Phase diagram and spectrum of gauge-fixed Abelian lattice gauge theory
- Institute of Physics, University of Siegen, 57068 Siegen, (Germany)
- Department of Physics, Washington University St. Louis, Missouri 63130 (United States)
- Beverly and Raymond Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences, Tel-Aviv University, Ramat Aviv 69978, (Israel)
We consider a lattice discretization of a covariantly gauge-fixed Abelian gauge theory. The gauge fixing is part of the action defining the theory, and we study the phase diagram in detail. As there is no BRST symmetry on the lattice, counterterms are needed, and we construct those explicitly. We show that the proper adjustment of these counterterms drives the theory to a new type of phase transition, at which we recover a continuum theory of (free) photons. We present both numerical and (one-loop) perturbative results, and show that they are in good agreement near this phase transition. Since perturbation theory plays an important role, it is important to choose a discretization of the gauge-fixing action such that lattice perturbation theory is valid. Indeed, we find numerical evidence that lattice actions not satisfying this requirement do not lead to the desired continuum limit. While we do not consider fermions here, we argue that our results, in combination with previous work, provide very strong evidence that this new phase transition can be used to define Abelian lattice chiral gauge theories. (c) 2000 The American Physical Society.
- OSTI ID:
- 20217289
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review. D, Particles Fields, Vol. 62, Issue 3; Other Information: PBD: 1 Aug 2000; ISSN 0556-2821
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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