Zeros of the partition function for 12 flavor QCD

Abstract

We consider a four dimensional $SU(3)$ lattice gauge theory with 12 staggered fermions having identical masses and an unimproved action. Using sets of plaquette distributions for various inverse bare couplings $\beta$, we reconstruct the density of states with the Ferrenberg -Swendsen method and calculate the zeros of the partition in the complex $\beta$ plane with bare quark masses $m_q$ = 0.02, 0.06, 0.08 and 0.1 for hypercubes of linear size $L$= 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12. Our hypothesis is that there is a line of first order transitions in the $(m_q,\beta )$ plane ending at a second order phase transition. We expect this transition to be in the 4D Ising, mean field, universality class. We fit the $L$ dependence of the zeros with the lowest imaginary part using two ($y=b{L}^{-d}$) and three ($y=a+b{L}^{-d}$) parameter fits. For $m_q$ = 0.02 the results provide strong support for a first order phase transition ($d=3.98(6)$, and $a$ statistically compatible with 0). The results also indicate, with less statistical significance for $m_q=0.06$, that the three other masses are above the critical value $m_q^c$. In addition, we suggest that the infinite volume gap for the lowest zero $a$, can be represented as $a\simeq A(m_q-m_q^c{)}^B$ with $m_q^c\sim 0.05$ and $B\sim 1$. Given that there are only three data points with significant error bars, it is difficult to rule out the mean field value $B=3/2$. Combining this result with spectroscopic results by Jin and Mawhinney, indicates that the gap with real axis (Lee-Yang edge) scales roughly like $m_{\sigma }^2$, where $m_{\sigma }$ is the mass of the $0^{++}$ scalar which is also the lowest excitation.