Non-commutative Differential Calculus and the Axial Anomaly in Abelian Lattice Gauge Theories

Abstract

The axial anomaly in lattice gauge theories has a topological nature when the Dirac operator satisfies the Ginsparg-Wilson relation. We study the axial anomaly in Abelian gauge theories on an infinite hypercubic lattice by utilizing cohomological arguments. The crucial tool in our approach is the non-commutative differential calculus~(NCDC) which makes the Leibniz rule of exterior derivatives valid on the lattice. The topological nature of the ``Chern character'' on the lattice becomes manifest in the context of NCDC. Our result provides an algebraic proof of L\"uscher's theorem for a four-dimensional lattice and its generalization to arbitrary dimensions.