Exploring lattice quantum chromodynamics by cooling

The effect of cooling on a number of observables is calculated in SU(2) lattice gauge theory. The static quark-antiquark potential and spin-dependent interactions are studied, and the topological charge is monitored. The chiral symmetry-breaking order parameter [l angle][bar [chi]][chi][r angle] and meson correlators are calculated using staggered fermions. Interactions on the distance scale of a few lattice spacings are found to be essentially eliminated by cooling, including the spin-dependent potentials. [l angle][bar [chi]][chi][r angle] and meson correlators up to time separations of several lattice spacings relax very quickly to their free-field values. At larger times, there is evidence of a difference between the pseudoscalar and vector channels. A fit to the pseudoscalar correlation function yields mass'' values about 2/3 (in lattice units) of the uncooled masses. These results raise the question of how to reconcile the large-time behavior of the hadron correlators with the fact that the spin-dependent potentials and [l angle][bar [chi]][chi][r angle] essentially disappear (in lattice units) after only a small amount of cooling.