Confinement-Deconfinement transition in $SU(2)+$Higgs Theory

TL;DR

This study investigates the confinement-deconfinement transition in SU(2)+Higgs theory using lattice simulations, revealing a change from crossover to second order transition as the lattice temporal extent increases.

Contribution

It provides new insights into how the order of the transition depends on lattice parameters and confirms the universality class for larger lattices.

Findings

Transition is a crossover for N_tau=2,4

Second order transition with 3D Ising universality at N_tau=8

Z2 symmetry is realized in the second order transition

Abstract

We study the confinement-deconfinement transition in $SU(2)$ gauge theory in the presence of massless bosons using lattice Monte Carlo simulations. The nature of this transition depends on the temporal extent ($N_\tau$) of the Euclidean lattice. We find that the transition is a cross-over for $N_\tau=2,4$ and second order with $3D$ Ising universality class for $N_\tau=8$. Our results show that the second order transition is accompanied by realization of the $Z_2$ symmetry.