High-accuracy two-loop computation of the critical mass for Wilson fermions

We test an algebraic algorithm based on the coordinate-space method, evaluating with high accuracy the critical mass for Wilson fermions in lattice QCD at two loops. We test the results by using different types of infrared regularization.Comment: Lattice2001(improvement): 3 page

The density of states in gauge theories

The density of states is calculated for a SU(2) and a compact U(1) lattice gauge theory using a modified version of the Wang-Landau algorithm. We find that the density of states of the SU(2) gauge theory can be reliably calculated over a range of 120,000 orders of magnitude for lattice sizes as big as 20^4. We demonstrate the potential of the algorithm by reproducing the SU(2) average action, its specific heat and the critical couplings of the weak first order transition in U(1).Comment: 4 pages, 6 figure

Orientifold Planar Equivalence: The Quenched Meson Spectrum

A numerical study of Orientifold Planar Equivalence is performed in SU(N) Yang-Mills theories for N=2,3,4,6. Quenched meson masses are extracted in the antisymmetric, symmetric and adjoint representations for the pseudoscalar and vector channels. An extrapolation of the vector mass as a function of the pseudoscalar mass to the large-N limit shows that the numerical results agree within errors for the three theories, as predicted by Orientifold Planar Equivalence. As a byproduct of the extrapolation, the size of the corrections up to O(1/N^3) are evaluated. A crucial prerequisite for the extrapolation is the determination of an analytical relationship between the corrections in the symmetric and in the antisymmetric representations, order by order in a 1/N expansion.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures. Talk given by B. Lucini at the XXVIII International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory (Lattice 2010), Villasimius, Italy, June 201

The infrared dynamics of Minimal Walking Technicolor

We study the gauge sector of Minimal Walking Technicolor, which is an SU(2) gauge theory with nf=2 flavors of Wilson fermions in the adjoint representation. Numerical simulations are performed on lattices Nt x Ns^3, with Ns ranging from 8 to 16 and Nt=2Ns, at fixed \beta=2.25, and varying the fermion bare mass m0, so that our numerical results cover the full range of fermion masses from the quenched region to the chiral limit. We present results for the string tension and the glueball spectrum. A comparison of mesonic and gluonic observables leads to the conclusion that the infrared dynamics is given by an SU(2) pure Yang-Mills theory with a typical energy scale for the spectrum sliding to zero with the fermion mass. The typical mesonic mass scale is proportional to, and much larger than this gluonic scale. Our findings are compatible with a scenario in which the massless theory is conformal in the infrared. An analysis of the scaling of the string tension with the fermion mass towards the massless limit allows us to extract the chiral condensate anomalous dimension \gamma*, which is found to be \gamma*=0.22+-0.06.Comment: 29 pages, 16 figure

Finite volume effects in SU(2) with two adjoint fermions

Many evidences from lattice simulations support the idea that SU(2) with two Dirac flavors in the adjoint representation (also called Minimal Walking Technicolor) is IR conformal. A possible way to see this is through the behavior of the spectrum of the mass-deformed theory. When fermions are massive, a mass-gap is generated and the theory is confined. IR-conformality is recovered in the chiral limit: masses of particles vanish in the chiral limit, while their ratios stay finite. In order to trust this analysis one has to relay on the infinite volume extrapolation. We will discuss the finite volume effects on the mesonic spectrum, investigated by varying the size of the lattice and by changing the boundary conditions for the fields.Comment: Proceedings of Lattice 2011, 7 pages, 4 figure

Confinement-deconfinement and universal string effects from random percolation

The 't Hooft criterion leading to confinement out of a percolating cluster of central vortices suggests defining a novel three-dimensional gauge theory directly on a random percolation process. Wilson loop is viewed as a counter of topological linking with the random clusters. Beyond the percolation threshold large Wilson loops decay with an area law and show the universal shape effects due to flux tube fluctuations. Wilson loop correlators define a non-trivial glueball spectrum. The crumbling of the percolating cluster when one periodic direction narrows accounts for the finite temperature deconfinement, which belongs to 2D percolation universality class.Comment: 3 pages, Lattice2003(topology