Multicanonical Cluster Algorithm and the 2-D 7-State Potts Model

I present a hybrid-like two-step algorithm, which combines a microcanonical update of a spin system using demons, with a multicanonical demon refresh. The algorithm is free from the supercritical slowing down that burdens the canonical methods: the exponential increase of the tunnelling time between the metastable states in the first-order phase transitions, when the volume of the system is increased. The demons act as a buffer between the multicanonical heat bath and the spin system, allowing the spin system to be updated with any microcanonical demon procedure, including cluster methods. The cluster algorithm is demonstrated with the 2-dimensional 7-state Potts model, using volumes up to $128^2$. The tunnelling time is found to increase as $L^{1.82}$, where $L$ is the linear dimension of the system.Comment: 14 pages, 8 ps-figures, the flashy one missing to save space+troubles, sorry, the whole thing available from the author. Preprint CERN-TH.6654/9

What's new with the electroweak phase transition?

We review the status of non-perturbative lattice studies of the electroweak phase transition. In the Standard Model, the complete phase diagram has been reliably determined, and the conclusion is that there is no phase transition at all for the experimentally allowed Higgs masses. In the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM), in contrast, there can be a strong first order transition allowing for baryogenesis. Finally, we point out possibilities for future simulations, such as the problem of CP-violation at the MSSM electroweak phase boundary.Comment: LATTICE98(electroweak), 6 pages. List of references update

A Strong Electroweak Phase Transition up to m_H ~ 105 GeV

Non-perturbative lattice simulations have shown that there is no electroweak phase transition in the Standard Model for the allowed Higgs masses, m_H \gsim 75 GeV. In the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model, in contrast, it has been proposed that the transition should exist and even be strong enough for baryogenesis up to m_H ~ 105 GeV, provided that the lightest stop mass is in the range 100...160 GeV. However, this prediction is based on perturbation theory, and suffers from a noticeable gauge parameter and renormalization scale dependence. We have performed large-scale lattice Monte Carlo simulations of the MSSM electroweak phase transition. Extrapolating the results to the infinite volume and continuum limits, we find that the transition is in fact stronger than indicated by 2-loop perturbation theory. This guarantees that the perturbative Higgs mass bound m_H ~ 105 GeV is a conservative one, allows slightly larger stop masses (up to ~ 165 GeV), and provides a strong motivation for further studies of MSSM electroweak baryogenesis.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

3D Physics and the Electroweak Phase Transition: Perturbation Theory

We develop a method for the construction of the effective potential at high temperatures based on the effective field theory approach and renormalization group. It allows one to sum up the leading logarithms in all orders of perturbation theory. The method reproduces the known one-loop and two-loop results in a very simple and economic way and clarifies the issue of the convergence of the perturbation theory. We also discuss the assumptions being made for the determination of the critical temperature of the electroweak phase transition, and analyse different perturbative uncertainties in its determination. These results are then used for the non-perturbative lattice Monte Carlo simulations of the EW phase transition in forthcoming paper.Comment: 44 pages, preprint CERN-TH.6973/9

First order thermal phase transition with 126 GeV Higgs mass

We study the strength of the electroweak phase transition in models with two light Higgs doublets and a light SU(3)_c triplet by means of lattice simulations in a dimensionally reduced effective theory. In the parameter region considered the transition on the lattice is significantly stronger than indicated by a 2-loop perturbative analysis. Within some ultraviolet uncertainties, the finding applies to MSSM with a Higgs mass m_h approximately 126 GeV and shows that the parameter region useful for electroweak baryogenesis is enlarged. In particular (even though only dedicated analyses can quantify the issue), the tension between LHC constraints after the 7 TeV and 8 TeV runs and frameworks where the electroweak phase transition is driven by light stops, seems to be relaxed.Comment: Presented at 31st International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory - LATTICE 201

O(2) symmetry breaking vs. vortex loop percolation

We study with lattice Monte Carlo simulations the relation of global O(2) symmetry breaking in three dimensions to the properties of a geometrically defined vortex loop network. We find that different definitions of constructing a network lead to different results even in the thermodynamic limit, and that with typical definitions the percolation transition does not coincide with the thermodynamic phase transition. These results show that geometrically defined percolation observables need not display universal properties related to the critical behaviour of the system, and do not in general survive in the field theory limit.Comment: 14 pages; references added, version to appear in Phys.Lett.