We perform lattice calculations of the lightest J=0,2,4,6 glueball masses in the D=3+1 SU(3) gauge theory and extrapolate to the continuum limit. Assuming that these masses lie on linear Regge trajectories we find a leading glueball trajectory alpha(t)=0.93(24) + 0.28(2)alpha'_R t, where alpha'_R ~ 0.9 GeV^{-2} is the slope of the usual mesonic Regge trajectory. This glueball trajectory has an intercept and slope similar to that of the Pomeron trajectory. We contrast this with the situation in D=2+1 where the leading glueball Regge trajectory is found to have too small an intercept to be important for high-energy cross-sections. We interpret the observed states and trajectories in terms of open and closed string models of glueballs. We discuss the large-N limit and perform an SU(8) calculation that hints at new states based on closed strings in higher representations.

We compute the highly excited spectrum of glueballs and mesons in SU(infinity) gauge theory by transverse lattice Hamiltonian methods, and use the results to construct the partition function at finite temperature. We find an exponential growth of the density of states, implying a finite critical (Hagedorn) temperature. The critical temperature found for both mesons and glueballs is consistent with that of Euclidean lattice computations, and is smaller than that of the Nambu-Goto string model.

We study the properties of the 0++ glueball at finite temperature using SU(3) quenched lattice QCD. We find a significant thermal effects near T_c. We perform the \chi^2 fit analyses adopting two Ansaetze for the spectral function, i.e., the conventional narrow-peak Ansatz and an advanced Breit-Wigner Ansatz. The latter is an extension of the former, taking account of the appearance of the thermal width at T>0. We also perform the MEM analysis. These analyses indicate that the thermal effect on the glueball is a significant thermal-width broadening \Gamma(T_c) \sim 300 MeV together with a modest reduction in the peak center \Delta\omega_0(T_c) \sim 100 MeV.

The glueball-to-vacuum matrix elements of local gluonic operators in scalar, tensor, and pseudoscalar channels are investigated numerically on several anisotropic lattices with the spatial lattice spacing in the range 0.1fm -- 0.2fm. These matrix elements are needed to predict the glueball branching ratios in $J/\psi$ radiative decays which will help to identify the glueball states in experiments. Two types of improved local gluonic operators are constructed for a self-consistent check, and the finite volume effects are also studied. The lattice spacing dependence of our results is very small and the continuum limits are reliably extrapolated.

The excitations of gluonic flux tube in a periodic lattice are examined. Monte Carlo simulations from an anisotropic lattice are presented and the comparison with effective string models is discussed.

Techniques for efficient computation of the scalar glueball mass on the lattice are described. Directions and physics goals of proposed future calculations will be outlined.

We take a new look at plaquette-plaquette correlators in 4d compact U(1) lattice gauge theory which are separated in time, both in the confined and the deconfined phases. From the behaviour of these correlators we extract glueball masses in the scalar as well as the axial-vector channels. Also in the deconfined phase, the non-zero momentum axial-vector correlator gives us information about the photon which appears as a massless particle in the spectrum. Using the Luescher - Weisz multi-level algorithm, we are able to go to large time separations which were not possible previously.

We compute glueball masses for even spins ranging from 0 to 6, in the D=2+1 SU(2) lattice gauge theory. We do so over a wide range of lattice spacings, and this allows a well-controlled extrapolation to the continuum limit. When the resulting spectrum is presented in the form of a Chew-Frautschi plot we find that we can draw a straight Regge trajectory going through the lightest glueballs of spin 0, 2, 4 and 6. The slope of this trajectory is small and turns out to lie between the predictions of the adjoint-string and flux-tube glueball models. The intercept we find, \alpha_0 ~ -1, is much lower than is needed for this leading trajectory to play a `Pomeron-like' role of the kind it is often believed to play in D=3+1. We elaborate the Regge theory of high energy scattering in 2 space dimensions, and we conclude, from the observed low intercept, that high-energy glueball scattering is not dominated by the leading Regge pole exchange, but rather by a more complex singularity structure in the region 0 <= Re{\lambda} <= 1/2 of the complex angular momentum \lambda plane. We show that these conclusions do not change if we go to larger groups, SU(N>2), and indeed to SU(\infty), and we contrast all this with our very preliminary calculations in the D=3+1 SU(3) gauge theory.

The Numerical calculations for tadpole-improved U(1) lattice gauge theory in three-dimensions on anisotropic lattices have been performed using standard path integral Monte Carlo techniques. Using average plaquette tadpole renormalization scheme, simulations were done with temporal lattice spacings much smaller than the spatial ones and results were obtained for the string tension, the renormalized anisotropy and scalar glueball masses. We find, by comparing the `regular' and `sideways' potentials, that tadpole improvement results in very little renormalization of the bare anisotropy and reduces the discretization errors in the static quark potential and in the glueball masses.

We discuss the principles underlying higher spin glueball calculations on the lattice. For that purpose, we develop numerical techniques to rotate Wilson loops by arbitrary angles in lattice gauge theories close to the continuum. As a first application, we compute the glueball spectrum of the SU(2) gauge theory in 2+1 dimensions for both parities and for spins ranging from 0 up to 4 inclusive. We measure glueball angular wave functions directly, decomposing them in Fourier modes and extrapolating the Fourier coefficients to the continuum. This allows a reliable labelling of the continuum states and gives insight into the way rotation symmetry is recovered. As one of our results, we demonstrate that the D=2+1 SU(2) glueball conventionally labelled as J^P = 0^- is in fact 4^- and that the lightest ``J=1'' state has, in fact, spin 3.

We use SU(3) anisotropic lattice QCD at quenched level to study the 0++ glueball correlator at various temperature taking into account the possible existence of the thermal width in the ground-state peak. For this purpose, we adopt the Breit-Wigner ansatz for the appropriate fit-function for the lattice data obtained with 5,500-9,900 gauge configurations at each T. The results show the significant thermal width broadening as Gamma(T_c) \sim 300 MeV with a reduction in the peak center as Delta omega_0(T_c) \sim 100 MeV near the critical temperature T_c.

The thermal properties of the glueballs are studied using SU(3) anisotropic lattice QCD with beta=6.25, the renormalized anisotropy xi=a_s/a_t=4 over the lattice of the size 20^3\times N_t with N_t = 24, 26, 28, 30, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 40, 43, 45, 50, 72 at the quenched level. To construct a suitable operator on the lattice, we adopt the smearing method, and consider its physical meaning in terms of the operator size. First, we construct the temporal correlators G(t) for the 0^{++} and 2^{++} glueballs, using more than 5,000 gauge configurations at each temperature. We then measure the pole-mass of the thermal glueballs from G(t). For the lowest 0^{++} glueball, we observe a significant pole-mass reduction of about 300 MeV near T_c or m_G(T\simeq T_c) \simeq 0.8 m_G(T\sim 0), while its size remains almost unchanged as rho(T) \simeq 0.4fm. Finally, for completeness, as an attempt to take into account the effect of thermal width Gamma(T) at finite temperature, we perform a more general new analysis of G(t) based on its spectral representation. By adopting the Breit-Wigner form for the spectral function rho(omega), we perform the best-fit analysis as a straightforward extension to the standard pole-mass analysis. The result indicates a significant broadening of the peak as Gamma(T) \sim 300 MeV as well as rather modest reduction of the peak center of about 100 MeV near T_c for the lowest 0^{++} glueball. The temporal correlators of the color-singlet modes corresponding to these glueballs above $T_c$ are also investigated.

I show how one can use lattice methods to calculate various continuum properties of SU(N) gauge theories; in part to explore old ideas that N=3 might be close to N=infinity. I describe calculations of the low-lying `glueball' mass spectrum, of the string tensions of k-strings and of topological fluctuations for N=2,3,4,5. We find that mass ratios appear to show a rapid approach to the large-N limit, and, indeed, can be described all the way down to SU(2) using just a leading O(1/NxN) correction. We confirm that the smooth large-N limit we find is confining and is obtained by keeping a constant 't Hooft coupling. We find that the ratio of the k=2 string tension to the k=1 fundamental string tension is much less than the naive (unbound) value of 2 and is considerably greater than the naive bag model prediction; in fact we find that it is consistent, within quite small errors, with either the M(-theory)QCD-inspired conjecture or with `Casimir scaling'. Finally I describe calculations of the topological charge of the gauge fields. We observe that, as expected, the density of small-size instantons vanishes rapidly as N increases, while the topological susceptibility appears to have a non-zero N=infinity limit.

We present evidence for unquenching effects in N_f=2, 16^3 32 ensembles by comparing with `equivalent' quenched data at r_0~5.0. A (small) VEV for torelons signals (weak) string breaking. A 15-20 % reduction in the scalar glueball mass relative to quenched is argued to be (in part at least) a discretisation effect. We find a chiral suppression of the topological susceptibility consistent with expectations, and agreement between fermionic and gluonic methods for measuring the topological charge.

I review the present status of lattice calculations of properties of gluon-rich hadrons and comment on future prospects, in view of planned experiments.

We report the first study of the glueball properties at finite temperatures below T_c using SU(3) anisotropic lattice QCD with beta = 6.25, the renormalized anisotropy gamma = a_s/a_t = 4 and 20^3 \times N_t (N_t = 35, 36, 37, 38, 40, 43, 45, 50, 72) at the quenched level. From the temporal correlation analysis with the smearing method, about 20 % mass reduction is observed for the lowest scalar glueball as m_G(T) = 1.25 \pm 0.1 GeV for 0.8 T_c < T < T_c in comparison with m_G \simeq 1.5 \sim 1.7 GeV at T \sim 0.

We calculate the light `glueball' mass spectrum in N_f=2 lattice QCD using a fermion action that is non--perturbatively O(a) improved. We work at lattice spacings a~0.1 fm and with quark masses that range down to about half the strange quark mass. We find the statistical errors to be moderate and under control on relatively small ensembles. We compare our mass spectrum to that of quenched QCD at the same value of a. Whilst the tensor mass is the same (within errors), the scalar mass is significantly lighter in the dynamical lattice theory, by a factor of ~0.84 +/- 0.03. We discuss what the observed m_q dependence of this suppression tells us about the dynamics of glueballs in QCD. We also calculate the masses of flux tubes that wind around the spatial torus, and extract the string tension from these. As we decrease the quark mass we see a small but growing vacuum expectation value for the corresponding flux tube operators. This provides clear evidence for `string breaking' and for the (expected) breaking of the associated gauge centre symmetry by sea quarks.

We study the glueballs properties at finite temperature using SU(3) lattice QCD at the quenched level with the anisotropic lattice. We use the tree-level Symanzik O(a^2) improved action. We present our preliminary results which shows the slight reduction of the scalar glueball mass near T_c

Under the quenched approximation, we perform a lattice calculation for the mass of the ground $4^{++}$ glueball state in $E^{++}$ channel on a $D=3+1$ lattice. Our calculation shows that the mass of this state is $M_G(4^{++})=3.65(6)(18)GeV$, which rules out the $4^{++}$ or mainly $4^{++}$ glueball interpretation for $\xi(2230)$.

We develop a new approach to construct the operator on lattice for the calculation of glueball mass, which is based on the connection between the continuum limit of the chosen operator and the quantum number $J^{PC}$ of the state studied. The spin of this states is then unique in this approach. Under the quenched approximation, we present pre-calculation results for the masses of $0^{++}$ state and $2^{++}$ state, which are $1757(100)(86)MeV$ and $2417(84)(117)MeV$, respectively. This approach can be applied to calculate the mass of glueball with any spin $J$ including $J\geq 4$.

We present a new parametrization of a SU(3) fixed point (FP) gauge action using smeared ("fat") gauge links. We report on the scaling behaviour of the FP action on coarse lattices by means of the static quark-antiquark potential, the hadronic scale $r_0$, the string tension $\sigma$ and the critical temperature $T_c$ of the deconfining phase transition. In addition, we investigate the low lying glueball masses where we observe no scaling violations within the statistical errors.

We discuss in detail the extraction of hadronic mixing strengths from lattice studies. We apply this to the mixing of a scalar glueball and a scalar meson in the quenched approximation. We also measure correlations appropriate for flavour-singlet scalar mesons using dynamical quark configurations from UKQCD. This enables us to compare the results from the quenched study of the mixing with the direct determination of the mixed spectrum. Improved methods of evaluating the disconnected quark diagrams are also presented.

Scalar and tensor glueball spectrum is studied using an improved gluonic action on asymmetric lattices in the pure SU(3) gauge theory. The smallest spatial lattice spacing is about 0.08fm which makes the extrapolation to the continuum limit more reliable. In particular, attention is paid to the scalar glueball mass which is known to have problems in the extrapolation. Converting our lattice results to physical units using the scale set by the static quark potential, we obtain the following results for the glueball masses: $M_G(0^{++})=1730(90)MeV$ for the scalar glueball mass and $M_G(2^{++})=2400(95)MeV$ for the tensor glueball.

The SU(2) gluonic correlation functions, glueball effective masses in the $J^{P}=0^{+}$, $2^{+}$ and $0^{-}$ channels were calculated from the lattice classical gauge configurations which were obtained by smoothing the thermal gauge configurations through the improved cooling method. The instanton-induced attractive force in the $0^{+}$ channel and the repulsive force in the $0^-$ channel are confirmed in the Monte Carlo simulation. There is evidence that the instanton vacuum contribution to the $0^+$ glueball mass is significant.

A new parametrization is introduced for the fixed point (FP) action in SU(3) gauge theory using fat links. We investigate its scaling properties by means of the static quark-antiquark potential and the dimensionless quantities $r_0 T_c, T_c/\sqrt{\sigma}$ and $r_0 \sqrt{\sigma}$, where $T_c$ is the critical temperature of the deconfining phase transition, $r_0$ is the hadronic scale and $\sigma$ is the effective string tension. These quantities scale even on lattices as coarse as $a \approx 0.3$ fm. We also measure the glueball spectrum and obtain $m_{0^{++}}=1627(83)$ MeV and $m_{2^{++}}=2354(95)$ MeV for the masses of the scalar and tensor glueballs, respectively.

Glueball spectrum is studied using an improved gluonic action on asymmetric lattices in the pure SU(3) gauge theory. The smallest spatial lattice spacing is about $0.08fm$ which makes the extrapolation to the continuum limit more reliable. In particular, attention is paid to the scalar glueball mass which is known to have problems in the extrapolation. Converting our lattice results to physical units using the scale set by the static quark potential, we obtain the following results for the glueball masses: $M_G(0^{++})=1730(90)MeV$ for the scalar glueball mass and $M_G(2^{++})=2400(95)MeV$ for the tensor glueball.

We calculate glueball and torelon masses as well as the lowest lying hybrid potential in addition to the static ground state potential in lattice simulations of QCD with two flavours of dynamical Wilson fermions. The results are obtained on lattices with $16^3\times 32$ and $24^3\times 40$ sites at $\beta=5.6$, corresponding to a lattice spacing, $a^{-1}=2.65^{+5}_{-8}$ GeV, as determined from the Sommer force radius, at physical sea quark mass. The range spanned in the present study of five different quark masses is reflected in the ratios, $0.83\geq m_{\pi}/m_{\rho}\geq 0.57$.

This is the write-up of a set of lectures on the comparison between Lattice Gauge Theories and AdS/CFT results for the non-perturbative behaviour of non-supersymmetric Yang Mills theories. These notes are intended for students which are assumed not to be experts in L.G.T. For this reason the first part is devoted to a pedagogical introduction to the Lattice regularization of QCD. In the second part we discuss some basic features of the AdS/CFT correspondence and compare the results obtained in the non-supersymmetric limit with those obtained on the Lattice. We discuss in particular the behaviour of the string tension and of the glueball spectrum. Lectures delivered at the School of Theoretical Physics (S.N.F.T.), Parma, September 1999.

Accurate non-perturbative calculations of glueballs are performed using light-front quantised SU(N) gauge theory, to leading order of the 1/N expansion. Based on early work of Bardeen and Pearson, disordered gauge-covariant link variables M on a coarse transverse lattice are used to approximate the physical gauge degrees of freedom. Simple energetics imply that, at lattice spacings of order the inverse QCD scale, the effective light-front Hamiltonian can be expanded in gauge-invariant powers of M: a colour-dielectric expansion. This leads to a self-consistent constituent structure of boundstates. We fix the couplings of this expansion by optimising Lorentz covariance of low-energy eigenfunctions. To lowest non-trivial order of the expansion, we have found a one-parameter trajectory of couplings that enhances Lorentz covariance. On this trajectory the masses of nearly-covariant glueball states exhibit approximate scaling, having values consistent with large-N extrapolations of continuum results from other methods. There is very little variation with N in pure Yang-Mills theory: the lightest glueball mass changes by only a few percent between SU(3) and SU(infinity). The corresponding light-front wavefunctions show an unconventional structure. We also examine restoration of rotational invariance in the heavy-source potential.

Results for the inter-quark potential and low-lying SU(3) glueball spectrum from simulations using a new improved action are presented. The action, suitable for highly anisotropic lattices, contains a two-plaquette term coupling with a negative coefficient as well as incorporating Symanzik improvement.

We evaluate the infinite volume, continuum limit of glueball masses in the valence (quenched) approximation to lattice QCD. For the lightest scalar and tensor states we obtain masses of $1648 \pm 58$ MeV and $2267 \pm 104$ MeV, respectively.

We study the perfect monopole action as an infrared effective theory of SU(2) QCD. It is transformed exactly into a lattice string model. Since the monopole interactions are weak in the infrared SU(2) QCD, the string interactions become strong. The strong coupling expansion of string model shows the quantum fluctuation is small. The classical string tension is estimated analytically, and we see it is very close to the quantum one in the SU(2) QCD. We also discuss how to calculate the glueball mass in our model.

After a brief introduction to hybrid and glueball source operators, summarize recent lattice results for these particles.

The spectrum of glueballs below 4 GeV in the SU(3) pure-gauge theory is investigated using Monte Carlo simulations of gluons on several anisotropic lattices with spatial grid separations ranging from 0.1 to 0.4 fm. Systematic errors from discretization and finite volume are studied, and the continuum spin quantum numbers are identified. Care is taken to distinguish single glueball states from two-glueball and torelon-pair states. Our determination of the spectrum significantly improves upon previous Wilson action calculations.

We evaluate the continuum limit of the valence approximation to the mass of scalar quarkonium and to the scalar quarkonium-glueball mixing energy for a range of different quark masses. Our results answer several questions raised by the proposed identification of $f_0(1710)$ as composed primarily of the lightest scalar glueball.

We evaluate the continuum limit of the valence (quenched) approximation to the mass of the lightest scalar quarkonium state, for a range of different quark masses, and to the mixing energy between these states and the lightest scalar glueball. Our results support the interpretation of $f_0(1710)$ as composed mainly of the lightest scalar glueball.

We evaluate the valence approximation to the mass of scalar quarkonium and to the mixing energy between scalar quarkonium and the lightest scalar glueball for a range of different lattice sizes and quark masses. Our results support the identification of $f_0(1710)$ as the lightest scalar glueball.

We describe a nonperturbative method for calculating the QCD vacuum and glueball wave functions, based on an eigenvalue equation approach to Hamiltonian lattice gauge theory. Therefore, one can obtain more physical information than the conventional simulation methods. For simplicity, we take the 2+1 dimensional U(1) model as an example. The generalization of this method to 3+1 dimensional QCD is straightforward.

We describe a lattice calculation of the matrix elements relevant for glueball production in $J / \psi$ radiative decays. The techniques for such a calculation on anisotropic lattices with an improved action are outlined. We present preliminary results showing the efficacy of the computational method.

Monte Carlo results for the low-lying glueball spectrum using an improved, anisotropic action are presented. Ten simulations at lattice spacings ranging from 0.2 to 0.4 fm and two different anisotropies have been performed in order demonstrate the advantages of using coarse, anisotropic lattices to calculate glueball masses. Our determinations of the tensor (2++) and pseudovector (1+-) glueball masses are more accurate than previous Wilson action calculations.

We present first results on masses of the scalar and tensor glueballs as well as of the torelon from simulations of QCD with two light flavours of Wilson fermions. The gauge configurations of extent 16^3*32 at beta = 5.6 and kappa = 0.156, 0.157 and 0.1575 have been generated as part of the SESAM collaboration programme. The present lattice resolutions correspond to 1/a = 2.0-2.3 GeV and ratios m(pi)/m(rho) = 0.83, 0.76 and 0.71, respectively. Studies on larger lattice volumes and closer to the chiral limit are in progress.

We obtain accurate result for the lightest glueball mass of QCD in 3 dimensions from lattice Hamiltonian field theory. Using the dimensional reduction argument, a good approximation for confining theories, we suggest that the $0^{++}$ glueball mass in 3+1 dimensional QCD be about $1.71$ GeV.

We evaluate the coupling constant for the lightest scalar glueball to decay to pseudoscalar meson pairs. The calculation is done in the valence approximation on a $16^3 \times 24$ lattice at $\beta = 5.70$ for two different values of pseudoscalar meson mass.

Valence approximation glueball mass and decay calculations support the identification of $f_J(1710)$ as the lightest scalar glueball. An alternate glueball candidate is $f_0(1500)$. I present evidence for the identification of $f_0(1500)$ as $s\overline{s}$ quarkonium.

We compute from lattice QCD in the valence (quenched) approximation the partial decay widths of the lightest scalar glueball to pairs of pseudoscalar quark-antiquark states. These predictions and values obtained earlier for the scalar glueball's mass are in good agreement with the observed properties of $f_J(1710)$ and inconsistent with all other observed meson resonances.

We evaluate the partial decay widths of the lightest scalar glueball to pairs of pseudoscalar quark-antiquark states. The calculation is done in the valence (quenched) approximation on a $16^3 \time 24$ lattice at $\beta = 5.7$. These predictions and values obtained earlier for the infinite volume continuum limit of the scalar glueball's mass are in good agreement with the observed properties of $f_J(1710)$ and inconsistent with all other observed meson resonances.

The scalar glueball mass and the string tension are computed in lattice SU(3) gauge theory with the aim of establishing the effectiveness of the improved action approach in removing finite-spacing artifacts.

For SU(2) gauge theory on the three-sphere we implement the influence of the boundary of the fundamental domain, and in particular the $\theta$-dependence, on a subspace of low-energy modes of the gauge field. We construct a basis of functions that respect these boundary conditions and use these in a variational approximation of the spectrum of the lowest order effective hamiltonian.

We use the results of recent lattice calculations to obtain (part of) the mass spectrum of continuum SU(2) gauge theory in both 2+1 and 3+1 dimensions. We compare these spectra to the predictions of the Isgur-Paton flux tube model for glueballs. We use this comparison to test the reliability of different aspects of the model and also to learn which aspects of the lattice calculations it is important to improve upon.

We evaluate the infinite volume, continuum limit of glueball masses in the valence (quenched) approximation to lattice QCD. For the lightest states with $J^{PC}$ of $0^{++}$ and $2^{++}$, we obtain $m_0 = 1340 \pm 160$ MeV and $m_2 = 1900 \pm 320$ MeV.

We investigate the finite-temperature excitation spectrum in the gluon sector of $SU(3)$ pure gauge theory through measurements of screening masses in correlations of loop operators. We develop the classification of such operators under the symmetry group of the `$z$-slice'. In the confined phase of the theory, we find that the spectrum dynamically realises the zero temperature symmetries. We observe a large thermal shift of the $0^{++}$ glueball mass. In the deconfined phase, the spectrum distinguishes between operators coupling to electrically and magnetically polarised gluon fields. The former yields a screening mass equal to the Wilson-line screening mass; the latter, a method for the measurement of the magnetic mass in the high-temperature limit.

Matrix elements of the form $ <0| Tr \; g^{2}GG |G> $ are calculated using the lattice QCD Monte Carlo method. Here, $|G>$ is a glueball state with quantum numbers $ 0^{++}$, $ 2^{++}$, $ 0^{-+}$ and $G$ is the gluon field strength operator. The matrix elements are obtained from the hybrid correlation functions of the fuzzy and plaquette operators performed on the $12^{4}$ and $14^{4}$ lattices at $\beta = 5.9 $ and $5.96$ respectively. These matrix elements are compared with those from the QCD sum rules and the tensor meson dominance model. They are the non-perturbative matrix elements needed in the calculation of the partial widths of $J/\Psi$ radiative decays into glueballs.

We measure Coulomb-gauge wavefunctions of the scalar and tensor glueballs in SU(2) Yang-Mills. The problem of contamination by flux states is discussed, and a new analysis method described. The large size of the tensor glueball is confirmed. Preliminary results in the deconfined phase show no significant changesWe discuss the influence of glueball coupling to nucleons on the weak axial-vector coupling constants including singlet channel. We consider a possibility of introduction of constituent gluon contribution to the proton spin. The estimated value for this quantity seems to be rather small.