Rigid unit modes in tetrahedral crystals

The 'rigid unit mode' (RUM) model requires unit blocks, in our case tetrahedra of SiO_4 groups, to be rigid within first order of the displacements of the O-ions. The wave-vectors of the lattice vibrations, which obey this rigidity, are determined analytically. Lattices with inversion symmetry yield generically surfaces of RUMs in reciprocal space, whereas lattices without this symmetry yield generically lines of RUMs. Only in exceptional cases as in beta-quartz a surface of RUMs appears, if inversion symmetry is lacking. The occurence of planes and bending surfaces, straight and bent lines is discussed. Explicit calculations are performed for five modifications of SiO_2 crystals.Comment: 18 pages, 6 figures, improved notatio

Running coupling and mass anomalous dimension of SU(3) gauge theory with two flavors of symmetric-representation fermions

We have measured the running coupling constant of SU(3) gauge theory coupled to Nf=2 flavors of symmetric representation fermions, using the Schrodinger functional scheme. Our lattice action is defined with hypercubic smeared links which, along with the larger lattice sizes, bring us closer to the continuum limit than in our previous study. We observe that the coupling runs more slowly than predicted by asymptotic freedom, but we are unable to observe fixed point behavior before encountering a first order transition to a strong coupling phase. This indicates that the infrared fixed point found with the thin-link action is a lattice artifact. The slow running of the gauge coupling permits an accurate determination of the mass anomalous dimension for this theory, which we observe to be small, gamma_m < 0.6, over the range of couplings we can reach. We also study the bulk and finite-temperature phase transitions in the strong coupling region.Comment: 17 pages, 16 figures. Substantial modifications to explain why the fat-link result for the beta function supersedes our thin-link result; also updated the phase diagram to reflect additional numerical work. Added references. Final versio

An Introduction to Finite Temperature Quantum Chromodynamics on the Lattice

In these lectures, we introduce finite temperature QCD on the lattice to non-experts of the subject. We first formulate lattice QCD both at zero and finite temperatures. Then a section is devoted to the topic of improved lattice actions which are becoming an essential ingredient of precision studies of QCD on the lattice. We then discuss about finite temperature SU(3) gauge theory, i.e. QCD without dynamical quarks (quenched QCD). Finally, we report recent status of studies in full QCD taking into account the effects of dynamical quarks.Comment: Lectures presented at the 1997 Yukawa International Seminar (YKIS'97) on ``Non-Perturbative QCD --- Structure of the QCD Vacuum ---'', YITP, Kyoto, Japan, 2--12 Dec. 1997. To be published in the proceedings [Prog. Theor. Phys. Suppl.

Massless Spectra and Gauge Couplings at One-Loop on Non-Factorisable Toroidal Orientifolds

So-called `non-factorisable' toroidal orbifolds can be rewritten in a factorised form as a product of three two-tori by imposing an additional shift symmetry. This finding of Blaszczyk et al., arXiv:1111.5852, provides a new avenue to Conformal Field Theory methods, by which the vector-like massless matter spectrum - and thereby the type of gauge group enhancement on orientifold invariant fractional D6-branes - and the one-loop corrections to the gauge couplings in Type IIA orientifold theories can be computed in addition to the well-established chiral matter spectrum derived from topological intersection numbers among three-cycles. We demonstrate this framework for the $\mathbb{Z}_4 \times \Omega\mathcal{R}$ orientifolds on the $A_3 \times A_1 \times B_2$-type torus. As observed before for factorisable backgrounds, also here the one-loop correction can drive the gauge groups to stronger coupling as demonstrated by means of a four-generation Pati-Salam example.Comment: 65 pages, 10 figures; v3: matches published version (ref + explanatory remarks added