We derive analytic formulas for the zero-modes of the Dirac equation in the adjoint representation in the background field of Q=1 SU(N) calorons. Solutions with various boundary conditions are obtained, including the physically most relevant cases of periodic and antiperiodic ones. The latter are essential ingredients in a semiclassical treatment of finite temperature supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory. A detailed discussion of adjoint zero-modes in several other contexts is also presented.
We couple fermion fields in the adjoint representation (gluinos) to the SU(2) gauge field of unit charge calorons defined on R^3 x S_1. We compute corresponding zero-modes of the Dirac equation. These are relevant in semiclassical studies of N=1 Super-symmetric Yang-Mills theory. Our formulas, show that, up to a term proportional to the vector potential, the modes can be constructed by different linear combinations of two contributions adding up to the total caloron field strength.
We construct the fermion zero-mode for arbitrary charge one SU(n) calorons with non-trivial holonomy, both in the finite temperature context (anti-periodic boundary conditions in time) and in the Kaluza-Klein compactification context (periodic boundary conditions in time). The zero-mode is localised on one of the constituent monopoles and we discuss a relation to the Callias index theorem.
We study the solutions of the Dirac equation in the adjoint representation(gluinos) in the background field of SU(2) unit charge calorons. Our solutions are forced to be antiperiodic in thermal time and would occur naturally in a semiclassical approach to N=1 Super-symmetric Yang-Mills theory at finite temperature.
We give the analytic result for the fermion zero-mode of the SU(2) calorons with non-trivial holonomy. It is shown that the zero-mode is supported on ONLY ONE of the constituent monopoles. We discuss some of its implications.
Starting from our proposed model of the Yang-Mills vacuum based on fractional instantons, we review the intellectual itinerary which has guided part of our scientific activity up to our recent work on adjoint zero-modes for calorons.
Pure Yang-Mills instantons are considered on S^1 x R^3 -- so-called calorons. The holonomy -- or Polyakov loop around the thermal S^1 at spatial infinity -- is assumed to be a non-centre element of the gauge group SU(n) as most appropriate for QCD applications in the confined phase. It is shown that a charge k caloron can be seen as a collection of nk massive magnetic monopoles each carrying fractional topological charge. This interpretation offers a physically appealing way of introducing monopole degrees of freedom into pure gluodynamics: as constituents of finite temperature instantons. New…
We analyze the zero-modes of the Dirac operator in quenched SU(3) gauge configurations at non-zero temperature and compare periodic and anti-periodic temporal boundary conditions for the fermions. It is demonstrated that for the different boundary conditions often the modes are localized at different space-time points and have different sizes. Our observations are consistent with patterns expected for Kraan - van Baal solutions of the classical Yang-Mills equations. These solutions consist of constituent monopoles and the zero-modes are localized on different constituents for different boundar…
We argue that the fermionic zero mode in non-trivial gauge field backgrounds must have a zero. We demonstrate this explicitly for calorons where its location is related to a constituent monopole. Furthermore a topological reasoning for the existence of the zero is given which therefore will be present for any non-trivial configuration. We propose the use of this property in particular for lattice simulations in order to uncover the topological content of a configuration.
We use the fermion zero-modes in the background of multi-caloron solutions with non-trivial holonomy as a probe for constituent monopoles. We find in general indication for an extended structure. However, for well separated constituents these become point-like. We analyse this in detail for the SU(2) charge 2 case, where one is able to solve the relevant Nahm equation exactly, beyond the piecewize constant solutions studied previously. Remarkably the zero-mode density can be expressed in the high temperature limit as a function of the conserved quantities that classify the solutions of the Nah…
We propose to induce QCD by fermions in the adjoint representation of the gauge group SU(N_c) on the lattice. We consider various types of lattice fermions: chiral, Kogut--Susskind and Wilson ones. Using the mean field method we show that a first order large-N phase transition occurs with decreasing fermion mass. We conclude, therefore, that adjoint fermions induce QCD. We draw the same conclusion for the adjoint scalar or fermion models at large number of flavors N_f when they induce a single-plaquette lattice gauge theory. We find an exact strong coupling solution for the adjoint fermion mod…
Large N gauge theories with adjoint matter can be numerically studied using lattice techniques. Eguchi-Kawai reductions holds for this theory and one can reduce the lattice model to a single site. Hybrid Monte Carlo algorithm can be used to simulate this model. One can either perform an exact computation of the "fermionic force" or use pseudo fermions as part of the HMC algorithm. The former algorithm is slower than the latter but has the advantage that one can work with any real number for the fermion flavor. Some results using both algorithms will be presented.
We consider the large N limit of four dimensional SU(N) Yang-Mills field coupled to adjoint fermions on a single site lattice. We use perturbative techniques to show that the Z^4_N center-symmetries are broken with naive fermions but they are not broken with overlap fermions. We use numerical techniques to support this result. Furthermore, we present evidence for a non-zero chiral condensate for one and two Majorana flavors at one value of the lattice gauge coupling.
We construct the magnetic dual of QCD with one adjoint Weyl fermion. The dual is a consistent solution of the 't Hooft anomaly matching conditions, allows for flavor decoupling and remarkably constitutes the first nonsupersymmetric dual valid for any number of colors. The dual allows to bound the anomalous dimension of the Dirac fermion mass operator to be less than one in the conformal window.
The twisted space-time reduced model of large $N$ QCD with various flavours of adjoint Wilson fermions is constructed applying the symmetric twist boundary conditions with flux $k$. The models with one and two flavours show distinctive behaviours. For the two flavor case, the string tension, calculated at $N=289$, approaches zero as we decrease the quark mass in a way consistent with the theory being governed by an infrared fixed point. In contrast, the string tension for the case of a single adjoint Wilson fermion remains finite as the quark mass decreases to zero, supporting that this is a c…
We consider the leading-order expression at weak-coupling for a single-site large-N gauge theory coupled to adjoint fermions. We study the case of overlap and wilson fermions. We extend the theory to real values of the number of fermion flavors and restrict ourselves to asymptotically free theories. Using a four-dimensional density function for the distribution of the eigenvalues of the link variables, we show that it is possible to recover the infinite-volume continuum limit for a certain range of fermion flavors if we use fermions with a bare mass of zero. Our use of the four-dimensional den…
We analyze the large $N$ limit of adjoint QCD, an $SU(N)$ gauge theory with $N_f$ flavors of massless adjoint Majorana fermions, compactified on $S^3 \times S^1$. We focus on the weakly-coupled confining small-$S^3$ regime. If the fermions are given periodic boundary conditions on $S^1$, we show that there are large cancellations between bosonic and fermionic contributions to the twisted partition function. These cancellations follow a pattern previously seen in the context of misaligned supersymmetry, and lead to the absence of Hagedorn instabilities for any $S^1$ size $L$, even though the bo…
We present an exact normalisable zero-energy chiral fermion solution for abelian BPS dipoles. For a single dipole, this solution is contained within the high temperature limit of the SU(2) caloron with non-trivial holonomy.
We study four dimensional large-N SU(N) Yang-Mills theory coupled to adjoint overlap fermions on a single site lattice. Lattice simulations along with perturbation theory show that the bare quark mass has to be taken to zero as one takes the continuum limit in order to be in the physically relevant center-symmetric phase. But, it seems that it is possible to take the continuum limit with any renormalized quark mass and still be in the center-symmetric physics. We have also conducted a study of the correlations between Polyakov loop operators in different directions and obtained the range for t…
We explore the possibility of embedding supersymmetric GUT texture ideas into superstring models. We discuss the construction of GUT models using free fermionic strings. We find SO(10) models with adjoint scalars, three generations of chiral fermions, and a fundamental Higgs with a Yukawa coupling to only the third generation.
We perform a lattice investigation of QCD with three colors and 2 flavors of Dirac (staggered) fermions in the adjoint representation, defined on a 4d space with one spatial dimension compactified, and study the phase structure of the theory as a function of the size Lc of the compactified dimension. We show that four different phases take place, corresponding to different realizations of center symmetry: two center symmetric phases, for large or small values of Lc, separated by two phases in which center symmetry is broken in two different ways; the dependence of these results on the quark ma…
We consider 1+1-dimensional QCD coupled to Majorana fermions in the adjoint representation of the gauge group $SU(N)$. Pair creation of partons (fermion quanta) is not suppressed in the large-$N$ limit, where the glueball-like bound states become free. In this limit the spectrum is given by a linear \lc\ Schr\" odinger equation, which we study numerically using the discretized \lcq. We find a discrete spectrum of bound states, with the logarithm of the level density growing approximately linearly with the mass. The wave function of a typical excited state is a complicated mixture of components…
We use a single site lattice in four dimensions to study the scaling of large N Yang-Mills field coupled to a single massless Dirac fermion in the adjoint representation. We use the location of the strong to weak coupling transition defined through the eigenvalues of the folded Wilson loop operator to set a scale. We do not observe perturbative scaling in the region studied in this paper. Instead, we observe that the scale changes very slowly with the bare coupling. The lowest eigenvalue of the overlap Dirac operator is another scale that shows similar behavior as a function of the lattice cou…
Lattice simulations of Yang-Mills theories coupled with $N_f$ flavours of fermions in the adjoint representation provide a way to probe the non-perturbative regime of a plethora of different physical scenarios, such as Supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory to BSM models. We are interested in the large-$N_c$ limit of these theories, for which standard lattice techniques are limited by high-computational costs. Our approach makes use of the well-established twisted volume reduction, which allows one to simulate these theories on a $1^4$ lattice. In this talk, we are going to present a detailed study …
Gauge theories with fermions in adjoint and fundamental representations are relevant for many different applications including composite Higgs models and general aspects of the confinement problem. We present first results from simulations of SU(2) gauge theory with two Dirac fermions in the fundamental representation and one adjoint flavor. In this context, we also discuss applications towards simulations of supersymmetric QCD.
The twisted reduced model of large $N$ QCD with two adjoint Wilson fermions is studied numerically using the Hybrid Monte Carlo method. This is the one-site model, whose large $N$ limit (large volume limit) is expected to be conformal or nearly conformal. The symmetric twist boundary condition with flux $k$ is used. $k$=0 corresponds to periodic boundary conditions. It is shown that the quark mass and $N$ dependencies of the model with non-vanishing $k$ differ significantly from those of the $k$=0 model. A preliminary result for the string tension calculated at $N$=289 is presented. The string…
We study the single site lattice gauge theory of SU(N) coupled to one Dirac flavor of fermion in the adjoint representation. We utilize Möbius fermions for this study, and accelerate the calculation with graphics processing units (GPUs). Our Monte Carlo simulations indicate that for sufficiently large inverse 't Hooft coupling b = 1/g^2 N, and for N \leq 10 the distribution of traced Polyakov loops has "fingers" that extend from the origin. However, in the massless case the distribution of eigenvalues of the untraced Polyakov loop becomes uniform at large N, indicating preservation of center s…
We present a major update on our investigations of SU(2) gauge theory with one Dirac flavor in the adjoint representation on the lattice. In particular we consider larger volumes, as well as four different values of the gauge coupling. We provide results for the spectrum including gluonic, fermionic, and hybrid observables, Polyakov loops, and the anomalous dimension of the fermionic condensate from the Dirac mode number. These data confirm that the theory is close to the lower boundary of the conformal window for adjoint fermions. Our investigations provide important insights regarding the re…
The phase diagram of SU(N) gauge theories with fermions in an arbitrary representation R can be calculated on finite volume manifolds such as S^1 x S^3. When S^3 is small a perturbative analysis is possible and the weak-coupling analogue of the pure Yang-Mills theory confinement-deconfinement transition is accessible in the large N limit. We calculate the large N phase diagram of adjoint QCD [SU(N) gauge theory with adjoint fermions] where periodic boundary conditions are applied to fermions on S^1 such that the confined phase is favored for light enough adjoint fermion mass. We calculate the …
The method of self-adjoint extensions is employed to determine the vacuum quantum numbers induced by a singular static magnetic vortex in $2+1$-dimensional spinor electrodynamics. The results obtained are gauge-invariant and, for certain values of the extension parameter, both periodic in the value of the vortex flux and possessing definite parity with respect to the charge conjugation.
Recent work on QCD-like theories has shown that the addition of adjoint fermions obeying periodic boundary conditions to gauge theories on $R^{3}\times S^{1}$ can lead to a restoration of center symmetry and confinement for sufficiently small circumference $L$ of $S^{1}$. At small $L$, perturbation theory may be used reliably to compute the effective potential for the Polyakov loop $P$ in the compact direction. Periodic adjoint fermions act in opposition to the gauge fields, which by themselves would lead to a deconfined phase at small $L$. In order for the fermionic effects to dominate gauge …
We consider a dimensional reduction of 3+1 dimensional SU(N) Yang-Mills theory coupled to adjoint fermions to obtain a class of 1+1 dimensional matrix field theories. We derive the quantized light-cone Hamiltonian in the light-cone gauge A_- = 0 and large-N limit, and then solve for the masses, wavefunctions and structure functions of the color singlet ``meson-like'' and ``baryon-like'' boundstates. Among the states we study are many massless string-like states that can be solved for exactly.
We consider SU(N) QCD_{1+1} coupled to massless adjoint Majorana fermions, where N is finite but arbitrary. We examine the spectrum for various values of N, paying particular attention to the formation of multi-particle states, which were recently identified by Gross, Hashimoto and Klebanov in the N -> infinity limit of the theory. It is believed that in the limit of vanishing fermion mass, there is a transition from confinement to screening in which string-like states made out of adjoint fermion bits dissociate into stable constituent ``single particles''. In this work, we provide numerical e…
We study fermionic one-matrix, two-matrix and $D$-dimensional gauge invariant matrix models. In all cases we derive loop equations which unambiguously determine the large-$N$ solution. For the one-matrix case the solution is obtained for an arbitrary interaction potential and turns out to be equivalent to the one for the Hermitean one-matrix model with a logarithmic potential and, therefore, belongs to the same universality class. The explicit solutions for the fermionic two-matrix and $D$-dimensional matrix models are obtained at large $N$ (or in the spherical approximation) for the quadratic…
The phase diagrams at high temperature of SU(N) gauge theories with massive fermions are calculated by numerically minimizing the one-loop effective potential. We consider fermions in the Fundamental (F), Adjoint (Adj), Antisymmetric (AS), and Symmetric (S) representations, for N from 3 to 9, with periodic and antiperiodic boundary conditions applied. For one flavour of AS/S (Dirac) fermion with periodic boundary conditions the C-breaking phase is favoured perturbatively for all values of the fermion mass. In the case of one flavour of adjoint Majorana fermion, and periodic boundary conditons,…
We consider SU(2) Yang-Mills theory in 1+1 dimensions coupled to massless adjoint fermions. With all fields in the adjoint representation the gauge group is actually SU(2)/Z_2, which possesses nontrivial topology. In particular, there are two distinct topological sectors and the physical vacuum state has a structure analogous to a θvacuum. We show how this feature is realized in light-front quantization, using discretization of x^- as an infrared regulator. We find exact expressions for the vacuum states and construct the analog of the θvacuum. We calculate the bilinear condensate of the model…
In this paper we discuss a class of 1+1 dimensional matrix field theories in the light-cone Hamiltonian approach that are obtained from a dimensional reduction of 3+1 dimensional Yang-Mills theory. We present exact massless solutions of the boundstate integral equations in the large N limit. These massless states have constant wavefunctions in momentum space and are therefore fundamental excitations of the theory.
Large-N QCD with heavy adjoint fermions emulates pure Yang-Mills theory at long distances. We study this theory on a four- and three-torus, and analytically argue the existence of a large-small volume equivalence. For any finite mass, center symmetry unbroken phase exists at sufficiently small volume and this phase can be used to study the large-volume limit through the Eguchi-Kawai equivalence. A finite temperature version of volume independence implies that thermodynamics on R^3 x S^1 can be studied via a unitary matrix quantum mechanics on S^1, by varying the temperature. To confirm this no…
We consider SU(2) Yang-Mills theory in 1+1 dimensions coupled to massless adjoint fermions. With all fields in the adjoint representation the gauge group is actually SU(2)/Z_2, which possesses nontrivial topology. In particular, there are two distinct topological sectors and the physical vacuum state has a structure analogous to a θvacuum. We show how this feature is realized in light-front quantization, with periodicity conditions used to regulate the infrared and treating the gauge field zero mode as a dynamical quantity. We find expressions for the degenerate vacuum states and construct the…
We investigate QCD with adjoint Dirac fermions on $\mathbb{R}^3\times S^1$ with generic boundary conditions for fermions along $S^1$. By means of perturbation theory, semiclassical methods and a chiral effective model, we elucidate a rich phase structure in the space spanned by the $S^1$ compactification scale $L$, twisted fermionic boundary condition $ϕ$ and the fermion mass $m$. We found various phases with or without chiral and center symmetry breaking, separated by first- and second-order phase transitions, which in specific limits ($ϕ=0$, $ϕ=π$, $L\to 0$ and $m\to \infty$) reproduce known…
We analyze the 2+1 dimensional gauge theory with two fermions in the real adjoint representation with non-zero Chern-Simons level. We propose a new fermion-fermion dualities between strongly-coupled theories and determine the quantum phase using the structure of a `Duality Chain'. We argue that when Chern-Simons level is sufficiently small, the theory in general develops a strongly coupled quantum phase described by an emergent topological field theory. For special cases, our proposal predicts an interesting dynamical scenario with spontaneous breaking of partial 1-form or 0-form global symmet…
We study the one-loop potential of large-N QCD with adjoint Dirac fermions. Space-time is a discretization of R^3 x S^1 where the compact direction consists of a single lattice site. We use Wilson fermions with different values of the quark mass m and set the lattice spacings in the compact and non-compact directions to be a_t and a_s respectively. Extending the results of JHEP 0906:091,2009, we prove that if the ratio xi = a_s/a_t obeys 0<xi<2, then the minimum of the one-loop lattice potential for one or more Dirac flavors is Z_N symmetric at the chiral point. For xi=0 our formulas reduce to…
We study chemical-potential dependence of confinement and mass gap in QCD with adjoint fermions in spacetime with one spatial compact direction. By calculating the one-loop effective potential for the Wilson line in the presence of chemical potential, we show that a center-symmetric phase and a center-broken phase alternate when the chemical potential in unit of the compactification scale is increased. In the center-symmetric phase we use semiclassical methods to show that photons in the magnetic bion plasma acquire a mass gap that grows with the chemical potential as a result of anisotropic i…
We study the large-N volume reduction of QCD with adjoint quarks regularized on the lattice. Specifically, we use Wilson fermions, and while our d-dimensional lattice has (d-1) infinite dimensions, the remaining direction is reduced to a point. We perform a weak-coupling one-loop calculation of the free energy as a function of the holonomy in the reduced direction, and map the regimes in the bare lattice parameter space where the holonomy averages to zero and a Z_N-center symmetric configuration is the ground state. For d=4 and N_f=1/2,1 and 2 Dirac flavors we see that the center symmetry is i…
The phase structure of QCD-like gauge theories with fermions in various representations is an interesting but generally analytically intractable problem. One way to ensure weak coupling is to define the theory in a small finite volume, in this case S^3 x S^1. Genuine phase transitions can then occur in the large N theory. Here, we use this technique to investigate SU(N) gauge theory with a number N_f of massive adjoint-valued Majorana fermions having non-thermal boundary conditions around S^1. For N_f =1 we find a line of transitions that separate the weak-coupling analogues of the confined an…
The space-time reduced model of large N QCD with two adjoint Wilson fermions is constructed by applying the symmetric twist boundary conditions with non-vanishing flux $k$. For large but finite $N=L^2$, the model should behave as the large N version of the ordinary lattice gauge model on a $V=L^4$ space-time volume. We perform a comparison of the $N$ dependence of several quantities in this model and in the $k$=0 model (corresponding to periodic boundary conditions). Although the Z$^4$(N) symmetry seems unbroken in all cases, the N-dependence analysis favours the use of the same values of $k$ …
We show that $QCD_2$ with adjoint fermions involves instantons due to nontrivial $π_1[SU(N)/Z_N]~=~Z_N$. At high temperatures, quasiclassical approximation works and the action and the form of effective (with account of quantum corrections) instanton solution can be evaluated. Instanton presents a localized configuration with the size $\propto g^{-1}$. At $N=2$, it involves exactly 2 zero fermion modes and gives rise to fermion condensate $<\barλ^a λ^a>_T$ which falls off $\propto \exp\{-π^{3/2} T/g\}$ at high $T$ but remains finite. At low temperatures, both instanton and bosonization argumen…
We consider SU(N) gauge theory in 1+1 dimensions coupled to chiral fermions in the adjoint representation of the gauge group. With all fields in the adjoint representation the gauge group is actually SU(N)/Z_N, which possesses nontrivial topology. In particular, there are N distinct topological sectors and the physical vacuum state has a structure analogous to a θvacuum. We show how this feature is realized in light-front quantization for the case N=2, using discretization as an infrared regulator. In the discretized form of the theory the nontrivial vacuum structure is associated with the zer…
We study 2+1 dimensional gauge theories with a Chern-Simons term and a fermion in the adjoint representation. We apply general considerations of symmetries, anomalies, and renormalization group flows to determine the possible phases of the theory as a function of the gauge group, the Chern-Simons level $k$, and the fermion mass. We propose an inherently quantum mechanical phase of adjoint QCD with small enough $k$, where the infrared is described by a certain Topological Quantum Field Theory (TQFT). For a special choice of the mass, the theory has ${\cal N}=1$ supersymmetry. There this TQFT is…
We present an analytic approach to solving 1+1 dimensional QCD with an adjoint Majorana fermion. In the UV this theory is described by a trivial CFT containing free fermions. The quasi-primary operators of this CFT lead to a discrete basis of states which is useful for diagonalizing the Hamiltonian of the full strongly interacting theory. Working at large-$N$, we find that the decoupling of high scaling-dimension quasi-primary operators from the low-energy spectrum occurs exponentially fast in their scaling-dimension. This suggests a scheme, whereby, truncating the basis to operators of dimens…
We consider a 1-parameter family of self-adjoint extensions of the Hamiltonian for a particle confined to a finite interval with perfectly reflecting boundary conditions. In some cases, one obtains negative energy states which seems to violate the Heisenberg uncertainty relation. We use this as a motivation to derive a generalized uncertainty relation valid for an arbitrarily shaped quantum dot with general perfectly reflecting walls in $d$ dimensions. In addition, a general uncertainty relation for non-Hermitean operators is derived and applied to the non-Hermitean momentum operator in a quan…
A study of two-dimensional QCD on a spatial circle with Majorana fermions in the adjoint representation of the gauge groups SU(2) and SU(3) has been performed. The main emphasis is put on the symmetry properties related to the homotopically non-trivial gauge transformations and the discrete axial symmetry of this model. Within a gauge fixed canonical framework, the delicate interplay of topology on the one hand and Jacobians and boundary conditions arising in the course of resolving Gauss's law on the other hand is exhibited. As a result, a consistent description of the residual $Z_N$ gauge sy…
We consider an 'electric' $U(N)$ level $k$ QCD$_3$ theory with one adjoint Majorana fermion. Inspired by brane dynamics, we suggest that for $k \ge N/2$ the massive $m<0$ theory, in the vicinity of the supersymmetric point, admits a $U(k-\frac{N}{2})_{-(\frac{1}{2}k+\frac{3}{4}N),-(k+\frac{N}{2})}$ 'magnetic' dual with one adjoint Majorana fermion. The magnetic theory flows in the IR to a topological $U(k-\frac{N}{2})_{-N,-(k+\frac{N}{2})}$ pure Chern-Simons theory in agreement with the dynamics of the electric theory. When $k<N/2$ the magnetic dual is $U(\frac{N}{2}-k)_{\frac{1}{2}k+\frac{3}{…
We discuss a two dimensional SU(N) Yang-Mills theory coupled to massive adjoint fermions for different worlds classified by the integer k=0,1,...N-1. We study the fermion condensate for these unconnected worlds as a function of the parameter k. We show that the condensate as well as the spectrum of the theory do depend on this vacuum parameter k. Technically, the value of the fermion condensate is related to the value of the gluon condensate via the Operator Product Expansion. We use this to find the leading dependence (in the limit of a heavy quark) of the fermion condensate on the nontrivial…
Massless Majorana fermions in the adjoint representation of SU(N_c) are expected to screen gauge interactions in 1+1 dimensions, analogous to a similar Higgs phenomena known for 1+1-dimensional U(1) gauge theory with massless fundamental fermions (Schwinger model). Using the light-cone formalism and large-N_c limit, a non-abelian analogue of the Schwinger boson is shown to be responsible for the screening between heavy test charges. This adjoint boson does not exist simply as a physical state, but boundstates are built entirely from this particle.
We study the nature of the finite-temperature chiral transition in QCD with N_f light quarks in the adjoint representation (aQCD). Renormalization-group arguments show that the transition can be continuous if a stable fixed point exists in the renormalization-group flow of the corresponding three-dimensional Phi^4 theory with a complex 2N_f x 2N_f symmetric matrix field and symmetry-breaking pattern SU(2N_f)->SO(2N_f). This issue is investigated by exploiting two three-dimensional perturbative approaches, the massless minimal-subtraction scheme without epsilon expansion and a massive scheme in…
Two dimensional QCD coupled to fermions in the adjoint representation of the gauge group $SU(N)$, a useful toy model of QCD strings, is supersymmetric for a certain ratio of quark mass and gauge coupling constant. Here we study the theory in the vicinity of the supersymmetric point; in particular we exhibit the algebraic structure of the model and show that the mass splittings as one moves away from the supersymmetric point obey a universal relation of the form ${M_i}^2(B)-{M_i}^2(F)=M_iδm+O(δm^3)$. We discuss the connection of this relation to string and quark model expectations and verify it…