Progress in Lattice Gauge Theory

Stephen R. Sharpe

Published 1998-11-04, updated 1998-12-03Version 3

I summarize recent progress in lattice gauge theory, with particular emphasis on results from numerical simulations. A major success has been the determination of the light hadron spectrum in the quenched approximation with sufficient accuracy to expose statistically significant disagreements with the experimental spectrum. The differences are, however, fairly small, $\sim 5-10%$. The data are also accurate enough to show evidence for artifacts of quenching predicted by chiral perturbation theory. I give an update on results for light quark masses, the kaon B-parameter, and the decay constants and B-parameters of heavy-light mesons. Most of these are known in the quenched approximation to $\sim 10%$ accuracy or better, and preliminary estimates of quenching errors are of comparable size. One exception is the light quark masses, for which the quenching errors appear to be larger. I discuss the computational requirements for simulations of QCD with all approximations controlled, and argue that they will likely begin once computers sustain about 10 Teraflops. This is 30-40 times faster than present state-of-the-art machines. This estimate assumes that improvements in the discretization of lattice fermions are sufficient to allow continuum extrapolations to be made with a minimum lattice spacing of $\approx 0.1 $fm. I review results obtained with improved discretizations and conclude that they satisfy this requirement in most cases. Examples of successful improvement include the calculation of the glueball spectrum and excited heavy-quark potentials in pure Yang-Mills theory. Finally, I discuss recent developments which may allow simulations of QCD with full chiral symmetry even at finite lattice spacing.