Thouless Energy and Correlations of QCD Dirac Eigenvalues

Abstract

Eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of the QCD Dirac operator are studied for gauge field configurations given by a liquid of instantons. We find that for energy differences $\delta E$ below an energy scale $E_c$ the eigenvalue correlations are given by Random Matrix Theories with the chiral symmetries of the QCD partition function. For eigenvalues near zero this energy scale shows a weak volume dependence that is not consistent with $E_c \sim 1/L^2$ which might be expected from the pion Compton wavelength and from the behavior of the Thouless energy in mesoscopic systems. However, the numerical value of $E_c$ for our largest volumes is in rough agreement with estimates from the pion Compton wavelength. A scaling behaviour consistent with $E_c\sim 1/L^2$ is found in the bulk of the spectrum. For $\delta E> E_c$ the number variance shows a linear dependence with a slope which is larger than the nonzero multifractality index of the wave functions. Finally, the average spectral density and the scalar susceptibilities are discussed in the context of quenched chiral perturbation theory. We argue that a nonzero value of the disconnected scalar susceptibility requires a linear dependence of the number variance on $\delta E$.