Abstract
We extract parton distribution functions (PDFs) of the nucleon from lattice QCD using an ensemble of gauge field configurations simulated with light quark masses fixed to their physical values. Theoretical and algorithmic improvements that allow such a calculation include momentum smearing to reach large nucleon boosts with reduced statistical errors, nonperturbative renormalization, target mass corrections, and a novel modified matching of lattice QCD results to connect to what is extracted from experimental measurements. We give results on the unpolarized and helicity PDFs in the modified minimal subtraction scheme at a scale of 2GeV and reproduce the main features of the experimentally determined quantities, showing an overlap for a range of Bjorken-x values. This first direct nonperturbative evaluation opens a most promising path to compute PDFs in an abinitio way on the lattice and provides a framework for investigating also a wider class of similar quantities, which require the evaluation of hadronic matrix elements of nonlocal operators.
Highlights
We extract parton distribution functions (PDFs) of the nucleon from lattice quantum chromodynamics (QCD) using an ensemble of gauge field configurations simulated with light quark masses fixed to their physical values
Theoretical and algorithmic improvements that allow such a calculation include momentum smearing to reach large nucleon boosts with reduced statistical errors, nonperturbative renormalization, target mass corrections, and a novel modified matching of lattice QCD results to connect to what is extracted from experimental measurements
We give results on the unpolarized and helicity PDFs in the modified minimal subtraction scheme at a scale of 2 GeV and reproduce the main features of the experimentally determined quantities, showing an overlap for a range of Bjorken-x values. This first direct nonperturbative evaluation opens a most promising path to compute PDFs in an ab initio way on the lattice and provides a framework for investigating a wider class of similar quantities, which require the evaluation of hadronic matrix elements of nonlocal operators
Summary
Constantia Alexandrou,1,2 Krzysztof Cichy,3 Martha Constantinou,4 Karl Jansen,5 Aurora Scapellato,1,6 and Fernanda Steffens7 We extract parton distribution functions (PDFs) of the nucleon from lattice QCD using an ensemble of gauge field configurations simulated with light quark masses fixed to their physical values.
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