How well do Monte Carlo simulations distinguish between U(1) and SU(2)?: A study of the string tension in U(1) lattice gauge theory

To investigate how a system with a known deconfining phase transition behaves when studied on finite lattices via Monte Carlo simulations, we have made such studies of compact U(1) lattice gauge theory for 8⁴, 10⁴, and 12⁴ lattices. We have concentrated on the mean plaquette energy and the string tension. The string tension does not vanish on a finite lattice, but using finite size scaling arguments the indications are that it does vanish on an infinite lattice, where we predict the critical coupling β_c = 1.008 and the correlation length exponent $\text{ν =}\text{1}\text{3}$. We compare our results to those for SU(2) and find that although there are differences, they are not yet definitive.