Nucleon-Pion Spectroscopy with Lattice QCD

The QCD phase transition with 2, 3, and 4 flavors of dynamical quarks

We report our numerical lattice QCD calculations of the isovector nucleon form factors for the vector and axialvector currents: the vector, induced tensor, axialvector, and induced pseudoscalar form factors. The calculation is carried out with the gauge configurations generated with N{sub f} = 2+1 dynamical domain wall fermions and Iwasaki gauge actions at {beta} = 2.13, corresponding to a cutoff a{sup -1} = 1.73 GeV, and a spatial volume of (2.7 fm){sup 3}. The up and down quark masses are varied so the pion mass lies between 0.33 and 0.67 GeV while the strange quark mass is about 12% heavier than the physical one. We calculate the form factors in the range of momentum transfers, 0.2 < q{sup 2} < 0.75 GeV{sup 2}. The vector and induced tensor form factors are well described by the conventional dipole forms and result in significant underestimation of the Dirac and Pauli mean-squared radii and the anomalous magnetic moment compared to the respective experimental values. We show that the axial-vector form factor is significantly affected by the finite spatial volume of the lattice. In particular in the axial charge, g{sub A}/g{sub V}, the finite volume effect scales with a single dimensionless quantity, m{sub {pi}}L, the product of the calculated pion mass and the spatial lattice extent. Our results indicate that for this quantity, m{sub {pi}} L > 6 is required to ensure that finite volume effects are below 1%.

Tuning the strange quark mass in lattice simulations

Lattice QCD at the physical point: Light quark masses

We report on numerical lattice QCD calculations of some of the low moments of the nucleon structure functions. The calculations are carried out with gauge configurations generated by the RBC and UKQCD collaborations with (2+1)-flavors of dynamical domain wall fermions and the Iwasaki gauge action ($\beta = 2.13$). The inverse lattice spacing is $a^{-1} = 1.73$ GeV, and two spatial volumes of ((2.7{\rm fm})^3) and ((1.8 {\rm fm})^3) are used. The up and down quark masses are varied so the pion mass lies between 0.33 and 0.67 GeV while the strange mass is about 12 % heavier than the physical one. The structure function moments we present include fully non-perturbatively renormalized iso-vector quark momentum fraction, (< x >_{u-d}), helicity fraction, (< x >_{\Delta u - \Delta d}), and transversity, (< 1 >_{\delta u - \delta d}), as well as an unrenormalized twist-3 coefficient, (d_1). The ratio of the momentum to helicity fractions, (< x >_{u-d}/< x >_{\Delta u - \Delta d}), does not show dependence on the light quark mass and agrees well with the value obtained from experiment. Their respective absolute values, fully renormalized, show interesting trends toward their respective experimental values at the lightest quark mass. A prediction for the transversity, (0.7 < < 1 >_{\delta u -\delta d} < 1.1), in the (\bar{\rm MS}) scheme at 2 GeV is obtained. The twist-3 coefficient, (d_1), though yet to be renormalized, supports the perturbative Wandzura-Wilczek relation.

We present results of lattice QCD simulations with mass-degenerate up and down and mass-split strange and charm (N_f = 2+1+1) dynamical quarks using Wilson twisted mass fermions at maximal twist. The tuning of the strange and charm quark masses is performed at two values of the lattice spacing a~0.078 fm and a~0.086 fm with lattice sizes ranging from L~1.9 fm to L~2.8 fm. We measure with high statistical precision the light pseudoscalar mass m_PS and decay constant f_PS in a range 270 < m_PS < 510 MeV and determine the low energy parameters f_0, l_3 and l_4 of SU(2) chiral perturbation theory. We use the two values of the lattice spacing, several lattice sizes as well as different values of the light, strange and charm quark masses to explore the systematic effects. A first study of discretisation effects in light-quark observables and a comparison to N_f=2 results are performed.

We present a detailed calculation of the transition temperature in QCD with two light and one heavier (strange) quark mass on lattices with temporal extent ${N}_{\ensuremath{\tau}}=4$ and 6. Calculations with improved staggered fermions have been performed for various light to strange quark mass ratios in the range, $0.05\ensuremath{\le}{\stackrel{^}{m}}_{l}/{\stackrel{^}{m}}_{s}\ensuremath{\le}0.5$, and with a strange quark mass fixed close to its physical value. From a combined extrapolation to the chiral (${\stackrel{^}{m}}_{l}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0$) and continuum ($aT\ensuremath{\equiv}1/{N}_{\ensuremath{\tau}}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0$) limits we find for the transition temperature at the physical point ${T}_{c}{r}_{0}=0.457(7)$ where the scale is set by the Sommer-scale parameter ${r}_{0}$ defined as the distance in the static quark potential at which the slope takes on the value, $(\mathrm{d}{V}_{\overline{q}q}(r)/\mathrm{d}r{)}_{r={r}_{0}}=1.65/{r}_{0}^{2}$. Using the currently best known value for ${r}_{0}$ this translates to a transition temperature ${T}_{c}=192(7)(4)\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{MeV}$. The transition temperature in the chiral limit is about 3% smaller. We discuss current ambiguities in the determination of ${T}_{c}$ in physical units and also comment on the universal scaling behavior of thermodynamic quantities in the chiral limit.

Light and strange quark masses with dynamical Wilson Fermions

We have simulated QCD using 2+1 flavors of domain wall quarks on a $(2.74 {\rm fm})^3$ volume with an inverse lattice scale of $a^{-1} = 1.729(28)$ GeV. The up and down (light) quarks are degenerate in our calculations and we have used four values for the ratio of light quark masses to the strange (heavy) quark mass in our simulations: 0.217, 0.350, 0.617 and 0.884. We have measured pseudoscalar meson masses and decay constants, the kaon bag parameter $B_K$ and vector meson couplings. We have used SU(2) chiral perturbation theory, which assumes only the up and down quark masses are small, and SU(3) chiral perturbation theory to extrapolate to the physical values for the light quark masses. While next-to-leading order formulae from both approaches fit our data for light quarks, we find the higher order corrections for SU(3) very large, making such fits unreliable. We also find that SU(3) does not fit our data when the quark masses are near the physical strange quark mass. Thus, we rely on SU(2) chiral perturbation theory for accurate results. We use the masses of the $\Omega$ baryon, and the $\pi$ and $K$ mesons to set the lattice scale and determine the quark masses. We then find $f_\pi = 124.1(3.6)_{\rm stat}(6.9)_{\rm syst} {\rm MeV}$, $f_K = 149.6(3.6)_{\rm stat}(6.3)_{\rm syst} {\rm MeV}$ and $f_K/f_\pi = 1.205(0.018)_{\rm stat}(0.062)_{\rm syst}$. Using non-perturbative renormalization to relate lattice regularized quark masses to RI-MOM masses, and perturbation theory to relate these to $\bar{\rm MS}$ we find $ m_{ud}^{\bar{\rm MS}}(2 {\rm GeV}) = 3.72(0.16)_{\rm stat}(0.33)_{\rm ren}(0.18)_{\rm syst} {\rm MeV}$ and $m_{s}^{\bar{\rm MS}}(2 {\rm GeV}) = 107.3(4.4)_{\rm stat}(9.7)_{\rm ren}(4.9)_{\rm syst} {\rm MeV}$.

A fully non-perturbative lattice determination of the up/down and strange quark masses is given for quenched QCD using both, $O(a)$ improved Wilson fermions and ordinary Wilson fermions. For the strange quark mass with $O(a)$ improved fermions we obtain $m^{\msbar}_s(\mu=2 {GeV}) = 105(4) {MeV}$, using the interquark force scale $r_0$. Due to quenching problems fits are only possible for quark masses larger than the strange quark mass. If we extrapolate our fits to the up/down quark mass we find for the average mass $m^{\msbar}_l(\mu=2 {GeV}) = 4.4(2) {MeV}$.

Since gluons in QCD are interacting fundamental constituents just as quarks are, we expect that in addition to mesons made from a quark and an antiquark, there should also be glueballs and hybrids (bound states of quarks, antiquarks and gluons). In general, these states would mix strongly with the conventional q-bar-q mesons. However, they can also have exotic quantum numbers inaccessible to q-bar-q mesons. Confirmation of such states would give information on the role of "dynamical" color in low energy QCD. In the quenched approximation we present a lattice calculation of the masses of mesons with exotic quantum numbers. These hybrid mesons can mix with four quark (q-bar-q-bar-q-q) states. The quenched approximation partially suppresses this mixing. Nonetheless, our hybrid interpolating fields also couple to four quark states. Using a four quark source operator, we demonstrate this mixing for the 1-+ meson. Using the conventional Wilson quark action, we calculate both at reasonably light quark masses, intending to extrapolate to small quark mass, and near the charmed quark mass, where we calculate the masses of some c-bar-c-g hybrid mesons. The hybrid meson masses are large --- over 4 GeV for charmonium and more than twice the vector meson mass at our smallest quark mass, which is near the strange quark mass.

We report on a calculation of the B*Bpi coupling in lattice QCD. The strong matrix element for a B* to Bpi transition is directly related to the leading order low-energy constant in heavy meson chiral perturbation theory (HMChPT) for B mesons. We carry out our calculation directly at the b-quark mass using a non-perturbatively tuned clover action that controls discretization effects of order pa and (ma)^n for all n. Our analysis is performed on RBC/UKQCD gauge configurations using domain-wall fermions and the Iwasaki gauge action at two lattice spacings of ainverse = 1.729(25) GeV, ainverse = 2.281(28) GeV, and unitary pion masses down to 290 MeV. We achieve good statistical precision and control all systematic uncertainties, giving a final result for the HMChPT coupling g_b = 0.56(3)stat(7)sys in the continuum and at the physical light-quark masses. This is the first calculation performed directly at the physical b-quark mass and lies in the region one would expect from carrying out an interpolation between previous results at the charm mass and at the static point.

Precision Lattice Calculation of Kaon Decays with Mobius Domain Wall Fermions Hantao Yin We report our recent development in algorithms and progress in measurements in lattice QCD. The algorithmic development includes the forecasted force gradient integrator, and further theoretical development and implementation of the Mobius domain wall fermions. These new technologies make it practical to simulate large 48 × 96 and 64 × 128 lattice ensembles with (5.5fm) boxes and 140MeV pion. The calculation was performed using the Mobius domain wall fermions and the Iwasaki gauge action. Simulated directly at physical quark masses, these ensembles are of great value for our ongoing and future lattice measurement projects. With the help of measurement techniques such as the eigCG algorithm and the all mode averaging method, we perform a direct, precise lattice calculation of the semileptonic kaon decay K −→ πlν using these newly generated high quality lattice ensembles. Our main result is the form factor f± Kπ(q ) evaluated directly at zero momentum transfer q = 0. Free of various systematic errors, this new result can be used to determine the CKM matrix element Vus to a very high precision when combined with experimental input. The calculation also provides results for various low energy strong interaction constants such as the pseudoscalar decay constants fK and fπ, and the neutral kaon mixing matrix element BK . These calculations are naturally performed by reusing the propagators calculated for the kaon semileptonic decay mentioned above. So they come with no or very low additional cost. The results allow us to also determine these important low energy constants on the lattice to unprecedented accuracy.

Light quenched hadron spectrum and decay constants on different lattices

We present results for the static interquark potential, light meson and baryon masses, and light pseudoscalar meson decay constants obtained from simulations of domain wall QCD with one dynamical flavour approximating the s quark, and two degenerate dynamical flavours with input bare masses ranging from m{sub s} to m{sub s}/4 approximating the u and d quarks. We compare these quantities obtained using the Iwasaki and DBW2 improved gauge actions, and actions with larger rectangle coefficients, on 16{sup 3}x32 lattices. We seek parameter values at which both the chiral symmetry breaking residual mass due to the finite lattice extent in the fifth dimension and the Monte Carlo time history for topological charge are acceptable for this set of quark masses at lattice spacings above 0.1 fm. We find that the Iwasaki gauge action is best, demonstrating the feasibility of using QCDOC to generate ensembles which are good representations of the QCD path integral on lattices of up to 3 fm in spatial extent with lattice spacings in the range 0.09-0.13 fm. Despite large residual masses and a limited number of sea quark-mass values with which to perform chiral extrapolations, our results for light hadronic physics scale and agree with experimental measurementsmore » within our statistical uncertainties.« less