Critical behavior of the compact 3d U(1) theory in the limit of zero spatial coupling

TL;DR

This study investigates the critical behavior of the 3D compact U(1) lattice gauge theory at finite temperatures, demonstrating its universality class aligns with the 2D XY model, especially in the zero spatial coupling limit.

Contribution

It provides numerical evidence that the finite-temperature 3D U(1) lattice gauge theory belongs to the 2D XY universality class, supporting the Svetitsky-Yaffe conjecture.

Findings

U(1) gauge theory maps to 2D XY model at zero spatial coupling

Results support the Svetitsky-Yaffe conjecture

Universality class determined through numerical simulations

Abstract

Critical properties of the compact three-dimensional U(1) lattice gauge theory are explored at finite temperatures on an asymmetric lattice. For vanishing value of the spatial gauge coupling one obtains an effective two-dimensional spin model which describes the interaction between Polyakov loops. We study numerically the effective spin model for N_t=1,4,8 on lattices with spatial extension ranging from L=64 to L=256. Our results indicate that the finite-temperature U(1) lattice gauge theory belongs to the universality class of the two-dimensional XY model, thus supporting the Svetitsky-Yaffe conjecture.