Chiral fermions on the lattice Original Research Article

The overlap approach to chiral gauge theories on arbitrary D-dimensional lattices is studied. The doubling problem and its relation to chiral anomalies for D = 2 and 4 is examined. In each case it is shown that the doublers can be eliminated and the well-known perturbative results for chiral anomalies can be recovered. We also consider the multi-flavour case and give the general criteria for the construction of anomaly free chiral gauge theories on arbitrary lattices. We calculate the second-order terms in a continuum approximation to the overlap formula in D dimensions and show that they coincide with the bilinear part of the effective action of D-dimensional Weyl fermions coupled to a background gauge field. Finally, using the same formalism we reproduce the correct Lorentz, diffeomorphism and gauge anomalies in the coupling of a Weyl fermion to 2-dimensional gravitational and Maxwell fields.