# References

One of the recent developments in the treatment of the chiral symmetry on a lattice based on the Ginsparg-Wilson relation 

$`D^{lat}\gamma _5+\gamma _5D^{lat}=aD^{lat}\gamma _5D^{lat}`$ (1)   
is the interesting index relation 

$`tr^{lat}\gamma _5(1{\displaystyle \frac{a}{2}}D^{lat})=n_+^{lat}n_{}^{lat}`$ (2)   
on a lattice and its implications for the understanding of the anomaly -. In these equations, $`D^{lat}`$ is a Dirac operator describing a fermion on a lattice, $`n_\pm ^{lat}`$ are the numbers of the right-handed and left-handed zero modes of $`D^{lat}`$, $`a`$ is the lattice spacing and $`tr^{lat}`$ is the trace in the lattice theory. The role of the factor $`(1\frac{a}{2}D^{lat})`$ in Eq. (2), which is absent in the continuum index relation 

$`tr^c\gamma _5=n_+^cn_{}^c,`$ (3)   
is further studied in Refs.  based on the representation of the algebra (1), leading to the observation that the mismatch of the chiralities between the zero modes of $`D^{lat}`$ should be compensated by the mismatch of the chiralities of its eigenmodes with the eigenvalue $`\frac{2}{a}`$ to ensure the relation $`tr^{lat}\gamma _5=0`$ in the lattice theory.

In this short note, we pursue Ginsparg and Wilsons’ block spin approach in the derivation of the Ginsparg-Wilson relation  and study the correspondence between the eigenmodes of a continuum Dirac operator $`D^c`$ and those of the lattice Dirac operator $`D^{lat}`$ constructed from $`D^c`$ following the block spin transformation, in the hope that such analyses will clarify understandings of the eigenmodes of $`D^{lat}`$ from a physical point of view. The eigenmodes of $`D^{lat}`$ with the eigenvalue $`\frac{2}{a}`$ and the zero modes of $`D^c`$ and $`D^{lat}`$ are investigated after introducing a suitable cut-off in $`D^c`$ to make our analysis free from divergences. This cut-off procedure, which was not considered in Ref. , is an important step to derive a clear correspondence of the eigenmodes in our study. We will see that the eigenmodes of $`D^{lat}`$ with the eigenvalue $`\frac{2}{a}`$ do not correspond to any physical modes of $`D^c`$, thus they are considered to be unphysical . Based on this criterion of the unphysical modes, we interpret that the role of the factor $`(1\frac{a}{2}D^{lat})`$ in the $`tr^{lat}\gamma _5(1\frac{a}{2}D^{lat})`$ is to ensure that the unphysical modes $`\lambda _n`$ satisfying $`D^{lat}\lambda =\frac{2}{a}\lambda `$ are omitted in the evaluation of the trace. Also we will show that the zero modes of $`D^c`$ are transformed to the zero modes of $`D^{lat}`$ preserving the chirality so that $`n_\pm ^c=n_\pm ^{lat}`$. These two observations provide us a physical interpretation of the index expression (2) and the identity

$`tr^c\gamma _5=tr^{lat}\gamma _5(1{\displaystyle \frac{a}{2}}D^{lat})`$ (4)   
at a formal level.

We begin with an action $`S^c(\overline{\varphi }_x,\varphi _x)`$ of the fermionic fields $`\varphi _x`$ and $`\overline{\varphi }_x`$ defined in the continuum Euclidean space-time. From this action Ginsparg and Wilson constructed a new action $`S^{lat}(\overline{\psi }_n,\psi _n)`$ on a lattice by block spin transformation. First we define the block variables $`\rho _n`$ and $`\overline{\rho }_n`$ corresponding to the continuum fields $`\varphi _x`$ and $`\overline{\varphi }_x`$ as

$`\rho _n={\displaystyle \underset{x}{}}f_{nx}\varphi _x,\overline{\rho }_n={\displaystyle \underset{x}{}}\overline{\varphi }_xf_{xn}^{},`$ (5)   
where the functions $`f_{nx}`$ and $`f_{xn}^{}`$ have a sharp peak at $`x=n`$ and are proportional to the unit matrix in Dirac space. Using these variables, the new action $`S^{lat}(\overline{\psi }_n,\psi _n)`$ is defined by means of the block spin transformation  as

$`Ce^{S^{lat}(\overline{\psi },\psi )}={\displaystyle \underset{x}{}d\overline{\varphi }_xd\varphi _xe^{S^c(\overline{\varphi },\varphi )\alpha _n(\overline{\psi }_n\overline{\rho }_n)(\psi _n\rho _n)}},`$ (6)   
where $`\alpha `$ is a constant and will be equated to $`2/a`$ later. Assuming that $`S^c(\overline{\varphi },\varphi )`$ is quadratic in the fermion fields then so is $`S^{lat}(\overline{\psi },\psi )`$, and we may write

$`S^c(\overline{\varphi },\varphi )={\displaystyle \underset{xy}{}}\overline{\varphi }_xD_{xy}^c\varphi _y,S^{lat}(\overline{\psi },\psi )={\displaystyle \underset{mn}{}}\overline{\psi }_mD_{mn}^{lat}\psi _n.`$ (7)   
The Ginsparg-Wilson relation is a relation satisfied by $`D_{mn}^{lat}`$ by virtue of its having been constructed from an initially chirally invariant action $`S^c(\overline{\varphi },\varphi )`$. The exponent of the right-hand side of Eq. (6) is

$`{\displaystyle \underset{xy}{}}\overline{\varphi }_xD_{xy}^c\varphi _y\alpha {\displaystyle \underset{n}{}}(\overline{\psi }_n\overline{\rho }_n)(\psi _n\rho _n)`$   
$`={\displaystyle \underset{xy}{}}\overline{\varphi }_x\{D_{xy}^c+\alpha {\displaystyle \underset{n}{}}f_{xn}^{}f_{ny}\}\varphi _y+{\displaystyle \underset{x}{}}\overline{\varphi }_x\xi _x+{\displaystyle \underset{y}{}}\overline{\xi }_y\varphi _y\alpha {\displaystyle \underset{n}{}}\overline{\psi }_n\psi _n,`$ (8)   
$`\xi _x=\alpha {\displaystyle \underset{n}{}}f_{xn}^{}\psi _n,\overline{\xi }_y=\alpha {\displaystyle \underset{n}{}}\overline{\psi }_nf_{ny}.`$   
Here we assume that our continuum theory is made well-defined by a certain regularization procedure and the spectrum of the Dirac operator $`D_{xy}^c`$ (namely the absolute value of its eigenvalues) is bounded from above. Therefore all the eigenmodes $`\lambda _x^{phys}`$ of the Dirac operator $`D_{xy}^c`$, which we want to simulate on a lattice, satisfy

$`{\displaystyle \underset{y}{}}D_{xy}^c\lambda _y^{i,phys}=\epsilon _i\lambda _x^{i,phys},|\epsilon _i|\mathrm{\Lambda },`$ (9)   
for some cut-off $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$. Then for sufficiently large $`\alpha `$ (as will be seen later, $`\alpha `$ plays the role of the cut-off in the lattice theory), the operator $`M_{xy}=D_{xy}^c+\alpha _nf_{xn}^{}f_{ny}`$ has no zero mode so that its inverse $`M_{xy}^1`$ exists. For this choice of $`\alpha `$, the result of the path integral in Eq. (6) is given by

$`Ce^{S^{lat}(\overline{\psi },\psi )}`$ $`=`$ $`detMe^{_{xy}\overline{\xi }_xM_{xy}^1\xi _y\alpha _n\overline{\psi }_n\psi _n}`$ (10)   
$`=`$ $`detMe^{_{mn}\overline{\psi }_m\{\alpha ^2_{xy}f_{mx}M_{xy}^1f_{yn}^{}+\alpha \delta _{mn}\}\psi _n}`$   
so we see 

$`D_{mn}^{lat}`$ $`=`$ $`\{\alpha ^2{\displaystyle \underset{xy}{}}f_{mx}M_{xy}^1f_{yn}^{}+\alpha \delta _{mn}\},`$ (12)   
$`M_{xy}=D_{xy}^c+\alpha {\displaystyle \underset{n}{}}f_{xn}^{}f_{ny}.`$   
Now we consider the eigenmodes of $`D_{mn}^{lat}`$ and identify unphysical modes. Since the eigenvalues of $`M_{xy}`$ defined in Eq. (12) for the eigenmodes $`\lambda _x^{phys}`$ are non-zero and finite, neither $`_yM_{xy}\lambda _y^{phys}`$ nor $`_yM_{xy}^1\lambda _y^{phys}`$ is equal to zero;

$`{\displaystyle \underset{y}{}}M_{xy}\lambda _y^{phys}0,{\displaystyle \underset{y}{}}M_{xy}^1\lambda _y^{phys}0.`$ (13)   
Therefore, a mode $`\lambda _n`$ of $`D_{mn}^{lat}`$ which satisfies

$`{\displaystyle \underset{n}{}}M_{xy}^1f_{yn}^{}\lambda _n=0`$ (14)   
is considered to be unphysical, because the eigenmode $`\lambda _n`$ on a lattice does not simulate a mode similar to any physical mode $`\{\lambda _x^{phys}\}`$. For $`\lambda _n`$ satisfying $`_nM_{xy}^1f_{yn}^{}\lambda _n=0`$, we have

$`{\displaystyle \underset{n}{}}D_{mn}^{lat}\lambda _n=\alpha \lambda _n`$ (15)   
so the eigenmodes of $`D_{mn}^{lat}`$ with the eigenvalue $`\alpha `$ are considered to be unphysical on a lattice, because they have no counterparts among the physical spectrum $`\{\lambda _y^{phys}\}`$ of $`D_{xy}^c`$.

Next we consider a zero mode $`\lambda _x^{0,phys}`$ of $`D_{xy}^c`$. The eigenvalue equation $`_yD_{xy}^c\lambda _y^{0,phys}=0`$ and Eq. (12) yield

$`{\displaystyle \underset{y}{}}M_{xy}\lambda _y^{0,phys}={\displaystyle \underset{y}{}}\alpha {\displaystyle \underset{n}{}}f_{xn}^{}f_{ny}\lambda _y^{0,phys}.`$ (16)   
Since $`M_{xy}^1`$ exists, multiplying $`_zf_{mz}M_{zx}^1`$ for both sides of the above equation, we obtain

$`\lambda _m^{0,phys}=\alpha {\displaystyle \underset{z,x,n}{}}f_{mz}M_{zx}^1f_{xn}^{}\lambda _n^{0,phys},`$ (17)   
$`\lambda _m^{0,phys}={\displaystyle \underset{x}{}}f_{mx}\lambda _x^{0,phys}.`$ (18)   
Because of the identity (17), we have

$`{\displaystyle \underset{n}{}}D_{mn}^{lat}\lambda _n^{0,phys}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{n}{}}\{\alpha ^2{\displaystyle \underset{xy}{}}f_{mx}M_{xy}^1f_{yn}^{}+\alpha \delta _{mn}\}\lambda _n^{0,phys}`$ (19)   
$`=`$ $`\alpha \lambda _m^{0,phys}+\alpha \lambda _m^{0,phys}=0,`$   
therefore $`\lambda _n^{0,phys}`$ is a zero mode of $`D_{mn}^{lat}`$. The functions $`\{f_{nx}\}`$ are proportional to the unit matrix in Dirac space so that the chirality of $`\lambda _m^{0,phys}`$ is same as that of $`\lambda _x^{0,phys}`$. So all the zero modes of $`D_{xy}^c`$ have the corresponding zero modes of $`D_{mn}^{lat}`$ preserving their chiralities. This is in some sense desirable and naively expected result, and we have seen that it is in fact shown regardless of the details of the block spin transformation, e.g., the choice of the functions $`f`$ and $`f^{}`$. Here we assume that our lattice is fine enough so that the shape of the zero modes $`\lambda _x^{0,phys}`$ is well preserved on a lattice when transformed to the zero modes $`\lambda _n^{0,phys}`$ of $`D_{mn}^{lat}`$ and they are distinguishable with each other on a lattice.

Our criterion of the unphysical modes on a lattice leads us to define the index on a lattice among the physical modes to be

$`tr^{lat}\gamma _5(1{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\alpha }}D^{lat}).`$ (20)   
After eliminating the contribution of the unphysical modes by the factor $`(1\frac{1}{\alpha }D^{lat})`$, the index (20) is equal to $`n_+^{lat}n_{}^{lat}`$ where $`n_+^{lat}`$ and $`n_{}^{lat}`$ are the number of the right-handed and left-handed zero modes of $`D^{lat}`$ . Our analysis on the zero modes in the continuum and lattice theories naively yields $`n_\pm ^c=n_\pm ^{lat}`$, where $`n_+^c`$ and $`n_{}^c`$ are the number of the right-handed and left-handed zero modes of $`D^c`$. These two observations give rise to the index relation among the physical modes as

$`tr^c\gamma _5=tr^{lat}\gamma _5(1{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\alpha }}D^{lat}).`$ (21)   
Here we derive the Ginsparg-Wilson relation starting from Eq. (6) to see that $`\alpha =2/a`$ and the index relation (21), which was obtained by studying the correspondence of the eigenmodes, is also obtained as a by-product in the derivation. Under a global chiral transformation $`\psi e^{iϵ\gamma _5}\psi `$ and $`\overline{\psi }\overline{\psi }e^{iϵ\gamma _5}`$, we have

$`Ce^{S^{lat}(\overline{\psi }e^{iϵ\gamma _5},e^{iϵ\gamma _5}\psi )}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{x}{}d\overline{\varphi }_xd\varphi _xe^{S^c(\overline{\varphi },\varphi )\alpha _n(\overline{\psi }_ne^{iϵ\gamma _5}\overline{\rho }_n)(e^{iϵ\gamma _5}\psi _n\rho _n)}}`$ (22)   
$`=`$ $`e^{2iϵtr^c\gamma _5}{\displaystyle \underset{x}{}d\overline{\varphi }_x^{}d\varphi _x^{}e^{S^c(\overline{\varphi }^{},\varphi ^{})\alpha _n(\overline{\psi }_n\overline{\rho }_n^{})e^{2iϵ\gamma _5}(\psi _n\rho _n^{})}}`$   
where the second line follows from a change of variables $`\varphi \varphi ^{}=e^{iϵ\gamma _5}\varphi `$ and $`\overline{\varphi }\overline{\varphi }^{}=\overline{\varphi }e^{iϵ\gamma _5}`$, and $`\rho _n^{}`$ and $`\overline{\rho }_n^{}`$ are the block variables constructed from $`\varphi ^{}`$ and $`\overline{\varphi }^{}`$. We have also kept the Jacobian factor $`2iϵtr^c\gamma _5`$ of this change of variables, which exhibits some subtleties for the physical modes $`\{\lambda _x^{phys}\}`$ of the Dirac operator $`D_{xy}^c`$ with gauge fields of topologically nontrivial nature . The right-hand side of Eq. (22) is expanded to first order in $`ϵ`$ as

$`(1+2iϵtr^c\gamma _5){\displaystyle \underset{x}{}d\overline{\varphi }_x^{}d\varphi _x^{}e^{S^c(\overline{\varphi }^{},\varphi ^{})\alpha _n(\overline{\psi }_n\overline{\rho }_n^{})(\psi _n\rho _n^{})}\{1+2iϵ\alpha \underset{n}{}(\overline{\psi }_n\overline{\rho }_n^{})\gamma _5(\psi _n\rho _n^{})\}}`$   
$`=(1+2iϵtr^c\gamma _5){\displaystyle \underset{x}{}d\overline{\varphi }_x^{}d\varphi _x^{}\{1+2iϵ\alpha \underset{n}{}(\overline{\psi }_n\overline{\rho }_n^{})\gamma _5(\frac{1}{\alpha })\frac{}{\overline{\psi }_n}\}e^{S^c(\overline{\varphi }^{},\varphi ^{})\alpha _n(\overline{\psi }_n\overline{\rho }_n^{})(\psi _n\rho _n^{})}}`$   
$`=(1+2iϵtr^c\gamma _5)[12iϵ\{tr^{lat}\gamma _5+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\alpha }}{\displaystyle \frac{}{\psi _n}}\gamma _5{\displaystyle \frac{}{\overline{\psi }_n}}\}]Ce^{S^{lat}(\overline{\psi },\psi )}`$   
$`=[1+2iϵ\{tr^c\gamma _5tr^{lat}\gamma _5(1{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\alpha }}D^{lat})\}+2iϵ{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\alpha }}\overline{\psi }D^{lat}\gamma _5D^{lat}\psi ]Ce^{S^{lat}(\overline{\psi },\psi )}`$ (23)   
while the left-hand side is expanded as

$`Ce^{S^{lat}(\overline{\psi }e^{iϵ\gamma _5},e^{iϵ\gamma _5}\psi )}\{1+iϵ\overline{\psi }(D^{lat}\gamma _5+\gamma _5D^{lat})\psi \}.`$ (24)   
Comparing these two expressions, we obtain the Ginsparg-Wilson relation

$`D^{lat}\gamma _5+\gamma _5D^{lat}={\displaystyle \frac{2}{\alpha }}D^{lat}\gamma _5D^{lat}`$ (25)   
with $`\alpha =2/a`$ and the index relation

$`2tr^c\gamma _5=2tr^{lat}\gamma _5(1{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\alpha }}D^{lat}).`$ (26)   
Finally a few comments are in order. Our criterion of the unphysical modes of $`D^{lat}`$ is consistent with the definitions of the scalar and pseudo-scalar densities $`S_m`$ and $`P_m`$ proposed in Refs. 

$`S_m={\displaystyle \underset{n}{}}\overline{\psi }_m(1{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\alpha }}D^{lat})_{mn}\psi _n,P_m={\displaystyle \underset{n}{}}\overline{\psi }_m\gamma _5(1{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\alpha }}D^{lat})_{mn}\psi _n,`$ (27)   
where we interpret that the role of $`(1\frac{1}{\alpha }D^{lat})`$ is to eliminate the contributions of the unphysical modes.

The precise relation between the high energy modes of $`D^c`$ and the high energy modes of $`D^{lat}`$ with the eigenvalue not equal to $`\alpha `$ depends on the choice of the cut-off scales $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ in Eq. (9) and $`\alpha `$. However these high energy modes are always vector-like both in the continuum and lattice theories  and will decouple from the low energy physics. Thus detailed prescriptions of the ultraviolet cut-off do not change our observations.

I would like to thank K. Fujikawa for encouraging me to write this short note. I am also grateful to M. Ishibashi for careful reading of the manuscript and useful comments, and to K. Nagai for useful comments.