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We consider an extension of the Standard Model, where the difference between the baryon number $B$ and the lepton number $L$ is gauged with an Abelian gauge field, in order to explain the exact conservation of $B-L$. To avoid a gauge anomaly, we add a right-handed neutrino $\nu_{\rm R}$ to each fermion generation. Here it is not sterile, so the usual Majorana term is excluded by gauge invariance. We provide a mass term for $\nu_{\rm R}$ by adding a non-standard 1-component Higgs field, thus arriving at a consistent extension of the Standard Model, where the conservation of $B-L$ is natural, with a modest number of additional fields. We study the possible formation of cosmic strings by solving the coupled field equations of the two Higgs fields and the non-standard U(1) gauge field. Numerical methods provide the correspondingstring profiles, depending on the Higgs winding numbers, such that the appropriate boundary conditions in the string center and far from it are fulfilled.

We consider the Schwinger model with two degenerate, light fermion flavors by means of lattice simulations. At finite temperature, we probe the viability of a bosonization method by Hosotani et al. Next we explore an analogue to the pion decay constant, which agrees for independent formulations based on the Gell-Mann--Oakes--Renner relation, the 2-dimensional Witten--Veneziano formula and the $\delta$-regime. Finally we confront several conjectures about the chiral condensate with lattice results., Comment: 5 pages, LaTex, 4 figures, 1 table, presented at the "XXXV Reuni\'{o}n Anual de la Divisi\'{o}n de Part\'{i}culas y Campos", of the "Socieded Mexicana de F\'{i}sica", accepted for publication in Suplemento de la Revista Mexicana de F\'{i}sica

The Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) essential phase transition in the 2d XY model is revisited. Its mechanism is usually described by the (un)binding of vortex--anti-vortex (V--AV) pairs, which does, however, not provide a clear-cut quantitative criterion for criticality. Known sharp criteria are the divergence of the correlation length and a discontinuity of the helicity modulus. Here we propose and probe a new criterion: it is based on the concepts of semi-vortices and cluster vorticity, which are formulated in the framework of the multi-cluster algorithm that we use to simulate the 2d XY model., Comment: 6 pages, LaTex, 7 figures, presented at the "XXXV Reuni\'{o}n Anual de la Divisi\'{o}n de Part\'{i}culas y Campos", of the "Socieded Mexicana de F\'{i}sica", 2 references added

Srinivasa Ramanujan was a great self-taught Indian mathematician, who died a century ago, at the age of only 32, one year after returning from England. Among his numerous achievements is the assignment of sensible, finite values to divergent series, which correspond to Riemann's $\zeta$-function with negative integer arguments. He hardly left any explanation about it, but following the few hints that he gave, we construct a direct justification for the best known example, based on analytic continuation. As a physical application of Ramanujan summation we discuss the Casimir effect, where this way of removing a divergent term corresponds to the renormalization of the vacuum energy density, in particular of the photon field. This leads to the prediction of the Casimir force between conducting plates, which has now been accurately confirmed by experiments. Finally we review the discussion about the meaning and interpretation of the Casimir effect. This takes us to the mystery surrounding the magnitude of Dark Energy., Comment: 5 pages, LaTex, 3 figures, presented at the "XXXV Reuni\'on Anual de la Divisi\'on de Part\'iculas y Campos" of the "Socieded Mexicana de F\'isica". Typo in a formula on p.3 corrected

Researchers working in lattice field theory constitute an established community since the early 1990s, and around the same time the online open-access e-print repository arXiv was created. The fact that this field has a specific arXiv section, hep-lat, provides a unique opportunity for a statistical study of its evolution over the last three decades. We present data for the number of entries, $E$, published papers, $P$, and citations, $C$, in total and separated by nations. We compare them to 6 other arXiv sections, and to socio-economic indices of the nations involved, namely the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the Education Index (EI). We present rankings, which are based either on the Hirsch Index $H$, or on the linear combination $\Sigma = E + P + 0.05 C$. We consider both extensive and intensive national statistics, i.e. absolute and relative to the population or to the GDP., Comment: Typos corrected; 9 pages, LaTex, 4 figures, presented at the 38th International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, LATTICE2021, July 36-30, 2021 Zoom/Gather@Massachusetts Institute of Technology

A century ago, Srinivasa Ramanujan -- the great self-taught Indian genius of mathematics -- died, shortly after returning from Cambridge, UK, where he had collaborated with Godfrey Hardy. Ramanujan contributed numerous outstanding results to different branches of mathematics, like analysis and number theory, with a focus on special functions and series. Here we refer to apparently weird values which he assigned to two simple divergent series, $\sum_{n \geq 1} n$ and $\sum_{n \geq 1} n^{3}$. These values are sensible, however, as analytic continuations, which correspond to Riemann's $\zeta$-function. Moreover, they have applications in physics: we discuss the vacuum energy of the photon field, from which one can derive the Casimir force, which has been experimentally measured. We further discuss its interpretation, which remains controversial. This is a simple way to illustrate the concept of renormalization, which is vital in quantum field theory., Comment: 32 pages, LaTex, 6 figures, a number of minor improvements

We present the conceptual design for the miniBeBe detector proposed to be installed as a level-0 trigger for the TOF of the NICA-MPD. We discuss the design and the geometrical array of its sensitive parts, the read-out electronics as well as the mechanical support that is envisioned. We also present simulation results for p + p and Bi + Bi collisions to study its capabilities as a function of multiplicity both as a level-0 trigger for the TOF, as well as to serve as a beam-gas interaction veto and to locate the beam-beam interaction vertex., Comment: Version to appear in JINST, 29 pages, 29 figures

We propose a cold atom implementation to attain the continuum limit of ( 1 + 1 ) -d C P ( N − 1 ) quantum field theories. These theories share important features with ( 3 + 1 ) -d QCD, such as asymptotic freedom and θ -vacua. Moreover, their continuum limit can be accessed via the mechanism of dimensional reduction. In our scheme, the C P ( N − 1 ) degrees of freedom emerge at low energies from a ladder system of SU( N ) quantum spins, where the N spin states are embodied by the nuclear Zeeman states of alkaline-earth atoms, trapped in an optical lattice. Based on Monte Carlo results, we establish that the continuum limit can be demonstrated by an atomic quantum simulation by employing the feature of asymptotic freedom. We discuss a protocol for the adiabatic preparation of the ground state of the system, the real-time evolution of a false θ -vacuum state after a quench, and we propose experiments to unravel the phase diagram at non-zero density.

The Multi-Purpose Detector (MPD) is to be installed at the Nuclotron Ion Collider fAcility (NICA) of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR). Its main goal is to study the phase diagram of the strongly interacting matter produced in heavy-ion collisions. These studies, while providing insight into the physics of heavy-ion collisions, are relevant for improving our understanding of the evolution of the early Universe and the formation of neutron stars. In order to extend the MPD trigger capabilities, we propose to include a high granularity beam-beam monitoring detector (BE-BE) to provide a level-0 trigger signal with an expected time resolution of 30 ps. This new detector will improve the determination of the reaction plane by the MPD experiment, a key measurement for flow studies that provides physics insight into the early stages of the reaction. In this work, we use simulated Au+Au collisions at NICA energies to show the potential of such a detector to determine the event plane resolution, providing further redundancy to the detectors originally considered for this purpose namely, the Fast Forward Detector (FFD) and the Hadron Calorimeter (HCAL). We also show our results for the time resolution studies of two prototype cells carried out at the T10 beam line at the CERN PS complex., 16 pages, 12 figures. Updated to published version with added comments and corrections

We study the impact of the Gradient Flow on the topology in various models of lattice field theory. The topological susceptibility Xt is measured directly, and by the slab method, which is based on the topological content of sub-volumes (“slabs”) and estimates Xt even when the system remains trapped in a fixed topological sector. The results obtained by both methods are essentially consistent, but the impact of the Gradient Flow on the characteristic quantity of the slab method seems to be different in 2-flavour QCD and in the 2d O(3) model. In the latter model, we further address the question whether or not the Gradient Flow leads to a finite continuum limit of the topological susceptibility (rescaled by the correlation length squared, ξ2). This ongoing study is based on direct measurements of Xt in L × L lattices, at L/ξ ≃6., EPJ Web of Conferences, 175, ISSN:2100-014X, ISSN:2101-6275

In a time of political turmoil, two Argentine physicists developed a key technique for making sense of quantum field theories.

In simulations of a model with topological sectors, algorithms which proceed in small update steps tend to get stuck in one sector, especially on fine lattices. This distorts the numerical results; in particular it is not straightforward to measure the topological susceptibility chi_t. We test a method to measure chi_t even if configurations from only one sector are available. It is based on the topological charges in sub-volumes, which we denote as "slab". This enables the evaluation of chi_t, as we demonstrate with numerical results for non-linear sigma-models and for 2-flavour QCD. In the latter case, the gradient flow is applied for the smoothing of the gauge configurations, and the slab method results for chi_t are stable over a broad range of flow times., 7 pages, 7 figures, talk presented at the 34th International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, 24-30 July 2016, Southampton, UK. Minor corrections, references added, Fig. 5 replaced

The topological susceptibility is an important quantity in QCD, which can be computed using lattice methods. However, at a fine lattice spacing, or when using high quality chirally symmetric quarks, algorithms which proceed in small update steps --- in particular the HMC algorithm --- tend to get stuck in a single topological sector. In such cases, the computation of the topological susceptibility is not straightforward. Here, we explore two methods to extract the topological susceptibility from lattice QCD simulations restricted to a single topological sector. The first method is based on the correlation function of the topological charge density, while the second method relies on measuring the topological charge within spacetime subvolumes. Numerical results for two-flavor QCD obtained by using both methods are presented., Presented at Excited QCD 2016

We sketch the basic ideas of the lattice regularization in Quantum Field Theory, the corresponding Monte Carlo simulations, and applications to Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD). This approach enables the numerical measurement of observables at the non-perturbative level. We comment on selected results, with a focus on hadron masses and the link to Chiral Perturbation Theory. At last we address two outstanding issues: topological freezing and the sign problem., 30 pages, LaTex, 11 figures, invited contribution to a Focus-Issue of World Scientific entitled "Modern Topics on non-perturbative QCD: Theory and Experiment"

We review a number of topics related to block variable renormalisation group transformations of quantum fields on the lattice, and to the emerging perfect lattice actions. We first illustrate this procedure by considering scalar fields. Then we proceed to lattice fermions, where we discuss perfect actions for free fields, for the Gross-Neveu model and for a supersymmetric spin model. We also consider the extension to perfect lattice perturbation theory, in particular regarding the axial anomaly and the quark gluon vertex function. Next we deal with properties and applications of truncated perfect fermions, and their chiral correction by means of the overlap formula. This yields a formulation of lattice fermions, which combines exact chiral symmetry with an optimisation of further essential properties. We summarise simulation results for these so-called overlap-hypercube fermions in the two-flavour Schwinger model and in quenched QCD. In the latter framework we establish a link to Chiral Perturbation Theory, both, in the p-regime and in the epsilon-regime. In particular we present an evaluation of the leading Low Energy Constants of the chiral Lagrangian - the chiral condensate and the pion decay constant - from QCD simulations with extremely light quarks., Comment: published version (plus slight extension), 120 pages, 41 figures

For quantum field theories with topological sectors, Monte Carlo simulations on fine lattices tend to be obstructed by an extremely long auto-correlation time with respect to the topological charge. Then reliable numerical measurements are feasible only within individual sectors. The challenge is to assemble such restricted measurements in a way that leads to a substantiated approximation to the fully fledged result, which would correspond to the correct sampling over the entire set of configurations. We test an approach for such a topological summation, which was suggested by Brower, Chandrasekharan, Negele and Wiese. Under suitable conditions, energy levels and susceptibilities can be obtained to a good accuracy, as we demonstrate for O(N) models, SU(2) Yang-Mills theory, and for the Schwinger model., Comment: 43 pages, LaTex, 12 figures, 10 tables, an appendix and some references were added, final version published in Phys. Rev. D

We apply a meron cluster algorithm to the XY spin chain, which describes a quantum rotor. This is a multi-cluster simulation supplemented by an improved estimator, which deals with objects of half-integer topological charge. This method is powerful enough to provide precise results for the model with a theta-term - it is therefore one of the rare examples, where a system with a complex action can be solved numerically. In particular we measure the correlation length, as well as the topological and magnetic susceptibility. We discuss the algorithmic efficiency in view of the critical slowing down. Due to the excellent performance that we observe, it is strongly motivated to work on new applications of meron cluster algorithms in higher dimensions., 18 pages, 9 figures, published version

In quantum field theories with topological sectors, a non-perturbative quantity of interest is the topological susceptibility χ t. In principle it seems straightforward to measure χ t by means of Monte Carlo simulations. However, for local update algorithms and fine lattice spacings, this tends to be difficult, since the Monte Carlo history rarely changes the topological sector. Here we test a method to measure χ t even if data from only one sector are available. It is based on the topological charges in sub-volumes, which we denote as slabs. Assuming a Gaussian distribution of these charges, this method enables the evaluation of χ t, as we demonstrate with numerical results for non-linear σ-models., Journal of High Energy Physics, 2015 (12), ISSN:1126-6708, ISSN:1029-8479

In lattice quantum field theories with topological sectors, simulations at fine lattice spacings --- with typical algorithms --- tend to freeze topologically. In such cases, specific topological finite size effects have to be taken into account to obtain physical results, which correspond to infinite volume or unfixed topology. Moreover, when a theory like QCD is simulated in a moderate volume, one also has to overcome ordinary finite volume effects (not related to topology freezing). To extract physical results from simulations affected by both types of finite volume effects, we extend a known relation between hadron masses at fixed and unfixed topology by additionally incorporating ordinary finite volume effects. We present numerical results for SU(2) Yang-Mills theory., 7 pages, 4 figures. Talk presented at the 33rd International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory (Lattice 2015), 14-18 July 2015, Kobe International Conference Center, Kobe, Japa

In Monte Carlo simulations with a local update algorithm, the auto-correlation with respect to the topological charge tends to become very long. In the extreme case one can only perform reliable measurements within fixed sectors. We investigate approaches to extract physical information from such topologically frozen simulations. Recent results in a set of σ -models and gauge theories are encouraging. In a suitable regime, the correct value of some observable can be evaluated to a good accuracy. In addition there are ways to estimate the value of the topological susceptibility.

For field theories with a topological charge Q, it is often of interest to measure the topological susceptibility chi_t = ( < Q^2 > - < Q >^2 ) / V. If we manage to perform a Monte Carlo simulation where Q changes frequently, chi_t can be evaluated directly. However, for local update algorithms and fine lattices, the auto-correlation time with respect to Q tends to be extremely long, which invalidates the direct approach. Nevertheless, the measurement of chi_t is still feasible, even when the entire Markov chain is topologically frozen. We test a method for this purpose, based on the correlation of the topological charge density, as suggested by Aoki, Fukaya, Hashimoto and Onogi. Our studies in non-linear sigma-models and in 2d Abelian gauge theory yield accurate results for chi_t, which confirm that the method is applicable. We also obtain promising results in 4d SU(2) Yang-Mills theory, which suggest the applicability of this method in QCD., 28 pages, LaTex, 13 figures, 3 tables, new results for 2d U(1) and 4d SU(2) gauge theory. Final version to be published in Phys. Rev. D

We present simulation results for lattice QCD with chiral fermions in small volumes, where the e-expansion of chiral perturbation theory ( χ PT) applies. Our data for the low lying Dirac eigenvalues, as well as mesonic correlation functions, are in agreement with analytical predictions. This allows us to extract values for the leading Low Energy Constants F π and Σ.

The overlap hypercube fermion is constructed by inserting a lattice fermion with hypercubic couplings into the overlap formula. One obtains an exact Ginsparg-Wilson fermion, which is more complicated than the standard overlap fermion, but which has improved practical properties and is of current interest for use in numerical simulations. Here we deal with conceptual aspects of the overlap hypercube Dirac operator. Specifically, we evaluate the axial anomaly and the index, demonstrating that the correct classical continuum limit is recovered. Our derivation is non-perturbative and therefore valid in all topological sectors. At the non-perturbative level this result had previously only been shown for the standard overlap Dirac operator with Wilson kernel. The new techniques which we develop to accomplish this are of a general nature and have the potential to be extended to overlap Dirac operators with even more general kernels., Comment: 21 pages, no figures, final version to appear in Eur. Phys. J. C

We study the question whether matrix models obtained in the zero volume limit of 4d Yang-Mills theories can describe large N QCD strings. The matrix model we use is a variant of the Eguchi-Kawai model in terms of Hermitian matrices, but without any twists or quenching. This model was originally proposed as a toy model of the IIB matrix model. In contrast to common expectations, we do observe the area law for Wilson loops in a significant range of scale of the loop area. Numerical simulations show that this range is stable as N increases up to 768, which strongly suggests that it persists in the large N limit. Hence the equivalence to QCD strings may hold for length scales inside a finite regime., 12 pages, 4 figures

We present a non-perturbative study of the lambda phi**4 model on a non-commutative plane. The lattice regularised form can be mapped onto a Hermitian matrix model, which enables Monte Carlo simulations. Numerical data reveal the phase diagram; at large lambda it contains a "striped phase", which is absent in the commutative case. We explore the question whether or not this phenomenon persists in a Double Scaling Limit (DSL), which extrapolates simultaneously to the continuum and to infinite volume, at a fixed non-commutativity parameter. To this end, we introduce a dimensional lattice spacing based on the decay of the correlation function. Our results provide evidence for the existence of a striped phase even in the DSL, which implies the spontaneous breaking of translation symmetry. Due to the non-locality of this model, this does not contradict the Mermin-Wagner Theorem., 21 pages, LaTex, 9 figures, 1 table, extended version published in JHEP

We simulate a supersymmetric matrix model obtained from dimensional reduction of 4d SU(N) super Yang-Mills theory (a 4d counter part of the IKKT model or IIB matrix model). The eigenvalue distribution determines the space structure. The measurement of Wilson loop correlators reveals a universal large N scaling. Eguchi-Kawai equivalence may hold in a finite range of scale, which is also true for the bosonic case. We finally report on simulations of a low energy approximation of the 10d IKKT model, where we omit the phase of the Pfaffian and look for evidence for a spontaneous Lorentz symmetry breaking., Comment: 4 pages, talk presented at LATTICE 2000 (Bangalore)

As an application of perfect lattice perturbation theory, we construct an O(\lambda) perfect lattice action for the anharmonic oscillator analytically in momentum space. In coordinate space we obtain a set of 2-spin and 4-spin couplings \propto \lambda, which we evaluate for various masses. These couplings never involve variables separated by more than two lattice spacings. The O(\lambda) perfect action is simulated and compared to the standard action. We discuss the improvement for the first two energy gaps \Delta E_1, \Delta E_2 and for the scaling quantity \Delta E_2 / \Delta E1 in different regimes of the interaction parameter, and of the correlation length., Comment: LaTex, 27 pages, 9 figures

We construct a locally-lexicographic SSOR preconditioner to accelerate the parallel iterative solution of linear systems of equations for two improved discretizations of lattice fermions: the Sheikholeslami-Wohlert scheme where a non-constant block-diagonal term is added to the Wilson fermion matrix and renormalization group improved actions which incorporate couplings beyond nearest neighbors of the lattice fermion fields. In case (i) we find the block llssor-scheme to be more effective by a factor about 2 than odd-even preconditioned solvers in terms of convergence rates, at beta=6.0. For type (ii) actions, we show that our preconditioner accelerates the iterative solution of a linear system of hypercube fermions by a factor of 3 to 4., Comment: 27 pages, Latex, 17 Figures included

We discuss the possibility of representing supersymmetry exactly in a lattice discretized system. In particular, we construct a perfect supersymmetric action for the Wess-Zumino model., Comment: 9 pages, LaTex, no figures

We investigate the 2d XY model by using the constraint angle action, which belongs to the class of topological lattice actions. These actions violate important features usually demanded for a lattice action, such as the correct classical continuum limit and the applicability of perturbation theory. Nevertheless, they still lead to the same universal quantum continuum limit and show excellent scaling behavior. By using the constraint angle action we gain new insight into the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless phase transition of the 2d XY model. This phase transition is of special interest since it is one of the few examples of a phase transition beyond second order. It is of infinite order and therefore an essential phase transition. In particular, we observe an excellent scaling behavior of the helicity modulus, which characterizes this phase transition. We also observe that the mechanism of (un)binding vortex--anti-vortex pairs follows the usual pattern, although free vortices do not require any energy in the formulation of the 2d XY model using the constraint angle action., 11 pages, 9 figures, talk presented at the XIV Mexican Workshop on Particles and Fields, Oaxaca, Nov. 2013

Lattice actions and topological charges that are classically and quantum mechanically perfect (i.e. free of lattice artifacts) are constructed analytically for the quantum rotor. It is demonstrated that the Manton action is classically perfect while the Villain action is quantum perfect. The geometric construction for the topological charge is only perfect at the classical level. The quantum perfect lattice topology associates a topological charge distribution, not just a single charge, with each lattice field configuration. For the quantum rotor with the classically perfect action and topological charge, the remaining cut-off effects are exponentially suppressed., Comment: 12 pages, including two figures. ordinary LaTeX, requires fps.sty; Submitted to Phys. Lett. B

We construct a perfect lattice action for staggered fermions by blocking from the continuum. The locality, spectrum and pressure of such perfect staggered fermions are discussed. We also derive a consistent fixed point action for free gauge fields and discuss its locality as well as the resulting static quark-antiquark potential. This provides a basis for the construction of (classically) perfect lattice actions for QCD using staggered fermions., 30 pages, LaTex, 10 figures

We study lattice QCD with a gauge action, which suppresses small plaquette values. Thus the MC history is confined to a single topological sector over a significant time, while other observables are decorrelated. This enables the cumulation of statistics with a specific topological charge, which is needed for simulations of QCD in the $\epsilon$-regime. The same action may also be useful for simulations with dynamical quarks. The update is performed with a local HMC algorithm.

The Schwinger model with $N_f \geq 2$ flavors is a simple example for a fermionic model with zero chiral condensate Sigma (in the chiral limit). We consider numerical data for two light flavors, based on simulations with dynamical chiral lattice fermions. We test properties and predictions that were put forward in the recent literature for models with Sigma = 0, which include IR conformal theories. In particular we probe the decorrelation of low lying Dirac eigenvalues, and we discuss the mass anomalous dimension and its IR extrapolation. Here we encounter subtleties, which may urge caution with analogous efforts in other models, such as multi-flavor QCD., 19 pages, LaTex, 6 figures, 5 tables, final version to appear in Int. J. Mod. Phys. C

We perform a renormalization group transformation to construct a lattice theory of chiral fermions. The field variables of the continuum theory are averaged over hypercubes to define lattice fields. Integrating out the continuum variables in perturbation theory we derive a chirally invariant effective action for the lattice fields. This is consistent with the Nielsen-Niniomiya theorem because the effective action is nonlocal. We also construct the axial current on the lattice and we show that the axial anomaly of the continuum theory is reproduced in the Schwinger model. This shows that chiral fermions can be regularized on the lattice., 8 pages, LaTex

Twelve years ago, Haldane formulated his famous conjecture for 1-d antiferromagnetic quantum spin chains. In the context of the 2-d O(3) model with a \theta term, it predicts a phase transition at \theta = \pi, which has not yet been verified reliably. To simulate this we use the Wolff cluster algorithm together with an improved estimator for the topological charge distribution. Each cluster carries integer or half integer charge. Clusters with charge 1/2 are identified with merons. At \theta = \pi they are inactive, such that the mass gap vanishes. We obtain critical exponents which are consistent with predictions from the k=1 WZNW model, therefore confirming a second order phase transition., Comment: 4 pages, postscript file, uuencoded and tar compressed

We discuss the potential of Ginsparg-Wilson fermion simulations in the epsilon-regime of chiral perturbation theory, regarding the determination of the leading low energy constants of the effective chiral Lagrangian. It turns out to be very hard to measure observables in the topologically trivial sector. There a huge statistics would be required, due to the frequent occurrence of very small eigenvalues. Moreover, contact with chiral perturbation theory is only established if the physical volume of the system is sufficiently large., Comment: 3 pages, poster presented at Lattice03(chiral)

We present a numerical pilot study of the meson correlation functions in the epsilon-regime of chiral perturbation theory. Based on simulations with overlap fermions we measured the axial and pseudo-scalar correlation functions, and we discuss the implications for the leading low energy constants in the chiral Lagrangian.

The 2d XY model exhibits an essential phase transition, which was predicted long ago --- by Berezinskii, Kosterlitz and Thouless (BKT) --- to be driven by the (un)binding of vortex--anti-vortex pairs. This transition has been confirmed for the standard lattice action, and for actions with distinct couplings, in agreement with universality. Here we study a highly unconventional formulation of this model, which belongs to the class of topological lattice actions: it does not have any couplings at all, but just a constraint for the relative angles between nearest neighbour spins. By means of dynamical boundary conditions we measure the helicity modulus Upsilon, which shows that this formulation performs a BKT phase transition as well. Its finite size effects are amazingly mild, in contrast to other lattice actions. This provides one of the most precise numerical confirmations ever of a BKT transition in this model. On the other hand, up to the lattice sizes that we explored, there are deviations from the spin wave approximation, for instance for the Binder cumulant U_4 and for the leading finite size correction to Upsilon. Finally we observe that the (un)binding mechanism follows the usual pattern, although free vortices do not require any energy in this formulation. Due to that observation, one should reconsider an aspect of the established picture, which estimates the critical temperature based on this energy requirement., Comment: 39 pages, LaTex, 17 figures, 5 tables, final version to appear in JSTAT (Journal of Statistical Mechanics: Theory and Experiment). A section about the Binder cumulant U_4 and the second moment correlation lenght xi_2 has been added

We consider the 2d XY Model with topological lattice actions, which are invariant against small deformations of the field configuration. These actions constrain the angle between neighbouring spins by an upper bound, or they explicitly suppress vortices (and anti-vortices). Although topological actions do not have a classical limit, they still lead to the universal behaviour of the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) phase transition - at least up to moderate vortex suppression. Thus our study underscores the robustness of universality, which persists even when basic principles of classical physics are violated. In the massive phase, the analytically known Step Scaling Function (SSF) is reproduced in numerical simulations. In the massless phase, the BKT value of the critical exponent eta_c is confirmed. Hence, even though for some topological actions vortices cost zero energy, they still drive the standard BKT transition. In addition we identify a vortex-free transition point, which deviates from the BKT behaviour., Comment: 22 pages, LaTex, 7 figures, 7 tables, error in Section 4 corrected

We consider models with topological sectors, and difficulties with their Monte Carlo simulation. In particular we are concerned with the situation where a simulation has an extremely long auto-correlation time with respect to the topological charge. Then reliable numerical measurements are possible only within single topological sectors. The challenge is to assemble such restricted measurements to obtain an approximation for the full-fledged result, which corresponds to the correct sampling over the entire set of configurations. Under certain conditions this is possible, and it provides in addition an estimate for the topological susceptibility χt. Moreover, the evaluation of χt might be feasible even from data in just one topological sector, based on the correlation of the topological charge density. Here we present numerical test results for these techniques in the framework of non-linear σ-models.

We apply the method of Hasenfratz and Niedermayer to analytically construct perfect lattice actions for the Gross--Neveu model. In the large $N$ limit these actions display an exactly perfect scaling, i.e. cut-off artifacts are completely eliminated even at arbitrarily short correlation length. Also the energy spectrum coincides with the spectrum in the continuum and continuous translation and rotation symmetries are restored in physical observables. This is the first (analytic) construction of an exactly perfect lattice action at finite correlation length., 6 pages, 2 eps figs, encoded with uufiles (Contribution to Lattice 94)

Fixed point actions for free and interacting staggered lattice fermions are constructed by iterating renormalization group transformations. At large N the fixed point action for the Gross-Neveu model is a perfect action in the sense of Hasenfratz and Niedermayer, i.e. cut-off effects are completely eliminated. In particular, the fermionic 1-particle energy spectrum of the lattice theory is identical with the one of the continuum even for arbitrarily small correlation lengths. The cut-off effects of the chiral condensate are eliminated using a perfect operator. (The paper is stored as a ps-file containing both the text and 5 figures.), 30 pages, MIT Preprint, CTP 2356