Plaquette Gauge Action Research Articles

Self-learning Monte Carlo for non-Abelian gauge theory with dynamical fermions

In this paper, we develop the self-learning Monte-Carlo (SLMC) algorithm for non-Abelian gauge theory with dynamical fermions in four dimensions to resolve the autocorrelation problem in lattice QCD. We perform simulations with the dynamical staggered fermions and plaquette gauge action by both in the hybrid Monte-Carlo (HMC) and SLMC for zero and finite temperature to examine the validity of SLMC. We confirm that SLMC can reduce autocorrelation time in non-Abelian gauge theory and reproduce results from HMC. For finite temperature runs, we confirm that SLMC reproduces correct results with HMC, including higher-order moments of the Polyakov loop and the chiral condensate. Besides, our finite temperature calculations indicate that four flavor ${\mathrm{QC}}_{2}\mathrm{D}$ with $\stackrel{^}{m}=0.5$ is likely in the crossover regime in the Colombia plot.

Complex Langevin calculations in QCD at finite density

We demonstrate that the complex Langevin method (CLM) enables calculations in QCD at finite density in a parameter regime in which conventional methods, such as the density of states method and the Taylor expansion method, are not applicable due to the severe sign problem. Here we use the plaquette gauge action with β = 5.7 and four-flavor staggered fermions with degenerate quark mass ma = 0.01 and nonzero quark chemical potential μ. We confirm that a sufficient condition for correct convergence is satisfied for μ/T = 5.2 − 7.2 on a 83 × 16 lattice and μ/T = 1.6 − 9.6 on a 163 × 32 lattice. In particular, the expectation value of the quark number is found to have a plateau with respect to μ with the height of 24 for both lattices. This plateau can be understood from the Fermi distribution of quarks, and its height coincides with the degrees of freedom of a single quark with zero momentum, which is 3 (color) × 4 (flavor) × 2 (spin) = 24. Our results may be viewed as the first step towards the formation of the Fermi sphere, which plays a crucial role in color superconductivity conjectured from effective theories.

Chiral phase structure of three flavor QCD in a background magnetic field

We investigate the chiral phase structure of three flavor QCD in a background $U(1)$ magnetic field using the standard staggered action and the Wilson plaquette gauge action. We perform simulations on lattices with a temporal extent of $N_\tau=4$ and four spatial extents of $N_\sigma = 8,16, 20$ and 24. We choose a smaller-than-physical quark mass in lattice spacing as $am = 0.030$ such that there exists a crossover transition at vanishing magnetic fields, and adopt two values of magnetic field strength in lattice spacing $a \sqrt{ e{B}}\simeq 1.5$ and 2. We find that the transition becomes stronger in the presence of a background magnetic field, and turns into a first order as seen from the volume scaling of the order parameter susceptibility as well as the metastable states in the time history of the chiral condensate. On the other hand, the chiral condensate and transition temperature always increase with $B$ even within the regime of a first order phase transition. This suggests that the discrepancy in the behavior of chiral condensates and transition temperature as a function of $B$ between earlier lattice studies using larger-than-physical pion masses with standard staggered fermions and those using physical pions with improved staggered fermions is mainly due to lattice cutoff effects.

Deconfinement transition line with the complex Langevin equation up to μ/T∼5

We study the deconfinement transition line in QCD for quark chemical potentials up to $\mu_q \sim 5 T$ ($\mu_B \sim 15 T$). To circumvent the sign problem we use the complex Langevin equation with gauge cooling. The plaquette gauge action is used with two flavors of naive Wilson fermions at a relatively heavy pion mass of roughly 1.3 GeV. A quadratic dependence describes the transition line well on the whole chemical potential range.

Lattice QCD with N f = 2 + 1 + 1 domain-wall quarks

We perform hybrid Monte Carlo simulation of (2+1+1)-flavors lattice QCD with the optimal domain-wall fermion (which has the effective 4D Dirac operator exactly equal to the Zolotarev optimal rational approximation of the overlap Dirac operator). The gauge ensemble is generated on the $32^3 \times 64 $ lattice with the extent $ N_s = 16 $ in the fifth dimension, and with the plaquette gauge action at $ \beta = 6/g^2 = 6.20 $. The lattice spacing ($ a \simeq 0.063 $ fm) is determined by the Wilson flow, using the value $ \sqrt{t_0} = 0.1416(8) $ fm obtained by the MILC Collaboration for the $(2+1+1)$-flavors QCD. The masses of $s$ and $c$ quarks are fixed by the masses of the vector mesons $ \phi(1020) $ and $ J/\psi(3097) $ respectively; while the mass of the $u/d$ quarks is heavier than their physical values, with the unitary pion mass $ M_\pi \simeq 280$ MeV (and $ M_\pi L \simeq 3 $). We compute the point-to-point quark propagators, and measure the time-correlation functions of meson and baryon interpolators. Our results of the mass spectra of the lowest-lying hadrons containing $ s $ and $ c $ quarks are in good agreement with the high energy experimental values, together with the predictions of the charmed baryons which have not been observed in experiments.

The Yang-Mills gradient flow and SU(3) gauge theory with 12 massless fundamental fermions in a colour-twisted box

We perform the step-scaling investigation of the running coupling constant, using the gradient-flow scheme, in SU(3) gauge theory with twelve massless fermions in the fundamental representation. The Wilson plaquette gauge action and massless unimproved staggered fermions are used in the simulations. Our lattice data are prepared at high accuracy, such that the statistical error for the renormalised coupling, g_GF, is at the subpercentage level. To investigate the reliability of the continuum extrapolation, we employ two different lattice discretisations to obtain g_GF. For our simulation setting, the corresponding gauge-field averaging radius in the gradient flow has to be almost half of the lattice size, in order to have this extrapolation under control. We can determine the renormalisation group evolution of the coupling up to g^2_GF ~ 6, before the onset of the bulk phase structure. In this infrared regime, the running of the coupling is significantly slower than the two-loop perturbative prediction, although we cannot draw definite conclusion regarding possible infrared conformality of this theory. Furthermore, we comment on the issue regarding the continuum extrapolation near an infrared fixed point. In addition to adopting the fit ansatz a'la Symanzik for performing this task, we discuss a possible alternative procedure inspired by properties derived from low-energy scale invariance at strong coupling. Based on this procedure, we propose a finite-size scaling method for the renormalised coupling as a means to search for infrared fixed point. Using this method, it can be shown that the behaviour of the theory around g^2_GF ~ 6 is still not governed by possible infrared conformality.

Decay constants of pseudoscalar D-mesons in lattice QCD with domain-wall fermion

We present the first study of the masses and decay constants of the pseudoscalar D mesons in two flavors lattice QCD with domain-wall fermion. The gauge ensembles are generated on the 243×48 lattice with the extent Ns=16 in the fifth dimension, and the plaquette gauge action at β=6.10, for three sea-quark masses with corresponding pion masses in the range 260–475 MeV. We compute the point-to-point quark propagators, and measure the time-correlation functions of the pseudoscalar and vector mesons. The inverse lattice spacing is determined by the Wilson flow, while the strange and the charm quark masses by the masses of the vector mesons ϕ(1020) and J/ψ(3097) respectively. Using heavy meson chiral perturbation theory (HMChPT) to extrapolate to the physical pion mass, we obtain fD=202.3(2.2)(2.6) MeV and fDs=258.7(1.1)(2.9) MeV.

Heavy quarkonium potential from Bethe-Salpeter wave function on the lattice

We propose a novel method for the determination of the interquark potential together with quark "kinetic mass'' $m_Q$ from the equal-time $Q\bar{Q}$ Bethe-Salpeter (BS) amplitude in lattice QCD. Our approach allows us to calculate spin-dependent $Q\bar{Q}$ potentials, e.g. the spin-spin potential, as well. In order to investigate several systematic uncertainties on such $Q\bar{Q}$ potentials, we carry out lattice QCD simulations using quenched gauge configurations generated with the single plaquette gauge action with three different lattice spacings, $a \approx$ 0.093, 0.068 and 0.047 fm, and two different physical volumes, $L \approx$ 2.2 and 3.0 fm. For heavy quarks, we employ the relativistic heavy quark (RHQ) action which can control large discretization errors introduced by large quark mass $m_Q$. The spin-independent central $Q\bar{Q}$ potential for the charmonium system yields the "Coulomb plus linear'' behavior with good scaling and small volume dependence. We explore the quark mass dependence over the wide mass range from the charm to beyond the bottom region, and then demonstrate that the spin-independent central $Q\bar{Q}$ potential in the $m_Q \to \infty$ limit is fairly consistent with the static $Q\bar{Q}$ potential obtained from Wilson loops. The spin-spin potential at finite quark mass provides a repulsive interaction with a finite range, which becomes narrower as the quark mass increases. We also discuss the applicability of the $1/m_Q$ expansion approach for the spin-spin potential.

Properties of the twisted Polyakov loop coupling and the infrared fixed point in the SU(3) gauge theories

We report the nonperturbative behavior of the twisted Polyakov loop (TPL) coupling constant for the SU(3) gauge theories defined by the ratio of Polyakov loop correlators in finite volume with twisted boundary condition. We reveal the vacuum structures and the phase structure for the lattice gauge theory with the twisted boundary condition. Carrying out the numerical simulations, we determine the nonperturbative running coupling constant in this renormalization scheme for the quenched QCD and Nf=12 SU(3) gauge theories. At first, we study the quenched QCD theory using the plaquette gauge action. The TPL coupling constant has a fake fixed point in the confinement phase. We discuss this fake fixed point of the TPL scheme and obtain the nonperturbative running coupling constant in the deconfinement phase, where the magnitude of the Polyakov loop shows the nonzero values. We also investigate the system coupled to fundamental fermions. Since we use the naive staggered fermion with the twisted boundary condition in our simulation, only multiples of 12 are allowed for the number of flavors. According to the perturbative two loop analysis, the Nf=12 SU(3) gauge theory might have a conformal fixed point in the infrared region. However, the recent lattice studies show controversial results for the existence of the fixed point. We point out possible problems in previous works, and present our careful study. Finally, we find the infrared fixed point (IRFP) and discuss the robustness of the nontrivial IRFP of many flavor system under the change of the analysis method. A part of preliminary results was reported in the proceedings [1, 2] and the letter paper [3]. In this paper we include a review of these results and give a final conclusion for the existence of IRFP of SU(3) Nf = 12 massless theory using the updated data.

Parameters of heavy quark effective theory from N f = 2 lattice QCD

Abstract We report on a non-perturbative determination of the parameters of the lattice Heavy Quark Effective Theory (HQET) Lagrangian and of the time component of the heavy-light axial-vector current with N f = 2 flavors of massless dynamical quarks. The effective theory is considered at the 1/m h order, and the heavy mass m h covers a range from slightly above the charm to beyond the beauty region. These HQET parameters are needed to compute, for example, the b-quark mass, the heavy-light spectrum and decay constants in the static approximation and to order 1/m h in HQET. The determination of the parameters is done non-perturbatively. The computation reported in this paper uses the plaquette gauge action and two different static actions for the heavy quark described by HQET. For the light-quark action we choose non-perturbatively O(a)-improved Wilson fermions.

Hadron-hadron interaction from SU(2) lattice QCD

We evaluate interhadron interactions in two-color lattice QCD from Bethe-Salpeter amplitudes on the Euclidean lattice. The simulations are performed in quenched SU(2) QCD with the plaquette gauge action at $\ensuremath{\beta}=2.45$ and the Wilson quark action. We concentrate on $S$-wave scattering states of two scalar diquarks. Evaluating different flavor combinations with various quark masses, we try to find out the ingredients in hadronic interactions. Between two scalar diquarks ($uC{\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{5}d$, the lightest baryon in SU(2) system), we observe repulsion in short-range region, even though present quark masses are not very light. We define and evaluate the quark-exchange part in the interaction, which is induced by adding quark-exchange diagrams, or equivalently, by introducing Pauli-blocking among some of quarks. The repulsive force in short-distance region arises only from the quark-exchange part and disappears when quark-exchange diagrams are omitted. We find that the strength of repulsion grows in light quark-mass regime, and its quark-mass dependence is similar to or slightly stronger than that of the color-magnetic interaction by one-gluon-exchange (OGE) processes. It is qualitatively consistent with the constituent-quark-model picture that a color-magnetic interaction among quarks is the origin of repulsion. We also find a universal long-range attractive force, which enters in any flavor channels of two scalar diquarks and whose interaction range and strength are quark-mass independent. The weak quark-mass dependence of interaction ranges in each component implies that meson-exchange contributions are small and subdominant, and the other contributions, e.g., flavor-exchange processes, color-Coulomb, or color-magnetic interactions, are considered to be predominant, in the quark-mass range we evaluated.

HQET at order 1/m: I. Non-perturbative parameters in the quenched approximation

We determine non-perturbatively the parameters of the lattice HQET Lagrangian and those of the time component of the heavy-light axial-vector current in the quenched approximation. The HQET expansion includes terms of order 1/m b. Our results allow to compute, for example, the heavy-light spectrum and B-meson decay constants in the static approximation and to order 1/m b in HQET. The determination of the parameters is separated into universal and non-universal parts. The universal results can be used to determine the parameters for various discretizations. The computation reported in this paper uses the plaquette gauge action and the “HYP1/2” action for the b-quark described by HQET. The parameters of the current also depend on the light-quark action, for which we choose non-perturbatively O(a)-improved Wilson fermions.

Symanzik improvement of lattice QCD with four flavors of Wilson quarks

We have determined the non-perturbative O ( a ) -improvement coefficient c sw for four flavors of Wilson quarks with the plaquette gauge action in a range of β ⩾ 5.0 . The data are fitted with several Padé approximation formulae to get an impression of the stability. A small extrapolation below β = 5.0 seems acceptable.

New scheme for the running coupling constant in gauge theories using Wilson loops

We propose a new renormalization scheme of the running coupling constant in general gauge theories using the Wilson loops. The renormalized coupling constant is obtained from the Creutz ratio in lattice simulations and the corresponding perturbative coefficient at the leading order. The latter can be calculated by adopting the zeta-function resummation techniques. We perform a benchmark test of our scheme in quenched QCD with the plaquette gauge action. The running of the coupling constant is determined by applying the step-scaling procedure. Using several methods to improve the statistical accuracy, we show that the running coupling constant can be determined in a wide range of energy scales with relatively small number of gauge configurations.

Search for the charmonia dissociation in lattice QCD

Dissociation of charmonia in hot QCD is studied on a quenched anisotropic lattice using standard plaquette gauge action and O(a) improved Wilson fermion action. Simulations are carried out at temperatures in the range 0.88 TC to 2.3 TC. We calculate effective masses and Bethe–Salpeter wavefunctions for the ground state (1S, 1P) and some excited states (2S, 2P) with variational analysis. To distinguish between bound states and scattering states, we apply two methods: first, we compare effective masses for charmonium correlation functions under different spatial boundary conditions. Because the scattering states are sensitive to the boundary conditions, finite volume effects are expected when a charmonium dissociates. Second, we study if the wavefunctions show a sign of scattering states which will be characterized by a broad wavefunction. We find no clear evidence of dissociation for the charmonium states up to 2.3 TC so far.

Hyperon–nucleon force from lattice QCD

We calculate potentials between a proton and a Ξ0 (hyperon with strangeness −2) through the equal-time Bethe–Salpeter wave function, employing quenched lattice QCD simulations with the plaquette gauge action and the Wilson quark action on (4.5 fm)4 lattice at the lattice spacing a≃0.14 fm. The ud quark mass in our study corresponds to mπ≃0.37 and 0.51 GeV, while the s quark mass corresponds to the physical value of mK. The central pΞ0 potential has a strong (weak) repulsive core in the S01 (S13) channel for r≲0.6 fm, while the potential has attractive well at medium and long distances (0.6 fm≲r≲1.2 fm) in both channels. The sign of the pΞ0 scattering length and its quark mass dependence indicate a net attraction in both channels at low energies.

Automatic generation of Feynman rules in the Schrödinger functional

We provide an algorithm to generate vertices for the Schrödinger functional with an abelian background gauge field. The background field has a non-trivial color structure, therefore we mainly focus on a manipulation of the color matrix part. We propose how to implement the algorithm especially in python code. By using python outputs produced by the code, we also show how to write a numerical expression of vertices in the time-momentum as well as the coordinate space into a Feynman diagram calculation code. As examples of the applications of the algorithm, we provide some one-loop results, ratios of the Λ parameters between the plaquette gauge action and the improved gauge actions composed from six-link loops (rectangular, chair and parallelogram), the determination of the O( a) boundary counter term to this order, and the perturbative cutoff effects of the step scaling function of the Schrödinger functional coupling constant.

I=2two-pion wave function and scattering phase shift

We calculate a two-pion wave function for the $I=2$ $S$-wave two-pion system with a finite scattering momentum and estimate the interaction range between two pions, which allows us to examine the validity of a necessary condition for the finite size formula presented by Rummukainen and Gottlieb. We work in the quenched approximation employing the plaquette gauge action for gluons and the improved Wilson action for quarks at $1/a=1.63\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{GeV}$ on the ${32}^{3}\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}120$ lattice. The quark masses are chosen to give ${m}_{\ensuremath{\pi}}=0.420$, 0.488, and 0.587 GeV. We find that the energy dependence of the interaction range is small and the necessary condition is satisfied for our range of the quark mass and the scattering momentum, $k\ensuremath{\le}0.16\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{GeV}$. We also find that the scattering phase shift can be obtained with a smaller statistical error from the two-pion wave function than from the two-pion time correlator.

Nuclear Force from Lattice QCD

The nucleon-nucleon (NN) potential is studied by lattice QCD simulations in the quenched approximation, using the plaquette gauge action and the Wilson quark action on a 32(4) [approximately (4.4 fm)(4)] lattice. A NN potential V(NN)(r) is defined from the equal-time Bethe-Salpeter amplitude with a local interpolating operator for the nucleon. By studying the NN interaction in the (1)S(0) and (3)S(1) channels, we show that the central part of V(NN)(r) has a strong repulsive core of a few hundred MeV at short distances (r approximately < 0.5 fm) surrounded by an attractive well at medium and long distances. These features are consistent with the known phenomenological features of the nuclear force.

Numerical simulations with two flavours of twisted-mass Wilson quarks and DBW2 gauge action

Discretisation errors in two-flavour lattice QCD with Wilson-quarks and DBW2 gauge action are investigated by comparing numerical simulation data at two values of the bare gauge coupling. Both non-zero and zero twisted mass values are considered. The results, including also data from simulations using the Wilson plaquette gauge action, are compared to next-to-leading order chiral perturbation theory formulas.