Fermion propagators on a four-dimensional random-block lattice

Fermion propagators, composite boson propagators and the fermion condensate are calculated numerically on the four-dimensional random-block lattice, respectively. The ensemble-averaged fermion propagator agrees with the continuum propagator for distances greater than three average lattice spacings. The results on the fermion condensate show that the chiral symmetry of the doubled modes is broken in the continuum limit. The Goldstone boson arising from the broken symmetry is revealed by examining the composite pseudo-scalar propagator. The doubled fermion and the Goldstone boson both acquire masses of the order of inverse lattice spacing and thus decouple from the theory in the continuum limit.     

Axial gauge propagators for quarks and gluons on the Polyakov-Wilson lattice

We discuss problems encountered in defining gauge-dependent propagators in a confining theory. For precision we use a finite Polyakov-Wilson lattice to define the Yang-Mills theory and to provide the ultraviolet and infrared regularization. Gauge fixing in a class of superaxial gauges is natural in this framework. A variety of approaches for defining the propagators for quarks and gluons is discussed and the propagators are evaluated explicitly in the strong coupling limit. We speculate upon the infrared behavior of these propagators in the weak coupling limit and upon the utility and validity of the Schwinger-Dyson equations for these propagators. In conclusion we propose that the leading infrared behavior is strongly gauge dependent and governed by the masses of low-lying color singlet states in the hadron spectrum. In the ultraviolet limit, however, with a properly constructed propagator, we find no reason to question the conventional wisdom derived from perturbation theory. Our conclusions should not depend in any fundamental way on the lattice formulation of the gauge theory, except insofar as that formulation serves to give precision to the continuum functional integration.     

Infrared gluon and ghost propagators from lattice QCD

We report on the infrared limit of the quenched lattice Landau gauge gluon and ghost propagators as well as the strong-coupling constant computed from large asymmetric lattices. The infrared lattice propagators are compared with the pure power law solutions from Dyson-Schwinger equations (DSE). For the gluon propagator, the lattice data is compatible with the DSE solution. The preferred measured gluon exponent being ∼0.52, favouring a vanishing propagator at zero momentum. The lattice ghost propagator shows finite-volume effects and, for the volumes considered, the propagator does not follow a pure power law. Furthermore, the strong-coupling constant is computed and its infrared behaviour investigated.     

Fermion propagators in a four-dimensional random lattice

Fermion propagators on a four-dimensional random lattice are calculated numerically. They show correct continuum limits. We also show that with the use of the point-splitting technique the composite boson propagators also approach the correct continuum limits.     

A convergence theorem for lattice Feynman integrals with massless propagators

It is shown that for non-vanishing lattice spacing, conventional infrared power counting conditions are sufficient for convergence of lattice Feynman integrals with zero-mass propagators. If these conditions are supplemented by ultraviolet convergence conditions, the continuum limit of such a diagram exists and is universal.     

Propagators for lattice gauge theories in a background field

We prove regularity and decay properties for propagators connected with the renormalization group method in lattice gauge theories. These propagators depend on an external gauge field configuration, called a background field.Research supported in part by the National Science Foundation under Grant PHY-82-0369     

Kugo-Ojima confinement and QCD Green''s functions in covariant gauges

In Landau gauge QCD the Kugo-Ojima confinement criterion and its relations to the infrared behaviour of the gluon and ghost propagators are reviewed. It is demonstrated that the realization of this confinement criterion (which is closely related to the Gribov-Zwanziger horizon condition) results from quite general properties of the ghost Dyson-Schwinger equation. The numerical solutions for the gluon and ghost propagators obtained from a truncated set of Dyson-Schwinger equations provide an explicit example for the anticipated infrared behaviour. The results are in good agreement, also quantitatively, with corresponding lattice data obtained recently. The resulting running coupling approaches a fixed point in the infrared, (0) = 8.915/N_c. Solutions for the coupled system of Dyson-Schwinger equations for the quark, gluon and ghost propagators are presented. Dynamical generation of quark masses and thus spontaneous breaking of chiral symmetry takes place. In the quenched approximation the quark propagator functions agree well with those of corresponding lattice calculations. For a small number of light flavours the quark, gluon and ghost propagators deviate only slightly from the ones in quenched approximation. While the positivity violation of the gluon spectral function is manifest in the gluon propagator, there are no clear indications of analogous positivity violations for quarks so far.     

Extraction of spectral functions from Dyson-Schwinger studies via the maximum entropy method

It is shown how to apply the Maximum Entropy Method (MEM) to numerical Dyson-Schwinger studies for the extraction of spectral functions of correlators from their corresponding Euclidean propagators. Differences to the application in lattice QCD are emphasized and, as an example, the spectral functions of massless quarks in cold and dense matter are presented.     

Accessing directly the properties of fundamental scalars in the confinement and Higgs phase

The properties of elementary particles are encoded in their respective propagators and interaction vertices. For a SU(2) gauge theory coupled to a doublet of fundamental complex scalars these propagators are determined in both the Higgs phase and the confinement phase and compared to the Yang–Mills case, using lattice gauge theory. Since the propagators are gauge dependent, this is done in the Landau limit of the ’t Hooft gauge, permitting to also determine the ghost propagator. It is found that neither the gauge boson nor the scalar differ qualitatively in the different cases. In particular, the gauge boson acquires a screening mass, and the scalar’s screening mass is larger than the renormalized mass. Only the ghost propagator shows a significant change. Furthermore, indications are found that the consequences of the residual non-perturbative gauge freedom due to Gribov copies could be different in the confinement and the Higgs phase.     

Constraints on the IR behaviour of gluon and ghost propagator from Ward-Slavnov-Taylor identities

We consider the constraints of the Slavnov-Taylor identity of the IR behaviour of gluon and ghost propagators and their compatibility with solutions of the ghost Dyson-Schwinger equation and with the lattice picture.     

Matter fields in lattice gravity

The formulations of the scalar, spinor and gauge fields on a curved random lattice are discussed. A new fermion scheme — simplicial fermions — which is more natural in the presence of gravity, is introduced. Some of the propagators in D = 2 are evaluated numerically and are compared with the continuum limit.     

Algebraic algorithm for the computation of one-loop Feynman diagrams in lattice QCD with Wilson fermions

We describe an algebraic algorithm which allows us to express every one-loop lattice integral with gluon or Wilson-fermion propagators in terms of a small number of basic constants which can be computed with arbitrary high precision. Although the presentation is restricted to four dimensions the technique can be generalized to every space dimension. Various examples are given, including the one-loop self-energies of the quarks and gluons and the renormalization constants for some dimension-three and dimension-four lattice operators. We also give a method to express the lattice free propagator for Wilson fermions in coordinate space as a linear function of its values in eight points near the origin. This is an essential step in order to apply the recent methods of Lüscher and Weisz to higher-loop integrals with fermions.     

Renormalization of lattice Feynman integrals with massless propagators

A renormalization procedure is proposed which applies to lattice Feynman integrals containing zero-mass propagators and is analogous to the BPHZL renormalization procedure for continuum Feynman integrals. The renormalized diagrams are infrared convergent for non-exceptional external momenta, if the vertices of the theory satisfy a general infrared constraint. Under the same conditions as in the massive case [4], the continuum limit of the renormalized theory exists and is independent of the details of the lattice action.     

Bottomonium above deconfinement in lattice nonrelativistic QCD

We study the temperature dependence of bottomonium for temperatures in the range 0.4T(c) < T < 2.1T(c), using nonrelativistic dynamics for the bottom quark and full relativistic lattice QCD simulations for Nf = 2 light flavors on a highly anisotropic lattice. We find that the Υ is insensitive to the temperature in this range, while the χb propagators show a crossover from the exponential decay characterizing the hadronic phase to a power-law behavior consistent with nearly free dynamics at T ? 2T(c).     

The calculation of the hadron spectrum in lattice QCD with dynamical quarks

Hadron masses are calculated on an 8³×16 lattice using four flavors of staggered fermions to generate the gauge configurations, but using Wilson fermions to calculate the hadron propagators. The identification of a value of the Wilson hopping parameter with the value of the bare quark mass used in the simulations is discussed.     

Infrared gluon and ghost propagator exponents from lattice QCD

The compatibility of the pure power law infrared solution of QCD and lattice data for the gluon and ghost propagators in Landau gauge is discussed. For the gluon propagator, the lattice data are well described by a pure power law with an infrared exponent κ∼0.53, in the Dyson–Schwinger notation. κ is measured using a technique that suppresses finite volume effects. This value is consistent with a vanishing zero momentum gluon propagator, in agreement with the Gribov–Zwanziger confinement scenario. For the ghost propagator, the lattice data seem not to follow a pure power law, at least for the range of momenta accessed in our simulation.     

Infrared exponents and the strong-coupling limit in lattice Landau gauge

We study the gluon and ghost propagators of lattice Landau gauge in the strong-coupling limit β=0 in pure SU(2) lattice gauge theory to find evidence of the conformal infrared behavior of these propagators as predicted by a variety of functional continuum methods for asymptotically small momenta $q^{2}\ll\varLambda_{\mathrm{QCD}}^{2}$ . In the strong-coupling limit, this same behavior is obtained for the larger values of a ² q ² (in units of the lattice spacing a), where it is otherwise swamped by the gauge-field dynamics. Deviations for a ² q ²<1 are well parameterized by a transverse gluon mass ∝1/a. Perhaps unexpectedly, these deviations are thus no finite-volume effect but persist in the infinite-volume limit. They furthermore depend on the definition of gauge fields on the lattice, while the asymptotic conformal behavior does not. We also comment on a misinterpretation of our results by Cucchieri and Mendes (Phys. Rev. D 81:016005, 2010).     

Scalar meson spectroscopy with a fine lattice

With sufficiently light u and d quarks the isovector (a₀) and isosinglet (f₀) scalar meson propagators are dominated at large distances by two-meson states. In the staggered fermion formulation of lattice QCD, taste-symmetry breaking causes a proliferation of multihadron states that complicates the analysis of these channels. Of special interest is the bubble contribution, which makes a considerable contribution to these channels. Using numerical simulation we have measured the correlators for both a₀ and f₀ channels in the “Asqtad” improved staggered fermion formulation in a MILC fine (a=0.09 fm) lattice ensemble. We analyze those correlators using rooted staggered chiral perturbation theory (rSχPT) and achieve chiral couplings that are well consistent with previous determinations.     

Multi-mass solvers for lattice QCD on GPUs

Graphical Processing Units (GPUs) are more and more frequently used for lattice QCD calculations. Lattice studies often require computing the quark propagators for several masses. These systems can be solved using multi-shift solvers but these algorithms are memory intensive which limits the size of the problem that can be solved using GPUs. In this paper, we show how to efficiently use a memory-lean single-mass solver to solve multi-mass problems. We focus on the BiCGstab algorithm for Wilson fermions and show that the single-mass solver not only requires less memory but also outperforms the multi-shift variant by a factor of two.     

A comparison of experimental and simulated propagators in porous media using confocal laser scanning microscopy, lattice Boltzmann hydrodynamic simulations and nuclear magnetic resonance

Confocal laser scanning microscopy has been used to obtain 3D optical image stacks of packings of glass ballotini in various fluorescent dye-containing fluids inside a 3D micromodel. The fluids' refractive index was matched to that of the glass ballotini so that clear images at an appreciable depth (approximately 400 microm) inside the packings were obtained. The lattice Boltzmann method was then used to produce 3D velocity fields through the 3D image stacks of the packed ballotini. These have been used in conjunction with a stochastic random-walk algorithm to produce simulated displacement propagators, which have been shown to be in qualitative agreement with experimental propagators, obtained using nuclear magnetic resonance, of water flowing through the exact same micromodel.