Magnetic Monopoles in non-compact QED - is there a Phase Transition?

TL;DR

This paper investigates the existence of a monopole condensation phase transition in non-compact quenched QED and finds no evidence of such a transition, challenging previous indicators and claims about lattice artifacts.

Contribution

It provides a critical test of earlier reports of monopole condensation transitions, showing that the divergence of monopole susceptibility is not a reliable phase transition indicator.

Findings

No phase transition detected in monopole condensation in non-compact QED

Monopole susceptibility divergence is not a reliable indicator of phase transitions

Chiral phase transition claims may be lattice artifacts driven by monopole effects

Abstract

The existence of the monopole condensation transition reported by Kocic et al. in non-compact, quenched QED is tested. No phase transition is found. This shows that divergence of the `monopole susceptibility' introduced by Hands and Wensley is not a reliable indicator of second order phase transitions. In view of these results I discuss claims that the chiral phase transition seen in QED with fermions is a lattice artefact driven by monopole condensation.