding to the single element of the gauge group center. We present some numerical results for G(2) intermediate string tensions and Polyakov lines, as well as results for certain gauge-dependent projected quantities. In this context, we discuss critically the idea of projecting link variables to a subgroup of the gauge group. It is argued that such projections are useful only when the representation-dependence of the string tension, at some distance scale, is given by the representation of the subgroup.
The frustrated Ising model in two dimensions is revisited. The frustration is quantified in terms of the number of non-trivial plaquettes which is invariant under the Nishimori gauge symmetry. The exact ground state energy is calculated using Edmond's algorithm. A novel cluster algorithm is designed which treats gauge equivalent spin glasses on equal footing and allows for efficient simulations near criticality. As a first application, the specific heat near criticality is investigated.
The magnetic flux noise induced by vortices in thin superconducting films is studied. Rigid vortices in thin films as well as pancake vortices in the pancake gas regime are addressed. The vortex dynamics is described by a Feynman path integral which fully accounts for the balance between vortex entropy and vortex energetics. We find that vortex pair creation (annihilation) in the presence of pinning is a natural source for noise with a 1/f spectrum.
By using the method of center projection the center vortex part of the gauge field is isolated and its propagator is evaluated in the center Landau gauge, which minimizes the open 3-dimensional Dirac volumes of non-trivial center links bounded by the closed 2-dimensional center vortex surfaces. The center field propagator is found to dominate the gluon propagator (in Landau gauge) in the low momentum regime and to give rise to an OPE correction to the latter of ${\sqrtσ}/{p^3}$.The screening mass of the center vortex field vanishes above the critical temperature of the deconfinement phase transition, which naturally explains the second order nature of this transition consistent with the vortex picture. Finally, the ghost propagator of maximal center gauge is found to be infrared finite and thus shows that the coset fields play no role for confinement.
We present a new method to compute quantum energies in presence of a background field. The method is based on the string-inspired worldline approach to quantum field theory and its numerical realization with Monte-Carlo techniques. Our procedure is applied to the study of the Casimir force between rigid bodies induced by a fluctuating real scalar field. We test our method with the classic parallel-plate configuration and study curvature effects quantitatively for the sphere-plate configuration. The numerical estimates are compared with the ``proximity force approximation''. Sizable curvature effects are found for a distance-to-curvature-radius ratio of a/R>0.02.
A continuum expression for the trace of the massive dressed-quark propagator is used to explicate a connection between the infrared limit of the QCD Dirac operator's spectrum and the quark condensate appearing in the operator product expansion, and the connection is verified via comparison with a lattice-QCD simulation. The pseudoscalar vacuum polarisation provides a good approximation to the condensate over a larger range of current-quark masses.
Simulations of SU(2) lattice gauge theory are used to establish a relation between the IR properties of Green functions and confinement. Using Landau gauge where the gauge configurations are restricted to the first Gribov regime, results on the ghost-, gluon form-factor and the running coupling constant are presented. Finally, we discuss the behavior of the ghost form-factor of the de-confined phase at high temperatures.
The gluon propagator is investigated in Landau and in maximal center gauge for the gauge group SU(2) by means of lattice gauge simulations. We find that Gribov ambiguities arising from the implementation of Landau gauge have a small influence on the propagator. In agreement with previous findings, we obtain that the small momentum behavior is dominated by a mass, which is of order $(1.48 \pm 0.05) \sqrtσ$, where $σ$ is the string tension. By removing the confining vortices from the full Yang-Mills ensemble, we convert full YM-theory into a theory which does not confine quarks. We find that in the latter case the strength of the gluon propagator in the intermediate momentum range is strongly reduced. The spectral functions which reproduce the numerical data for the propagators are analyzed using a generalized Maximum Entropy Method.
We consider a new cooling procedure which separates gluon degrees of freedom from singular center vortices in SU(2) LGT in a gauge invariant way. Restricted by a cooling scale $κ^4/σ^2$ fixing the residual SO(3) gluonic action relative to the string tension, the procedure is RG invariant. In the limit $κ\to 0$ a pure Z(2) vortex texture is left. This {\it minimal} vortex content does not contribute to the string tension. It reproduces, however, the lowest glueball states. With an action density scaling like $a^4$ with $β$, it defines a finite contribution to the action density at T=0 in the continuum limit. We propose to interpret this a mass dimension 4 condensate related to the gluon condensate. Similarly, this vortex texture is revealed in the Landau gauge.
The continuum limit of SU(2) lattice gauge theory is carefully investigated at zero and at finite temperatures. It is found that the continuum gauge field has singularities originating from center degrees of freedom being discovered in Landau gauge. Our numerical results show that the density of these singularities properly extrapolates to a non-vanishing continuum limit. The action density of the non-trivial Z_2 links is tentatively identified with the gluon condensate. We find for temperatures larger than the deconfinement temperature that the thermal fluctuations of the embedded Z_2 gauge theory result in an increase of the gluon condensate with increasing temperature.
The gluon propagator in Landau gauge is calculated on the lattice for SU(2) gauge theory. In particular the manifestation of confinement in the gluon propagator is studied. Removing the confining center vortices from the Yang-Mills ensemble leads to a drastic reduction of the gluonic form factor in the intermediate momentum regime.