Drastic Reduction of Cutoff Effects in 2-d Lattice O(N) Models

We investigate the cutoff effects in 2-d lattice O(N) models for a variety of lattice actions, and we identify a class of very simple actions for which the lattice artifacts are extremely small. One action agrees with the standard action, except that it constrains neighboring spins to a maximal relative angle delta. We fix delta by demanding that a particular value of the step scaling function agrees with its continuum result already on a rather coarse lattice. Remarkably, the cutoff effects of the entire step scaling function are then reduced to the per mille level. This also applies to the theta-vacuum effects of the step scaling function in the 2-d O(3) model. The cutoff effects of other physical observables including the renormalized coupling and the mass in the isotensor channel are also reduced drastically. Another choice, the mixed action, which combines the standard quadratic with an appropriately tuned large quartic term, also has extremely small cutoff effects. The size of cutoff effects is also investigated analytically in 1-d and at N = infinity in 2-d.

Topological Lattice Actions

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.