Domain-Wall Induced Quark Masses in Topologically-Nontrivial Background

Abstract

In the domain-wall formulation of chiral fermion, the finite separation between domain-walls ($L_s$) induces an effective quark mass ($m_{\mathrm{eff}}$) which complicates the chiral limit. In this work, we study the size of the effective mass as the function of $L_s$ and the domain-wall height $m_0$ by calculating the smallest eigenvalue of the hermitian domain-wall Dirac operator in the topologically-nontrivial background fields. We find that, just like in the free case, $m_{\mathrm{eff}}$ decreases exponentially in $L_s$ with a rate depending on $m_0$. However, quantum fluctuations amplify the wall effects significantly. Our numerical result is consistent with a previous study of the effective mass from the Gell-Mann-Oakes-Renner relation.

Comments: 10 pages, an appendix and minor changes added