119244858
Anderson localization through Polyakov loops: Lattice evidence and random matrix model
We investigate low-lying fermion modes in $SU(2)$ gauge theory at temperatures above the phase transition. Both staggered and overlap spectra reveal transitions from chaotic (random matrix) to integrable (Poissonian) behavior accompanied by an increasing localization of the eigenmodes. We show that the latter are trapped by local Polyakov loop fluctuations. Islands of such ``wrong'' Polyakov loops can therefore be viewed as defects leading to Anderson localization in gauge theories. We find strong similarities in the spatial profile of these localized staggered and overlap eigenmodes. We discuss possible interpretations of this finding and present a sparse random matrix model that reproduces these features.
125829293
A comprehensive search for the theta+ pentaquark on the lattice
We study spin 1/2 isoscalar and isovector, even and odd parity candidates for the Θ+(1540) pentaquark particle using large scale lattice QCD simulations. Previous lattice works led to inconclusive results because so far it has not been possible to unambiguously identify the known scattering spectrum and tell whether additionally a genuine pentaquark state also exists. Here we carry out this analysis using several possible wave functions (operators), including spatially non-trivial ones with unit orbital angular momentum. The cross correlator matrix we compute is 14×14 with 60 non-vanishing elements. We can clearly distinguish the lowest scattering state(s) in both parity channels up to above the expected location of the pentaquark, but we find no trace of the latter. We conclude that there are most probably no pentaquark bound states at our quark masses, corresponding to mπ =400–630 MeV. However, we cannot rule out the existence of a pentaquark state at the physical quark masses or pentaquarks with a more exotic wave function.
125995373
The topological susceptibility with dynamical overlap fermions
119392327
Improving the chiral properties of lattice fermions
The chiral properties of lattice fermions can be improved by altering either their fermion-gauge coupling or the pure gauge part of the action (or both). 
Using both perturbation theory and nonperturbative simulation, we compare a simple alteration of the gauge action (which encompasses the Wilson, Symanzik, Iwasaki, and DBW2 actions), and HYP-blocked links in the fermion action. Perturbative tests include calculations of the potential, flavor-changing quark scattering amplitudes, and matching factors for currents. Non-perturbative tests include the potential, measurements of flavor symmetry breaking for staggered fermions, the behavior of topological objects, and properties of overlap actions. Our results display the bad properties of these actions as well as their good ones.
14910940
Anderson localization in quark-gluon plasma.
At low temperature the low end of the QCD Dirac spectrum is well described by chiral random matrix theory. In contrast, at high temperature there is no similar statistical description of the spectrum. We show that at high temperature the lowest part of the spectrum consists of a band of statistically uncorrelated eigenvalues obeying essentially Poisson statistics and the corresponding eigenvectors are extremely localized. Going up in the spectrum the spectral density rapidly increases and the eigenvectors become more and more delocalized. At the same time the spectral statistics gradually crosses over to the bulk statistics expected from the corresponding random matrix ensemble. This phenomenon is reminiscent of Anderson localization in disordered conductors. Our findings are based on staggered Dirac spectra in quenched lattice simulations with the SU(2) gauge group.
15393945
Gapless Dirac spectrum at high temperature
Using the overlap Dirac operator I show that, contrary to some expectations, even well above the critical temperature there is not necessarily a gap in the Dirac spectrum in pure SU(2) gauge theory. This happens when the Polyakov loop and the fermion boundary condition combine to give close to periodic boundary condition for the fermions in the time direction. In this Polyakov loop sector there is a non-vanishing density of Dirac eigenvalues around zero which implies that chiral symmetry is spontaneously broken. I demonstrate this both directly and also by finding good agreement with the random matrix theory prediction for the distribution of the lowest Dirac eigenvalue. I show that the chiral condensate increases with the tempereture therefore it is very unlikely to be explained by topological fluctuations that become rapidly smaller above Tc. Finally I show that it is only a small fraction of the lowest Dirac eigenvalues that decide which Polyakov loop sector is favored by the fermion determinant if dynamical fermions are turned on. This provides a qualitative understanding of how the loss of confinement above Tc implies the restoration of chiral symmetry.
125260415
Homology and abelian lattice gauge theories
A simple Abelian model with both Higgs and gauge field degrees of freedom is investigated on a simplicial lattice of arbitrary dimension. We use group character expansion for both fields to get a diagrammatic expansion of the partition function. The diagrams consist of gauge group representation valued 1- and 2-chains. The diagrams are proved to satisfy the constraint that the boundary of the 2-chain representing the gauge field is equal to the 1-chain representing the Higgs field. Otherwise they identically vanish. Simple consequences of this are current conservation and the vanishing of non-null-homologous Wilson loops. Finally we use this picture for giving a lowest order estimate for the critical length of a string. This is the length at which the flux-tube string connecting two opposite charges is likely to break into two pieces due to pair creation.
16605906
Optimizing the chiral properties of lattice fermion actions
Abstract We describe a way to optimize the chiral behavior of Wilson-type lattice fermion actions by studying the low energy real eigenmodes of the Dirac operator. We find a candidate action, the clover action with fat links with a tuned clover term. The action shows good scaling behavior at Wilson gauge coupling β = 5.7.
119443613
Instantons and chiral symmetry on the lattice
I address the question of how much of QCD in the chiral limit is reproduced by instantons. After reconstructing the instanton content of smoothed Monte Carlo lattice configurations, I compare hadron spectroscopy on this instanton ensemble to the spectroscopy on the original ``physical'' smoothed configurations using a chirally optimized clover fermion action. By studying the zero mode zone in simple instances I find that the optimized action gives a satisfactory description of it. Through the Banks-Casher formula, instantons by themselves are shown to break chiral symmetry but hadron correlators on the instanton backgrounds are strongly influenced by free quark propagation. This results in unnaturally light hadrons and a small splitting between the vector and the pseudoscalar meson channels. Superimposing a perturbative ensemble of zero momentum gauge field fluctuations (torons) on the instantons is found to be enough to eliminate the free quarks and restore the physical hadron correlators. I argue that the torons that are present only in finite volumes are probably needed to compensate the unnaturally large finite size effects due to the lack of confinement in the instanton ensemble.
15283773
Structure of the QCD Vacuum as Seen by Lattice Simulations
This talk is a review of our studies of instantons and their properties as seen in our lattice simulations of SU(2) gauge theory. We have measured the topological susceptibility and the size distribution of instantons in t.he QCD vacuum. We have also investigated the properties of quarks moving in instanton background field configurations, where the sizes and locations of the instantons are taken from simulations of the full gauge theory. By themselves, these multi-instanton configurations do not confine quarks, but they induce chiral symmetry breaking.
9446326
Some remarks on Abelian dominance
Abstract We used a renormalisation group based smoothing to address two questions related to abelian dominance. smoothing enable us to extract the abelian heavy-quark potential from time-like Wilson loops on Polyakov gauge projected configurations. We obtained a very small string tension which is inconsistent with the string tension extracted from Polyakov loop correlators. This shows that the Polyakov gauge projected abelian configurations do not have a consistent physical meaning. We also applied the smoothing on SU(2) configurations to test how sensitive abelian dominance in the maximal abelian gauge is to the short distance fluctuations. We found that on smoothed SU(2) configurations the abelian string tension was about 30% smaller than the SU(2) string tension which was unaffected by smoothing. This suggests that the approximate abelian dominance found with the Wilson action is probably an accident and it has no fundamental physical relevance.