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In physics, lattice gauge theory is the study of gauge theories on a spacetime that has been discretized into a lattice. Gauge theories are important in particle physics , and include the prevailing theories of elementary particles : quantum electrodynamics , quantum chromodynamics (QCD) and particle physics' Standard Model .
In pure gauge theory they play the role of order operators for confinement, where they satisfy what is known as the area law. Originally formulated by Kenneth G. Wilson in 1974, they were used to construct links and plaquettes which are the fundamental parameters in lattice gauge theory. [1]
The ability to vary the gauge potential at different points in space and time (by changing (,)) without changing the physics is called a local invariance. Electromagnetic theory possess the simplest kind of local gauge symmetry called () (see unitary group). A theory that displays local gauge invariance is called a gauge theory.
The transformations between possible gauges, called gauge transformations, form a Lie group—referred to as the symmetry group or the gauge group of the theory. Associated with any Lie group is the Lie algebra of group generators. For each group generator there necessarily arises a corresponding field (usually a vector field) called the gauge ...
A gauge theory is a type of theory in physics. The word gauge means a measurement , a thickness, an in-between distance (as in railroad tracks ), or a resulting number of units per certain parameter (a number of loops in an inch of fabric or a number of lead balls in a pound of ammunition ). [ 1 ]
Lattice field theory differs from these in that it keeps manifest gauge invariance, but sacrifices manifest Poincaré invariance—recovering it only after renormalization. The articles on lattice gauge theory and lattice QCD explore these issues in greater detail.
In physics, Hamiltonian lattice gauge theory is a calculational approach to gauge theory and a special case of lattice gauge theory in which the space is discretized but time is not. The Hamiltonian is then re-expressed as a function of degrees of freedom defined on a d-dimensional lattice.
In lattice perturbation theory the scattering matrix is expanded in powers of the lattice spacing, a. The results are used primarily to renormalize Lattice QCD Monte-Carlo calculations. In perturbative calculations both the operators of the action and the propagators are calculated on the lattice and expanded in powers of a.