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The family of SU(2) theories with matter transforming in the adjoint representation has attracted interest from many angles. The two-flavour theory, known as Minimal Walking Technicolor, has a body of evidence pointing to it being in the conformal window with anomalous dimension $\gamma_{*}\approx0.3$. Perturbative calculations would suggest that the one-flavour theory should be confining and chirally broken; however, lattice studies of the theory have been inconclusive. In this contribution we present a first look at efforts towards the computation of the beta function of these theories using the gradient flow methodology. Following an exploration of the phase diagram of the two theories with Wilson fermions and additional Pauli-Villars fields, we tune the bare fermion mass to near the chiral limit, and subsequently generate ensembles at five lattice volumes and a range of lattice spacings., Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures. Contribution to Proceedings of the 41st International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory (Lattice 2024), July 28th - August 3rd, 2024, University of Liverpool, UK

We measure the masses of the pseudoscalar flavour-singlet meson states in the $Sp(4)$ gauge theory coupled to two Dirac fermions transforming in the fundamental representation and three Dirac fermions in the antisymmetric representation. This theory provides a compelling ultraviolet completion for the minimal composite Higgs model implementing also partial compositeness for the top quark. The spectrum contains two, comparatively light, pseudoscalar flavour-singlet states, which mix with one another. One of them is a Nambu-Goldstone boson (in the massless limit), whereas the other receives a mass from the $U(1)_A$ axial anomaly. We demonstrate how to measure the mixing between these two states. For moderately heavy fermion masses, we find that the two wave functions are dominated by one of the fermion representations, mixing effects being small., Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures, 2 tables, Proceedings of the 41st International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory (Lattice 2024), July 28th - August 3rd, 2024, University of Liverpool, UK

Spectral densities encode non-perturbative information crucial in computing physical observables in strongly coupled field theories. Using lattice gauge theory data, we perform a systematic study to demonstrate the potential of recent technological advances in the reconstruction of spectral densities. We develop, maintain and make publicly available dedicated analysis code that can be used for broad classes of lattice theories. As a test case, we analyse the Sp(4) gauge theory coupled to an admixture of fermions transforming in the fundamental and two-index antisymmetric representations. We measure the masses of mesons in energy-smeared spectral densities, after optimising the smearing parameters for available lattice ensembles. We present a summary of the mesons mass spectrum in all the twelve (flavored) channels available, including also several excited states., Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, contribution for the 41th International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory (Lattice 2024), 28 July - 3 August 2024, Liverpool, UK, presenting the results of the paper: arXiv:2405.01388

We study the finite-temperature behaviour of the $Sp(4)$ Yang-Mills lattice theory in four dimensions, by applying the Logarithmic Linear Relaxation (LLR) algorithm. We demonstrate the presence of coexisting (metastable) phases, when the system is in the proximity of the transition. We measure observables such as the free energy, the expectation value of the plaquette operator and of the Polyakov loop, as well as the specific heat, and the Binder cumulant. We use these results to obtain a high-precision measurement of the critical coupling at the confinement-deconfinement transition, and assess its systematic uncertainty, for one value of the lattice extent in the time direction. Furthermore, we perform an extensive study of the finite-volume behaviour of the lattice system, by repeating the measurements for fixed lattice time extent, while increasing the spatial size of the lattice. We hence characterise the first-order transition on the lattice, and present the first results in the literature on this theory for the infinite volume extrapolation of lattice quantities related to latent heat and interface tension. Gauge theories with $Sp(4)$ group have been proposed as new dark sectors to provide a fundamental origin for the current phenomenological evidence of dark matter. A phase transition at high temperature, in such a new dark sector, occurring in the early universe, might have left a relic stochastic background of gravitational waves. Our results represent a milestone toward establishing whether such a new physics signal is detectable in future experiments, as they enter the calculation of the parameters, $\alpha$ and $\beta$, controlling the power spectrum of gravitational waves. We also outline the process needed in the continuum extrapolation of our measurements, and test its feasibility on one additional choice of temporal extent of the lattice., Comment: 27 pages, 18 figures

We provide an extended lattice study of the SU(2) gauge theory coupled to one Dirac fermion flavour ($N_{\mathrm{f}} =1$) transforming in the adjoint representation as the continuum limit is approached. This investigation is supplemented by numerical results obtained for the SU(2) gauge theory with two Dirac fermion flavours ($N_{\mathrm{f}} =2$) transforming in the adjoint representation, for which we perform numerical investigations at a single lattice spacing value, which is analysed together with earlier calculations. The purpose of our study is to advance the characterisation of the infrared properties of both theories, which previous investigations have concluded to be in the conformal window. For both, we determine the mass spectrum and the anomalous dimension of the fermion condensate using finite-size hyperscaling of the spectrum, mode number analysis of the Dirac operator (for which we improve on our previous proposal) and the ratio of masses of the lightest spin-2 particle over the lightest scalar. All methods provide a consistent picture, with the anomalous dimension of the condensate $\gamma_*$ decreasing significantly as one approaches the continuum limit for the $N_{\mathrm{f}} = 1$ theory towards a value consistent with $\gamma_* = 0.174(6)$, while for $N_{\mathrm{f}} = 2$ the anomalous dimension decreases more slowly with $\beta$. A chiral perturbation theory analysis show that the infrared behaviour of both theories is incompatible with the breaking of chiral symmetry., Comment: 24 pages, 22 figures

We provide the first extensive, numerical study of the non-trivial problem of mixing between flavor-singlet composite states emerging in strongly coupled lattice field theories with matter field content consisting of fermions transforming in different representations of the gauge group. The theory of interest is the minimal candidate for a composite Higgs model that also accommodates a mechanism for top partial compositeness: the $Sp(4)$ gauge theory coupled to two (Dirac) fermions transforming as the fundamental and three as the two-index antisymmetric representation of the gauge group, respectively. We apply an admixture of APE and Wuppertal smearings, as well as the generalized eigenvalue problem approach, to two-point functions involving flavor-singlet mesons, for ensembles having time extent longer than the space extent. We demonstrate that, in the region of lattice parameter space accessible to this study, both masses and mixing angles can be measured effectively, despite the presence of (numerically noisy) contributions from disconnected diagrams., Comment: 18 pages, 3 figures, 5 tables; v2: minor changes, added appendix A, version accepted for publication in PRD

Spectral densities encode non-perturbative information that enters the calculation of a plethora of physical observables in strongly coupled field theories. Phenomenological applications encompass aspects of standard-model hadronic physics, observable at current colliders, as well as correlation functions characterizing new physics proposals, testable in future experiments. By making use of numerical data produced in a Sp(4) lattice gauge theory with matter transforming in an admixture of fundamental and 2-index antisymmetric representations of the gauge group, we perform a systematic study to demonstrate the effectiveness of recent technological progress in the reconstruction of spectral densities. To this purpose, we write and test new software packages that use energy-smeared spectral densities to analyze the mass spectrum of mesons. We assess the effectiveness of different smearing kernels and optimize the smearing parameters to the characteristics of available lattice ensembles. We generate new ensembles for the theory in consideration, with lattices that have a longer extent in the time direction with respect to the spatial ones. We run our tests on these ensembles, obtaining new results about the spectrum of light mesons and their excitations. We make available our algorithm and software for the extraction of spectral densities, that can be applied to theories with other gauge groups, including the theory of strong interactions (QCD) governing hadronic physics in the standard model., Comment: Version approved for publication. 45 pages, 20 figures

In strongly coupled gauge theories that serve as completions of composite Higgs models, the fermionic bound states formed by fermions (hyperquarks) transforming in different representations, called chimera baryons, could serve as top partners, by embedding of the Standard Model appropriately. We report our results on the spectrum of chimera baryons in the Sp(4) gauge theory with hyperquarks transforming in fundamental and two-index antisymmetric representations. For this study, we adopt the quenched approximation. We investigate the mass hierarchy between the lightest chimera baryons with different quantum numbers, as a function of the lattice parameters. Inspired by baryon chiral effective field theory, and the Akaike Information Criterion, we perform a first extrapolation to the continuum and massless-hyperquark limit., Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, contribution to the proceedings of the 40th International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory (LATTICE2023), July 31st - August 4th, 2023, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Batavia, Illinois, USA

We report the findings of our extensive study of the spectra of flavoured mesons in lattice gauge theories with symplectic gauge group and fermion matter content treated in the quenched approximation. For the $Sp(4)$, $Sp(6)$, and $Sp(8)$ gauge groups, the (Dirac) fermions transform in either the fundamental, or the 2-index, antisymmetric or symmetric, representations. This study sets the stage for future precision calculations with dynamical fermions in the low mass region of lattice parameter space. Our results have potential phenomenological applications ranging from composite Higgs models, to top (partial) compositeness, to dark matter models with composite, strong-coupling dynamical origin. Having adopted the Wilson flow as a scale-setting procedure, we apply Wilson chiral perturbation theory to extract the continuum and massless limits for the observables of interest. The resulting measurements are used to perform a simplified extrapolation to the large-$N$ limit, hence drawing a preliminary connection with gauge theories with unitary groups. We conclude with a brief discussion of the Weinberg sum rules., Comment: 31 pages, 28 figures, 7 tables. Version accepted for publication

We report the results of lattice numerical studies of the Sp(4) gauge theory coupled to fermions (hyperquarks) transforming in the fundamental and two-index antisymmetric representations of the gauge group. This strongly-coupled theory is the minimal candidate for the ultraviolet completion of composite Higgs models that facilitate the mechanism of partial compositeness for generating the top-quark mass. We measure the spectrum of the low-lying, half-integer spin, bound states composed of two fundamental and one antisymmetric hyperquarks, dubbed chimera baryons, in the quenched approximation. In this first systematic, non-perturbative study, we focus on the three lightest parity-even chimera-baryon states, in analogy with QCD, denoted as $\Lambda_{\rm CB}$, $\Sigma_{\rm CB}$ (both with spin 1/2), and $\Sigma_{\rm CB}^\ast$(with spin 3/2). The spin-1/2 such states are candidates of the top partners. The extrapolation of our results to the continuum and massless-hyperquark limit is performed using formulae inspired by QCD heavy-baryon Wilson chiral perturbation theory. Within the range of hyperquark masses in our simulations, we find that $\Sigma_{\mathrm{CB}}$ is not heavier than $\Lambda_{\mathrm{CB}}$., Comment: 36 pages, 12 figures, 19 tables; minor improvements and corrections; aligning numbers in Data release; version accepted for publication in PRD

Four-dimensional gauge theories based on symplectic Lie groups provide elegant realisations of the microscopic origin of several new physics models. Numerical studies pursued on the lattice provide quantitative information necessary for phenomenological applications. To this purpose, we implemented Sp(2N) gauge theories using Monte Carlo techniques within Grid, a performant framework designed for the numerical study of quantum field theories on the lattice. We show the first results obtained using this library, focusing on the case-study provided by the Sp(4) theory coupled to Nas = 4 Wilson-Dirac fermions transforming in the 2-index antisymmetric representation. In particular, we discuss preliminary tests of the algorithm and we test some of its main functionalities., Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, contribution for the 40th International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory (Lattice 2023), July 31st - August 4th, 2023, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, presenting the results of the paper: arXiv:2306.11649

Symplectic gauge theories coupled to matter fields lead to symmetry enhancement phenomena that have potential applications in such diverse contexts as composite Higgs, top partial compositeness, strongly interacting dark matter, and dilaton-Higgs models. These theories are also interesting on theoretical grounds, for example in reference to the approach to the large-N limit. A particularly compelling research aim is the determination of the extent of the conformal window in gauge theories with symplectic groups coupled to matter, for different groups and for field content consisting of fermions transforming in different representations. Such determination would have far-reaching implications, but requires overcoming huge technical challenges. Numerical studies based on lattice field theory can provide the quantitative information necessary to this endeavour. We developed new software to implement symplectic groups in the Monte Carlo algorithms within the Grid framework. In this paper, we focus most of our attention on the Sp(4) lattice gauge theory coupled to four (Wilson-Dirac) fermions transforming in the 2-index antisymmetric representation, as a case study. We discuss an extensive catalogue of technical tests of the algorithms and present preliminary measurements to set the stage for future large-scale numerical investigations. We also include the scan of parameter space of all asymptotically free Sp(4) lattice gauge theories coupled to varying number of fermions transforming in the antisymmetric representation., Comment: 42 pages, 16 figures. Version accepted for publication

We provide the first determination of the mass of the lightest flavor-singlet pseudoscalar and scalar bound states (mesons), in the $\rm{Sp}(4)$ Yang-Mills theory coupled to two flavors of fundamental fermions, using lattice methods. This theory has applications both to composite Higgs and strongly-interacting dark matter scenarios. We find the singlets to have masses comparable to those of the light flavored states, which might have important implications for phenomenological models. We focus on regions of parameter space corresponding to a moderately heavy mass regime for the fermions. We compare the spectra we computed to existing and new results for $\rm{SU}(2)$ and $\rm{SU}(3)$ theories, uncovering an intriguing degree of commonality. As a by-product, in order to perform the aforementioned measurements, we implemented and tested, in the context of symplectic lattice gauge theories, several strategies for the treatment of disconnected-diagram contributions to two-point correlation functions. These technical advances set the stage for future studies of the singlet sector in broader portions of parameter space of this and other lattice theories with a symplectic gauge group., Comment: 26 pages, 7 figures, 6 tables; v2: added references to data and workflow release, minor changes

We review the current status of the long-term programme of numerical investigation of $Sp(2N)$ gauge theories with and without fermionic matter content. We start by introducing the phenomenological as well as theoretical motivations for this research programme, which are related to composite Higgs models, models of partial top compositeness, dark matter models, and in general to the physics of strongly coupled theories and their approach to the large-N limit. We summarise the results of lattice studies conducted so far in the $Sp(2N)$ Yang-Mills theories, measuring the string tension, the mass spectrum of glueballs and the topological susceptibility, and discuss their large-N extrapolation. We then focus our discussion on $Sp(4)$, and summarise numerical measurements of mass and decay constant of mesons in the theories with fermion matter in either the fundamental or the antisymmetric representation, first in the quenched approximation, and then with dynamical fermions. We finally discuss the case of dynamical fermions in mixed representations, and exotic composite fermion states such as the chimera baryons. We conclude by sketching the future stages of the programme. And we describe our approach to open access., Comment: 75 pages, 22 figures, 3 tables; contribution to the special issue of Universe "Numerical Studies of Strongly Coupled Gauge Theories (SCGTs) in the Search of New Physics"; version accepted for publication

We present an update of our ongoing study of the SU(2) gauge theory with one flavor of Dirac fermion in the adjoint representation. Compared to our previous results we now have data at larger lattice volumes, smaller values of the fermion mass, and also larger values of $\beta$. We present data for the spectrum of mesons, baryons, glueballs, and the hybrid fermion-glue state, as well as new estimates of the mass anomalous dimension from both finite-size hyperscaling and the Dirac mode number, and discuss the implications of these data for the presence or otherwise of chiral symmetry breaking in this theory., Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures. Contribution to the 39th International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, 8th-13th August, 2022, Bonn, Germany. Version accepted for publication in Proceedings of Science

Open science aims to make scientific research processes, tools and results accessible to all scientific communities, creating trust in science and enabling digital competences to be realized in research, leading to increased innovation. It provides standard and transparent pathways to conducting research and fosters best practices for collecting, analysing, preserving, sharing and reusing data, software, workflows and other outputs through collaborative networks. Open Science appears to be becoming the norm with its applications spanning throughout the whole research cycle of a project. The importance of making Open Science a reality is nowadays reflected in funding policies, research infrastructure and politics. In these proceedings we present the basic Open Science principles explaining briefly best practices for materialising Open Science. Subsequently, we present the results of the landscaping survey of Open Science in the Lattice Gauge Theories community. Finally, we provide directions in which the Lattice Gauge Theory community could move in order to enhance Openness and FAIRness (Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, Reusability) in Science., Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, Proceedings of the 39th International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory (Lattice2022), 8-13 August, 2022, Bonn, Germany

As a fully computational discipline, Lattice Field Theory has the potential to give results that anyone with sufficient computational resources can reproduce, going from input parameters to published numbers and plots correct to the last byte. After briefly motivating and outlining some of the key steps in making lattice computations reproducible, this contribution presents the results of a survey of all 1,229 submissions to the hep-lat arXiv in 2021 of how explicitly reproducible each is. Areas where LFT has historically been well ahead of the curve are highlighted, as are areas where there are opportunities to do more., Comment: 9 pages, 9 figures. Contribution to the 39th International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, 8th-13th August, 2022, Bonn, Germany

Sp($2N$) gauge theories with fermonic matter provide an ideal laboratory to build extensions of the standard model based on novel composite dynamics. Examples include composite Higgs along with top partial compositeness and composite dark matter. Without fermions, their study also complements those based on SU($N_c$) gauge theories with which they share a common sector in the large $N_c=2N$ limit. We report on our recent progress in the numerical studies of Sp($2N$) gauge theories discretised on a four-dimensional Euclidean lattice. In particular, we present preliminary results for the low-lying mass spectra of mesons and chimera baryons in the theories with $N=2$. We also compute the topological susceptibility for various values of $N$, extrapolate the results to the large $N$ limit, and discuss certain universal properties in Yang-Mills theories., Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, Contribution to the proceedings of the 15th Quark Confinement and the Hadron Spectrum conference (ConfXV), 1st-6th August 2022, Stavanger, Norway

Chimera baryons are an important element of strongly coupled theories that provide a microscopic origin for UV complete composite Higgs models (CHMs), since they play the role of top partners in top partial compositeness. In a particular interesting realisation of CHMs based upon an underlying $Sp(4)$ gauge theory, such exotic objects are composed of two fermion constituents transforming on the fundamental, and one on the 2-index antisymmetric representations. We perform lattice computations of the chimera baryon spectrum in the quenched approximation. We present preliminary results for the masses of various chimera baryons with different quantum numbers, including the one interpreted as the top partner. We test the technology needed for future calculations with dynamical fermions., Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, contribution to the proceedings of the 39th International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory (LATTICE2022), 8th-13th August 2022, Bonn, Germany. Minor changes: two references included, clarification of the choice of the top partner

In this contribution, we report on our study of the properties of the Wilson flow and on the calculation of the topological susceptibility of $Sp(N_c)$ gauge theories for $N_c=2,\,4,\,6,\,8$. The Wilson flow is shown to scale according to the quadratic Casimir operator of the gauge group, as was already observed for $SU(N_c)$, and the commonly used scales $t_0$ and $w_0$ are obtained for a large interval of the inverse coupling for each probed value of $N_c$. The continuum limit of the topological susceptibility is computed and we conjecture that it scales with the dimension of the group. The lattice measurements performed in the $SU(N_c)$ Yang-Mills theories by several independent collaborations allow us to test this conjecture and to obtain a universal large-$N_c$ limit of the rescaled topological susceptibility., Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures. Proceeding for the 39th International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, 8th-13th August 2022, Bonn, Germany

We perform numerical calculations of masses and decay constants of the lightest (flavoured) pseudoscalar, vector and axial vector mesons in the $Sp(4)$ lattice gauge theory with three Dirac fermions in the antisymmetric representation. The corresponding continuum theory plays an important role in certain ultra-violet complete realisations of composite Higgs, partial top compositeness, and composite dark matter models. In addition, we measure the masses of other flavoured mesons in spin-$0$ and $1$ channels, as well as the first excited state of the vector mesons. Using the gradient flow to set the scale, we carry out the continuum extrapolation and show preliminary results for the meson spectrum of the theory., Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, 1 Table, Proceedings of the 39th International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory (LATTICE2022), 8th-13th August 2022, Bonn, Germany

We study Yang-Mills lattice theories with $Sp(N_c)$ gauge group, with $N_c=2N$, for $N=1,\,\cdots,\,4$. We show that if we divide the renormalised couplings appearing in the Wilson flow by the quadratic Casimir $C_2(F)$ of the $Sp(N_c)$ group, then the resulting quantities display a good agreement among all values of $N_c$ considered, over a finite interval in flow time. We use this scaled version of the Wilson flow as a scale-setting procedure, compute the topological susceptibility of the $Sp(N_c)$ theories, and extrapolate the results to the continuum limit for each $N_c$., Comment: 19 pages, 17 figures. v4: Typos corrected in eq. 35, Figures 3 and 4. Results unchanged

For Yang-Mills theories in four dimensions, we propose to rescale the ratio between topological susceptibility and string tension squared in a universal way, dependent only on group factors. We apply this suggestion to $SU(N_c)$ and $Sp(N_c)$ groups, and compare lattice measurements performed by several independent collaborations. We show that the two sequences of (rescaled) numerical results in these two families of groups are compatible with each other. We hence perform a combined fit, and extrapolate to the common large-$N_c$ limit., Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures; v2 minor change, a reference added; v3. minor changes to match the version accepted in PLB

We consider the $Sp(4)$ gauge theory coupled to $N_f=2$ fundamental and $n_f=3$ antisymmetric flavours of Dirac fermions in four dimensions. This theory serves as the microscopic origin for composite Higgs models with $SU(4)/Sp(4)$ coset, supplemented by partial top compositeness. We study numerically its lattice realisation, and couple the fundamental plaquette action to Wilson-Dirac fermions in mixed representations, by adopting a (rational) hybrid Monte Carlo method, to perform non-trivial tests of the properties of the resulting lattice theory. We find evidence of a surface (with boundaries) of first-order bulk phase transitions in the three-dimensional space of bare parameters (one coupling and two masses). Explicit evaluation of the Dirac eigenvalues confirms the expected patterns of global symmetry breaking. After investigating finite volume effects in the weak-coupling phase of the theory, for the largest available lattice we study the mass spectra of the lightest spin-0 and spin-1 flavoured mesons composed of fermions in each representation, and of the lightest half-integer spin composite particle made of fermions in different representations -- the chimera baryon. This work sets the stage for future systematical studies of the non-perturbative dynamics in phenomenologically relevant regions of parameter space., Comment: 44 pages, 20 figures, 6 tables; minor improvements and references added; version accepted for publication in PRD

Lattice studies of gauge theories with symplectic gauge groups provide valuable information about gauge dynamics, and complement the results of lattice investigations focused on unitary gauge groups. These theories play a central role in phenomenological contexts such as composite Higgs and strongly interacting dark matter models. We report on recent progress of our lattice research programme, starting from the glueball mass spectrum and the topology of the pure gauge theory. We present our results on the mass spectrum of mesons in the quenched approximation, by varying the number of colours in the symplectic group. For the $Sp(4)$ theory, we focus on results obtained with dynamical fermion matter content comprising both fundamental and 2-index antisymmetric representations of the gauge group, as dictated by a well known model of composite Higgs with partial top compositeness., Comment: 39 pages, 29 figures, 5 tables, combined proceedings of the 38th International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory (LATTICE2021), 26th-30th July, 2021, Zoom/Gather@Massachusetts Institute of Technology

We review numerical results for models with gauge group Sp(2N), discussing the glueball spectrum in the large-N limit, the quenched meson spectrum of Sp(4) with Dirac fermions in the fundamental and in the antisymmetric representation and the Sp(4) gauge model with two dynamical Dirac flavours. We also present preliminary results for the meson spectrum in the Sp(4) gauge theory with two fundamental and three antisymmetric Dirac flavours. The main motivation of our programme is to test whether this latter model is viable as a realisation of Higgs compositeness via the pseudo Nambu Goldstone mechanism and at the same time can provide partial top compositeness. In this respect, we report and briefly discuss preliminary results for the mass of the composite baryon made with two fundamental and one antisymmetric fermion (chimera baryon), whose physical properties are highly constrained if partial top compositeness is at work. Our investigation shows that a fully non-perturbative study of Higgs compositeness and partial top compositeness in Sp(4) is within reach with our current lattice methodology., Comment: Corrected notations in Eq. 1 and redrawn Fig 2, results unchanged; 8 pages, 4 figures, contribution to the proceedings of A Virtual Tribute to Quark Confinement and the Hadron Spectrum (vConf21), August 2nd-6th 2021

Motivated by recent scenarios of exotic infrared behaviour and by earlier lattice findings, we present results for the SU(2) gauge theory with one Dirac flavor in the adjoint representation. This provides a major update on our previous investigation of this theory, including data for four values of the gauge coupling $\beta$, and for smaller masses and larger volumes than previously considered. Results for the particle spectrum, topological observables, and the anomalous dimension from both hyperscaling and the Dirac mode number are presented. At the finest coupling, we observe a mass anomalous dimension of $\gamma_* \gtrsim 0.6$. Our findings are analysed in relation to possible infrared behaviours of the model. In particular, we show that our results are not compatible with a confining scenario in which chiral symmetry is broken., Comment: update title to disambiguate from PRD paper. no other changes. 8 pages, 5 figures. Talk given at the 38th International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory (LATTICE2021) - Zoom/Gather@Massachusetts Institute of Technology

We present a major update on our investigations of SU(2) gauge theory with one Dirac flavor in the adjoint representation on the lattice. In particular we consider larger volumes, as well as four different values of the gauge coupling. We provide results for the spectrum including gluonic, fermionic, and hybrid observables, Polyakov loops, and the anomalous dimension of the fermionic condensate from the Dirac mode number. These data confirm that the theory is close to the lower boundary of the conformal window for adjoint fermions. Our investigations provide important insights regarding the realization of different infrared scenarios that have been conjectured for this theory., Comment: 19 pages, 10 figures. Version accepted for publication in PRD

Motivated in part by the pseudo-Nambu Goldstone Boson mechanism of electroweak symmetry breaking in Composite Higgs Models, in part by dark matter scenarios with strongly coupled origin, as well as by general theoretical considerations related to the large-N extrapolation, we perform lattice studies of the Yang-Mills theories with $Sp(2N)$ gauge groups. We measure the string tension and the mass spectrum of glueballs, extracted from appropriate 2-point correlation functions of operators organised as irreducible representations of the octahedral symmetry group. We perform the continuum extrapolation and study the magnitude of finite-size effects, showing that they are negligible in our calculation. We present new numerical results for $N=1$, $2$, $3$, $4$, combine them with data previously obtained for $N=2$, and extrapolate towards $N\rightarrow \infty$. We confirm explicitly the expectation that, as already known for $N=1,2$ also for $N=3,4$ a confining potential rising linearly with the distance binds a static quark to its antiquark. We compare our results to the existing literature on other gauge groups, with particular attention devoted to the large-$N$ limit. We find agreement with the known values of the mass of the $0^{++}$, $0^{++*}$ and $2^{++}$ glueballs obtained taking the large-$N$ limit in the $SU(N)$ groups. In addition, we determine for the first time the mass of some heavier glueball states at finite $N$ in $Sp(2N)$ and extrapolate the results towards $N \rightarrow +\infty$ taking the limit in the latter groups. Since the large-$N$ limit of $Sp(2N)$ is the same as in $SU(N)$, our results are relevant also for the study of QCD-like theories., Comment: 42 pages, 21 figures, 23 tables. References added. Published version

We report the masses of the lightest spin-0 and spin-2 glueballs obtained in an extensive lattice study of the continuum and infinite volume limits of $Sp(N_c)$ gauge theories for $N_c=2,4,6,8$. We also extrapolate the combined results towards the large-$N_c$ limit. We compute the ratio of scalar and tensor masses, and observe evidence that this ratio is independent of $N_{c}$. Other lattice studies of Yang-Mills theories at the same space-time dimension provide a compatible ratio. We further compare these results to various analytical ones and discuss them in view of symmetry-based arguments related to the breaking of scale invariance in the underlying dynamics, showing that a constant ratio might emerge in a scenario in which the $0^{++}$ glueball is interpreted as a dilaton state., Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure: v2. minor changes in Sp(4) data and the title, to appear in PRD

Non-perturbative aspects of the physics of $Sp(2N)$ gauge theories are interesting for phenomenological and theoretical reasons, and little studied so far, particularly in the approach to the large-$N$ limit. We examine the spectrum of glueballs and the string tension of Yang-Mills theories based upon these groups. Glueball masses are calculated numerically with a variational method from Monte-Carlo generated lattice gauge configurations. After taking continuum limits for $N$ = 1, 2, 3 and 4, we extrapolate the results towards large $N$. We compare the resulting spectrum with that of $SU(N)$ gauge theories, both at finite $N$ and as $N$ approaches infinity., Comment: 1+6 pages. 2 figures. Proceedings of the 37th International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory - Lattice 2019, Wuhan (China) V2: typo in list of authors has been corrected

We perform lattice studies of meson mass spectra and decay constants of the $Sp(4)$ gauge theory in the quenched approximation. We consider two species of (Dirac) fermions as matter field content, transforming in the 2-index antisymmetric and the fundamental representation of the gauge group, respectively. All matter fields are formulated as Wilson fermions. We extrapolate to the continuum and massless limits, and compare to each other the results obtained for the two species of mesons. In the case of two fundamental and three antisymmetric fermions, the long-distance dynamics is relevant for composite Higgs models. This is the first lattice study of this class of theories. The global $SU(4) \times SU(6)$ symmetry is broken to the $Sp(4) \times SO(6)$ subgroup, and the condensates align with the explicit mass terms present in the lattice formulation of the theory. The main results of our quenched calculations are that, with fermions in the 2-index antisymmetric representation of the group, the masses squared and decay constant squared of all the mesons we considered are larger than the corresponding quantities for the fundamental representation, by factors that vary between $\sim$1.2 and $\sim$2.7. We also present technical results that will be useful for future lattice investigations of dynamical simulations, of composite chimera baryons, and of the approach to large $N$ in the $Sp(2N)$ theories considered. We briefly discuss their high-temperature behaviour, where symmetry restoration and enhancement are expected., Comment: 49 pages, 11 figures, 20 tables; Version accepted for publication in PRD

We calculate the meson spectrum of the Sp(4) lattice gauge theory coupled to two fundamental flavours of dynamical Dirac fermions. We focus on some of the lightest (flavoured) spin-0 and spin-1 states. This theory provides an ultraviolet completion for composite Higgs models based upon the SU(4)/Sp(4) coset. We analyse the strongly coupled dynamics in isolation, without explicit coupling to the standard model. We carry out continuum extrapolations using dynamical ensembles generated at five different values of bare lattice coupling, and for several values of the bare fermion mass. We fit the resulting meson masses and decay constants to a low-energy effective field theory built along the ideas of hidden local symmetry. We also compare our results to those of other closely related lattice gauge theories, which have matter content consisting of two fundamental Dirac flavours., Comment: 7 pages, 1 table, 4 figures, Contribution to the 37th International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory - LATTICE2019, 16-22 June 2019, Wuhan, China

We perform lattice studies of the gauge theory with Sp(4) gauge group and two flavours of (Dirac) fundamental matter. The global SU(4) symmetry is spontaneously broken by the fermion condensate. The dynamical Wilson fermions in the lattice action introduce a mass that breaks the global symmetry also explicitly. The resulting pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone bosons describe the SU(4)/Sp(4) coset, and are relevant, in the context of physics beyond the Standard Model, for composite Higgs models. We discuss scale setting, continuum extrapolation and finite volume effects in the lattice theory. We study mesonic composite states, which span representations of the unbroken Sp(4) global symmetry, and we measure masses and decay constants of the (flavoured) spin-0 and spin-1 states accessible to the numerical treatment, as a function of the fermion mass. With help from the effective field theory treatment of such mesons, we perform a first extrapolation towards the massless limit. We assess our results by critically comparing to the literature on other models and to the quenched results, and we conclude by outlining future avenues for further exploration. The results of our spectroscopic analysis provide new input data for future phenomenological studies in the contexts of composite Higgs models, and of dark matter models with a strongly coupled dynamical origin., Comment: 61 pages, 23 figures, 13 tables; Revised version; Accepted for publication in JHEP

We report on the status of our programme to simulate Sp($2N$) gauge theories on the lattice. Motivated by the potential realization of an SU($4$)/Sp($4$)$\sim$SO($6$)/SO($5$) composite Higgs model and the applications to self interacting dark matter, we first perform dynamical simulations of Sp($4$) theories with two Dirac flavors in the fundamental representation. Preliminary results of the meson spectrum are presented, along with discussion of the lattice systematics. We also introduce two-index anti-symmetric Dirac fermions. Such fermions are relevant in the context of partial top compositeness, provided they carry SU($3$) color quantum numbers, and hence we introduce three (Dirac) copies of them. We present the quenched meson spectrum and explore the phase space of bare lattice parameters. For all the numerical simulations we use the standard Wilson lattice gauge and fermion actions., Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, Contribution to The 36th Annual International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory - LATTICE2018, 22-28 July 2018, East Lansing, Michigan, USA

We publish an extension of openQCD-1.6 with AVX-512 vector instructions using Intel intrinsics. Recent Intel processors support extended instruction sets with operations on 512-bit wide vectors, increasing both the capacity for floating point operations and register memory. Optimal use of the new capabilities requires reorganising data and floating point operations into these wider vector units. We report on the implementation and performance of the AVX-512 OpenQCD extension on clusters using Intel Knights Landing and Xeon Scalable (Skylake) CPUs. In complete HMC trajectories with physically relevant parameters we observe a performance increase of 5% to 10%., Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures and 4 tables. Presented at The 36th Annual International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory (Lattice 2018), 22-28 July, 2018, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA

The Sp(4) gauge theory with two Dirac fundamental flavours provides a candidate for the microscopic origin of composite-Higgs models based on the SU(4)/Sp(4) coset. We employ a combination of two different, complementary strategies for the numerical lattice calculations, based on the Hybrid Monte Carlo and on the Heat Bath algorithms. We perform pure Yang-Mills, quenched computations and exploratory studies with dynamical Wilson fermions. We present the first results in the literature for the spectrum of glueballs of the pure Sp(4) Yang-Mills theory, an EFT framework for the interpretation of the masses and decay constants of the lightest pion, vector and axial-vector mesons, and a preliminary calculation of the latter in the quenched approximation. We show the first numerical evidence of a bulk phase transition in the lattice theory with dynamical Wilson fermions, and perform the technical steps necessary to set up future investigations of the mesonic spectrum of the full theory., Comment: References added, discussions expanded, figures improved, typos fixed. Version accepted for publication on JHEP

As a first step in the study of $\mathrm{Sp}(2N)$ composite Higgs models, we obtained a set of novel numerical results for the pure gauge $\mathrm{Sp}(4)$ lattice theory in 3+1 space-time dimensions. Results for the continuum extrapolations of the string tension and the glueball mass spectrum are presented and their values are compared with the same quantities in neighbouring $\mathrm{SU}(N)$ models., Comment: 8 pages, 3 tables, 3 figures. Talk presented at the 35th International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, 18-24 June 2017, Granada, Spain

As a first step towards a quantitative understanding of the SU(4)/Sp(4) composite Higgs model through lattice calculations, we discuss the low energy effective field theory resulting from the SU(4) $\to$ Sp(4) global symmetry breaking pattern. We then consider an Sp(4) gauge theory with two Dirac fermion flavours in the fundamental representation on a lattice, which provides a concrete example of the microscopic realisation of the SU(4)/Sp(4) composite Higgs model. For this system, we outline a programme of numerical simulations aiming at the determination of the low-energy constants of the effective field theory and we test the method on the quenched theory. We also report early results from dynamical simulations, focussing on the phase structure of the lattice theory and a calculation of the lowest-lying meson spectrum at coarse lattice spacing., Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures, 4 tables. Combined contributions of B. Lucini and J.-W. Lee to the Lattice 2017 Symposium. To appear in EPJ Web Conf

As part of an ongoing programme to study $\mathrm{Sp}(2N)$ gauge theories as potential realisations of composite Higgs models, we consider the case of $\mathrm{Sp}(4)$ on the lattice, both as a pure gauge theory, and with two Dirac fermion flavors in the fundamental representation. In order to compare results between these two cases and maintain control of lattice artefacts, we make use of the gradient flow to set the scale of the simulations. We present some technical aspects of the simulations, including preliminary results for the scale setting in the two cases and results for the topological charge history., Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures; talk presented at the 35th International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, 18-24 June 2017, Granada, Spain

Studying SU(3) gauge theories with increasing number of light fermions is relevant both for understanding the strong dynamics of QCD and for constructing strongly interacting extensions of the Standard Model (e.g. UV completions of composite Higgs models). In order to contrast these many-flavors strongly interacting theories with QCD, we study the flavor-singlet spectrum as an interesting probe. In fact, some composite Higgs models require the Higgs boson to be the lightest flavor-singlet scalar in the spectrum of a strongly interacting new sector with a well defined hierarchy with the rest of the states. Moreover, introducing many light flavors at fixed number of colors can influence the dynamics of the lightest flavor-singlet pseudoscalar. We present the on-going study of these flavor-singlet channels using multiple interpolating operators on high-statistics ensembles generated by the LatKMI collaboration and we compare results with available data obtained by the Lattice Strong Dynamics collaboration. For the theory with 8 flavors, the two collaborations have generated configurations that complement each others with the aim to tackle the massless limit using the largest possible volumes., Comment: contribution to the 35th International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory (Lattice 2017). Updated references and acknowledgments

Motivated by the absence of signals of new physics at the LHC, which seems to imply the presence of large mass hierarchies, we investigate the theoretical possibility that these could arise dynamically in new strongly-coupled gauge theories extending the standard model of particle physics. To this purpose, we study lattice data on non-Abelian gauge theories in the (near-)conformal regime---specifically, $\mathrm{SU}(2)$ with $N_{\mathrm{f}}=1$ and $2$ dynamical fermion flavours in the adjoint representation. We focus our attention on the ratio $R$ between the masses of the lightest spin-2 and spin-0 resonances, and draw comparisons with a simple toy model in the context of gauge/gravity dualities. For models in which large anomalous dimensions arise dynamically, we show indications that this mass ratio can be large, with $R > 5$. Moreover, our results suggest that $R$ might be related to universal properties of the IR fixed point. Our findings provide an interesting step towards understanding large mass ratios in the non-perturbative regime of quantum field theories with (near) IR conformal behaviour., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures; presented at the 34th annual International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory (LATTICE2016)

Based on the highly improved staggered quark action, we perform lattice simulations of $N_f=8$ QCD and confirm our previous observation of a flavor-singlet scalar meson (denoted as $\sigma$) as light as the pion and various "walking signals" through low-lying spectra, with higher statistics, smaller fermion masses $m_f$, and larger volumes. We measure $M_\pi$, $F_\pi$, $M_\rho$, $M_{a_0}$, $M_{a_1}$, $M_{b_1}$, $M_N$, $M_\sigma$, $F_\sigma$, $\langle \bar{\psi} \psi\rangle$ (both directly and through the GMOR relation), and the string tension. The data are consistent with the spontaneously broken phase of the chiral symmetry, in agreement with the previous results: ratios of the quantities to $M_\pi$ monotonically increase in the smaller $m_f$ region towards the chiral limit similarly to $N_f=4$ QCD, in sharp contrast to $N_f=12$ QCD where the ratios become flattened. The hyperscaling relation holds with roughly a universal value of the anomalous dimension, $\gamma_m \simeq 1$, with a notable exception of $M_\pi$ with $\gamma_m \simeq 0.6$ as in the previous results. This is a salient feature ("walking signal") of $N_f=8$, unlike either $N_f=4$ which has no hyperscaling relation at all, or $N_f=12$ QCD which exhibits universal hyperscaling. We further confirm the previous observation of the light $\sigma$ with mass comparable to the pion in the studied $m_f$ region. In a chiral limit extrapolation of the $\sigma$ mass using the dilaton chiral perturbation theory and also using the simple linear fit, we find the value consistent with the 125 GeV Higgs boson within errors. Our results suggest that the theory could be a good candidate for walking technicolor model, having anomalous dimension $\gamma_m \simeq 1$ and a light flavor-singlet scalar meson as a technidilaton, which can be identified with the 125 GeV composite Higgs in $N_f=8$ one-family model., Comment: 132 pages, 66 figures, 39 tables

Besides the Higgs particle discovered in 2012, with mass 125 GeV, recent LHC data show tentative signals for new resonances in diboson as well as diphoton searches at high center-of-mass energies (2 TeV and 750 GeV, respectively). If these signals are confirmed (or other new resonances are discovered at the TeV scale), the large hierarchies between masses of new bosons require a dynamical explanation. Motivated by these tentative signals of new physics, we investigate the theoretical possibility that large hierarchies in the masses of glueballs could arise dynamically in new strongly-coupled gauge theories extending the standard model of particle physics. We study lattice data on non-Abelian gauge theories in the (near-)conformal regime as well as a simple toy model in the context of gauge/gravity dualities. We focus our attention on the ratio $R$ between the mass of the lightest spin-2 and spin-0 resonances, that for technical reasons is a particularly convenient and clean observable to study. For models in which (non-perturbative) large anomalous dimensions arise dynamically, we show indications that this mass ratio can be large, with $R>5$. Moreover, our results suggest that $R$ might be related to universal properties of the IR fixed point. Our findings provide an interesting step towards understanding large mass ratios in the non-perturbative regime of quantum field theories with (near) IR conformal behaviour., Comment: 27 pages, 5 figures. Typos corrected, reference added. Version aligned with the JHEP publication

SU(3) gauge theory with eight massless fundamental fermions seems to be near the conformal boundary, and is a candidate theory of walking technicolor. Along the series of study by LatKMI collaboration using HISQ fermions, S-parameter and vector decay constant, which provide important constraints in the model of electroweak symmetry breaking, are calculated for this theory. Use of various volumes allows a systematic investigation of finite volume effects. A strong sensitivity of the S-parameter to the volume is found., Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures, Proceedings of the 33rd International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, July 14-18, 2015, Kobe, Japan

SU(3) gauge theory with eight massless flavours is believed to be walking, while the corresponding twelve- and four-flavour appear IR-conformal and confining respectively. Looking at the simulations performed by the LatKMI collaboration of these theories, we use the topological susceptibility as an additional probe of the IR dynamics. By drawing a comparison with SU(3) pure gauge theory, we see a dynamical quenching effect emerge at larger number of flavours, which is suggestive of emerging near-conformal and conformal behaviour., Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures; Proceedings of the 33rd International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, July 14-18, 2015, Kobe, Japan. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1510.05863