A simulation of the Schwinger model in the overlap formalism

Abstract

In the continuum, the single flavor massless Schwinger model has an exact global axial $U(1)$ symmetry in the sector of perturbative gauge fields. This symmetry is explicitly broken by gauge fields with nonzero topological charge inducing a nonzero expectation value for the bilinear $\barψψ$. We show that a lattice formulation of this model, using the overlap formalism to treat the massless fermions, explicitly exhibits this phenomenon. A Monte Carlo simulation of the complete system yields the correct value of the fermion condensate and shows unambiguously that it originates from the sector of topological charge equal to unity.