Monopole Percolation and The Universality Class of the Chiral Transition in Four Flavor Noncompact Lattice QED

We simulate four flavor noncompact lattice QED using the Hybrid Monte Carlo algorithm on $10^4$ and $16^4$ lattices. Measurements of the monopole susceptibility and the percolation order parameter indicate a transition at $\beta = {1/e^2} = .205(5)$ with critical behavior in the universality class of four dimensional percolation. We present accurate chiral condensate measurements and monitor finite size effects carefully. The chiral condensate data supports the existence of a power-law transition at $\beta = .205$ in the same universality class as the chiral transition in the two flavor model. The resulting equation of state predicts the mass ratio $m_\pi^2/m_\sigma^2$ in good agreement with spectrum calculations while the hypothesis of a logarithmically improved mean field theory fails qualitatively.Comment: 17 pages, 10 figure

Large N Lattice QED

We study the $\beta, N$ critical behaviour of non compact QED with $N$ species of light fermions, using a method we have proposed for unquenched simulations. We find that there exist two phase transition lines: one, second order, and the other, first order, that approaches asymptotically the $\beta=0$ axis. These two lines have different physical origin, the second one being entirely due to fermions effects. We discuss the effect of the approximation used, in terms of an expansion of the effective action in powers of $N$, and conclude that the general features should not be affected by this approximation.Comment: 9 pages. LNF 92/110

The Continuum Limit of Non Compact QED

Since four-fermion operators in strongly coupled $QED$ are nonperturbatively renormalizable, we analyze here the phase diagram and critical behaviour of the Gauged Nambu-Jona Lasinio model. Our mean field approximation relates the critical exponents along the continuous phase transition line with the mass dependence of the chiral condensate in the Coulomb phase of standard noncompact $QED$. The numerical results for noncompact $QED$ strongly suggest non mean field exponents along the critical line.Comment: Presented at Lattice '95. Figures on reques

Four - Fermi Theories in Fewer Than Four Dimensions

Four-fermi models in dimensionality $2<d<4$ exhibit an ultra-violet stable renormalization group fixed point at a strong value of the coupling constant where chiral symmetry is spontaneously broken. The resulting field theory describes relativistic fermions interacting non-trivially via exchange of scalar bound states. We calculate the $O(1/N_f)$ corrections to this picture, where $N_f$ is the number of fermion species, for a variety of models and confirm their renormalizability to this order. A connection between renormalizability and the hyperscaling relations between the theory's critical exponents is made explicit. We present results of extensive numerical simulations of the simplest model for $d=3$, performed using the hybrid Monte Carlo algorithm on lattice sizes ranging from $8^3$ to $24^3$. For $N_f=12$ species of massless fermions we confirm the existence of a second order phase transition where chiral symmetry is spontaneously broken. Using both direct measurement and finite size scaling arguments we estimate the critical exponents $\beta$, $\gamma$, $\nu$ and $\delta$. We also investigate symmetry restoration at non-zero temperature, and the scalar two-point correlation function in the vicinity of the bulk transition. All our results are in excellent agreement with analytic predictions, and support the contention that the $1/N_f$ expansion is accurate for this class of models.Comment: CERN-TH.6557/92 ILL-(TH)-92-\# 19, 60 pages, 18 figures (not included