A comparative study of overlap and staggered fermions in the Schwinger model

TL;DR

This paper examines the validity of the square root procedure for staggered fermions in the Schwinger model, showing that it aligns with overlap fermions in the continuum limit and that smearing improves chiral properties.

Contribution

It provides evidence supporting the continuum equivalence of staggered and overlap fermions and highlights the benefits of smearing for staggered fermions.

Findings

Square root of staggered determinant approaches overlap determinant in continuum limit.

Smearing enhances chiral behavior of staggered fermions.

Validation of the square rooting procedure in the Schwinger model.

Abstract

We investigate the validity of the square rooting procedure of the staggered determinant in the context of the Schwinger model. We find some evidence that at fixed physical quark mass the square root of the staggered determinant becomes proportional to the overlap determinant in the continuum limit. We also find that at fixed lattice spacing moderate smearing dramatically improves the chiral behavior of staggered fermions.