Multicriticality in the Generalized Schwinger Model

Abstract

We consider the generalized Schwinger model. This theory is obtained by coupling the field strength to an auxiliary scalar field $B$ and allowing generic potentials $V(B)$. We study the properties and phases of the model, focusing on the case where the potential is quartic. We investigate the model using both semiclassical and numerical methods, and find a rich phase diagram in the space of couplings. A region with unbroken charge conjugation is separated from one where the symmetry is spontaneously broken by lines of first- and second-order phase transitions. At the special point where these two lines meet, we find a fixed point in the tricritical Ising universality class. We also observe infinitely many lines of first order phase transitions ending at points of the Ising universality class.