Feynman-Hellmann Theorem Research Articles

QCD with an infrared fixed point: The pion sector

The possibility that gauge theories with chiral symmetry breaking below the conformal window exhibit an infrared fixed point is explored. With this assumption three aspects of pion physics are reproduced if the quark mass anomalous dimension at the infrared fixed point is γ*=1. First, by matching the long-distance scalar adjoint correlation function. Second, by perturbing the fixed point by a small quark mass, the mq-dependence of the pion mass is reproduced by renormalization group arguments. Third, consistency of the trace anomaly and the Feynman-Hellmann theorem, for small mq, imply the same result once more. This suggests the following picture for the conformal window; close to its upper boundary γ* is zero and grows as the number of fermions is reduced until its lower boundary γ*=1 is reached, where chiral symmetry breaking sets in. Below, the strongly coupled gauge theory with γ*=1 is infrared dual to the free theory of pions. A possible dilaton sector of the scenario will be addressed in a companion paper. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

On the Anomalous Dimension in QCD

The anomalous dimension γm=1 in the infrared region near the conformal edge in the broken phase of the large Nf QCD has been shown by the ladder Schwinger–Dyson equation and also by the lattice simulation for Nf=8 and for Nc=3. Recently, Zwicky made another independent argument (without referring to explicit dynamics) for the same result, γm=1, by comparing the pion matrix element of the trace of the energy-momentum tensor π(p2)|(1+γm)·∑i=1Nfmfψ¯iψi|π(p1)=π(p2)|θμμ|π(p1)=2Mπ2 (up to trace anomaly) with the estimate of π(p2)|2·∑i=1Nfmfψ¯iψi|π(p1)=2Mπ2 through the Feynman–Hellmann theorem combined with an assumption Mπ2∼mf characteristic of the broken phase. We show that this is not justified by the explicit evaluation of each matrix element based on the dilaton chiral perturbation theory (dChPT): π(p2)|2·∑i=1Nfmfψ¯iψi|π(p1)=2Mπ2+[(1−γm)Mπ2·2/(1+γm)]=2Mπ2·2/(1+γm)≠2Mπ2 in contradiction with his estimate, which is compared with π(p2)|(1+γm)·∑i=1Nfmfψ¯iψi|π(p1)=(1+γm)Mπ2+[(1−γm)Mπ2]=2Mπ2 (both up to trace anomaly), where the terms in [] are from the σ (pseudo-dilaton) pole contribution. Thus, there is no constraint on γm when the σ pole contribution is treated consistently for both. We further show that the Feynman–Hellmann theorem is applied to the inside of the conformal window where dChPT is invalid and the σ pole contribution is absent, and with Mπ2∼mf2/(1+γm) instead of Mπ2∼mf, we have the same result as ours in the broken phase. A further comment related to dChPT is made on the decay width of f0(500) to ππ for Nf=2. It is shown to be consistent with the reality, when f0(500) is regarded as a pseudo-NG boson with the non-perturbative trace anomaly dominance.

Effect of mesonic off-shell correlations in the PNJL equation of state

We study the meson contribution to the equation of state of the 2-flavor PNJL model, including the full momentum dependence of the meson polarization loops. Within the Beth-Uhlenbeck approach, we demonstrate that the contribution from the quark-antiquark continuum excitations in the spacelike region $\omega^2 - q^2 < 0$, i.e. the Landau damping, leads to an increase of the pressure for temperatures $\gtrsim 0.8\,T_c^\chi$ and a significant meson momentum cut-off dependence in the mesonic pressure and the QCD trace anomaly. We investigate the dependence of the results on the choice of the Polyakov-loop potential parameter $T_0$. From the dependence of the mesonic pressure on the current quark mass, by means of the Feynman-Hellmann theorem, we evaluate the contribution of the pion quasiparticle gas and Landau damping to the chiral condensate.

Moments and power corrections of longitudinal and transverse proton structure functions from lattice QCD

We present a simultaneous extraction of the moments of ${F}_{2}$ and ${F}_{L}$ structure functions of the proton for a range of photon virtuality, ${Q}^{2}$. This is achieved by computing the forward Compton amplitude on the lattice utilizing the second-order Feynman-Hellmann theorem. Our calculations are performed on configurations with two different lattice spacings and volumes, all at the $SU(3)$ symmetric point. We find the moments of ${F}_{2}$ and ${F}_{L}$ in good agreement with experiment. Power corrections turn out to be significant. This is the first time the ${Q}^{2}$ dependence of the lowest moment of ${F}_{2}$ has been quantified.

A Practical Method to Detect, Analyze, and Engineer Higher Order Van Hove Singularities in Multi‐band Hamiltonians

AbstractA practical method is presented to detect, diagnose, and engineer higher order Van Hove singularities in multiband systems, with no restrictions on the number of bands or hopping terms. The method allows us to directly compute the Taylor expansion of the dispersion of any band at arbitrary points in momentum space, using a generalized extension of the Feynman–Hellmann theorem, which is stated and proved. Being fairly, in general scope, it also allows to incorporate and analyze the effect of tuning parameters on the low energy dispersions, which can greatly aid the engineering of higher order Van Hove singularities. A certain class of degenerate bands can be handled within this framework. The use of this method is demonstrated, by applying it to the Haldane model.

The Compton Amplitude, lattice QCD and the Feynman-Hellmann approach

A major objective of lattice QCD is the computation of hadronic matrix elements. The standard method is to use three-point and four-point correlation functions. An alternative approach, requiring only the computation of two-point correlation functions is to use the Feynman-Hellmann theorem. In this talk we develop this method up to second order in perturbation theory, in a context appropriate for lattice QCD. This encompasses the Compton Amplitude (which forms the basis for deep inelastic scattering) and hadron scattering. Some numerical results are presented showing results indicating what this approach might achieve.

Algebraic derivation of Kramers–Pasternack relations based on the Schrödinger factorization method

The Kramers–Pasternack relations are used to compute the moments of r (both positive and negative) for all radial energy eigenfunctions of hydrogenic atoms. They consist of two algebraic recurrence relations, one for positive powers and one for negative. Most derivations employ the Feynman–Hellmann theorem or a brute-force integration to determine the second inverse moment, which is needed to complete the recurrence relations for negative moments. In this work, we show both how to derive the recurrence relations algebraically and how to determine the second inverse moment algebraically, which removes the pedagogical confusion associated with differentiating the Hamiltonian with respect to the angular momentum quantum number l, which is restricted to be an integer, in order to find the inverse second moment.

Lattice QCD evaluation of the Compton amplitude employing the Feynman-Hellmann theorem

The forward Compton amplitude describes the process of virtual photon scattering from a hadron and provides an essential ingredient for the understanding of hadron structure. As a physical amplitude, the Compton tensor naturally includes all target mass corrections and higher twist effects at a fixed virtuality, $Q^2$. By making use of the second-order Feynman-Hellmann theorem, the nucleon Compton tensor is calculated in lattice QCD at an unphysical quark mass across a range of photon momenta $3 \lesssim Q^2 \lesssim 7$ GeV$^2$. This allows for the $Q^2$ dependence of the low moments of the nucleon structure functions to be studied in a lattice calculation for the first time. The results demonstrate that a systematic investigation of power corrections and the approach to parton asymptotics is now within reach.

Consistency checks for two-body finite-volume matrix elements. II. Perturbative systems

Using the general formalism presented in Refs. [1,2], we study the finite-volume effects for the $\mathbf{2}+\mathcal{J}\to\mathbf{2}$ matrix element of an external current coupled to a two-particle state of identical scalars with perturbative interactions. Working in a finite cubic volume with periodicity $L$, we derive a $1/L$ expansion of the matrix element through $\mathcal O(1/L^5)$ and find that it is governed by two universal current-dependent parameters, the scalar charge and the threshold two-particle form factor. We confirm the result through a numerical study of the general formalism and additionally through an independent perturbative calculation. We further demonstrate a consistency with the Feynman-Hellmann theorem, which can be used to relate the $1/L$ expansions of the ground-state energy and matrix element. The latter gives a simple insight into why the leading volume corrections to the matrix element have the same scaling as those in the energy, $1/L^3$, in contradiction to earlier work, which found a $1/L^2$ contribution to the matrix element. We show here that such a term arises at intermediate stages in the perturbative calculation, but cancels in the final result.

Uncertainty quantification of an empirical shell-model interaction using principal component analysis

Recent investigations have emphasized the importance of uncertainty quantification (UQ) to describe errors in nuclear theory. We carry out UQ for configuration-interaction shell model calculations in the $1s$-$0d$ valence space, investigating the sensitivity of observables to perturbations in the 66 parameters (matrix elements) of a high-quality empirical interaction. The large parameter space makes computing the corresponding Hessian numerically costly, so we compare a cost-effective approximation, using the Feynman-Hellmann theorem, to the full Hessian and find it works well. Diagonalizing the Hessian yields the principal components of the interaction: linear combinations of parameters ordered by sensitivity. This approximately decoupled distribution of parameters facilitates theoretical error propagation onto structure observables: electromagnetic transitions, Gamow-Teller decays, and dark matter-nucleus scattering matrix elements.

Coulomb expectation values in D=3 and D=3−2ε dimensions

We explore the quantum Coulomb problem for two-body bound states, in $D=3$ and $D=3-2\epsilon$ dimensions, in detail, and give an extensive list of expectation values that arise in the evaluation of QED corrections to bound state energies. We describe the techniques used to obtain these expectation values and give general formulas for the evaluation of integrals involving associated Laguerre polynomials. In addition, we give formulas for the evaluation of integrals involving subtracted associated Laguerre polynomials--those with low powers of the variable subtracted off--that arise when evaluating divergent expectation values. We present perturbative results (in the parameter $\epsilon$) that show how bound state energies and wave functions in $D=3-2\epsilon$ dimensions differ from their $D=3$ dimensional counterparts and use these formulas to find regularized expressions for divergent expectation values such as $\big \langle \bar V^3 \big \rangle$ and $\big \langle (\bar V')^2 \big \rangle$ where $\bar V$ is the $D$-dimensional Coulomb potential. We evaluate a number of finite $D$-dimensional expectation values such as $\big \langle r^{-2+4\epsilon} \partial_r^2 \big \rangle$ and $\big \langle r^{4\epsilon} p^4 \big \rangle$ that have $\epsilon \rightarrow 0$ limits that differ from their three-dimensional counterparts $\big \langle r^{-2} \partial_r^2 \big \rangle$ and $\big \langle p^4 \big \rangle$. We explore the use of recursion relations, the Feynman-Hellmann theorem, and momentum space brackets combined with $D$-dimensional Fourier transformation for the evaluation of $D$-dimensional expectation values. The results of this paper are useful when using dimensional regularization in the calculation of properties of Coulomb bound systems.

Directly calculating the glue component of the nucleon in lattice QCD: QCDSF–UKQCD–CSSM Collaborations

We are investigating the direct determination and non-perturbative renormalisation of gluon matrix elements. Such quantities are sensitive to ultra– violet fluctuations, and are in general statistically noisy. To obtain statistically significant results, we extend an earlier application of the Feynman–Hellmann theorem to gluonic matrix elements to calculate a renormalisation factor in the RI – MOM scheme, in the quenched case. This work demonstrates that the Feynman–Hellmann method is capable of providing a feasible option for calculating gluon quantities.

Toward a First-Principles Calculation of Electroweak Box Diagrams.

We derive a Feynman-Hellmann theorem relating the second-order nucleon energy shift resulting from the introduction of periodic source terms of electromagnetic and isovector axial currents to the parity-odd nucleon structure function F_{3}^{N}. It is a crucial ingredient in the theoretical study of the γW and γZ box diagrams that are known to suffer from large hadronic uncertainties. We demonstrate that for a given Q^{2} one only needs to compute a small number of energy shifts in order to obtain the required inputs for the box diagrams. Future lattice calculations based on this approach may shed new light on various topics in precision physics including the refined determination of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix elements and the weak mixing angle.

Nucleon sigma terms from lattice QCD

Nucleon sigma terms are fundamental properties of the nucleons and are important input quantities for direct dark matter detection experiments. Here we present a determination of these sigma terms directly from the underlying theory. We use the lattice formulation of QCD to non-perturbativley calculate the quark mass dependence of the nucleon mass and the Feynman-Hellmann theorem to deduce the sigma terms. We present results for the up, down, and strange sigma terms of the proton and neutron.

Pion–nucleon sigma term revisited in covariant baryon chiral perturbation theory

We study the latest Nf=2+1+1 and Nf=2 ETMC lattice QCD simulations of the nucleon masses and extract the pion–nucleon sigma term utilizing the Feynman–Hellmann theorem in SU(2) baryon chiral perturbation theory with the extended-on-mass-shell scheme. We find that the lattice QCD data can be described quite well already at the next-to-next-to-leading order. The overall picture remains essentially the same at the next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order. Our final result is σπN=50.2(1.2)(2.0) MeV, or equivalently, fu/dN=0.0535(13)(21), where the first uncertainty is statistical and second is theoretical originated from chiral truncations, which is in agreement with that determined previously from the Nf=2+1 and Nf=2 lattice QCD data and that determined by the Cheng–Dashen theorem. In addition, we show that the inclusion of the virtual Δ(1232) does not change qualitatively our results.

A per-cent-level determination of the nucleon axial coupling from quantum chromodynamics.

The axial coupling of the nucleon, gA, is the strength of its coupling to the weak axial current of the standard model of particle physics, in much the same way as the electric charge is the strength of the coupling to the electromagnetic current. This axial coupling dictates the rate at which neutrons decay to protons, the strength of the attractive long-range force between nucleons and other features of nuclear physics. Precision tests of the standard model in nuclear environments require a quantitative understanding of nuclear physics that is rooted in quantum chromodynamics, a pillar of the standard model. The importance of gA makes it a benchmark quantity to determine theoretically-a difficult task because quantum chromodynamics is non-perturbative, precluding known analytical methods. Lattice quantum chromodynamics provides a rigorous, non-perturbative definition of quantum chromodynamics that can be implemented numerically. It has been estimated that a precision of two per cent would be possible by 2020 if two challenges are overcome1,2: contamination of gA from excited states must be controlled in the calculations and statistical precision must be improved markedly2-10. Here we use an unconventional method 11 inspired by the Feynman-Hellmann theorem that overcomes these challenges. We calculate a gA value of 1.271±0.013, which has a precision of about one per cent.

Nucleon axial coupling from Lattice QCD

We present state-of-the-art results from a lattice QCD calculation of the nucleon axial coupling, gA, using Möbius Domain-Wall fermions solved on the dynamical Nf = 2 + 1 + 1 HISQ ensembles after they are smeared using the gradient-flow algorithm. Relevant three-point correlation functions are calculated using a method inspired by the Feynman-Hellmann theorem, and demonstrate significant improvement in signal for fixed stochastic samples. The calculation is performed at five pion masses of mπ ~ {400, 350, 310, 220, 130} MeV, three lattice spacings of a ~ {0.15, 0.12, 0.09} fm, and we do a dedicated volume study with mπL ~ {3.22, 4.29, 5.36}. Control over all relevant sources of systematic uncertainty are demonstrated and quantified. We achieve a preliminary value of gA = 1.285(17), with a relative uncertainty of 1.33%.

On the Feynman-Hellmann theorem in quantum field theory and the calculation of matrix elements

The Feynman-Hellmann theorem can be derived from the long Euclidean-time limit of correlation functions determined with functional derivatives of the partition function. Using this insight, we fully develop an improved method for computing matrix elements of external currents utilizing only two-point correlation functions. Our method applies to matrix elements of any external bilinear current, including nonzero momentum transfer, flavor-changing, and two or more current insertion matrix elements. The ability to identify and control all the systematic uncertainties in the analysis of the correlation functions stems from the unique time dependence of the ground-state matrix elements and the fact that all excited states and contact terms are Euclidean-time dependent. We demonstrate the utility of our method with a calculation of the nucleon axial charge using gradient-flowed domain-wall valence quarks on the $N_f=2+1+1$ MILC highly improved staggered quark ensemble with lattice spacing and pion mass of approximately 0.15 fm and 310 MeV respectively. We show full control over excited-state systematics with the new method and obtain a value of $g_A = 1.213(26)$ with a quark-mass-dependent renormalization coefficient.

One-dimensional semirelativistic Hamiltonian with multiple Dirac delta potentials

In this paper, we consider the one-dimensional semirelativistic Schr\"{o}dinger equation for a particle interacting with $N$ Dirac delta potentials. Using the heat kernel techniques, we establish a resolvent formula in terms of an $N \times N$ matrix, called the principal matrix. This matrix essentially includes all the information about the spectrum of the problem. We study the bound state spectrum by working out the eigenvalues of the principal matrix. With the help of the Feynman-Hellmann theorem, we analyze how the bound state energies change with respect to the parameters in the model. We also prove that there are at most $N$ bound states and explicitly derive the bound state wave function. The bound state problem for the two-center case is particularly investigated. We show that the ground state energy is bounded below, and there exists a self-adjoint Hamiltonian associated with the resolvent formula. Moreover, we prove that the ground state is nondegenerate. The scattering problem for $N$ centers is analyzed by exactly solving the semirelativistic Lippmann-Schwinger equation. The reflection and the transmission coefficients are numerically and asymptotically computed for the two-center case. We observe the so-called threshold anomaly for two symmetrically located centers. The semirelativistic version of the Kronig-Penney model is shortly discussed, and the band gap structure of the spectrum is illustrated. The bound state and scattering problems in the massless case are also discussed. Furthermore, the reflection and the transmission coefficients for the two delta potentials in this particular case are analytically found. Finally, we solve the renormalization group equations and compute the beta function nonperturbatively.

Pseudoscalar mesons in a finite cubic volume with twisted boundary conditions

We study the effects of a finite cubic volume with twisted boundary conditions on pseudoscalar mesons. We first apply chiral perturbation theory in the p-regime and calculate the corrections for masses, decay constants, pseudoscalar coupling constants and form factors at next-to-leading order. We show that the Feynman-Hellmann theorem and the relevant Ward-Takahashi identity are satisfied. We then derive asymptotic formulae a la Luscher for twisted boundary conditions. We show that chiral Ward identities for masses and decay constants are satisfied by the asymptotic formulae in finite volume as a consequence of infinite-volume Ward identities. Applying asymptotic formulae in combination with chiral perturbation theory we estimate corrections beyond next-to-leading order for twisted boundary conditions.