Finite-temperature study of eight-flavor SU(3) gauge theory

We present new lattice investigations of finite-temperature transitions for SU(3) gauge theory with Nf=8 light flavors. Using nHYP-smeared staggered fermions we are able to explore renormalized couplings $g^2 \lesssim 20$ on lattice volumes as large as $48^3 \times 24$. Finite-temperature transitions at non-zero fermion mass do not persist in the chiral limit, instead running into a strongly coupled lattice phase as the mass decreases. That is, finite-temperature studies with this lattice action require even larger $N_T > 24$ to directly confirm spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking.Comment: Contribution to the Sakata Memorial KMI Workshop on "Origin of Mass and Strong Coupling Gauge Theories" (SCGT15), 3--6 March 2015, Nagoya Universit

Light scalar spectrum in extra-dimensional gauge theories

The phase diagram of five-dimensional SU(2) gauge theories with one compactified dimension on anisotropic lattices has a rich structure. In this contribution we show how to control non-perturbatively the scale hierarchy between the cut-off and the compactification scale in the bare parameter space. There exists a set of strong bare couplings where the the five-dimensional lattice theory can be described by an effective four-dimensional theory with a scalar field in the adjoint representation. We present a detailed study of the light scalar spectrum as it arises from the non-perturbative dynamics of the full five-dimensional lattice theory. We also investigate the mixing with scalar glueball states in the attempt to further establish the extra-dimensional nature of light scalar states.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures. To appear in the proceedings of the 30th International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, June 24-29 201