No Arabic abstract
We consider lattice field theories with topological actions, which are invariant against small deformations of the fields. Some of these actions have infinite barriers separating different topological sectors. Topological actions do not have the correct classical continuum limit and they cannot be treated using perturbation theory, but they still yield the correct quantum continuum limit. To show this, we present analytic studies of the 1-d O(2) and O(3) model, as well as Monte Carlo simulations of the 2-d O(3) model using topological lattice actions. Some topological actions obey and others violate a lattice Schwarz inequality between the action and the topological charge Q. Irrespective of this, in the 2-d O(3) model the topological susceptibility chi_t = l< Q^2 >/V is logarithmically divergent in the continuum limit. Still, at non-zero distance the correlator of the topological charge density has a finite continuum limit which is consistent with analytic predictions. Our study shows explicitly that some classically important features of an action are irrelevant for reaching the correct quantum continuum limit.
We use perturbation theory to construct perfect lattice actions for quarks and gluons. The renormalized trajectory for free massive quarks is identified by blocking directly from the continuum. We tune a parameter in the renormalization group transformation such that for 1-d configurations the perfect action reduces to the nearest neighbor Wilson fermion action. The fixed point action for free gluons is also obtained by blocking from the continuum. For 2-d configurations it reduces to the standard plaquette action. Classically perfect quark and gluon fields, quark-gluon composite operators and vector and axial vector currents are constructed as well. Also the quark-antiquark potential is derived from the classically perfect Polyakov loop. The quark-gluon and 3-gluon perfect vertex functions are determined to leading order in the gauge coupling. We also construct a new block factor $n$ renormalization group transformation for QCD that allows to extend our results beyond perturbation theory. For weak fields it leads to the same perfect action as blocking from the continuum. For arbitrarily strong 2-d Abelian gauge fields the Manton plaquette action is classically perfect for this transformation.
A variety of lattice discretisations of continuum actions has been considered, usually requiring the correct classical continuum limit. Here we discuss weird lattice formulations without that property, namely lattice actions that are invariant under most continuous deformations of the field configuration, in one version even without any coupling constants. It turns out that universality is powerful enough to still provide the correct quantum continuum limit, despite the absence of a classical limit, or a perturbative expansion. We demonstrate this for a set of O(N) models (or non-linear $sigma$-models). Amazingly, such weird lattice actions are not only in the right universality class, but some of them even have practical benefits, in particular an excellent scaling behaviour.
We consider the 2d XY Model with topological lattice actions, which are invariant against small deformations of the field configuration. These actions constrain the angle between neighbouring spins by an upper bound, or they explicitly suppress vortices (and anti-vortices). Although topological actions do not have a classical limit, they still lead to the universal behaviour of the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) phase transition - at least up to moderate vortex suppression. Thus our study underscores the robustness of universality, which persists even when basic principles of classical physics are violated. In the massive phase, the analytically known Step Scaling Function (SSF) is reproduced in numerical simulations. In the massless phase, the BKT value of the critical exponent eta_c is confirmed. Hence, even though for some topological actions vortices cost zero energy, they still drive the standard BKT transition. In addition we identify a vortex-free transition point, which deviates from the BKT behaviour.
We test a set of lattice gauge actions for QCD that suppress small plaquette values and in this way also suppress transitions between topological sectors. This is well suited for simulations in the epsilon-regime and it is expected to help in numerical simulations with dynamical quarks.
Symanzik effective actions, conjectured to describe lattice artifacts, are determined for a class of lattice regularizations of the non-linear O(N) sigma model in two dimensions in the leading order of the 1/N-expansion. The class of actions considered includes also ones which do not have the usual classical limit and are not (so far) treatable in the framework of ordinary perturbation theory. The effective actions obtained are shown to reproduce previously computed lattice artifacts of the step scaling functions defined in finite volume, giving further confidence in Symanziks theory of lattice artifacts.