Mapping the Conformal Window: SU(2) with 4, 6 and 10 flavors of fermions

Abstract

We present studies of the SU(2) gauge theory with 4, 6 and 10 fermion flavors. These models are expected to lie on both sides of the edge of the conformal window, where the theory has an infrared fixed point. We observe that the coupling grows with the length scale at four flavors, implying QCD-like behavior. At ten flavors the results are compatible with a Bank-Zaks type fixed point. The results at six flavors remain inconclusive: the running is slow towards the infrared but the range and accuracy of the study are insufficient for determining the existence of a fixed point.