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Phase diagram of a lattice fermion model with symmetric mass generation

Sandip Maiti1,2,*, Debasish Banerjee2,3,†, Shailesh Chandrasekharan4,‡, and Marina K. Marinkovic5,§

  • *Contact author: sandipmaiti73@gmail.com
  • †Contact author: D.Banerjee@soton.ac.uk
  • ‡Contact author: sch27@duke.edu
  • §Contact author: marinama@ethz.ch
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Phys. Rev. D 114, 074504 – Published 8 October, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/tjwn-p6jc

Abstract

We study the phase structure of a model containing two flavors of massless staggered fermions interacting through two independent four-fermion couplings, UI and UB, formulated on a three-dimensional Euclidean space-time lattice. At UB=0, this model is known to exhibit a direct second-order quantum phase transition between a massless fermion (MF) phase and a phase in which fermions acquire masses through the mechanism commonly referred to as symmetric mass generation (SMG). We demonstrate that introducing a small nonzero value of UB qualitatively alters this structure: the single exotic transition at UB=0 splits into two distinct, conventional transitions, separated by an intermediate phase in which fermion masses arise through the standard mechanism of spontaneous symmetry breaking (SSB). The first of these is a Gross–Neveu transition separating the MF phase from the SSB-induced massive phase, while the second is a three-dimensional XY transition between the SSB phase and the SMG phase. Using the fermion bag Monte Carlo method, we verify that the critical exponents associated with both transitions are consistent with the literature, thereby yielding a quantitative characterization of the resulting phase structure of the model.

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See Also

Symmetric Mass Generation as a Multicritical Point with Enhanced Symmetry

Sandip Maiti, Debasish Banerjee, Shailesh Chandrasekharan, and Marina K. Marinkovic
Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 151601 (2026)

Article Text

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Phys. Rev. D 114, 074504– Published 8 October, 2026
  • Received 7 April 2026
  • Accepted 26 August 2026
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