Center vortices and the SU(3) conformal window
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: A novel approach for estimating the lower end of the SU(3) conformal window is presented through the study of center vortex geometry and its dependence on the number of fermion flavors N f . Values ranging from N f = 2 – 8 are utilized to infer an upper limit for vortex behavior in the low N f phase, which may inform the transition to the conformal window. The simulations are performed at a single lattice spacing and pion mass, both fixed for all N f . Visualizations of the center vortex structure in three-dimensional slices of the lattice reveal a growing roughness in the vortex matter as a function of N f , embodied by an increase in the density of vortex matter in the percolating cluster and a simultaneous reduction in secondary clusters disconnected from the percolating cluster in 3D slices. This is quantified by various bulk properties, including the vortex and branching point densities. A correlation of the vortex structure reveals a turning point near N f ≃ 5 past which a randomness in the vortex field becomes the dominant aspect of its evolution with N f . As a byproduct, extrapolations to the vortex content of a uniform-random gauge field provide a critical point at which there must be a drastic shift in vacuum field structure. A precise estimate for the critical value is extracted as N f * = 11.43 ( 16 ) ( 17 ) , close to various other estimates.
Institutions: The University of Adelaide, Eötvös Loránd University
Language: English
Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4408054498