THE FINITE-TEMPERATURE PHASE-TRANSITION OF SU(2) GAUGE-FIELDS IN 2+1 DIMENSIONS

Journal article

We perform finite temperature simulations of SU (2) lattice gauge fields in two spatial dimensions. We calculate the correlation length and find that it appears to diverge at a critical temperature, indicating a second order phase transition. Our average value for the associated critical exponent is γ = 0.975+0.045 -0.035 which is consistent with the value γ = 1 in the D = 2 Ising model. We calculate the critical temperature, Tc, in units of the string tension, σ, and extrapolate to the continuum limit. If we use the theoretically favoured value, γ = 1, in our fits for Tc then we obtain Tc σ = 1.121 ± 0.008. If, instead, we allow γ tobe free then we obtain a somewhat less precise value: Tc σ = 1.118+0.034 -0.016. We note that while this value is very different from the corresponding value in four dimensions, most of the difference can be understood on simple dimensional grounds. © 1993.

Authors: Teper, M

• Publication status: Published
• Journal: Physics Letters B
• Volume: 313
• Issue: 3-4
• Pages: 417-424
• Publication date: 1993-09-02
• DOI: 10.1016/0370-2693(93)90012-7
• ISSN: 0370-2693