Edwards, Samuel Ryan (2013)
Topology, symmetry, and phase transitions in lattice gauge theories.
Technische Universität Darmstadt
Ph.D. Thesis, Primary publication
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Item Type: | Ph.D. Thesis | ||||
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Type of entry: | Primary publication | ||||
Title: | Topology, symmetry, and phase transitions in lattice gauge theories | ||||
Language: | English | ||||
Referees: | von Smekal, PD Dr. Lorenz ; Wambach, Prof. Dr. Jochen | ||||
Date: | 8 May 2013 | ||||
Place of Publication: | Darmstadt | ||||
Date of oral examination: | 8 May 2013 | ||||
Abstract: | We study connections between global symmetries, topological objects, and phase transitions in non-abelian gauge theories. The characterization of deconfinement as a spontaneous symmetry breaking transition in SU(N) gauge theories with static quarks, and its description in terms of Z_N interfaces, serve as our motivation. We study 2+1 dimensional SU(N) gauge theories with N<=4, which are candidates for the exploitation of universality with corresponding N-state Potts models. Exact results from the 2d spin systems are used to obtain critical couplings, transition temperatures, exponents, and the behavior of string tensions at criticality. Kramers-Wannier duality emerges between center vortices and electric fluxes at the phase transition for N<=3, which is inherited from a finite volume self-duality of the 2d N-state Potts models. The form of the duality as a discrete Fourier transform over ensembles with interfaces emphasizes the link between confinement and topology in pure SU(N) gauge theories. We then investigate monopole inducing boundary conditions in SU(N) grand unified theories with an adjoint Higgs field, and find that non-trivial magnetic charge may be enforced but with several restrictions. Finally, we introduce dynamical quarks and the curious connection between confinement and their fractional electric charge. Owing to a coincidence of quantum numbers in the matter sector, the Standard Model possesses a hidden global center symmetry that is lost when Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) is treated as an isolated theory. We discuss the topological implications of this symmetry, and investigate their influence on the phase structure of a 2-color lattice model with quarks that carry also a fractional electric charge. |
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Uncontrolled Keywords: | quantum field therory, QCD phase diagram, topology, lattice gauge theory, confinement | ||||
URN: | urn:nbn:de:tuda-tuprints-34133 | ||||
Classification DDC: | 500 Science and mathematics > 530 Physics | ||||
Divisions: | 05 Department of Physics > Institute of Nuclear Physics | ||||
Date Deposited: | 21 Jun 2013 08:47 | ||||
Last Modified: | 09 Jul 2020 00:20 | ||||
URI: | https://tuprints.ulb.tu-darmstadt.de/id/eprint/3413 | ||||
PPN: | 386275823 | ||||
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