Nucleon distribution amplitudes from lattice QCD

We calculate low moments of the leading-twist and next-to-leading-twist nucleon distribution amplitudes on the lattice using two flavors of clover fermions. The results are presented in the MS[over ] scheme at a scale of 2 GeV and can be immediately applied in phenomenological studies. We find that the deviation of the leading-twist nucleon distribution amplitude from its asymptotic form is less pronounced than sometimes claimed in the literature.     

Hadronic quark distribution amplitudes from QCD sum-rule moments

We discuss the reliability of hadronic wave functions (quark distribution amplitudes) determined by a finite number of QCD sum-rule moments. Although the expansion coefficients for polynomial models of the wave function are uniquely determined by the moments, the inherent uncertainty in such moments leads to a considerable indeterminacy in the wave functions because minimal changes of the moments can lead to large oscillations of the model function. In particular, the freedom in the moments left by QCD sum rules leads to a nonconverging polynomial expansion. This remains true even if additional constraints on the wave functions are used. As a consequence of this, the widely used procedure of constructing polynomial models of hadronic wave function from QCD sum rule moments does not guarantee even a reasonable approximation to the true wave function. The differences among the model wave functions persist also in the calculations of physical observables like hadronic form factors. This implies that physical observables calculated by means of such model wave functions are in general very unreliable. As specific examples, we examine the pion and nucleon wave functions and show that Gegenbauer as well as Appell polynomial expansions constructed from QCD sum rule moments are ruled out. The implications for the wave functions which are generally used in the literature are discussed.     

Meson screening masses from lattice QCD with two light quarks and one strange quark

We present results for screening masses of mesons built from light and strange quarks in the temperature range of approximately between 140 MeV to 800 MeV. The lattice computations were performed with 2+1 dynamical light and strange flavors of improved (p4) staggered fermions along a line of constant physics defined by a pion mass of about 220 MeV and a kaon mass of 500 MeV. The lattices had temporal extents N _τ =4, 6 and 8 and aspect ratios of N _s /N _τ ≥4. At least up to a temperature of 140 MeV the pseudo-scalar screening mass remains almost equal to the corresponding zero temperature pseudo-scalar (pole) mass. At temperatures around 3T _c (T _c being the transition temperature) the continuum extrapolated pseudo-scalar screening mass approaches very close to the free continuum result of 2πT from below. On the other hand, at high temperatures the vector screening mass turns out to be larger than the free continuum value of 2πT. The pseudo-scalar and the vector screening masses do not become degenerate even for a temperature as high as 4T _c . Using these mesonic spatial correlation functions we have also investigated the restoration of chiral symmetry and the effective restoration of the axial symmetry. We have found that the vector and the axial-vector screening correlators become degenerate, indicating chiral symmetry restoration, at a temperature which is consistent with the QCD transition temperature obtained in previous studies. On the other hand, the pseudo-scalar and the scalar screening correlators become degenerate only at temperatures larger than 1.3T _c , indicating that the effective restoration of the axial symmetry takes place at a temperature larger than the QCD transition temperature.     

Interquark potential with finite quark mass from lattice QCD

We present an investigation of the interquark potential determined from the q ?q Bethe-Salpeter (BS) amplitude for heavy quarkonia in lattice QCD. The q ?q potential at finite quark mass m(q) can be calculated from the equal-time and Coulomb gauge BS amplitude through the effective Schr?dinger equation. The definition of the potential itself requires information about a kinetic mass of the quark. We then propose a self-consistent determination of the quark kinetic mass on the same footing. To verify the proposed method, we perform quenched lattice QCD simulations with a relativistic heavy-quark action at a lattice cutoff of 1/a≈2.1 GeV in a range 1.0≤m(q)≤3.6 GeV. Our numerical results show that the q ?q potential in the m(q)→∞ limit is fairly consistent with the conventional one obtained from Wilson loops. The quark-mass dependence of the q ?q potential and the spin-spin potential are also examined.     

Beyond the quark model of hadrons from lattice QCD

Lattice QCD can give direct information on OZI-violating contributions to mesons. Here we explore the contributions that split flavour singlet and non-singlet meson masses. I discuss in detail the spectrum and decays for scalar mesons (i.e. including glueball effects). I also review the status of hybrid mesons and their decays.Received: 30 September 2002, Published online: 22 October 2003PACS: 12.38.Gc Lattice QCD calculations - 12.39.Mk Glueball and nonstandard multi-quark/gluon states     

QCD corrections to charm quark production in deep-inelastic neutrino scattering

We evaluate theO(_s) corrections to weak, charged current production of charm quarks. For perturbative subtractions and parton densities in the deep inelastic scheme the residual corrections to p and charm production structure functionsF ₂,F ₃ andF _L are presented. The consequences of these corrections with respect to they dependence of the cross section is discussed.Supported by Bundesministerium für Forschung und Technologie. 05 5HH91P (8), Bonn, FRG     

QCD predictions for charm and bottom quark production at RHIC

We make up-to-date QCD predictions for open charm and bottom production at RHIC in nucleon-nucleon collisions at square root of S=200 GeV. We also calculate the electron spectrum resulting from heavy flavor decays to allow direct comparison to the data. A rigorous benchmark, including the theoretical uncertainties, is established against which nuclear collision data can be compared to obtain evidence for nuclear effects.     

The leading particle effect from light quark fragmentation in charm hadroproduction

The asymmetry of D^- and D⁺ meson production in π^-N scattering observed by the E791 experiment is a phenomenon typical for what is known as the leading particle effect in charm hadroproduction. We show that the phenomenon can be explained by the effect of light quark fragmentation into charmed hadrons (LQF). Meanwhile, the size of the LQF effect is estimated from the data of the E791 experiment. A comparison is made with the estimate of the LQF effect from the prompt like-sign dimuon rate in neutrino experiments. The influence of the LQF effect on the measurement of the nucleon strange distribution asymmetry from charged current charm production processes is briefly discussed. PACS 14.60.Pq; 12.15.Ff     

Hadronic spectroscopy in lattice QCD with dynamical staggered quark loops

We have made a high statistics hadron mass calculation at β = 5.4 on a 6³ × 24 lattice, for the two flavour fully coupled staggered QCD. We show that the systematic error of the pseudofermionic method is small for mass measurements. As has already been shown for Wilson fermions, we find that the effect of the quark loops can be readsorbed in a shift of the coupling constant. At the quark mass values (am) = 0.2, 0.1 we also find that the proton-rho mass ratio is no longer than in the quenched theory.     

Non-perturbative quark mass renormalization in quenched lattice QCD

The renormalization factor relating the bare to the renormalization group invariant quark masses is accurately calculated in quenched lattice QCD using a recursive finite-size technique. The result is presented in the form of a product of a universal factor times another factor, which depends on the details of the lattice theory but is easy to compute, since it does not involve any large scale differences. As a byproduct the A-parameter of the theory is obtained with a total error of 8%.     

Moments of isovector quark distributions in lattice QCD

We investigate the connection of lattice calculations of moments of isovector parton distributions to the physical regime through extrapolations in the quark mass. We consider the one-pion loop renormalisation of the nucleon matrix elements of the corresponding operators and thereby develop formulae with which to extrapolate the moments of the unpolarised, helicity and transversity distributions. These formulae are consistent with chiral perturbation theory in chiral limit and incorporate the correct heavy-quark limits. In the polarised cases, the inclusion of intermediate states involving the -isobar is found to be very important. The results of our extrapolations are in general agreement with the phenomenological values of these moments where they are known, and for the first time we make reliable predictions for the low moments of the isovector transversity distribution.Received: 30 September 2002, Published online: 22 October 2003PACS: 12.38.Gc Lattice QCD calculations - 11.30.Rd Chiral symmetries     

Calculation of disconnected quark loops in lattice QCD

Calculation of disconnected quark loops in lattice QCD is very time consuming. Stochastic noise methods are generally used to estimate these loops. However, stochastic estimation gives large errors in the calculations of disconnected diagrams. We use the symmetric multi-probing source(SMP) method to estimate the disconnected quark loops, and compare the results with the Z(2) noise method and the spin-color explicit(SCE) method on a quenched lattice QCD ensemble with lattice volume 12~3× 24 and lattice spacing a ≈ 0.1 fm.. The results show that the SMP method is very suitable for the calculation of pseudoscalar disconnected quark loops. However, the SMP and SCE methods do not have an obvious advantage over the Z(2) noise method in the evaluation of the scalar disconnected loops.     

Up quark mass in lattice QCD with three light dynamical quarks and implications for strong CP invariance

A standing mystery in the standard model is the unnatural smallness of the strong CP violating phase. A massless up quark has long been proposed as one potential solution. A lattice calculation of the constants of the chiral Lagrangian essential for the determination of the up quark mass, 2alpha(8)-alpha(5), is presented. We find 2alpha(8)-alpha(5)=0.29+/-0.18, which corresponds to m(u)/m(d)=0.410+/-0.036. This is the first such calculation using a physical number of dynamical light quarks, N(f)=3.     

Operator product expansion and quark condensate from lattice QCD in coordinate space

We present a lattice QCD determination of the chiral quark condensate based on a new method. We extract the quark condensate from the operator product expansion of the quark propagator at short euclidean distances, where it represents the leading contribution in the chiral limit. From this study we obtain , in good agreement with determinations of this quantity based on different approaches. The simulation is performed by using the -improved Wilson action at on a volume 32³ × 70 in the quenched approximation.Received: 8 March 2005, Revised: 15 April 2005, Published online: 18 May 2005PACS: 11.15.Ha, 11.30.Rd, 12.38.-t, 12.38.Gc     

Constituent quark screening lengths in finite temperature lattice QCD

Landau gauge quark propagators are calculated in both the confined and the deconfined phases of QCD. We discuss the magnitude of the resulting screening lengths as well as aspects of chiral symmetry relevant to the quark propagator.