Mass Splitting of Staggered Fermion and $SO(2D)$ Clifford Algebra

TL;DR

This paper introduces an $SO(2D)$ Clifford algebra-based method to improve staggered fermions by splitting their degenerate masses, identifying a case that isolates the light Dirac mode.

Contribution

The paper proposes a novel $SO(2D)$ Clifford algebra formulation to construct rotationally invariant mass terms for staggered fermions, enabling mass splitting.

Findings

Four candidate mass terms for splitting degenerate masses.

Analysis of three combinations reveals one that isolates the light Dirac mode.

Method enhances understanding of fermion mass structure in lattice theories.

Abstract

We present a new method to introduce rotationally invariant terms in staggered fermions which is based on an $SO(2D)$ Clifford algebra formulation, where $D$ means the number of space-time dimensions. We have four candidates for improved mass terms that can split the degenerate mass of staggered fermions. Among them, we analyze three types of combinations and find only one case that can identify with the light single Dirac mode.