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Staggered Fermion
In lattice field theory, staggered fermions (also known as Kogut–Susskind fermions) are a fermion discretization that reduces the number of fermion doublers from sixteen to four. They are one of the fastest lattice fermions when it comes to simulations and they also possess some nice features such as a remnant chiral symmetry, making them very popular in lattice QCD calculations. Staggered fermions were first formulated by John Kogut and Leonard Susskind in 1975 and were later found to be equivalent to the discretized version of the Dirac–Kähler fermion. Constructing staggered fermions Single-component basis The naively discretized Dirac action in Euclidean spacetime with lattice spacing a and Dirac fields \psi_n at every lattice point, indexed by n = (n_1,n_2,n_3,n_4), takes the form : S = a^4 \sum_\bar \psi_n \bigg(\sum^4_\gamma_\mu \frac+m\psi_n\bigg). Staggered fermions are constructed from this by performing the ''staggered transformation'' into a new basis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lattice Field Theory
In physics, lattice field theory is the study of lattice models of quantum field theory. This involves studying field theory on a space or spacetime that has been discretised onto a lattice. Details Although most lattice field theories are not exactly solvable, they are immensely appealing due to their feasibility for computer simulation, often using Markov chain Monte Carlo methods. One hopes that, by performing simulations on larger and larger lattices, while making the lattice spacing smaller and smaller, one will be able to recover the behavior of the continuum theory as the continuum limit is approached. Just as in all lattice models, numerical simulation provides access to field configurations that are not accessible to perturbation theory, such as solitons. Similarly, non-trivial vacuum states can be identified and examined. The method is particularly appealing for the quantization of a gauge theory using the Wilson action. Most quantization approaches maintain Po ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hypercube
In geometry, a hypercube is an ''n''-dimensional analogue of a square ( ) and a cube ( ); the special case for is known as a ''tesseract''. It is a closed, compact, convex figure whose 1- skeleton consists of groups of opposite parallel line segments aligned in each of the space's dimensions, perpendicular to each other and of the same length. A unit hypercube's longest diagonal in ''n'' dimensions is equal to \sqrt. An ''n''-dimensional hypercube is more commonly referred to as an ''n''-cube or sometimes as an ''n''-dimensional cube. The term measure polytope (originally from Elte, 1912) is also used, notably in the work of H. S. M. Coxeter who also labels the hypercubes the γn polytopes. The hypercube is the special case of a hyperrectangle (also called an ''n-orthotope''). A ''unit hypercube'' is a hypercube whose side has length one unit. Often, the hypercube whose corners (or ''vertices'') are the 2''n'' points in R''n'' with each coordinate equal to 0 or 1 i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Massless Particle
In particle physics, a massless particle is an elementary particle whose invariant mass is zero. At present the only confirmed massless particle is the photon. Other particles and quasiparticles Standard Model gauge bosons The photon (carrier of electromagnetism) is one of two known gauge bosons thought to be massless. The photon is well-known from direct observation to exist and be massless. The other massless gauge boson is the gluon (carrier of the strong force) whose existence has been inferred from particle collision decay products; it is expected to be massless, but a zero mass has not been confirmed by experiment. Although there are compelling theoretical reasons to believe that gluons are massless, they can never be observed as free particles due to being confined within hadrons, and hence their presumed lack of rest mass cannot be confirmed by any feasible experiment. The only other observed gauge bosons are the W and Z bosons, which are known from experiments to be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Symmetry (physics)
The symmetry of a physical system is a physical or mathematical feature of the system (observed or intrinsic) that is preserved or remains unchanged under some Transformation (function), transformation. A family of particular transformations may be ''continuous'' (such as rotation of a circle) or ''discrete space, discrete'' (e.g., Reflection (physics), reflection of a bilaterally symmetric figure, or rotation of a regular polygon). Continuous and discrete transformations give rise to corresponding types of symmetries. Continuous symmetries can be described by Lie groups while discrete symmetries are described by finite groups (see ''Symmetry group''). These two concepts, Lie and finite groups, are the foundation for the fundamental theories of modern physics. Symmetries are frequently amenable to mathematical formulations such as representation of a Lie group, group representations and can, in addition, be exploited to simplify many problems. Arguably the most important examp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Continuum Limit
In mathematical physics and mathematics, the continuum limit or scaling limit of a lattice model characterizes its behaviour in the limit as the lattice spacing goes to zero. It is often useful to use lattice models to approximate real-world processes, such as Brownian motion. Indeed, according to Donsker's theorem, the discrete random walk would, in the scaling limit, approach the true Brownian motion. Terminology The term ''continuum limit'' mostly finds use in the physical sciences, often in reference to models of aspects of quantum physics, while the term ''scaling limit'' is more common in mathematical use. Application in quantum field theory A lattice model that approximates a continuum quantum field theory in the limit as the lattice spacing goes to zero may correspond to finding a second order phase transition of the model. This is the scaling limit of the model. See also * Universality class In statistical mechanics, a universality class is a collection of math ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Renormalization Group
In theoretical physics, the renormalization group (RG) is a formal apparatus that allows systematic investigation of the changes of a physical system as viewed at different scales. In particle physics, it reflects the changes in the underlying physical laws (codified in a quantum field theory) as the energy (or mass) scale at which physical processes occur varies. A change in scale is called a scale transformation. The renormalization group is intimately related to ''scale invariance'' and ''conformal invariance'', symmetries in which a system appears the same at all scales ( self-similarity), where under the fixed point of the renormalization group flow the field theory is conformally invariant. As the scale varies, it is as if one is decreasing (as RG is a semi-group and doesn't have a well-defined inverse operation) the magnifying power of a notional microscope viewing the system. In so-called renormalizable theories, the system at one scale will generally consist of self- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dirac Fermions
In physics, a Dirac fermion is a spin-½ particle (a fermion) which is different from its antiparticle. A vast majority of fermions fall under this category. Description In particle physics, all fermions in the standard model have distinct antiparticles (''perhaps'' excepting neutrinos) and hence are Dirac fermions. They are named after Paul Dirac, and can be modeled with the Dirac equation. A Dirac fermion is equivalent to two Weyl fermions. The counterpart to a Dirac fermion is a Majorana fermion, a particle that must be its own antiparticle. Dirac quasi-particles In condensed matter physics, low-energy excitations in graphene and topological insulators, among others, are fermionic quasiparticles described by a pseudo-relativistic Dirac equation. See also * Dirac spinor, a wavefunction-like description of a Dirac fermion * Dirac–Kähler fermion, a geometric formulation of Dirac fermions * Majorana fermion, an alternate category of fermion, possibly describing neutrinos * Spi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mass
Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementary particle, elementary particles, theoretically with the same amount of matter, have nonetheless different masses. Mass in modern physics has multiple Mass in special relativity, definitions which are conceptually distinct, but physically equivalent. Mass can be experimentally defined as a measure (mathematics), measure of the body's inertia, meaning the resistance to acceleration (change of velocity) when a net force is applied. The object's mass also determines the Force, strength of its gravitational attraction to other bodies. The SI base unit of mass is the kilogram (kg). In physics, mass is Mass versus weight, not the same as weight, even though mass is often determined by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kinetic Term
In quantum field theory, a kinetic term is any term in the Lagrangian that is bilinear in the fields and has at least one derivative. Fields with kinetic terms are dynamical and together with mass terms define a free field theory. Their form is primarily determined by the spin of the fields along with other constraints such as unitarity and Lorentz invariance. Non-standard kinetic terms that break unitarity or are not positive-definite occur, such as when formulating ghost fields, in some models of cosmology, in condensed matter systems, and for non-unitary conformal field theories. Overview In a Lagrangian, bilinear field terms are split into two types: those without derivatives and those with derivatives. The former give fields mass and are known as mass terms. The latter, those which have at least one derivative, are known as kinetic terms and these make fields dynamical. A field theory with only bilinear terms is a free field theory. Interacting theories must have a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tensor Product
In mathematics, the tensor product V \otimes W of two vector spaces V and W (over the same field) is a vector space to which is associated a bilinear map V\times W \rightarrow V\otimes W that maps a pair (v,w),\ v\in V, w\in W to an element of V \otimes W denoted . An element of the form v \otimes w is called the tensor product of v and w. An element of V \otimes W is a tensor, and the tensor product of two vectors is sometimes called an ''elementary tensor'' or a ''decomposable tensor''. The elementary tensors span V \otimes W in the sense that every element of V \otimes W is a sum of elementary tensors. If bases are given for V and W, a basis of V \otimes W is formed by all tensor products of a basis element of V and a basis element of W. The tensor product of two vector spaces captures the properties of all bilinear maps in the sense that a bilinear map from V\times W into another vector space Z factors uniquely through a linear map V\otimes W\to Z (see the section below ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laplace Operator
In mathematics, the Laplace operator or Laplacian is a differential operator given by the divergence of the gradient of a Scalar field, scalar function on Euclidean space. It is usually denoted by the symbols \nabla\cdot\nabla, \nabla^2 (where \nabla is the Del, nabla operator), or \Delta. In a Cartesian coordinate system, the Laplacian is given by the sum of second partial derivatives of the function with respect to each independent variable. In other coordinate systems, such as cylindrical coordinates, cylindrical and spherical coordinates, the Laplacian also has a useful form. Informally, the Laplacian of a function at a point measures by how much the average value of over small spheres or balls centered at deviates from . The Laplace operator is named after the French mathematician Pierre-Simon de Laplace (1749–1827), who first applied the operator to the study of celestial mechanics: the Laplacian of the gravitational potential due to a given mass density distributio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Derivative
In mathematics, the derivative is a fundamental tool that quantifies the sensitivity to change of a function's output with respect to its input. The derivative of a function of a single variable at a chosen input value, when it exists, is the slope of the tangent line to the graph of the function at that point. The tangent line is the best linear approximation of the function near that input value. For this reason, the derivative is often described as the instantaneous rate of change, the ratio of the instantaneous change in the dependent variable to that of the independent variable. The process of finding a derivative is called differentiation. There are multiple different notations for differentiation. '' Leibniz notation'', named after Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, is represented as the ratio of two differentials, whereas ''prime notation'' is written by adding a prime mark. Higher order notations represent repeated differentiation, and they are usually denoted in Leib ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
