Lattice Chiral Gauge Theories Research Articles

Lieb-Schultz-Mattis anomalies as obstructions to gauging (non-on-site) symmetries

We study ’t Hooft anomalies of global symmetries in 1+1d lattice Hamiltonian systems. We consider anomalies in internal and lattice translation symmetries. We derive a microscopic formula for the “anomaly cocycle” using topological defects implementing twisted boundary conditions. The anomaly takes value in the cohomology group H^3(G,U(1)) × H^2(G,U(1))H3(G,U(1))×H2(G,U(1)). The first factor captures the anomaly in the internal symmetry group G, and the second factor corresponds to a generalized Lieb-Schultz-Mattis anomaly involving G and lattice translation. We present a systematic procedure to gauge internal symmetries (that may not act on-site) on the lattice. We show that the anomaly cocycle is the obstruction to gauging the internal symmetry while preserving the lattice translation symmetry. As an application, we construct anomaly-free chiral lattice gauge theories. We demonstrate a one-to-one correspondence between (locality-preserving) symmetry operators and topological defects, which is essential for the results we prove. We also discuss the generalization to fermionic theories. Finally, we construct non-invertible lattice translation symmetries by gauging internal symmetries with a Lieb-Schultz-Mattis anomaly.

A Lattice Formulation of Weyl Fermions on a Single Curved Surface

Abstract In the standard lattice domain-wall fermion formulation, one needs two flat domain-walls where both of the left- and right-handed massless modes appear. In this work we investigate a single domain-wall system with a nontrivial curved background. Specifically we consider a massive fermion on a 3D square lattice, whose domain-wall is a 2D sphere. In the free theory, we find that a single Weyl fermion is localized at the wall and it feels gravity through the induced spin connection. With a topologically nontrivial U(1) link gauge field, however, we find a zero mode with the opposite chirality localized at the center where the gauge field is singular. In the latter case, the low-energy effective theory is not chiral but vectorlike. We discuss how to circumvent this obstacle in formulating lattice chiral gauge theory in the single domain-wall fermion system.

Propagator Zeros and Lattice Chiral Gauge Theories.

Symmetric mass generation (SMG) has been advocated as a mechanism to render mirror fermions massive without symmetry breaking, ultimately aiming for the construction of lattice chiral gauge theories. It has been argued that in an SMG phase, the poles in the mirror fermion propagators are replaced by zeros. Using an effective Lagrangian approach, we investigate the role of propagator zeros when the gauge field is turned on, finding that they act as coupled ghost states. In four dimensions, a propagator zero makes an opposite-sign contribution to the one-loop beta function as compared to a normal fermion. In two dimensional Abelian theories, a propagator zero makes a negative contribution to the photon mass squared. In addition, propagator zeros generate the same anomaly as propagator poles. Thus, gauge invariance will always be maintained in an SMG phase, in fact, even if the target chiral gauge theory is anomalous, but unitarity of the gauge theory is lost.

Vanishing of the Anomaly in Lattice Chiral Gauge Theory

AbstractThe anomaly cancellation is a basic property of the Standard Model, crucial for its consistence. We consider a lattice chiral gauge theory of massless Wilson fermions interacting with a non-compact massive U(1) field coupled with left- and right-handed fermions in four dimensions. We prove in the infinite volume limit, for weak coupling and inverse lattice step of the order of boson mass, that the anomaly vanishes up to subleading corrections and under the same condition as in the continuum. The proof is based on a combination of exact Renormalization Group, non-perturbative decay bounds of correlations and lattice symmetries.

Excited states of massive fermions in a chiral gauge theory

It is shown numerically, in a chiral U(1) gauge Higgs theory in which the left and right-handed fermion components have opposite U(1) charges, that the spectrum of gauge and Higgs fields surrounding a static fermion contains both a ground state and at least one stable excited state. To bypass the difficulties associated with dynamical fermions in a lattice chiral gauge theory we consider only static fermion sources in a quenched approximation, at fixed lattice spacing and couplings, and with a lattice action along the lines suggested long ago by Smit and Swift.

On the infinite gradient-flow for the domain-wall formulation of chiral lattice gauge theories

We examine the proposal by Grabowska and Kaplan (GK) to use the infinite gradient flow in the domain-wall formulation of chiral lattice gauge theories. We consider the case of Abelian theories in detail, for which Lüscher’s exact gauge-invariant formulation is known, and we relate GK’s formulation to Lüscher’s one. The gradient flow can be formulated for the admissible U(1) link fields so that it preserves their topological charges. GK’s effective action turns out to be equal to the sum of Lüscher’s gauge-invariant effective actions for the target Weyl fermions and the mirror “fluffy” fermions, plus the so-called measure-term integrated along the infinite gradient flow. The measure-term current is originally a local(analytic) and gauge-invariant functional of the admissible link field, given as a solution to the local cohomology problem. However, with the infinite gradient flow, it gives rise to non-local(non-analytic) vertex functions which are not suppressed exponentially at large distance. The “fluffy” fermions remain as a source of non-local contribution, which couple yet to the Wilson-line and magnetic-flux degrees of freedom of the dynamical link field.

CHIRAL LATTICE GAUGE THEORIES VIA MIRROR–FERMION DECOUPLING: A MISSION (IM)POSSIBLE?

This is a review of the status and outstanding issues in attempts to construct chiral lattice gauge theories by decoupling the mirror fermions from a vectorlike theory. In the first half, we explain why studying nonperturbative chiral gauge dynamics may be of interest, enumerate the problems that a lattice formulation of chiral gauge theories must overcome, and briefly review our current knowledge. We then discuss the motivation and idea of mirror–fermion decoupling and illustrate the desired features of the decoupling dynamics by a simple solvable toy model. The role of exact chiral symmetries and matching of 't Hooft anomalies on the lattice is also explained. The second, more technical, half of the paper is devoted to a discussion of the known and unknown features of mirror-decoupling dynamics formulated with Ginsparg–Wilson fermions. We end by pointing out possible directions for future studies.

A renormalisation group derivation of the overlap formulation

Starting from the continuum Dirac operator, I construct a renormalisation group blocking which transforms the continuum action into a lattice action, and I specifically consider the Wilson and overlap formalisms. For Wilson fermions the inverse blocking is non-local and thus invalid. However, I proceed to demonstrate that it is possible to construct a valid, local, blocking which, though dependent on the lattice spacing, generates the lattice overlap fermion action from the continuum action. Using this renormalisation group blocking for overlap fermions, I re-derive the Ginsparg–Wilson equations and the lattice chiral symmetry, and show that the standard Ginsparg–Wilson relation is not the most general way of expressing chiral symmetry on the lattice, nor, for overlap fermions, the most natural. I suggest how this reformulation of the Ginsparg–Wilson relation combined with the renormalisation group formulation of overlap fermions could allow the construction of a CP -invariant lattice chiral gauge theory.

"LIGHT FROM CHAOS" IN TWO DIMENSIONS

We perform a Monte Carlo study of the lattice two-dimensional gauged XY-model. Our results confirm the strong-coupling expansion arguments that for sufficiently small values of the spin–spin coupling the "gauge symmetry breaking" terms decouple and the long-distance physics is that of the unbroken pure gauge theory. We find no evidence for the existence, conjectured earlier, of massless states near a critical value of the spin–spin coupling. We comment on recent remarks in the literature on the use of gauged XY-models in proposed constructions of chiral lattice gauge theories.

A simple construction of fermion measure term in U(1) chiral lattice gauge theories with exact gauge invariance

In the gauge invariant formulation of U(1) chiral lattice gauge theories based on the Ginsparg-Wilson relation, the gauge field dependence of the fermion measure is determined through the so-called measure term. We derive a closed formula of the measure term on the finite volume lattice. The Wilson line degrees of freedom (torons) of the link field are treated separately to take care of the global integrability. The local counter term is explicitly constructed with the local current associated with the cohomologically trivial part of the gauge anomaly in finite volume. The resulted formula is very close to the known expression of the measure term in infinite volume with a single parameter integration, and would be useful in practical implementations.

Chiral lattice gauge theories and the strong coupling dynamics of a Yukawa-Higgs model with Ginsparg-Wilson fermions

The Yukawa-Higgs/Ginsparg-Wilson-fermion construction of chiral lattice gauge theories described in hep-lat/0605003 uses exact lattice chirality to decouple the massless chiral fermions from a mirror sector, whose strong dynamics is conjectured to give cutoff-scale mass to the mirror fermions without breaking the chiral gauge symmetry. In this paper, we study the mirror sector dynamics of a two-dimensional chiral gauge theory in the limit of strong Yukawa and vanishing gauge couplings, in which case it reduces to an XY model coupled to Ginsparg-Wilson fermions. For the mirror fermions to acquire cutoff-scale mass it is believed to be important that the XY model remain in its ``high temperature'' phase, where there is no algebraic ordering—a conjecture supported by the results of our work. We use analytic and Monte-Carlo methods with dynamical fermions to study the scalar and fermion susceptibilities, and the mirror fermion spectrum. Our results provide convincing evidence that the strong dynamics does not ``break the chiral symmetry (more precisely, that the mirror fermions do not induce algebraic ordering in two-dimensions), and that the mirror fermions decouple from the infrared physics.

Chiral lattice gauge theories from warped domain walls and Ginsparg-Wilson fermions

We propose a construction of a 2-dimensional lattice chiral gauge theory. The construction may be viewed as a particular limit of an infinite warped 3-dimensional theory. We also present a ``single-site'' construction using Ginsparg-Wilson fermions which may avoid, in both 2 and 4 dimensions, the problems of waveguide-Yukawa models.

Formula omitted] chiral gauge theories on the lattice: a quick overview

We describe how an SU(N) chiral gauge theory can be put on the lattice using non-perturbative gauge fixing. In particular, we explain how the Gribov problem is dealt with. Our construction is local, avoids doublers, and weak-coupling perturbation theory applies at the critical point which defines the continuum limit of our lattice chiral gauge theory.

SU(N)chiral gauge theories on the lattice

We extend the construction of lattice chiral gauge theories based on non-perturbative gauge fixing to the non-Abelian case. A key ingredient is that fermion doublers can be avoided at a novel type of critical point which is only accessible through gauge fixing, as we have shown before in the Abelian case. The new ingredient allowing us to deal with the non-Abelian case as well is the use of equivariant gauge fixing, which handles Gribov copies correctly, and avoids Neuberger's no-go theorem. We use this method in order to gauge fix the non-Abelian group (which we will take to be $SU(N)$) down to its maximal Abelian subgroup. Obtaining an undoubled, chiral fermion content requires us to gauge-fix also the remaining Abelian gauge symmetry. This modifies the equivariant Becchi-Rouet-Stora-Tyutin (BRST) identities, but their use in proving unitarity remains intact, as we show in perturbation theory. On the lattice, equivariant BRST symmetry as well as the Abelian gauge invariance are broken, and a judiciously chosen irrelevant term must be added to the lattice gauge-fixing action in order to have access to the desired critical point in the phase diagram. We argue that gauge invariance is restored in the continuum limit by adjusting a finite number of counter terms. We emphasize that weak-coupling perturbation theory applies at the critical point which defines the continuum limit of our lattice chiral gauge theory.

Matrix model and Ginsparg-Wilson relation

We discuss that the Ginsparg-Wilson relation, which has the key role in the recent development of constructing lattice chiral gauge theory, can play an important role to define chiral structures in finite matrix models and noncommutative geometries.

CP breaking in lattice chiral gauge theory

The CP symmetry is not manifestly implemented for the local and doubler-free Ginsparg-Wilson operator in lattice chiral gauge theory. We precisely identify where the effects of this CP breaking appear.

Domain wall fermion andCPsymmetry breaking

We examine the CP properties of chiral gauge theory defined by a formulation of the domain wall fermion, where the light field variables $q$ and $\bar q$ together with Pauli-Villars fields $Q$ and $\bar Q$ are utilized. It is shown that this domain wall representation in the infinite flavor limit $N=\infty$ is valid only in the topologically trivial sector, and that the conflict among lattice chiral symmetry, strict locality and CP symmetry still persists for finite lattice spacing $a$. The CP transformation generally sends one representation of lattice chiral gauge theory into another representation of lattice chiral gauge theory, resulting in the inevitable change of propagators. A modified form of lattice CP transformation motivated by the domain wall fermion, which keeps the chiral action in terms of the Ginsparg-Wilson fermion invariant, is analyzed in detail; this provides an alternative way to understand the breaking of CP symmetry at least in the topologically trivial sector. We note that the conflict with CP symmetry could be regarded as a topological obstruction. We also discuss the issues related to the definition of Majorana fermions in connection with the supersymmetric Wess-Zumino model on the lattice.

CP breaking in lattice chiral gauge theories

The CP symmetry is not manifestly implemented for the local and doubler-free Ginsparg-Wilson operator in lattice chiral gauge theory. We precisely identify where the effects of this CP breaking appear. We show that they appear in: (I) Overall constant phase of the fermion generating functional. (II) Overall constant coefficient of the fermion generating functional. (III) Fermion propagator appearing in external fermion lines and the propagator connected to Yukawa vertices. The first effect appears from the transformation of the path integral measure and it is absorbed into a suitable definition of the constant phase factor for each topological sector; in this sense there appears no ``CP anomaly''. The second constant arises from the explicit breaking in the action and it is absorbed by the suitable weights with which topological sectors are summed. The last one in the propagator is inherent to this formulation and cannot be avoided by a mere modification of the projection operator, for example, in the framework of the Ginsparg-Wilson operator. This breaking emerges as an (almost) contact term in the propagator when the Higgs field, which is treated perturbatively, has no vacuum expectation value. In the presence of the vacuum expectation value, however, a completely new situation arises and the breaking becomes intrinsically non-local, though this breaking may still be removed in a suitable continuum limit. This non-local CP breaking is expected to persist for a non-perturbative treatment of the Higgs coupling.

Investigation of gauge-fixed pure U(1) theory at strong coupling

We numerically investigate the phase diagram of pure U(1) gauge theory with gauge fixing at strong gauge coupling. The FM-FMD phase transition, which proved useful in defining Abelian lattice chiral gauge theory, persists also at strong gauge coupling. However, there the transition seems no longer to be continuous. At large gauge couplings we find evidences for confinement.

Families index theory for Overlap lattice Dirac operator. I

The index bundle of the Overlap lattice Dirac operator over the orbit space of lattice gauge fields is introduced and studied. Obstructions to the vanishing of gauge anomalies in the Overlap formulation of lattice chiral gauge theory have a natural description in this context. Our main result is a formula for the topological charge (integrated Chern character) of the index bundle over even-dimensional spheres in the orbit space. It reduces under suitable conditions to the topological charge of the usual (continuum) index bundle in the classical continuum limit (this is announced and sketched here; the details will be given in a forthcoming paper). Thus we see that topology of the index bundle of the Dirac operator over the gauge field orbit space can be captured in a finite-dimensional lattice setting.