Testing universality and the fractional power prescription for the staggered fermion determinant

In Ref. [D.H. Adams, Phys. Rev. Lett. 92:162002 (2004)] expressions for the continuous Euclidean time limits of various lattice fermion determinants were derived and compared in order to test universality expectations in Lattice QCD. Here we review that work with emphasis on its relevance for assessing the fractional power prescription for the determinant in dynamical staggered fermion simulations. Some new supplementary material is presented; in particular the status of the “universality anomaly” in the determinant relations is clarified: it is shown to be gauge field-independent and therefore physically inconsequential.