Michael G. Endres

Lattice formulation of (2,2) supersymmetric gauge theories with matter fields

We construct lattice actions for a variety of (2,2) supersymmetric gauge theories in two dimensions with matter fields interacting via a superpotential.

Method for simulating O(N) lattice models at finite density

We present a method for simulating relativistic and nonrelativistic scalar field theories at finite density, with matter transforming in the fundamental representation of the global symmetry group O(N). The method avoids the problem of complex probability weights which is present in conventional path integral Monte Carlo algorithms. To verify our approach, we simulate the free and interacting relativistic U(1){approx_equal}O(2) theory in 2+1 dimensions. We compute the two-point correlation function and charge density as a function of chemical potential in the free theory. At weak |{phi}|{sup 4} coupling and zero temperature we map the m{sup 2}-{mu} phase diagram and compare our numerical results with perturbative calculations. Finally, we compute properties of the T-{mu} phase diagram in the vicinity of the phase transition and at bare self-couplings large compared to the temperature and chemical potential.

Lattice Monte Carlo calculations for unitary fermions in a finite box

We perform lattice Monte Carlo simulations for up to 66 unitary fermions in a finite box using a highly improved lattice action for nonrelativistic spin 1/2 fermions. We obtain a value of

Noise, sign problems, and statistics.

0.366^{+0.016}_{-0.011}

Lattice Monte Carlo calculations for unitary fermions in a harmonic trap

for the Bertsch parameter, defined as the energy of the unitary Fermi gas measured in units of the free gas energy in the thermodynamic limit. In addition, for up to four unitary fermions, we compute the spectrum of the lattice theory by exact diagonalization of the transfer matrix projected onto irreducible representations of the octahedral group for small to moderate size lattices, providing an independent check of our few-body simulation results. We compare our exact numerical and simulation results for the spectrum to benchmark studies of other research groups, as well as perform an extended analysis of our lattice action improvement scheme, including an analysis of the errors associated with higher partial waves and finite temporal discretization.

Massive photons: an infrared regularization scheme for lattice QCD+QED

We show how sign problems in simulations of many-body systems can manifest themselves in the form of heavy-tailed correlator distributions, similar to what is seen in electron propagation through disordered media. We propose an alternative statistical approach for extracting ground state energies in such systems, illustrating the method with a toy model and with lattice data for unitary fermions.

Multiscale Monte Carlo equilibration: Pure Yang-Mills theory

We present a lattice Monte Carlo approach developed for studying large numbers of strongly interacting nonrelativistic fermions and apply it to a dilute gas of unitary fermions confined to a harmonic trap. In place of importance sampling, our approach makes use of high statistics, an improved action, and recently proposed statistical techniques. We show how improvement of the lattice action can remove discretization and finite volume errors systematically. For N=3 unitary fermions in a box, our errors in the energy scale as the inverse lattice volume, and we reproduce a previous high-precision benchmark calculation to within our 0.3% uncertainty; as additional benchmarks we reproduce precision calculations of N=3,...,6 unitary fermions in a harmonic trap to within our {approx}1% uncertainty. We then use this action to determine the ground-state energies of up to 70 unpolarized fermions trapped in a harmonic potential on a lattice as large as 64{sup 3}x72. In contrast to variational calculations, we find evidence for persistent deviations from the thermodynamic limit for the range of N considered.

Signal/noise enhancement strategies for stochastically estimated correlation functions

Standard methods for including electromagnetic interactions in lattice quantum chromodynamics calculations result in power-law finite-volume corrections to physical quantities. Removing these by extrapolation requires costly computations at multiple volumes. We introduce a photon mass to alternatively regulate the infrared, and rely on effective field theory to remove its unphysical effects. Electromagnetic modifications to the hadron spectrum are reliably estimated with a precision and cost comparable to conventional approaches that utilize multiple larger volumes. A significant overall cost advantage emerges when accounting for ensemble generation. The proposed method may benefit lattice calculations involving multiple charged hadrons, as well as quantum many-body computations with long-range Coulomb interactions.

Listening to Noise

In this study, we present a multiscale thermalization algorithm for lattice gauge theory, which enables efficient parallel generation of uncorrelated gauge field configurations. The algorithm combines standard Monte Carlo techniques with ideas drawn from real space renormalization group and multigrid methods. We demonstrate the viability of the algorithm for pure Yang-Mills gauge theory for both heat bath and hybrid Monte Carlo evolution, and show that it ameliorates the problem of topological freezing up to controllable lattice spacing artifacts.

Numerical simulation of N=1 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory

We develop strategies for enhancing the signal/noise ratio for stochastically sampled correlation functions. The techniques are general and offer a wide range of applicability. We demonstrate the potential of the approach with a generic two-state system and then explore the practical applicability of the method for single hadron correlators in lattice quantum chromodynamics. In the latter case, we determine the ground state energies of the pion, proton, and delta baryon, as well as the ground and first excited state energy of the rho meson using matrices of correlators computed on an exemplary ensemble of anisotropic gauge configurations. In the majority of cases, we find a modest reduction in the statistical uncertainties on extracted energies compared to conventional variational techniques. However, in the case of the delta baryon, we achieve a factor of 3 reduction in statistical uncertainties. The variety of outcomes achieved for single hadron correlators illustrates an inherent dependence of the method on the properties of the system under consideration and the operator basis from which the correlators are constructed.