MASS GAP AND FINITE-SIZE EFFECTS IN FINITE TEMPERATURE SU(2) LATTICE GAUGE-THEORY

This letter is devoted to the investigation of the point-point Polyakov loop correlators in SU(2) lattice gauge theory on 4N(s)3 lattices with N(s)=8, 12, 18 and 26. We use an analytic expression for point-point correlators provided by the transfer matrix formalism to study the temperature dependence of the mass gap mu(m.g.) and the corresponding matrix element v near the critical point in a finite volume. The finite-size scaling analysis of the values mu(m.g.)(beta; N(s)) obtained gives the possibility to extract the critical value beta(c), the critical exponent upsilon and the surface tension alpha(s.t.).