Simulations of $ SU(2) $ lattice gauge theory with dynamical reduced staggered fermions

Abstract: We simulate $ SU(2) $ lattice gauge theory using dynamical reduced staggered fermions. The latter lead to two rather than four Dirac fermions in the continuum limit. We review the derivation and properties of reduced staggered fermions and show that in the case of fields in the fundamental representation of $SU(2)$ the theory does not exhibit a sign problem and can be simulated using the RHMC algorithm. We present results on lattices up to $16^4$ for a wide range of bare fermion masses. We find a single site condensate appears at strong coupling that spontaneously breaks the one global $U(1)$ symmetry remaining in the reduced fermion action.