Simulations of QCD and QED with C* boundary conditions

TL;DR

This paper explores the implementation of C* boundary conditions in lattice QCD and QED simulations, demonstrating gauge invariance and the ability to extract charged meson masses in finite volume.

Contribution

It introduces a gauge invariant, local formulation of QED with C* boundary conditions and details its implementation in lattice simulations.

Findings

Reproduces known results in QCD and QED simulations.

Successfully extracts charged meson masses gauge-invariantly.

Demonstrates the feasibility of using C* boundary conditions in dynamical simulations.

Abstract

We present exploratory results from dynamical simulations of QCD in isolation, as well as QCD coupled to QED, with C* boundary conditions. In finite volume, the use of C* boundary conditions allows for a gauge invariant and local formulation of QED without zero modes. In particular we show that the simulations reproduce known results and that masses of charged mesons can be extracted in a completely gauge invariant way. For the simulations we use a modified version of the HiRep code. The primary features of the simulation code are presented and we discuss some details regarding the implementation of C* boundary conditions and the simulated lattice action.