An analysis of systematic effects in finite size scaling studies using the gradient flow
Alessandro Nada, Alberto Ramos
Abstract
Abstract We propose a new strategy for the determination of the step scaling function $$\sigma (u)$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>σ</mml:mi> <mml:mo>(</mml:mo> <mml:mi>u</mml:mi> <mml:mo>)</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> in finite size scaling studies using the gradient flow. In this approach the determination of $$\sigma (u)$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>σ</mml:mi> <mml:mo>(</mml:mo> <mml:mi>u</mml:mi> <mml:mo>)</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> is broken in two pieces: a change of the flow time at fixed physical size, and a change of the size of the system at fixed flow time. Using both perturbative arguments and a set of simulations in the pure gauge theory we show that this approach leads to a better control over the continuum extrapolations. Following this new proposal we determine the running coupling at high energies in the pure gauge theory and re-examine the determination of the $$\Lambda $$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mi>Λ</mml:mi> </mml:math> -parameter, with special care on the perturbative truncation uncertainties.