Perfect Lattice Topology: The Quantum Rotor as a Test Case

Lattice actions and topological charges that are classically and quantum mechanically perfect (i.e. free of lattice artifacts) are constructed analytically for the quantum rotor. It is demonstrated that the Manton action is classically perfect while the Villain action is quantum perfect. The geometric construction for the topological charge is only perfect at the classical level. The quantum perfect lattice topology associates a topological charge distribution, not just a single charge, with each lattice field configuration. For the quantum rotor with the classically perfect action and topological charge, the remaining cut-off effects are exponentially suppressed.Comment: 12 pages, including two figures. ordinary LaTeX, requires fps.sty; Submitted to Phys. Lett.

Quenched divergences in the deconfined phase of SU(2) gauge theory

The spectrum of the overlap Dirac operator in the deconfined phase of quenched gauge theory is known to have three parts: exact zeros arising from topology, small nonzero eigenvalues that result in a non-zero chiral condensate, and the dense bulk of the spectrum, which is separated from the small eigenvalues by a gap. In this paper, we focus on the small nonzero eigenvalues in an SU(2) gauge field background at $\beta=2.4$ and $N_T=4$. This low-lying spectrum is computed on four different spatial lattices ($12^3$, $14^3$, $16^3$, and $18^3$). As the volume increases, the small eigenvalues become increasingly concentrated near zero in such a way as to strongly suggest that the infinite volume condensate diverges.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures, version to appear in Physical Review

Boundary Limitation of Wavenumbers in Taylor-Vortex Flow

We report experimental results for a boundary-mediated wavenumber-adjustment mechanism and for a boundary-limited wavenumber-band of Taylor-vortex flow (TVF). The system consists of fluid contained between two concentric cylinders with the inner one rotating at an angular frequency $\Omega$. As observed previously, the Eckhaus instability (a bulk instability) is observed and limits the stable wavenumber band when the system is terminated axially by two rigid, non-rotating plates. The band width is then of order $\epsilon^{1/2}$ at small $\epsilon$ ($\epsilon \equiv \Omega/\Omega_c - 1$) and agrees well with calculations based on the equations of motion over a wide $\epsilon$-range. When the cylinder axis is vertical and the upper liquid surface is free (i.e. an air-liquid interface), vortices can be generated or expelled at the free surface because there the phase of the structure is only weakly pinned. The band of wavenumbers over which Taylor-vortex flow exists is then more narrow than the stable band limited by the Eckhaus instability. At small $\epsilon$ the boundary-mediated band-width is linear in $\epsilon$. These results are qualitatively consistent with theoretical predictions, but to our knowledge a quantitative calculation for TVF with a free surface does not exist.Comment: 8 pages incl. 9 eps figures bitmap version of Fig

Light Hadron Spectrum in Quenched Lattice QCD with Staggered Quarks

Without chiral extrapolation, we achieved a realistic nucleon to (\rho)-meson mass ratio of (m_N/m_\rho = 1.23 \pm 0.04 ({\rm statistical}) \pm 0.02 ({\rm systematic})) in our quenched lattice QCD numerical calculation with staggered quarks. The systematic error is mostly from finite-volume effect and the finite-spacing effect is negligible. The flavor symmetry breaking in the pion and (\rho) meson is no longer visible. The lattice cutoff is set at 3.63 (\pm) 0.06 GeV, the spatial lattice volume is (2.59 (\pm) 0.05 fm)(^3), and bare quarks mass as low as 4.5 MeV are used. Possible quenched chiral effects in hadron mass are discussed.Comment: 5 pages and 5 figures, use revtex

Topological Lattice Actions

We consider lattice field theories with topological actions, which are invariant against small deformations of the fields. Some of these actions have infinite barriers separating different topological sectors. Topological actions do not have the correct classical continuum limit and they cannot be treated using perturbation theory, but they still yield the correct quantum continuum limit. To show this, we present analytic studies of the 1-d O(2) and O(3) model, as well as Monte Carlo simulations of the 2-d O(3) model using topological lattice actions. Some topological actions obey and others violate a lattice Schwarz inequality between the action and the topological charge Q. Irrespective of this, in the 2-d O(3) model the topological susceptibility \chi_t = \l/V is logarithmically divergent in the continuum limit. Still, at non-zero distance the correlator of the topological charge density has a finite continuum limit which is consistent with analytic predictions. Our study shows explicitly that some classically important features of an action are irrelevant for reaching the correct quantum continuum limit.Comment: 38 pages, 12 figure

Order a improved renormalization constants

We present non-perturbative results for the constants needed for on-shell $O(a)$ improvement of bilinear operators composed of Wilson fermions. We work at $\beta=6.0$ and 6.2 in the quenched approximation. The calculation is done by imposing axial and vector Ward identities on correlators similar to those used in standard hadron mass calculations. A crucial feature of the calculation is the use of non-degenerate quarks. We also obtain results for the constants needed for off-shell $O(a)$ improvement of bilinears, and for the scale and scheme independent renormalization constants, (Z_A), (Z_V) and (Z_S/Z_P). Several of the constants are determined using a variety of different Ward identities, and we compare their relative efficacies. In this way, we find a method for calculating $c_V$ that gives smaller errors than that used previously. Wherever possible, we compare our results with those of the ALPHA collaboration (who use the Schr\"odinger functional) and with 1-loop tadpole-improved perturbation theory.Comment: 48 pages. Modified "axis" source for figures also included. Typos corrected (version published in Phys. Rev. D

Vacuum structure of CP^N sigma models at theta=pi

We show that parity symmetry is not spontaneously broken in the CP^N sigma model for any value of N when the coefficient of the $\theta$--term becomes $\theta=\pi$ (mod $2\pi$). The result follows from a non-perturbative analysis of the nodal structure of the vacuum functional $\psi_0(z)$. The dynamical role of sphalerons turns out to be very important for the argument. The result introduces severe constraints on the possible critical behavior of the models at $\theta=\pi$ (mod $2\pi$).Comment: 8 pages, revtex, to appear in Phys. Rev. Let

The Schwinger Model with Perfect Staggered Fermions

We construct and test a quasi-perfect lattice action for staggered fermions. The construction starts from free fermions, where we suggest a new blocking scheme, which leads to excellent locality of the perfect action. An adequate truncation preserves a high quality of the free action. An Abelian gauge field is inserted in d=2 by effectively tuning the couplings to a few short-ranged lattice paths, based on the behavior of topological zero modes. We simulate the Schwinger model with this action, applying a new variant of Hybrid Monte Carlo, which damps the computational overhead due to the non-standard couplings. We obtain a tiny ``pion'' mass down to very small \beta, while the ``\eta'' mass follows very closely the prediction of asymptotic scaling. The observation that even short-ranged quasi-perfect actions can yield strong improvement is most relevant in view of QCD.Comment: 30 pages, 16 figures. Following the referee's suggestions, we have incorporated the material of hep-lat/9803018 in this comprehensive pape

Light Hadron Spectrum and Quark Masses from Quenched Lattice QCD

We present details of simulations for the light hadron spectrum in quenched QCD carried out on the CP-PACS parallel computer. Simulations are made with the Wilson quark action and the plaquette gauge action on 32^3x56 - 64^3x112 lattices at four lattice spacings (a \approx 0.1-0.05 fm) and the spatial extent of 3 fm. Hadronic observables are calculated at five quark masses (m_{PS}/m_V \approx 0.75 - 0.4), assuming the u and d quarks being degenerate but treating the s quark separately. We find that the presence of quenched chiral singularities is supported from an analysis of the pseudoscalar meson data. We take m_\pi, m_\rho and m_K (or m_\phi) as input. After chiral and continuum extrapolations, the agreement of the calculated mass spectrum with experiment is at a 10% level. In comparison with the statistical accuracy of 1-3% and systematic errors of at most 1.7% we have achieved, this demonstrates a failure of the quenched approximation for the hadron spectrum: the meson hyperfine splitting is too small, and the octet masses and the decuplet mass splittings are both smaller than experiment. Light quark masses are calculated using two definitions: the conventional one and the one based on the axial-vector Ward identity. The two results converge toward the continuum limit, yielding m_{ud}=4.29(14)^{+0.51}_{-0.79} MeV. The s quark mass depends on the strange hadron mass chosen for input: m_s = 113.8(2.3)^{+5.8}_{-2.9} MeV from m_K and m_s = 142.3(5.8)^{+22.0}_{-0} MeV from m_\phi, indicating again a failure of the quenched approximation. We obtain \Lambda_{\bar{MS}}^{(0)}= 219.5(5.4) MeV. An O(10%) deviation from experiment is observed in the pseudoscalar meson decay constants.Comment: 60 pages, 49 figure

Flavor Singlet Meson Mass in the Continuum Limit in Two-Flavor Lattice QCD

We present results for the mass of the eta-prime meson in the continuum limit for two-flavor lattice QCD, calculated on the CP-PACS computer, using a renormalization-group improved gauge action, and Sheikholeslami and Wohlert's fermion action with tadpole-improved csw. Correlation functions are measured at three values of the coupling constant beta corresponding to the lattice spacing a approx. 0.22, 0.16, 0.11 fm and for four values of the quark mass parameter kappa corresponding to mpi over mrho approx. 0.8, 0.75, 0.7 and 0.6. For each beta, kappa pair, 400-800 gauge configurations are used. The two-loop diagrams are evaluated using a noisy source method. We calculate eta-prime propagators using local sources, and find that excited state contributions are much reduced by smearing. A full analysis for the smeared propagators gives metaprime=0.960(87)+0.036-0.248 GeV, in the continuum limit, where the second error represents the systematic uncertainty coming from varying the functional form for chiral and continuum extrapolations.Comment: 9 pages, 19 figures, 4 table