Wilson Quarks Research Articles

Scale setting for N_mathrm{f}=3+1 QCD

We present the scale setting for a new set of gauge configurations generated with N_mathrm{f}=3+1 Wilson quarks with a non-perturbatively determined clover coefficient in a massive O(a) improvement scheme. The three light quarks are degenerate, with the sum of their masses being equal to its value in nature and the charm quark has its physical mass. We use open boundary conditions in time direction to avoid the problem of topological freezing at small lattice spacings and twisted-mass reweighting for improved stability of the simulations. The decoupling of charm at low energy allows us to set the scale by measuring the value of the low-energy quantity t_0^star /a^2, which is the flow scale t_0 at our mass point, and comparing it to an N_mathrm{f}=2+1 result in physical units. We present the details of the algorithmic setup and tuning procedure and give the bare parameters of ensembles with two lattice spacings a=0.054fm and a=0.043fm. We discuss finite volume effects and lattice artifacts and present physical results for the charmonium spectrum. In particular the hyperfine splitting between the eta _c and J/psi mesons agrees very well with its physical value.

Lattice calculation of the hadronic leading order contribution to the muon g − 2

The persistent discrepancy of about 3.5 standard deviations between the experimental measurement and the Standard Model prediction for the muon anomalous magnetic moment, aµ, is one of the most promising hints for the possible existence of new physics. Here we report on our lattice QCD calculation of the hadronic vacuum polarisation contribution $ a_\mu ^{{\rm{hvp}}} $, based on gauge ensembles with Nf = 2 + 1 flavours of O(a) improved Wilson quarks. We address the conceptual and numerical challenges that one encounters along the way to a sub-percent determination of the hadronic vacuum polarisation contribution. The current status of lattice calculations of $ a_\mu ^{{\rm{hvp}}} $ is presented by performing a detailed comparison with the results from other groups.

Charmonium resonances with JPC=1−− and 3−− from D¯D scattering on the lattice

We present a lattice QCD study of charmonium resonances and bound states with $J^{PC}=1^{--}$ and $3^{--}$ near the open-charm threshold, taking into account their strong transitions to $\bar DD$. Vector charmonia are the most abundant in the experimentally established charmonium spectrum, while recently LHCb reported also the first discovery of a charmonium with likely spin three. The $\bar DD$ scattering amplitudes for partial waves $l=1$ and $l=3$ are extracted on the lattice by means of the L\"uscher formalism, using multiple volumes and inertial frames. Parameterizations of the scattering amplitudes provide masses and widths of the resonances, as well as the masses of bound states. CLS ensembles with 2+1 dynamical flavors of non-perturbatively $O(a)$ improved Wilson quarks are employed with $m_\pi\simeq 280$ MeV, a single lattice spacing of $a\simeq0.086$ fm and two lattice spatial extents of $L=24$ and $32$. Two values of the charm quark mass are considered to examine the influence of the position of the $\bar{D}D$ threshold on the hadron masses. For the lighter charm quark mass we find the vector resonance $\psi(3770)$ with mass $m=3780(7)$ MeV and coupling $g=16.0(^{+2.1}_{-0.2})$ (related to the width), both consistent with their experimental values. The vector $\psi(2S)$ appears as a bound state with $m=3666(10)$ MeV. The charmonium resonance with $J^{PC}=3^{--}$ is found at $m=3831(^{+10}_{-16})$ MeV, consistent with the $X(3842)$ recently discovered by LHCb. At our heavier charm-quark mass the $\psi(2S)$ as well as the $\psi(3770)$ are bound states and the $X(3842)$ remains a resonance. We stress that all quoted uncertainties are only statistical, while lattice spacing effects and the approach to the physical point still need to be explored. This study of conventional charmonia sets the stage for more challenging future studies of unconventional charmonium-like states.

Lattice calculation of the pion transition form factor with Nf=2+1 Wilson quarks

We present a lattice QCD calculation of the double-virtual neutral pion transition form factor, with the goal to cover the kinematic range relevant to hadronic light-by-light scattering in the muon $g-2$. Several improvements have been made compared to our previous work. First, we take into account the effects of the strange quark by using the $N_f=2+1$ CLS gauge ensembles. Secondly, we have implemented the on-shell $\mathcal{O}(a)$-improvement of the vector current to reduce the discretization effects associated with Wilson quarks. Finally, in order to have access to a wider range of photon virtualities, we have computed the transition form factor in a moving frame as well as in the pion rest-frame. After extrapolating the form factor to the continuum and to physical quark masses, we compare our results with phenomenology. We extract the normalization of the form factor with a precision of 3.5\% and confirm within our uncertainty previous somewhat conflicting estimates for a low-energy constant that appears in chiral perturbation theory for the decay $\pi^0 \to \gamma\gamma$ at NLO. With additional input from experiment and theory, we reproduce recent estimates for the decay width $\Gamma(\pi^0 \to \gamma\gamma)$. We also study the asymptotic large-$Q^2$ behavior of the transition form factor in the double-virtual case. Finally, we provide as our main result a more precise model-independent lattice estimate of the pion-pole contribution to hadronic light-by-light scattering in the muon $g-2$: $a_{\mu}^{\mathrm{HLbL}; \pi^0} = (59.7 \pm 3.6) \times 10^{-11}$. Using in addition the normalization of the form factor obtained by the PrimEx experiment, we get the lattice and data-driven estimate $a_{\mu}^{\mathrm{HLbL}; \pi^0} = (62.3 \pm 2.3) \times 10^{-11}$.

Leading hadronic contribution to (g−2)μ from lattice QCD with Nf=2+1 flavors of O(a) improved Wilson quarks

The comparison of the theoretical and experimental determinations of the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon $(g-2)_\mu$ constitutes one of the strongest tests of the Standard Model at low energies. In this article, we compute the leading hadronic contribution to $(g-2)_\mu$ using lattice QCD simulations employing Wilson quarks. Gauge field ensembles at four different lattice spacings and several values of the pion mass down to its physical value are used. We apply the O($a$) improvement programme with two discretizations of the vector current to better constrain the approach to the continuum limit. The electromagnetic current correlators are computed in the time-momentum representation. In addition, we perform auxiliary calculations of the pion form factor at timelike momenta in order to better constrain the tail of the isovector correlator and to correct its dominant finite-size effect. For the numerically dominant light-quark contribution, we have rescaled the lepton mass by the pion decay constant computed on each lattice ensemble. We perform a combined chiral and continuum extrapolation to the physical point, and our final result is $ a_\mu^{\rm hvp}=(720.0\pm12.4_{\rm stat}\,\pm9.9_{\rm syst})\cdot10^{-10}$. It contains the contributions of quark-disconnected diagrams, and the systematic error has been enlarged to account for the missing isospin-breaking effects.

How much do charm sea quarks affect the charmonium spectrum?

The properties of charmonium states are or will be intensively studied by the B-factories Belle II and BESIII, the LHCb and PANDA experiments and at a future Super-c-tau Factory. Precise lattice calculations provide valuable input and several results have been obtained by simulating up, down and strange quarks in the sea. We investigate the impact of a charm quark in the sea on the charmonium spectrum, the renormalization group invariant charm–quark mass M_{mathrm{c}} and the scalar charm–quark content of charmonium. The latter is obtained by the direct computation of the mass-derivatives of the charmonium masses. We do this investigation in a model, QCD with two degenerate charm quarks. The absence of light quarks allows us to reach very small lattice spacings down to 0.023~hbox {fm}. By comparing to pure gauge theory we find that charm quarks in the sea affect the hyperfine splitting at a level around 2%. The most significant effects are 5% in M_c and 3% in the value of the charm quark content of the eta _c meson. Given that we simulate two charm quarks these estimates are upper bounds for the contribution of a single charm quark. We show that lattice spacings <0.06~hbox {fm} are needed for safe continuum extrapolations of the charmonium spectrum with O(a) improved Wilson quarks. A useful relation for the projection to the desired parity of operators in two-point functions computed with twisted mass fermions is proven.

High precision renormalization of the flavour non-singlet Noether currents in lattice QCD with Wilson quarks

We determine the non-perturbatively renormalized axial current for hbox {O}(a) improved lattice QCD with Wilson quarks. Our strategy is based on the chirally rotated Schrödinger functional and can be generalized to other finite (ratios of) renormalization constants which are traditionally obtained by imposing continuum chiral Ward identities as normalization conditions. Compared to the latter we achieve an error reduction by up to one order of magnitude. Our results have already enabled the setting of the scale for the {N_{mathrm{f}}}=2+1 CLS ensembles (Bruno et al. in Phys Rev D 95(7):074504. arXiv:1608.08900, 2017) and are thus an essential ingredient for the recent alpha _s determination by the ALPHA collaboration (Phys Rev Lett 119(10):102001. arXiv:1706.03821, 2017). In this paper we shortly review the strategy and present our results for both {N_{mathrm{f}}}=2 and {N_{mathrm{f}}}=3 lattice QCD, where we match the beta -values of the CLS gauge configurations. In addition to the axial current renormalization, we also present precise results for the renormalized local vector current.

Nucleon form factors on a large volume lattice near the physical point in 2+1 flavor QCD

We present results for the isovector nucleon form factors measured on a $96^4$ lattice at almost the physical pion mass with a lattice spacing of 0.085 fm in 2+1 flavor QCD. The configurations are generated with the stout-smeared $O(a)$-improved Wilson quark action and the Iwasaki gauge action at $\beta$=1.82. The pion mass at the simulation point is about 146 MeV. A large spatial volume of $(8.1~{\rm fm})^3$ allows us to investigate the form factors in the small momentum transfer region. We determine the isovector electric radius and magnetic moment from nucleon electric ($G_E$) and magnetic ($G_M$) form factors as well as the axial-vector coupling $g_A$. We also report on the results of the axial-vector ($F_A$), induced pseudoscalar ($F_P$) and pseudoscalar ($G_P$) form factors in order to verify the axial Ward-Takahashi identity in terms of the nucleon matrix elements, which may be called the generalized Goldberger-Treiman relation.

Symanzik improvement with dynamical charm: a 3+1 scheme for Wilson quarks

We discuss the problem of lattice artefacts in QCD simulations enhanced by the introduction of dynamical charmed quarks. In particular, we advocate the use of a massive renormalization scheme with a close to realistic charm mass. To maintain O(a) improvement for Wilson type fermions in this case we define a finite size scheme and carry out a nonperturbative estimation of the clover coefficient csw. It is summarized in a fit formula csw(g02) that defines an improved action suitable for future dynamical charm simulations.

Non-perturbative quark mass renormalisation and running in N_{scriptstyle mathrm{f}}=3 QCD

We determine from first principles the quark mass anomalous dimension in N_{scriptstyle mathrm{f}}=3 QCD between the electroweak and hadronic scales. This allows for a fully non-perturbative connection of the perturbative and non-perturbative regimes of the Standard Model in the hadronic sector. The computation is carried out to high accuracy, employing massless text{ O }(a)-improved Wilson quarks and finite-size scaling techniques. We also provide the matching factors required in the renormalisation of light quark masses from lattice computations with text{ O }(a)-improved Wilson fermions and a tree-level Symanzik improved gauge action. The total uncertainty due to renormalisation and running in the determination of light quark masses in the SM is thus reduced to about 1%.

Non-perturbative determination of cV, ZV and ZS/ZP in Nf = 3 lattice QCD

We report on non-perturbative computations of the improvement coefficient cV and the renormalization factor ZV of the vector current in three-flavour O(a) improved lattice QCD with Wilson quarks and tree-level Symanzik improved gauge action. To reduce finite quark mass effects, our improvement and normalization conditions exploit massive chiral Ward identities formulated in the Schrödinger functional setup, which also allow deriving a new method to extract the ratio ZS/ZP of scalar to pseudoscalar renormalization constants. We present preliminary results of a numerical evaluation of ZV and cV along a line of constant physics with gauge couplings corresponding to lattice spacings of about 0:09 fm and below, relevant for phenomenological applications.

Leptonic decay constants for D-mesons from 3-flavour CLS ensembles

e report on the status of an ongoing effort by the RQCD and ALPHA Collaborations, aimed at determining leptonic decay constants of charmed mesons. Our analysis is based on large-volume ensembles generated within the CLS effort, employing Nf = 2 + 1 non-perturbatively O(a) improved Wilson quarks, tree-level Symanzik-improved gauge action and open boundary conditions. The ensembles cover lattice spac-ings from a ≈ 0.09 fm to a ≈ 0.05 fm, with pion masses varied from 420 to 200 MeV. To extrapolate to the physical masses, we follow both the (2ml + ms) = const. and the ms = const. lines in parameter space.

Baryon interactions from lattice QCD with physical quark masses – Nuclear forces and ΞΞ forces –

We present the latest lattice QCD results for baryon interactions obtained at nearly physical quark masses. Nf = 2 + 1 nonperturbatively O(a)-improved Wilson quark action with stout smearing and Iwasaki gauge action are employed on the lattice of (96a)4 ≃(8.1fm)4 with a-1 ≃2.3 GeV, where mπ ≃146 MeV and mK ≃525 MeV. In this report, we study the two-nucleon systems and two-Ξ systems in 1S0 channel and 3S1-3D1 coupled channel, and extract central and tensor interactions by the HAL QCD method. We also present the results for the NΩ interaction in 5S2 channel which is relevant to the NΩ pair-momentum correlation in heavy-ion collision experiments.

Nucleon structure from 2+1 flavor lattice QCD near the physical point

We present an update on our results of nucleon form factors measured on a large-volume lattice (8:1fm)4 at almost the physical point in 2+1 flavor QCD. The configurations are generated with the stout-smeared O(a) improved Wilson quark action and Iwasaki gauge action at β = 1:82, which corresponds to the lattice spacing of 0.085 fm. The pion mass at the simulation point is about 145 MeV. We determine the isovector electric radius and magnetic moment from nucleon electric (GE) and magnetic (GM) form factors. We also report on preliminary results of the axial-vector (FA), induced pseudo-scalar (FP) and pseudo-scalar (GP) form factors in order to verify the axial Ward-Takahashi identity in terms of the nucleon matrix elements, which may be called as the generalized Goldberger-Treiman relation.

Equation of state in (2+1)-flavor QCD at physical point with improved Wilson fermion action using gradient flow

We study the energy-momentum tensor and the equation of state as well as the chiral condensate in (2+1)-flavor QCD at the physical point applying the method of Makino and Suzuki based on the gradient flow. We adopt a nonperturbatively O(a)- improved Wilson quark action and the renormalization group-improved Iwasaki gauge action. At Lattice 2016, we have presented our preliminary results of our study in (2+1)- flavor QCD at a heavy u; d quark mass point. We now extend the study to the physical point and perform finite-temperature simulations in the range T ≃ 155.544 MeV (Nt = 4-14 including odd Nt’s) at a ≃ 0:09 fm. We show our final results of the heavy QCD study and present some preliminary results obtained at the physical point so far.

Hadroquarkonium from lattice QCD

The hadro-quarkonium picture [S. Dubinskiy and M.B. Voloshin, Phys. Lett. B 666, 344 (2008)] provides one possible interpretation for the pentaquark candidates with hidden charm, recently reported by the LHCb Collaboration, as well as for some of the charmonium-like "X,Y,Z" states. In this picture, a heavy quarkonium core resides within a light hadron giving rise to four- or five-quark/antiquark bound states. We test this scenario in the heavy quark limit by investigating the modification of the potential between a static quark-antiquark pair induced by the presence of a hadron. Our lattice QCD simulations are performed on a Coordinated Lattice Simulations (CLS) ensemble with $N_f = 2+1$ flavours of non-perturbatively improved Wilson quarks at a pion mass of about 223 MeV and a lattice spacing of about 0.0854 fm. We study the static potential in the presence of a variety of light mesons as well as of octet and decuplet baryons. In all these cases, the resulting configurations are favoured energetically. The associated binding energies between the quarkonium in the heavy quark limit and the light hadron are found to be smaller than a few MeV, similar in strength to deuterium binding. It needs to be seen if the small attraction survives in the infinite volume limit and supports bound states or resonances.

Topological susceptibility in finite temperature ( 2+1 )-flavor QCD using gradient flow

We compute the topological charge and its susceptibility in finite temperature (2+1)-flavor QCD on the lattice applying a gradient flow method. With the Iwasaki gauge action and nonperturbatively $O(a)$-improved Wilson quarks, we perform simulations on a fine lattice with~$a\simeq0.07\,\mathrm{fm}$ at a heavy $u$, $d$ quark mass with $m_\pi/m_\rho\simeq0.63$ but approximately physical $s$ quark mass with $m_{\eta_{ss}}/m_\phi\simeq0.74$. In a temperature range from~$T\simeq174\,\mathrm{MeV}$ ($N_t=16$) to $697\,\mathrm{MeV}$ ($N_t=4$), we study two topics on the topological susceptibility. One is a comparison of gluonic and fermionic definitions of the topological susceptibility. Because the two definitions are related by chiral Ward-Takahashi identities, their equivalence is not trivial for lattice quarks which violate the chiral symmetry explicitly at finite lattice spacings. The gradient flow method enables us to compute them without being bothered by the chiral violation. We find a good agreement between the two definitions with Wilson quarks. The other is a comparison with a prediction of the dilute instanton gas approximation, which is relevant in a study of axions as a candidate of the dark matter in the evolution of the Universe. We find that the topological susceptibility shows a decrease in $T$ which is consistent with the predicted $\chi_\mathrm{t}(T) \propto (T/T_{\rm pc})^{-8}$ for three-flavor QCD even at low temperature $T_{\rm pc} < T\le1.5 T_{\rm pc}$.

On the strength of the U A (1) anomaly at the chiral phase transition in N f = 2 QCD

We study the thermal transition of QCD with two degenerate light flavours by lattice simulations using $O(a)$-improved Wilson quarks. Temperature scans are performed at a fixed value of $N_t = (aT)^{-1}=16$, where $a$ is the lattice spacing and $T$ the temperature, at three fixed zero-temperature pion masses between 200 MeV and 540 MeV. In this range we find that the transition is consistent with a broad crossover. As a probe of the restoration of chiral symmetry, we study the static screening spectrum. We observe a degeneracy between the transverse isovector vector and axial-vector channels starting from the transition temperature. Particularly striking is the strong reduction of the splitting between isovector scalar and pseudoscalar screening masses around the chiral phase transition by at least a factor of three compared to its value at zero temperature. In fact, the splitting is consistent with zero within our uncertainties. This disfavours a chiral phase transition in the $O(4)$ universality class.

Nucleon matrix elements from lattice QCD with all-mode-averaging and a domain-decomposed solver: An exploratory study

We study the performance of all-mode-averaging (AMA) when used in conjunction with a locally deflated SAP-preconditioned solver, determining how to optimize the local block sizes and number of deflation fields in order to minimize the computational cost for a given level of overall statistical accuracy. We find that AMA enables a reduction of the statistical error on nucleon charges by a factor of around two at the same cost when compared to the standard method. As a demonstration, we compute the axial, scalar and tensor charges of the nucleon in Nf=2 lattice QCD with non-perturbatively O(a)-improved Wilson quarks, using O(10,000) measurements to pursue the signal out to source-sink separations of ts∼1.5 fm. Our results suggest that the axial charge is suffering from a significant amount (5–10%) of excited-state contamination at source-sink separations of up to ts∼1.2 fm, whereas the excited-state contamination in the scalar and tensor charges seems to be small.

Nontrivial center dominance in high temperature QCD

We investigate the properties of quarks and gluons above the chiral phase transition temperature [Formula: see text], using the renormalization group (RG) improved gauge action and the Wilson quark action with two degenerate quarks mainly on a [Formula: see text] lattice. In the one-loop perturbation theory, the thermal ensemble is dominated by the gauge configurations with effectively [Formula: see text] center twisted boundary conditions, making the thermal expectation value of the spatial Polyakov loop take a nontrivial [Formula: see text] center. This is in agreement with our lattice simulation of high temperature quantum chromodynamics (QCD). We further observe that the temporal propagator of massless quarks at extremely high temperature [Formula: see text] remarkably agrees with the temporal propagator of free quarks with the [Formula: see text] twisted boundary condition for [Formula: see text], but differs from that with the [Formula: see text] trivial boundary condition. As we increase the mass of quarks [Formula: see text], we find that the thermal ensemble continues to be dominated by the [Formula: see text] twisted gauge field configurations as long as [Formula: see text] and above that the [Formula: see text] trivial configurations come in. The transition is similar to what we found in the departure from the conformal region in the zero-temperature many-flavor conformal QCD on a finite lattice by increasing the mass of quarks.