Non-Hermitian Polynomial Hybrid Monte Carlo

In this thesis algorithmic improvements and variants for two-flavor lattice QCD simulations with dynamical fermions are studied using the O(a) improved Dirac-Wilson operator in the Schrödinger functional setup and employing a hybrid Monte Carlo-type (HMC) update. Both, the Hermitian and the Non-Hermitian operator are considered. For the Hermitian Dirac-Wilson operator we investigate the advantages of symmetric over asymmetric even-odd preconditioning, how to gain from multiple time scale integration as well as how the smallest eigenvalues affect the stability of the HMC algorithm. In case of the non-Hermitian operator we first derive (semi-)analytical bounds on the spectrum before demonstrating a method to obtain information on the spectral boundary by estimating complex eigenvalues with the Lanzcos algorithm. These spectral boundaries allow to visualize the advantage of symmetric even-odd preconditioning or the effect of the Sheikholeslami-Wohlert term on the spectrum of the non-Hermitian Dirac-Wilson operator. Taking advantage of the information of the spectral boundary we design best-suited, complex, scaled and translated Chebyshev polynomials to approximate the inverse Dirac-Wilson operator. Based on these polynomials we derive a new HMC variant, named nonHermitian polynomial Hybrid Monte Carlo (NPHMC), which allows to deviate from importance sampling by compensation with a reweighting factor. Furthermore an extension employing the Hasenbusch-trick is derived. First performance figures showing the dependence on the input parameters as well as a comparison to our standard HMC are given. Comparing both algorithms with one pseudo-fermion, we find the new NPHMC to be slightly superior, whereas a clear statement for the two pseudo-fermion variants is yet not possible.