In a lattice gauge-Higgs unification scenario using a Z_2-orbifolded extra-dimension, we find a new global symmetry in a case of SU(2) bulk gauge symmetry. It is a global symmetry on sites in a fixed point with respect to Z_2-orbifolding, independent of the bulk gauge symmetry. It is shown that the vacuum expectation value of a Z_2-projected Polyakov loop is a good order parameter of the new symmetry. The effective theory on lattice is also discussed.
We explore a novel approach to compute the force between a static quark and a static antiquark with lattice gauge theory directly. The approach is based on expectation values of Wilson loops or Polyakov loops with chromoelectric field insertions. We discuss theoretical and technical aspects in detail, in particular, how to compensate large discretization errors with a multiplicative renormalization factor and the evaluation using a multilevel algorithm. We also compare numerical results for the static force to corresponding results obtained in the traditional way, i.e., by computing first the static potential and then taking the derivative.
We study perturbations that break gauge symmetries in lattice gauge theories. As a paradigmatic model, we consider the three-dimensional Abelian-Higgs (AH) model with an N-component scalar field and a noncompact gauge field, which is invariant under U(1) gauge and SU(N) transformations. We consider gauge-symmetry breaking perturbations that are quadratic in the gauge field, such as a photon mass term, and determine their effect on the critical behavior of the gauge-invariant model, focusing mainly on the continuous transitions associated with the charged fixed point of the AH field theory. We discuss their relevance and compute the (gauge-dependent) exponents that parametrize the departure from the critical behavior (continuum limit) of the gauge-invariant model. We also address the critical behavior of lattice AH models with broken gauge symmetry, showing an effective enlargement of the global symmetry, from U(N) to O(2N), which reflects a peculiar cyclic renormalization-group flow in the space of the lattice AH parameters and of the photon mass.
The simulation of dense fermionic matters is a long-standing problem in lattice gauge theory. One hopeful solution would be the use of quantum computers. In this paper, digital quantum simulation is designed for lattice gauge theory at nonzero density. The quantum variational algorithm is adopted to obtain the ground state at nonzero density. A benchmark test is performed in the lattice Schwinger model.
The Wilson action for Euclidean lattice gauge theory defines a positive-definite transfer matrix that corresponds to a unitary lattice gauge theory time-evolution operator if analytically continued to real time. Hoshina, Fujii, and Kikukawa (HFK) recently pointed out that applying the Wilson action discretization to continuum real-time gauge theory does not lead to this, or any other, unitary theory and proposed an alternate real-time lattice gauge theory action that does result in a unitary real-time transfer matrix. The character expansion defining the HFK action is divergent, and in this work we apply a path integral contour deformation to obtain a convergent representation for U(1) HFK path integrals suitable for numerical Monte Carlo calculations. We also introduce a class of real-time lattice gauge theory actions based on analytic continuation of the Euclidean heat-kernel action. Similar divergent sums are involved in defining these actions, but for one action in this class this divergence takes a particularly simple form, allowing construction of a path integral contour deformation that provides absolutely convergent representations for U(1) and SU(N) real-time lattice gauge theory path integrals. We perform proof-of-principle Monte Carlo calculations of real-time U(1) and SU(3) lattice gauge theory and verify that exact results for unitary time evolution of static quark-antiquark pairs in (1 + 1)D are reproduced.
We investigate QCD-like theory with exact center symmetry, with emphasis on the finite-temperature phase transition concerning center and chiral symmetries. On the lattice, we formulate center symmetric $SU(3)$ gauge theory with three fundamental Wilson quarks by twisting quark boundary conditions in a compact direction ($Z_3$-QCD model). We calculate the expectation value of Polyakov loop and the chiral condensate as a function of temperature on 16^3 x 4 and 20^3 x 4 lattices along the line of constant physics realizing $m_{PS}/m_{V}=0.70$. We find out the first-order center phase transition, where the hysteresis of the magnitude of Polyakov loop exists depending on thermalization processes. We show that chiral condensate decreases around the critical temperature in a similar way to that of the standard three-flavor QCD, as it has the hysteresis in the same range as that of Polyakov loop. We also show that the flavor symmetry breaking due to the twisted boundary condition gets qualitatively manifest in the high-temperature phase. These results are consistent with the predictions based on the chiral effective model in the literature. Our approach could provide novel insights to the nonperturbative connection between the center and chiral properties.