Statistical analysis and the equivalent of a Thouless energy in lattice QCD Dirac spectra

Random matrix theory (RMT) is a powerful statistical tool to model spectral fluctuations. This approach has also found fruitful application in quantum chromodynamics (QCD). Importantly, RMT provides very efficient means to separate different scales in the spectral fluctuations. We try to identify the equivalent of a Thouless energy in complete spectra of the QCD Dirac operator for staggered fermions from SU(2) lattice gauge theory for different lattice size and gauge couplings. We focus on the bulk of the spectrum. In disordered systems, the Thouless energy sets the universal scale for which RMT applies. This relates to recent theoretical studies which suggest a strong analogy between QCD and disordered systems. The wealth of data allows us to analyze several statistical measures in the bulk of the spectrum with high quality. We find deviations which allows us to give an estimate for this universal scale. Other deviations than these are seen whose possible origin is discussed. Moreover, we work out higher order correlators as well, in particular three-point correlation functions. [S0556-2821(99)01901-3].