Critical behaviors of lattice U(1) gauge models and three-dimensional Abelian-Higgs gauge field theory

We investigate under which conditions the three-dimensional (3D) multicomponent Abelian-Higgs (AH) field theory (scalar electrodynamics) is the continuum limit of statistical lattice gauge models, i.e., when it characterizes the universal behavior at critical transitions occurring in these models. We perform Monte Carlo simulations of the lattice AH model with compact gauge fields and N-component scalar fields with charge q 2 for N = 15 and 25. Finite-size scaling analyses of the Monte Carlo data show that the transitions along the line separating the confined and deconfined phases are continuous and that they belong to the same universality class for any q 2. Moreover, they are in the same universality class as the transitions in the lattice AH model with noncompact gauge fields along the Coulomb-to-Higgs transition line. We finally argue that these critical behaviors are described by the stable charged fixed point of the renormalization-group flow of the 3D AH field theory.