Fixed point gauge actions with fat links: scaling and glueballs

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 me ans of the static quark-antiquark potential and the dimensionless quantitie s r(0)T(c), Tc/root sigma and r(0)root sigma, where T-c is the critical tem perature of the deconfining phase transition, r(0) is the hadronic scale an d sigma is the effective string tension. These quantities scale even on lat tices as coarse as a approximate to 0.3 fm. We also measure the glueball sp ectrum and obtain m(0)++ = 1627(83) MeV and m(2)++ = 2354(95) MeV for the m asses of the scalar and tensor glueballs, respectively, (C) 2001 Elsevier S cience B.V. All rights reserved.