We simulate QED in a strong constant homogeneous external magnetic field on a euclidean space-time lattice using the Rational Hybrid Monte Carlo method, developed for simulating lattice QCD. Our primary goal is to measure the chiral condensate in the limit when the input electron mass $m$ is zero. We observe a non-zero value, indicating that the external magnetic field catalyzes chiral symmetry breaking as predicted by approximate truncated Schwinger-Dyson methods. Such behaviour is associated with dominance by the lowest Landau level which causes the effective dimensional reduction from $3+1$~dimensions to $1+1$ dimensions for charged particles (electrons and positrons) where the attractive forces of QED can produce chiral symmetry breaking with a dynamical electron mass and associated chiral condensate. Since our lattice simulations use bare (lattice) parameters, while the Schwinger-Dyson analyses work with renormalized quantities, direct numerical comparison will require renormalization of our lattice results.

We simulate Lattice QED in a constant external magnetic field using the RHMC algorithm. We seek evidence for chiral symmetry breaking predicted by truncated Schwinger-Dyson methods. Since the predicted values of the dynamical electron mass and chiral condensate at the physical fine structure constant are too small to be measured, we simulate at a larger value α=1/5. This requires using electron masses as low as m=0.001 to extrapolate to m=0. At a large magnetic field, the electrons occupy the lowest Landau level which has a small profile in the plane orthogonal to the magnetic field, so that we are able to use a lattice with small extent in these 2 directions. If chiral symmetry is unbroken at m=0 the chiral condensate is dominated by large momenta and should be insensitive to the lattice extent in the direction of the magnetic field and the time direction. When chiral symmetry is broken at m=0, the chiral condensate should be sensitive to the lattice size in these directions as m → 0. We search for this behaviour by increasing the lattice extent in these 2 directions. Preliminary simulations show strong dependence of the chiral condensate on the lattice extent in these 2 directions for the smallest masses, and these increased condensates appear to be approaching a non-zero limit as m → 0.

We study QED in external electromagnetic fields using methods developed for simulating lattice QCD. Our first project is to simulate QED in a constant (in space and time) external magnetic field on a euclidean space-time lattice using the Rational Hybrid Monte Carlo (RHMC) method. Observables we measure include the condensate $\langle\bar{\psi}\psi\rangle$ and the effective electron action after integrating out the fermion fields. We look for evidence that the combined effect of the magnetic field and the electron-positron attraction from QED produces a non-zero condensate in the limit of zero electron mass, a non-perturbative effect analogous to spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking. Very preliminary evidence is that such a condensate exists, at least for strong external magnetic fields and unphysically large electric charge. In addition, we are storing field configurations to measure the expected distortions and screenings of the coulomb field of a charged particle due to the vacuum polarization asymmetries produced by the magnetic field. We hope also to measure the dynamical contribution to the electron mass produced by the same mechanism that produces a finite condensate in the zero input mass limit.

We continue our simulations of lattice QCD at finite quark-number chemical potential, $\mu$, using the complex-Langevin equation (CLE) with gauge-cooling and adaptive updating. The CLE is used because QCD at finite finite $\mu$ has a complex fermion determinant, which prevents use of standard simulation methods. Simulations using the standard lattice action show a transition from hadronic to nuclear matter for $\mu < m_\pi/2$ rather than the expected $\mu \approx m_N/3$. This suggests that the CLE is being influenced by the phase-quenched theory, which has a transition at $\mu = m_\pi/2$. We are therefore performing CLE simulations with a new action which includes an irrelevant chiral 4-fermion interaction. This separates the physics at energies of order of the pion mass and smaller from that at energies of the other hadrons. In doing this, it breaks the extended symmetry of the phase-quenched theory over that of the full theory, raising the masses of the extra pion-like excitations consisting of a quark and a conjugate quark, which could otherwise produce such an anomalous transition. Our preliminary CLE simulations using massless quarks, so that $m_\pi=0$, show no transition at $\mu=m_\pi/2=0$, but do show a transition at an appreciably higher value of $\mu$. It remains to be seen if this transition is near to $m_N/3$.

We simulate lattice QCD at finite quark-number chemical potential to study nuclear matter, using the complex Langevin equation (CLE). The CLE is used because the fermion determinant is complex so that standard methods relying on importance sampling fail. Adaptive methods and gauge-cooling are used to prevent runaway solutions. Even then, the CLE is not guaranteed to give correct results. We are therefore performing extensive testing to determine under what, if any, conditions we can achieve reliable results. Our earlier simulations at β = 6/ g 2 = 5.6, m = 0.025 on a 12 4 lattice reproduced the expected phase structure but failed in the details. Our current simulations at β = 5.7 on a 16 4 lattice fail in similar ways while showing some improvement. We are therefore moving to even weaker couplings to see if the CLE might produce the correct results in the continuum (weak-coupling) limit, or, if it still fails, whether it might reproduce the results of the phase-quenched theory. We also discuss action (and other dynamics) modifications which might improve the performance of the CLE.

We simulate lattice QCD at finite quark-number chemical potential, $\mu$, using the complex-Langevin equation (CLE) with gauge-cooling and adaptive updating to prevent instabilities. The CLE is used because QCD at finite $\mu$ has a complex fermion determinant which precludes the use of standard simulation methods based on importance sampling. Since, even when CLE simulations converge, they are not guaranteed to produce correct results except under very stringent conditions, which lattice QCD at finite $\mu$ does not obey, we need extensive testing to determine under what conditions it produces reliable results. We performed simulations at $\beta=6/g^2=5.6$ and $\beta=5.7$, both at $m=0.025$. For small $\mu$ and $\mu$ large enough to produce saturation, measured observables appear to be approaching their correct values as the coupling is decreased. However, for intermediate $\mu$ values, these simulations predict a transition from hadronic to nuclear matter at a $\mu$ which is far too small. Since there is evidence that for CLE simulations to produce correct results the trajectories should remain close to the $SU(3)$ manifold (at least for small $\mu$), we explore the parameter space to see where this is true. We find that the distance from this manifold decreases as the coupling decreases and as the quark mass (in lattice units) decreases, i.e. as we approach the continuum limit. This indicates that we need to simulate at smaller couplings and quark masses (requiring larger lattices) to see if these can produce the correct physics.

QCD at non-zero chemical potential ($\mu$) for quark number has a complex fermion determinant and thus standard simulation methods for lattice QCD cannot be applied. We therefore simulate this theory using the Complex-Langevin algorithm with Gauge Cooling in addition to adaptive methods, to prevent runaway behaviour. Simulations are performed at zero temperature on a $12^4$ lattice with 2 quarks which are light enough that $m_N/3$ is significantly larger than $m_\pi/2$. Preliminary results are qualitatively as expected. The quark-number density is close to zero for $\mu < m_N/3$, beyond which it increases, eventually reaching its saturation value of $3$ for $\mu$ sufficiently large. The chiral condensate decreases as $\mu$ is increased approaching zero at saturation, while the plaquette increases towards its quenched value. We have yet to observe the transition to nuclear matter at $\mu \approx m_N/3$, presumably because the runs for $\mu$ between $m_N/3$ and saturation have yet to equilibrate.

We study QCD with 2 colour-sextet quarks as a walking-Technicolor candidate. As such it provides a description of the Higgs sector of the standard model, in which the Higgs field is replaced by the Goldstone `pions' of this QCD-like theory, and the Higgs itself is the $\sigma$. Such a theory will need to be extended if it is to also give masses to the quarks and leptons. What we are attempting to determine is whether it is indeed QCD-like and hence walking, or if it has an infrared fixed point making it a conformal field theory. We do this by simulating its lattice version at finite temperature and observing the running of the bare (lattice) coupling at the chiral transition, as the lattice spacing is varied, and comparing this running with that predicted by 2-loop perturbation theory. Our results on lattices with temporal extents ($N_t$) up to 12 indicate that the coupling runs, but not as fast as asymptotic freedom predicts. We discuss our program for studying the zero-temperature phenomenology of this theory.

QCD with 2 flavors of massless color-sextet quarks is studied as a possible walking-Technicolor candidate. We simulate the lattice version of this model at finite temperatures near to the chiral-symmetry restoration transition, to determine whether it is indeed a walking theory (QCD-like with a running coupling which evolves slowly over an appreciable range of length scales) or if it has an infrared fixed point, making it a conformal field theory. The lattice spacing at this transition is decreased towards zero by increasing the number N-t of lattice sites in the temporal direction. Our simulations are performed at N-t = 4; 6; 8; 12, on lattices with spatial extent much larger than the temporal extent. A range of small fermion masses is chosen to make predictions for the chiral (zero mass) limit. We find that the bare lattice coupling does decrease as the lattice spacing is decreased. However, it decreases more slowly than would be predicted by asymptotic freedom. We discuss whether this means that the coupling is approaching a finite value as lattice N-t is increased-the conformal option, or if the apparent disagreement with the scaling predicted by asymptotic freedom is because the lattice coupling is a poor expansion parameter, and the theory walks. Currently, evidence favors QCD with 2 color-sextet quarks being a conformal field theory. Other potential sources of disagreement with the walking hypothesis are also discussed. We also report an estimate of the position of the deconfinement transition for N-t = 12, needed for choosing parameters for zero-temperature simulations.

We continue our simulations of QCD with 2 flavours of colour-sextet quarks as a model for walking technicolor. QCD with 3 flavours of colour-sextet quarks is also studied for comparison with the 2-flavour theory. We simulate these theories at finite temperatures T, using lattices with a finite extent $N_t a=1/T$ in the (Euclidean) time direction. The lattice coupling at the chiral-symmetry-restoration transition is measured as a function of $N_t$. If this is indeed a finite-temperature transition, the evolution of this coupling with $N_t$ as $N_t \rightarrow \infty$ and hence the lattice spacing $a \rightarrow 0$ should be described by asymptotic freedom. If so, the theory is QCD-like and walking. If, however, this coupling approaches a constant non-zero value in the large $N_t$ limit, the transition is a bulk transition and the continuum theory is conformal. For the 2-flavour theory, the coupling does show a significant decrease between $N_t=8$ and $N_t=12$, favouring the walking scenario. However, preliminary results are that the change is less than that predicted by asymptotic freedom. For the 3-flavour case, which is expected to be conformal, there is still a significant decrease in the coupling between $N_t=6$ and $N_t=8$, indicating that we are not yet at large enough $N_t$.

We calculate the Fisher zeros for $SU(3)$ gauge theory with different $N_f$ flavors of staggered fermions for various values of the fermion mass. We discuss the finite-size scaling near the end point of the line of discontinuity of $\bar{\psi} \psi$ in the beta-mass plane and in the larger beta-lower mass region. We discuss possible interpretations of these results in terms of Wilsonian RG flows and their possible relevance to construct composite Higgs models.

The goal of the grant was to apply methods that we have developed with spin and pure gauge models to models with dynamical fermions which are considered as candidates for an alternative to the Higgs mechanism. The work on SU(3) with fundamental quarks and with sextet quarks is described.

We study the fate of P wave bottomonium states in the quark-gluon plasma, using a spectral function analysis of euclidean lattice correlators. The correlators are obtained from lattice QCD simulations with two light quark flavours on highly anisotropic lattices, treating the bottom quark nonrelativistically. We find clear indications of melting immediately after the deconfinement transition.

G. Aarts, S. Kim, M. P. Lombardo, M. B. Oktay, S. M. Ryan, D. K. Sinclair and J.-I. Skullerud Department of Physics, Swansea University, Swansea SA2 8PP, United Kingdom Department of Physics, Sejong University, Seoul 143-747, Korea INFN-Laboratori Nazionali de Frascati, I-00044, Frascati (RM) Italy Physics Department, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland HEP Division, Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Argonne, Illinois 60439, USA Department of Mathematical Physics, National University of Ireland Maynooth, Maynooth, County Kildare, Ireland (Dated: July 27, 2013)

We study the temperature dependence of bottomonium for temperatures in the range 0.4T(c) < T < 2.1T(c), using non-relativistic dynamics for the bottom quark and full relativistic lattice QCD simulations for N (f) - 2 light flavors. We consider the behaviour of the correlators in Euclidean space, we analyze the associated spectral functions and we study the dependence on the momentum. Our results are amenable to a successful comparison with effective field theories. They help build a coherent picture of the behaviour of bottomonium in the plasma, consistent which the current LHC results.

Using Non-Relativistic QCD (NRQCD), we study heavy quark mass dependence of S-wave and P-wave bottomonium correlators for 0.42T c <= T <= 2.09T c and study spectral functions of Swave bottomonium states moving in a thermal bath at these temperatures using Maximum Entropy Method with NRQCD kernel.For the studied momentum range, the energy of moving states shows quadratic momentum-dependence and the width of moving states does not show significant changes as the momentum of bottomonium is increased.Also, we find that in correlator ratios, the temperature effect is larger than the effect caused by 20% change in the bottom quark mass.

We study QCD with 2 colour-sextet quarks as a model for walking Technicolor, using lattice gauge theory simulations (RHMC) at finite temperature. Our goal is to determine if the massless theory is QCD-like (confining, with spontaneously-broken chiral symmetry) with a slowly varying coupling (walks) or if it is a conformal field theory. We do this by simulating the theory at finite temperature and observing how the coupling at the chiral-symmetry restoration temperature depends on the temporal extent N_t of the lattice (in lattice units). If the theory is QCD-like, this coupling should approach zero in the large N_t limit in the manner predicted by asymptotic freedom. If it is conformal, this coupling should approach a finite value in this limit, i.e. the transition would be a bulk transition. We discuss new results at N_t=6,8 and 12. These preliminary results indicate that the coupling does decrease with increasing N_t, but it is unclear if this is consistent with asymptotic freedom.

Fisher zeros are the zeros of the partition function in the complex beta=2N_c/g^2 plane. When they pinch the real axis, finite size scaling allows one to distinguish between first and second order transition and to estimate exponents. On the other hand, a gap signals confinement and the method can be used to explore the boundary of the conformal window. We present recent numerical results for 2D O(N) sigma models, 4D U(1) and SU(2) pure gauge and SU(3) gauge theory with N_f=4 and 12 flavors. We discuss attempts to understand some of these results using analytical methods. We discuss the 2-lattice matching and qualitative aspects of the renormalization group (RG) flows in the Migdal-Kadanoff approximation, in particular how RG flows starting at large beta seem to move around regions where bulk transitions occur. We consider the effects of the boundary conditions on the nonperturbative part of the average energy and on the Fisher zeros for the 1D O(2) model.

QCD with 2 massless colour-sextet quarks is studied as a model of Walking Technicolor. We simulate lattice QCD with 2 light color-sextet staggered quarks at finite temperature, and use the dependence of the coupling at the chiral transition on the temporal extent, N_t, of the lattice in lattice units to study the running of the bare lattice coupling with lattice spacing. Our goal is to determine whether this theory is QCD-like and `walks', or if it is conformal. If it is QCD-like, the coupling at the chiral transition should tend to zero as N_t →∞ in a manner controlled by asymptotic freedom, i.e. by the perturbative β-function. On the other hand, if this theory is conformal, this coupling will approach a non-zero limit in the N_t →∞ limit. We are extending our simulations on an N_t=8 lattice to determine the position of the chiral transition with greater accuracy, and are performing simulations on an N_t=12 lattice.

We have been studying QCD with 2 flavours of colour-sextet quarks to distinguish whether it is QCD-like or conformal. For comparison we are now studying QCD with 3 flavours of colour-sextet quarks, which is believed to be conformal in the chiral limit. Here we present the results of simulations of lattice QCD with 3 colour-sextet quarks at finite temperatures on lattices of temporal extent $N_t=4$ and 6, with masses small enough to yield access to the chiral limit. As for the 2-flavour case, we find well-separated deconfinement and chiral-symmetry restoration transitions, both of which move to appreciably weaker couplings as $N_t$ is increased from 4 to 6. If this theory is conformal, we would expect there to be a bulk chiral transition at a fixed coupling. For this reason we conclude that for $N_t=4$ and 6, the chiral and hence the deconfinement transitions are in the strong-coupling domain where the theory is essentially quenched. The similarity between the behaviours of the 2 and 3 flavour theories suggested that the $N_t=4$ and 6 transitions for the 2-flavour theory also lie in the strong-coupling domain. The phase structure of both theories is very similar.