The density of states in gauge theories

TL;DR

This paper computes the density of states in SU(2) and U(1) lattice gauge theories using a modified Wang-Landau algorithm, achieving high accuracy over many orders of magnitude and reproducing key physical properties.

Contribution

It introduces a modified Wang-Landau algorithm for gauge theories and demonstrates its effectiveness in calculating the density of states for large lattice sizes.

Findings

Density of states for SU(2) computed over 120,000 orders of magnitude.

Reproduction of SU(2) average action and specific heat.

Identification of critical couplings in U(1) gauge theory.

Abstract

The density of states is calculated for a SU(2) and a compact U(1) lattice gauge theory using a modified version of the Wang-Landau algorithm. We find that the density of states of the SU(2) gauge theory can be reliably calculated over a range of 120,000 orders of magnitude for lattice sizes as big as 20^4. We demonstrate the potential of the algorithm by reproducing the SU(2) average action, its specific heat and the critical couplings of the weak first order transition in U(1).