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Sampling the lattice Nambu-Goto string using Continuous Normalizing Flows

High Energy Physics - Lattice 2024-02-13 v2 Machine Learning High Energy Physics - Theory

Abstract

Effective String Theory (EST) represents a powerful non-perturbative approach to describe confinement in Yang-Mills theory that models the confining flux tube as a thin vibrating string. EST calculations are usually performed using the zeta-function regularization: however there are situations (for instance the study of the shape of the flux tube or of the higher order corrections beyond the Nambu-Goto EST) which involve observables that are too complex to be addressed in this way. In this paper we propose a numerical approach based on recent advances in machine learning methods to circumvent this problem. Using as a laboratory the Nambu-Goto string, we show that by using a new class of deep generative models called Continuous Normalizing Flows it is possible to obtain reliable numerical estimates of EST predictions.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2307.01107,
  title  = {Sampling the lattice Nambu-Goto string using Continuous Normalizing Flows},
  author = {Michele Caselle and Elia Cellini and Alessandro Nada},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2307.01107},
  year   = {2024}
}

Comments

1+28 pages, 11 figures; v2 1+29 pages, 12 figures, added discussion on the implications of this approach for EST modeling, added results on the comparison between CNF and HMC, matches published version

R2 v1 2026-06-28T11:20:54.083Z