Magnetic polarizability of octet baryons via lattice QCD

Abstract

Drawing on recent advances in lattice QCD background-field techniques, the magnetic polarizability of octet baryons is calculated from the first principles of QCD. The results are presented in the context of new constituent quark model calculations providing a framework for understanding the lattice results and a direct comparison with simulation results at unphysical quark masses. Using smeared quark sources, low-lying Laplacian eigenmode projection and final-state Landau-mode projection, considerable attention is devoted to ensuring single-state isolation in the lattice correlation functions. We also introduce new weighting methods to reduce the sensitivity to correlation-function fits, averaging over many fits based on merit drawn from the full correlated χ2 of the fits. The techniques are implemented on the 323×64, 2+1-flavor dynamical-fermion lattices provided by the PACS-CS Collaboration following the introduction of uniform magnetic fields quantized to the lowest nontrivial values available. After some scaling of the constituent quark model parameters, we find the model captures the patterns observed in the lattice QCD results very well, providing important insights into the physics underpinning the magnetic polarizabilities. Finally, comparison with the most recent results from experiment proceeds through an effective field theory formalism which incorporates estimates of finite-volume corrections and small electroquenching corrections as the results are brought to the physical point. We find excellent agreement with experiment where available, including the proton and neutron polarizabilities. Published by the American Physical Society 2024