Symmetric Mass Generation for Domain-Wall Fermions

Abstract

We report the first numerical examination of symmetric mass generation (SMG) for domain-wall fermions. Our simulation on a two-dimensional Euclidean lattice computes the path-integral of the Fidkowski-Kitaev Majorana chain with two boundaries, corresponding to the two (physical and mirror) walls. We demonstrate by evaluating the lattice Dirac operator eigenvalue spectrum that the local four-Fermi interaction selectively gaps the edge fermions on the mirror wall while leaving the physical wall intact. We further identify a characteristic signature of SMG in the path-integral: the gap of the Dirac operator opens along the imaginary axis of the complex spectrum, in contrast to the standard mass shift in the real direction. The conventional hybrid Monte Carlo algorithm remains practical with reweighting the complex phase of the Pfaffian, which is found to be remarkably small throughout the simulation. These results provide a practical nonperturbative framework for interaction-induced mirror-fermion decoupling of lattice domain-wall fermions.