The Ising model universality of the electroweak theory

Lattice simulations have shown that the first order electroweak phase transition turns into a regular cross-over at a critical Higgs mass m_{H,c}. We have developed a method which enables us to make a detailed investigation of the critical properties of the electroweak theory at m_{H,c}. We find that the transition falls into the 3d Ising universality class. The continuum limit extrapolation of the critical Higgs mass is m_{H,c} = 72(2) GeV, which implies that there is no electroweak phase transition in the Standard Model.Comment: 3 pages, contribution to LATTICE98(electroweak

Critical behaviour of the Ginzburg-Landau model in the type II region

We study the critical behaviour of the three-dimensional U(1) gauge+Higgs theory (Ginzburg-Landau model) at large scalar self-coupling \lambda (``type II region'') by measuring various correlation lengths as well as the Abrikosov-Nielsen-Olesen vortex tension. We identify different scaling regions as the transition is approached from below, and carry out detailed comparisons with the criticality of the 3d O(2) symmetric scalar theory.Comment: Lattice2001(higgssusy), 3 page

Two loop renormalization of the magnetic coupling in hot QCD

Well above the critical temperature hot QCD is described by 3d electrostatic QCD with gauge coupling $g_E$ and Debye mass $m_E$. We integrate out the Debye scales to two loop accuracy and find for the gauge coupling in the resulting magnetostatic action $g_M^2=g_E^2(1-{1\over{48}}{g_E^2N\over{\pi m_E}} -{17\over{4608}}({g_E^2N\over{\pi m_E}})^2+O(({g_E^2N\over{\pi m_E}})^3))$.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure. Cosmetic changes. To be published in Phys. Lett.

The non-perturbative QCD Debye mass from a Wilson line operator

According to a proposal by Arnold and Yaffe, the non-perturbative g^2T-contribution to the Debye mass in the deconfined QCD plasma phase can be determined from a single Wilson line operator in the three-dimensional pure SU(3) gauge theory. We extend a previous SU(2) measurement of this quantity to the physical SU(3) case. We find a numerical coefficient which is more accurate and smaller than that obtained previously with another method, but still very large compared with the naive expectation: the correction is larger than the leading term up to T ~ 10^7 T_c, corresponding to g^2 ~ 0.4. At moderate temperatures T ~ 2 T_c, a consistent picture emerges where the Debye mass is m_D ~ 6T, the lightest gauge invariant screening mass in the system is ~ 3T, and the purely magnetic operators couple dominantly to a scale ~ 6T. Electric (~ gT) and magnetic (~ g^2T) scales are therefore strongly overlapping close to the phase transition, and the colour-electric fields play an essential role in the dynamics.Comment: 10 pages; typos corrected, to appear in Phys.Lett.

Where does the hot electroweak phase transition end?

We give the nonperturbative phase diagram of the four-dimensional hot electroweak phase transition. A systematic extrapolation $a \to 0$ is done. Our results show that the finite temperature SU(2)-Higgs phase transition is of first order for Higgs-boson masses $m_H<66.5 \pm 1.4$ GeV. The full four-dimensional result agrees completely with that of the dimensional reduction approximation. This fact is of particular importance, because it indicates that the fermionic sector of the Standard Model (SM) can be included perturbatively. We obtain that the Higgs-boson endpoint mass in the SM is $72.4 \pm 1.7$ GeV. Taking into account the LEP Higgs-boson mass lower bound excludes any electroweak phase transition in the SM.Comment: LATTICE98(electroweak), presented by Z. Fodor. Latex, 3 pages, 3 figu res. Comment line change

Gauge-invariant strings in the 3d U(1)+Higgs theory

We describe how the strings, which are classical solutions of the continuum three-dimensional U(1)+Higgs theory, can be studied on the lattice. The effect of an external magnetic field is also discussed and the first results on the string free energy are presented. It is shown that the string free energy can be used as an order parameter when the scalar self-coupling is large and the transition is continuous.Comment: LATTICE98(higgs); missing author added, no changes to tex

An all-order discontinuity at the electroweak phase transition

We define a non-local gauge-invariant Green's function which can distinguish between the symmetric (confinement) and broken (Higgs) phases of the hot SU(2)xU(1) electroweak theory to all orders in the perturbative expansion. It is related to the coupling of the Chern-Simons number to a massless Abelian gauge field. The result implies either that there is a way to distinguish between the phases, even though the macroscopic thermodynamical properties of the system have been observed to be smoothly connected, or that the perturbative Coleman-Hill theorem on which the argument is based, is circumvented by non-perturbative effects. We point out that this question could in principle be studied with three-dimensional lattice simulations.Comment: 9 pages; misprint corrected, reference and small clarifications added; to appear in Phys.Lett.

Four-loop logarithms in 3d gauge + Higgs theory

We discuss the logarithmic contributions to the vacuum energy density of the three-dimensional SU(3) + adjoint Higgs theory in its symmetric phase, and relate them to numerical Monte Carlo simulations. We also comment on the implications of these results for perturbative and non-perturbative determinations of the pressure of finite-temperature QCD.Comment: 3 pages, Lattice2002(nonzerot

Pressure of the standard model

We review the computation of the thermodynamic pressure of the entire minimal standard model to three loop order, performed in hep-ph/0510375 and hep-ph/0512177.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, to appear in the proceedings of Strong and Electroweak Matter 200

Results from 3D Electroweak Phase Transition Simulations

We study the phase transition in SU(2)-Higgs model on the lattice using the 3D dimensionally reduced formalism. The 3D formalism enables us to obtain highly accurate Monte Carlo results, which we extrapolate both to the infinite volume and to the continuum limit. Our formalism also provides for a well-determined and unique way to relate the results to the perturbation theory. We measure the critical temperature, latent heat and interface tension for Higgs masses up to 70 GeV.Comment: 4 pages uuencoded postscript, contribution to LATTICE 9