The Higgs boson has an important role in the theoretical formulation of the standard model of fundamental interactions. Symmetry breaking of the vacuum via the Higgs field allows the gauge bosons of the weak interaction and all fermions to acquire mass in a way that preserves gauge-invariance, and thus renormalizablility. The Standard Model can accommodate an arbitrary number of Higgs fields with appropriate charge assignments. To explore the effects of multiple Higgs particles, the SU(2)-multi-Higgs model is studied using lattice simulations, a non-perturbative technique in which the fields are placed on a discrete space-time lattice. The formalism and methods of lattice field theory are discussed in detail. Standard results for the SU(2)-Higgs model are reproduced via Monte Carlo simulations, in particular the single-Higgs phase structure, which has a region of analytic connection between the symmetric and Higgs phases. The phase structure of the SU(2)-multi-Higgs model is explored for the case of N >= 2 identical Higgs fields. There is no remaining region of analytic connection between the phases, at least when interactions between different Higgs flavours are omitted. An explanation of this result in terms of enhancement from overlapping phase transitions is explored for N = 2 by introducing an asymmetry in the hopping parameters of the Higgs fields.

The Higgs boson has an important role in the theoretical formulation of the standard model of fundamental interactions. Symmetry breaking of the vacuum via the Higgs field allows the gauge bosons of the weak interaction and all fermions to acquire mass in a way that preserves gauge-invariance, and thus renormalizablility. The Standard Model can accommodate an arbitrary number of Higgs fields with appropriate charge assignments. To explore the effects of multiple Higgs particles, the SU(2)-multi-Higgs model is studied using lattice simulations, a non-perturbative technique in which the fields are placed on a discrete space-time lattice. The formalism and methods of lattice field theory are discussed in detail. Standard results for the SU(2)-Higgs model are reproduced via Monte Carlo simulations, in particular the single-Higgs phase structure, which has a region of analytic connection between the symmetric and Higgs phases. The phase structure of the SU(2)-multi-Higgs model is explored for the case of N >= 2 identical Higgs fields. There is no remaining region of analytic connection between the phases, at least when interactions between different Higgs flavours are omitted. An explanation of this result in terms of enhancement from overlapping phase transitions is explored for N = 2 by introducing an asymmetry in the hopping parameters of the Higgs fields.

<p>In this thesis, we study effective field theories for doubly heavy baryons and lattice QCD. We construct a chiral Lagrangian for doubly heavy baryons and heavy mesons that is invariant under heavy quark-diquark symmetry at leading order and includes the leading O(1/m_Q ) symmetry violating operators. The theory is used to predict the electromagnetic decay width of the J = 3/2 member of the ground state doubly heavy baryon doublet. Numerical estimates are provided for doubly charm baryons. We also calculate chiral corrections to doubly heavy baryon masses and strong decay widths of low lying excited doubly heavy baryons. We derive the couplings of heavy diquarks to weak currents in the limit of heavy quark-diquark symmetry, and construct the chiral Lagrangian for doubly heavy baryons coupled to weak currents. Chiral corrections to doubly heavy baryon zero-recoil semileptonic decay for both unquenched and partially quenched QCD are calculated. This theory is used to derive chiral extrapolation formulae for measurements of the doubly heavy baryon zero-recoil semileptonic decay form factors in lattice QCD simulations. Additionally, we study the pion physics on lattice using chiral perturbation theory. For finite volume field theories with discrete translational invariance, conserved currents can obtain additional corrections from infrared effects. We demonstrate this for pions using chiral perturbation theory coupled to electromagnetism in a periodic box. Gauge invariant single particle effective theories are constructed to explain these results. We use chiral perturbation theory to study the extraction of pion electromagnetic polarizabilities from lattice QCD. Chiral extrapolation formulae are derived for partially quenched and quenched QCD simulations. We determine finite volume corrections to the Compton scattering tensor of pions.</p> / Dissertation

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2004. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 119-135).

Lattice gauge theory is a special regularization of continuum gauge theories and the numerical simulation of lattice quantum chromodynamics (QCD) remains as the only first principle method to study non-perturbative QCD at low energy. The lattice spacing a, which serves as the ultraviolet cut off, plays a significant role in determining error on any lattice simulation results. Physical results come from extrapolating a series of simulations with different values for a to a=0. Reducing the size of these errors for non-zero a improves the extrapolation and minimizes the error. In the strong coupling limit the coarse lattice spacing pushes the analysis of the finite lattice spacing error to its limit. Section 4 measures two renormalized physical observables, the neutral kaon mixing parameter BK and the Delta I=3/2 K pi pi decay amplitude A2 on a lattice with coarse lattice spacing of a ~ 1GeV and explores the a^2 scaling properties at this scale. In the weak coupling limit the lattice simulations suffer from critical slowing down where for the Monte Carlo Markov evolution the cost of generating decorrelated samples increases significantly as the lattice spacing decreases, which makes reliable error analysis on the results expensive. Among the observables the topological charge of the configurations appears to have the longest integrated autocorrelation time. Based on a previous work where a diffusion model is proposed to describe the evolution of the topological charge, section 2 extends this model to lattices with dynamical fermions using a new numerical method that captures the behavior for different Fourier modes. Section 3 describes our effort to find a practical renormalization group transformation to transform lattice QCD between two different scales, whose knowledge could ultimately leads to a multi-scale evolution algorithm that solves the problem of critical slowing down. For a particular choice of action, we have found that doubling the lattice spacing of a fine lattice yields observables that agree at the few precent level with direct simulations on the coarser lattice. Section 5 aims at speeding up the lattice simulations in the weak coupling limit from the numerical method and hardware perspective. It proposes a preconditioner for solving the Dirac equation targeting the ensemble generation phase and details its implementation on currently the fastest supercomputer in the world.

The intention with this thesis is to investigate a dimer in a spin chain. Inorder to do that, a model from Z2-gauge theory is taken as the theoretical motivation to construct a discrete lattice with Ising spin properties. A dimer is then allowed to exist indirectly in the empty space between sites. We choose to tackle the problem through a quantum mechanical approach in 1+1-dimensions, distancing ourselves from the original description in quantum field theory. The exposition begins by reviewing the spatial construction of the entire chain as well as its components, and ends with a discussion of time development where the main concern is dispersion in addition to reflection against a static charge.

No description available.

Le sujet de cette thèse est le calcul ab initio de masses en QCD sur réseau.Dans la première partie on reconstruit le spectre des hadrons légers de la QCD. En utilisant une action de jauge de Lüscher-Weisz et une action fermionique de Wilson clover qui couplent par le biais de liens ayant subi six étapes de smearing stout, on extrait les masses de hadrons légers dans simulations à $N_f=2+1$ saveurs. Ces masses sont en accord avec l'expérience avec une précision de l'ordre de quelques pourcents et tous les erreurs systématiques sont contrôlées.Dans la seconde partie, on détermine les masses de quarks légers. L'action est la même que précédement mais on utilise deux étapes de smearing hex. Les simulations sont réalisées à la masse du pion et on utilise cinq réseaux pour prendre la limite du continu, éliminant de ce fait une grande source d'erreur systématique. La renormalisation est effectuée à la Rome-Southampton pour ne pas induire d'incertitudes dues à la théorie des perturbations. On obtient ainsi les premiers résultats au point physique atteignant une précision inférieure à 5%. / The main topic of this thesis is the computation ab initio of masses from lattice QCD.In the first part, the light hadron spectrum is computed. Thanks to a Lüscher-Weisz gauge action and a clover Wilson action describing with the quarks with six levels of stout-smearing, light hadron masses are extracted from simulations with $N_f=2+1$ flavors. These masses agree with experiment with a few percent accuracy and all the systematic errors are under control.In the second part, the light quark masses are determined. We use the same action as previously but with two levels of hex smearing. The simulations are done at the physical point mass and five lattice spacings are used to take a safe conitnuum limit, thus eliminating a higher source of systematice incertitude. Renormalization is perfo,rmed non perturbatively à la Rome-Southampton, thereby suppressing perturbative errors. We obtain in this work the first full non perturbative resultats at the physical point with a high accuracy since we obtain an error of about 5%.

Fases topológicas da matéria são caracterizadas por terem uma degenerescên- cia do estado fundamental que depende da topologia da variedade em que o sistema físico é definido, além disso apresentam estados excitados no interior do sistema que são interpretados como sendo quase-partículas com estatística de tipo anyonica. Estes sistemas apresentam também excitações sem gap de energia em sua borda. Fases topologicamente ordenadas distintas não podem ser distinguidas pelo esquema usual de quebra de simetria de Ginzburg-Landau. Nesta dissertação apresentamos como exemplo o modelo mais simples de um sistema com Ordem Topológica, a saber, o Toric Code (TC), introduzido originalmente por A. Kitaev em [1]. O estado fundamental deste modelo ap- resenta degenerescência igual a 4 quando incorporado à superfície de um toro. As excitações elementares são interpretadas como sendo quase-partículas com estatística do tipo anyonica. O TC é um caso especial de uma classe mais geral de models chamados de Quantum Double Models (QDMs), estes modelos podem ser entendidos como sendo uma implementação de Teorias de gauge na rede em (2 + 1) dimensões na formulação Hamiltoniana, em que os graus de liberdade vivem nas arestas da rede e são elementos do grupo de gauge G. Nós generalizamos estes modelos com a inclusão de campos de matéria nos vértices da rede. Também apresentamos uma construção detalhada de tais modelos e mostramos que eles são exatamente solúveis. Em particular, exploramos o modelo que corresponde à escolher o grupo de gauge como sendo o grupo cíclico Z2 e os graus de liberdade de matéria como sendo elementos de um espaço vetorial bidimensional V2. Além disso, mostramos que a degenerescência do estado fundamental não depende da topologia da variedade e obtemos os estados excitados mais elementares deste modelo. / Topological phases of matter are characterized for having a topologically dependent ground state degeneracy, anyonic quasi-particle bulk excitations and gapless edge excitations. Different topologically ordered phases of matter can not be distinguished by te usual Ginzburg-Landau scheme of symmetry breaking. Therefore, a new mathematical framework for the study of such phases is needed. In this dissertation we present the simplest example of a topologically ordered system, namely, the \\Toric Code (TC) introduced by A. Kitaev in [1]. Its ground state is 4-fold degenerate when embedded on the surface of a torus and its elementary excited states are interpreted as quasi-particle anyons. The TC is a particular case of a more general class of lattice models known as Quantum Double Models (QDMs) which can be interpreted as an implementation of (2+1) Lattice Gauge Theories in the Hamiltonian formulation with discrete gauge group G. We generalize these models by the inclusion of matter fields at the vertices of the lattice. We give a detailed construction of such models, we show they are exactly solvable and explore the case when the gauge group is set to be the abelian Z_2 cyclic group and the matter degrees of freedom to be elements of a 2-dimensional vector space V_2. Furthermore, we show that the ground state degeneracy is not topologically dependent and obtain the most elementary excited states.

The idea that we live in a higher-dimensional space was first introduced almost 100 years ago. In the past two decades many extra-dimensional models have been proposed in order to solve fundamental problems of nature such as the hierarchy problem. Most of them need exploration via non-perturbative approaches and Lattice Gauge Theory provides a tool for doing this. In this thesis, we make attempts to find a non-perturbative way to localize gauge fields that arise from five-dimensional SU(2) gauge theories on 3-branes. In 1984, it was proposed that the phase diagram of anisotropic extra-dimensional lattice gauge theories inherits a new phase, called the "layered" phase, where the gauge fields behave as four-dimensional ones. This was shown for the abelian case, but the existence of this new phase for the simplest non-abelian group, SU(2), was still in doubt. We investigated this system in large volumes using Monte Carlo simulations and we could not find a second order phase transition from a five-dimensional to a continuous four-dimensional theory when all directions were kept large. This made the model unattractive for further exploration as nothing suggests that a non-trivial fixed point could exist. The above investigation was done in a flat background metric. We extended the previous work by putting our theory into a slice of AdS5 space, usually called the warped background. The motivation for this is that our SU(2) theory looks like the gauge-sector of the Randall-Sundrum model, which does not have a concrete solution to the problem of localization of the gauge fields on a 3-brane. We carried out our investigation using the Mean-Field Approach and we present novel results for the phase diagram and measurements of important observables. In our implementation we have a finite extent of the extra dimension and one layer (or 3-brane) on each extra-dimensional coordinate. At weak coupling, we observed that each layer decouples one at a time in the transition to the fully layered phase of the system, forming a mixed phase, whereas there is a strong and sharp transition between the fully layered and the strong-coupling phase. Within the mixed phase, close to the transition into the layered phase, we found evidence that the system is four-dimensional acquiring a Yukawa mass and resembling a Higgs-like phase. The mixed phase grows as the curvature increases suggesting that for an infinite extra dimension the entire weak-coupling phase is mixed.