Large-Scale Numerical Simulations in
Lattice Gauge Theories and Statistical Mechanics
We study fundamental aspects of the strong interaction
between hadrons - such as color confinement, asymptotic freedom,
the running coupling constant and the deconfining transition at
finite temperature - by means of large-scale numerical simulations.
These simulations are carried out using Monte Carlo methods, applied
to the lattice formulation of quantum chromodynamics (QCD).
In order to reduce computational costs, we consider mostly the
pure-SU(2)-gauge case.
In particular, we propose a new study of the running coupling constant
(based on the evaluation of gluon and ghost propagators) that will
provide a more efficient way of investigating the infrared properties
of the theory. As part of this study, we will make a complete analysis
of methods for the elimination of the Gribov ambiguity. Finally, we
plan a study of lattice gauge theories at finite temperature,
investigating aspects of the deconfining transition through
finite-size-scaling techniques, and properties of the deconfined phase
at high temperatures, which is characterized by the generation of
screening masses for the gluonic field.
These studies are intimately connected with topics in statistical
mechanics, such as spin glasses, critical properties of n-vector models
in two and three dimensions, and percolation.
Our simulations are carried out on a
PC cluster (photo).
The group has available post-doc positions (renewable for
up to three years) and PhD studentships,
subject to approval of the candidate by the funding agency
FAPESP.
