QED — A lattice investigation of the chiral phase transition and the nature of the continuum limit

Abstract

We simulate non-compact QED with light dynamical Kogut-Susskind fermions and in the quenched approximation. In both cases we confirm the existence of a second-order chiral phase transition at strong coupling. Near the critical point the theory is shown to be well described by a gaussian model of non-interacting scalar and pseudoscalar fields. We do not find any support for Miransky scaling. Rather, the critical exponents are consistent with their mean field values.