Study of the asymptotic freedom of 2d Yukawa models on the lattice

Abstract We investigate on the lattice the Yukawa models in 2 dimensions with Z(2) and U(1) symmetries. These models reduce to the usual and chiral Gross-Neveu models, respectively, when the kinetic and the self-coupling terms of the scalar field are turned off. The numerical data and mean field arguments suggest that, at least for some range of the scalar field hopping parameter, fermion mass is dynamically generated for arbitrarily weak Yukawa coupling. The models are asymptotically free in this coupling, like the Gross-Neveu models, even when the scalar quartic self-coupling is strong.