Lattice QCD Study Research Articles

Euclidean effective theory for partons in the spirit of Steven Weinberg

The standard formulation of parton physics involves light-cone correlations of quark and gluon fields in a hadron, which leads to a widespread impression that it can only be studied through real-time Hamiltonian dynamics or light-front quantization, which are challenged by non-perturbative computations with a pertinent regulator for light-cone/rapidity divergences (or zero modes). As such, standard lattice QCD studies have been limited to indirect parton observables such as first few moments and short-distance correlations, which do not provide the x-distributions without solving the model-dependent inverse problem. Here I describe an alternative formulation of partons in terms of equal-time (or Euclidean) correlators, which allows to compute precision-controlled x-distribution through lattice QCD simulations. This approach is in accord with Weinberg's pioneering idea of effective field theory as well as Wilson's renormalization group, in which the large hadron momentum serves as a natural cut-off for light-cone/rapidity divergences and can ultimately be eliminated through a method like the “perfect action” program in lattice QCD.

Bottomonium evolution with in-medium heavy quark potential from lattice QCD

The static properties and dynamic evolution of bottomonium states in a hot QCD medium are investigated through the Schrödinger equation with complex heavy quark potentials, which have been presented recently in a lattice QCD study and with three different extractions. This approach builds a direct connection between the in-medium heavy quark potentials from the lattice QCD to the experimental observables. The yields and nuclear modification factors RAA\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$R_{AA}$$\\end{document} of bottomonium in Pb–Pb collisions at sNN=5.02\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\sqrt{s_\ extrm{NN}}=5.02$$\\end{document} TeV are calculated in this work. Our results show a large suppression of the bottomonium yield in heavy ion collisions due to the large imaginary potential. To understand bottomonium RAA\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$R_{AA}$$\\end{document} based on lattice QCD potentials, we propose a formation time for bottomonium states and find that experimental data can be well explained with the heavy quark potential extracted by the Padé fit, which shows no color screening in the real part potential.

Study of the isoscalar scalar bcu¯d¯ tetraquark Tbc with lattice QCD

We present a lattice QCD study of the elastic S-wave DB¯ scattering in search of tetraquark candidates with explicitly exotic flavor content bcu¯d¯ in the isospin I=0 and JP=0+ channel. We use four lattice QCD ensembles with dynamical u/d, s, and c quark fields generated by the MILC collaboration. A nonrelativistic QCD Hamiltonian, including improvement coefficients up to O(αsv4), is utilized for the bottom quarks. For the rest of the valence quarks we employ a relativistic overlap action. Five different valence quark masses are utilized to study the light quark mass dependence of the DB¯ scattering amplitude. The finite volume energy spectra are extracted following a variational approach. The elastic DB¯ scattering amplitudes are extracted employing Lüscher’s prescription. The light quark mass dependence of the continuum extrapolated amplitudes suggests an attractive interaction between the B¯ and D mesons. At the physical pseudoscalar meson mass (Mps=Mπ) the DB¯ scattering amplitude has a subthreshold pole corresponding to a binding energy of −39(−6+4)(−18+8) MeV with respect to the DB¯ threshold. The critical Mps at which the DB¯ scattering length diverges and the system becomes unbound corresponds to Mps*=2.94(15)(5) GeV. This result can hold significant experimental relevance in the search for a bound scalar Tbc tetraquark, which could well be the next “doubly heavy” bound tetraquark to be discovered with only weak decay modes. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Incorporating DDπ effects and left-hand cuts in lattice QCD studies of the Tcc(3875)+

We generalize the relativistic field-theoretic three-particle finite-volume scattering formalism to describe generic DDπ systems in the charm C = 2 sector. This includes the isospin-0 channel, in which the recently discovered doubly-charmed tetraquark Tcc(3875)+ is expected to manifest as a pole in the DDπ → DDπ scattering amplitude. The formalism presented here can also be applied to lattice QCD settings in which the D* is bound and, in particular, remains valid below the left-hand cut in DD* scattering, thus resolving an issue in previous analyses of lattice-determined finite-volume energies.

Next-to-Next-to-Leading-Order QCD Corrections to Pion Electromagnetic Form Factors.

We calculate the next-to-next-to-leading-order (NNLO) QCD radiative correction to the pion electromagnetic form factor with large momentum transfer. We explicitly verify the validity of the collinear factorization to two-loop order for this observable and obtain the respective IR-finite two-loop hard-scattering kernel in the closed form. The NNLO QCD correction turns out to be positive and significant. Incorporating this new ingredient of correction, we then make a comprehensive comparison between the finest theoretical predictions and numerous data for both space- and timelike pion form factors. Our phenomenological analysis provides a strong constraint on the second Gegenbauer moment of the pion light-cone distribution amplitude obtained from recent lattice QCD studies.

Toward a unified treatment of ΔS=0 parity violation in low-energy nuclear processes

We revisit the unified treatment of low-energy hadronic parity violation espoused by Desplanques, Donoghue, and Holstein to the end of an ab initio treatment of parity violation in low-energy nuclear processes within the standard model. We use our improved effective Hamiltonian and precise nonperturbative assessments of the quark charges of the nucleon within lattice quantum chromodynamics (QCD) to make new assessments of the parity-violating meson-nucleon coupling constants. Comparing with recent, precise measurements of hadronic parity violation in few-body nuclear reactions, we find improved agreement with these experimental results, though some tensions remain. We thus note the broader problem of comparing low-energy constants from nuclear and few-nucleon systems, considering, too, unresolved theoretical issues in connecting an ab initio, effective Hamiltonian approach to chiral effective theories. We note how future experiments and lattice QCD studies could sharpen the emerging picture, promoting the study of hadronic parity violation as a laboratory for testing ``end-to-end'' theoretical descriptions of weak processes in hadrons and nuclei at low energies.

Gauge dependence of the quark gap equation: An exploratory study

We study the gauge dependence of the quark propagator in quantum chromodynamics by solving the gap equation with a nonperturbative quark-gluon vertex which is constrained by longitudinal and transverse Slavnov-Taylor identities, the discrete charge conjugation and parity symmetries and which is free of kinematic singularities in the limit of equal incoming and outgoing quark momenta. We employ gluon propagators in renormalizable $R_\xi$ gauges obtained in lattice QCD studies. We report the dependence of the nonperturbative quark propagator on the gauge parameter, in particular we observe an increase, proportional to the gauge-fixing parameter, of the mass function in the infrared domain, whereas the wave renormalization decreases within the range $0 \leq \xi \leq 1$ considered here. The chiral quark condensate reveals a mild gauge dependence in the region of $\xi$ investigated. We comment on how to build and improve upon this exploratory study in future in conjunction with generalized gauge covariance relations for QCD.

Strongly Bound Dibaryon with Maximal Beauty Flavor from Lattice QCD.

We report the first lattice QCD study of the heavy dibaryons in which all six quarks have the bottom (beauty) flavor. Performing a state-of-the-art lattice QCD calculation we find clear evidence for a deeply bound Ω_{bbb}-Ω_{bbb} dibaryon in the ^{1}S_{0} channel, as a pole singularity in the S-wave Ω_{bbb}-Ω_{bbb} scattering amplitude with a binding energy -81( _{-16}^{+14}) MeV. With such a deep binding, Coulomb repulsion serves only as a perturbation on the ground state wave function of the parametrized strong potential and may shift the strong binding only by a few percent. Considering the scalar channel to be the most bound for single flavored dibaryons, we conclude this state is the heaviest possible most deeply bound dibaryon in the visible universe.

Radiative Decay Width of J/ψ→γη(2) from Nf=2 Lattice QCD

The large radiative production rate for pseudoscalar mesons in the J/ψ radiative decay remains elusive. We present the first lattice QCD calculation of partial decay width of J/ψ radiatively decaying into η_{(2)}, the SU(2) flavor singlet pseudoscalar meson, which confirms QCD U_{A}(1) anomaly enhancement to the coupling of gluons with flavor singlet pseudoscalar mesons. The lattice simulation is carried out using N_{f}=2 lattice QCD gauge configurations at the pion mass m_{π}≈350 MeV. In particular, the distillation method has been utilized to calculate light quark loops. The results are reported here with the mass m_{η_{(2)}}=718(8) MeV and the decay width Γ(J/ψ→γη_{(2)})=0.385(45) keV. By assuming the dominance of U_{A}(1) anomaly and flavor singlet-octet mixing angle θ=-24.5°, the production rates for the physical η and η^{'} in J/ψ radiative decay are predicted to be 1.15(14)×10^{-3} and 4.49(53)×10^{-3}, respectively, which agree well with the experimental measurement data. Our study manifests the potential of lattice QCD studies on the light hadron production in J/ψ radiative decays.

Lattice QCD calculation of the light sterile neutrino contribution in 0ν2β decay

We present a lattice QCD study of the neutrinoless double beta decay involving light sterile neutrinos. The calculation is performed at physical pion mass using five gauge ensembles generated with the $2+1$-flavor domain wall fermions. We obtain the low-energy constants $g_{\text{LR}}^{\pi\pi}(m_\nu)$ with the neutrino mass $m_\nu$ from $0$ GeV to $3$ GeV. The lattice results are reasonably consistent with the previous interpolation method with a $\sim20\%$ deviation at small $m_\nu$. We provide an explanation on the discrepancy at vanishing neutrino mass. At large $m_\nu$, a good consistence between our results and the previous lattice determination of $g_{4}^{\pi\pi}(\mu)$ is found at $\mu=m_\nu=3$ GeV.

Lattice QCD study of inclusive semileptonic decays of heavy mesons

We present an ab initio study of inclusive semileptonic decays of heavy mesons from lattice QCD. Our approach is based on a recently proposed method, that allows one to address the study of these decays from the analysis of smeared spectral functions extracted from four-point correlators on the lattice, where the smearing is defined in terms of the phase-space integration relevant to the inclusive decays. We present results obtained from gauge-field ensembles from the JLQCD and ETM collaborations, and discuss their relation with theoretical predictions from the operator-product expansion.

Lattice simulations of the QCD chiral transition at real baryon density

State-of-the-art lattice QCD studies of hot and dense strongly interacting matter currently rely on extrapolation from zero or imaginary chemical potentials. The ill-posedness of numerical analytic continuation puts severe limitations on the reliability of such methods. Here we use the more direct sign reweighting method to perform lattice QCD simulation of the QCD chiral transition at finite real baryon density on phenomenologically relevant lattices. This method does not require analytic continuation and avoids the overlap problem associated with generic reweighting schemes, so has only statistical but no uncontrolled systematic uncertainties for a fixed lattice setup. This opens up a new window to study hot and dense strongly interacting matter from first principles. We perform simulations up to a baryochemical potential-temperature ratio of $\mu_B/T=2.5$ covering most of the RHIC Beam Energy Scan range in the chemical potential. We also clarify the connection of the approach to the more traditional phase reweighting method.

Gluon gravitational structure of hadrons of different spin

The gravitational form factors (GFFs) of hadrons encode the matrix elements of the energy momentum tensor of QCD. These quantities describe how energy, spin, and various mechanical properties of hadrons are carried by their quark and gluon constituents. We present the gluon GFFs of the pion, nucleon, $\rho$ meson, and $\Delta$ baryon as functions of the squared momentum transfer $t$ in the region $0 \leq -t < 2 \; \text{GeV}^2$, as determined in a lattice QCD study with pion mass $m_{\pi} = 450(5) \; \text{MeV}$. By fitting the extracted GFFs using multipole and z-parameter expansion functional forms, we extract various gluon contributions to the energy, pressure, and shear force distributions of the hadrons in the 3D and 2D Breit frames as well as in the infinite momentum frame. We also obtain estimates for the corresponding gluon mechanical and mass radii, as well as the forward-limit gluon contributions to the momentum fraction and angular momentum of the hadrons.

Lattice QCD Study of Transverse-Momentum Dependent Soft Function.

In this work, we perform a lattice QCD study of the intrinsic, rapidity-independent soft function within the framework of large momentum effective theory. The computation is carried out using a gauge ensemble of N_{f}=2+1+1 clover-improved twisted mass fermion. After applying an appropriate renormalization procedure and the removal of significant higher-twist contamination, we obtain the intrinsic soft function that is comparable to the one-loop perturbative result at large external momentum. The determination of the nonperturbative soft function from first principles is crucial to sharpen our understanding of the processes with small transverse momentum such as the Drell-Yan production and the semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering. Additionally, we calculate the Collins-Soper evolution kernel using the quasi-transverse-momentum-dependent wave function as input.

Aspects of chiral transition in a Hadron Resonance Gas model

We study the chiral condensate for 2 + 1 flavor QCD with physical quarks within a non-interacting Hadron Resonance Gas (HRG) model. By including the latest information on the mass variation of the hadrons concerning the light quark mass, from lattice QCD and chiral perturbation theory, we show that it is possible to quite accurately account for the chiral crossover transition even within a conventional HRG model. We have calculated a pseudocritical temperature Tc=161.2±1.6 MeV and the curvature of crossover curve κ2=0.0203(7). These are in very good agreement with the latest continuum extrapolated results obtained from lattice QCD studies. We also discuss the limitations of extending such calculations toward the chiral limit. Furthermore, we study the effects of non-resonant hadron interactions within the HRG model and its consequences for the chiral transition in the regime of dense baryonic matter where lattice QCD results are not currently available.

QCD static force in gradient flow

We compute the QCD static force and potential using gradient flow at next-to-leading order in the strong coupling. The static force is the spatial derivative of the static potential: it encodes the QCD interaction at both short and long distances. While on the one side the static force has the advantage of being free of the O(ΛQCD) renormalon affecting the static potential when computed in perturbation theory, on the other side its direct lattice QCD computation suffers from poor convergence. The convergence can be improved by using gradient flow, where the gauge fields in the operator definition of a given quantity are replaced by flowed fields at flow time t, which effectively smear the gauge fields over a distance of order sqrt{t} , while they reduce to the QCD fields in the limit t → 0. Based on our next-to-leading order calculation, we explore the properties of the static force for arbitrary values of t, as well as in the t → 0 limit, which may be useful for lattice QCD studies.

Heavy-quark mesons in the diabatic approach: string breaking and the quarkoniumlike spectrum

The Born-Oppenheimer approximation provides a description of heavy-quark mesons firmly based on lattice QCD, but its validity is limited to the lightest states lying far below the first open-flavour meson-meson threshold. This limitation can be overcome in the diabatic framework, a formalism first introduced in molecular physics, where the dynamics is encoded in a potential matrix whose elements can be derived from unquenched lattice QCD studies of string breaking. The off-diagonal elements of the potential matrix provide interaction between heavy quark-antiquark and meson-meson pairs, from which the mixing of quarkonium states with molecular components and the OZI-allowed strong decay widths are directly calculated. This allows for a QCD-based unified description of conventional quarkonium and unconventional mesons containing quark-antiquark and meson-meson components, what has proved to be successful for charmoniumlike and bottomoniumlike resonances.

Reentrant pion superfluidity and cosmic trajectories within a PNJL model

In this work, we self-consistently explore the possibility of charged pion superfluidity and cosmic trajectories in early Universe under the framework of Polyakov-Nambu--Jona-Lasinio model. By taking the badly constrained lepton flavor asymmetries $l_{\rm e}$ and $l_\mu$ as free parameters, the upper boundaries of pion superfluidity phase are consistently found to be around the pseudocritical temperature at zero chemical potentials. So the results greatly support the choice of $T=0.16~{\rm GeV}$ as the upper boundary of pion superfluidity in the previous lattice QCD study. Take $l_{\rm e}+l_\mu=-0.2$ as an example, we demonstrate the features of pion condensation and the associated cosmic trajectories with the evolution of early Universe. While the trajectory of electric chemical potential reacts strongly at both the lower and upper boundaries of reentrant pion superfluidity, the trajectories of other chemical potentials only respond strongly at the upper boundary.

Lattice QCD study of the elastic and transition form factors of charmed baryons

Composite nature of a particle can be probed by electromagnetic interactions and information about their structure is embedded in form factors. Most of the experimental and theoretical efforts on baryon electromagnetic form factors have been focused on nucleon while the data on charmed sector are limited to spectroscopy, and weak and strong decays. Forthcoming experiments with a heavy-hadron physics program at major experimental facilities are expected to provide a wealth of information on charmed baryons, which calls for a better understanding of the heavy-sector dynamics from theoretical grounds. We review the progress in calculating the elastic and transition form factors of charmed baryons in lattice QCD. A collection of static observables, e.g. charge radii, multipole moments, are presented along with the elastic form factors up to [Formula: see text]. As one would expect the charmed baryons are compact in comparison to nucleon and this is due to the presence of valence charm quark(s). The elastic and transition magnetic moments are both suppressed. The lattice results provide predictions for the transition magnetic moments, transition and helicity amplitudes and consequentially the decay widths of some singly and doubly charmed baryons. In general, lattice results are consonant with the qualitative expectations of quark model and heavy-quark symmetry, although there are apparent quantitative differences up to two orders of magnitude in some cases. There are, however, indications that the lattice results can be utilized to improve the model predictions. Nevertheless, discrepancies between the lattice and nonlattice calculations need to be understood better to have a solid insight into the dynamics of the heavy sector. Furthermore, reliably determined charmed baryon observables would be invaluable input to investigate the nature of exotic states, which further emphasizes the importance of rigorous, first-principles calculations to advance our understanding of the dynamics of the heavy quarks and strong interactions.

Neutron stars with a crossover equation of state

The question of whether quark matter exists in neutron stars is a long standing one. Generally one finds that a first order phase transition from baryons to quarks softens the equation of state so much that the star would collapse into a black hole. We consider a crossover equation of state, similar to the crossover that is found in lattice QCD studies at finite temperature and zero or small baryon chemical potentials. We find that with reasonable parameters it may be possible to support neutron stars up to about 2.2 solar masses. In that case 1 to 10% of the pressure would be contributed by quark matter in the central core of the highest mass stars.