Sara Collins

Effective noise reduction techniques for disconnected loops in Lattice QCD

Many Lattice QCD observables of phenomenological interest include so-called all-to-all propagators. The computation of these requires prohibitively large computational resources, unless they are estimated stochastically. This is usually done. However, the computational demand can often be further reduced by one order of magnitude by implementing sophisticated unbiased noise reduction techniques. We combine both well known and novel methods that can be applied to a wide range of problems. We concentrate on calculating disconnected contributions to nucleon structure functions, as one realistic benchmark example. In particular we determine the strangeness contributions to the nucleon, 〈N|s¯s|N〉 and to the spin of the nucleon, Δs.

Nucleon mass and sigma term from lattice QCD with two light fermion flavors

Abstract We analyze N f = 2 nucleon mass data with respect to their dependence on the pion mass down to m π = 157 MeV and compare it with predictions from covariant baryon chiral perturbation theory (BChPT). A novel feature of our approach is that we fit the nucleon mass data simultaneously with the directly obtained pion–nucleon σ-term. Our lattice data below m π = 435 MeV is well described by O ( p 4 ) BChPT and we find σ = 37 ( 8 ) ( 6 ) MeV for the σ-term at the physical point. Using the nucleon mass to set the scale we obtain a Sommer parameter of r 0 = 0.501 ( 10 ) ( 11 ) fm .

The strange and light quark contributions to the nucleon mass from Lattice QCD

We determine the strangeness and light quark fractions of the nucleon mass by computing the quark line connected and disconnected contributions to the matrix elements m_q in lattice QCD, using the non-perturbatively improved Sheikholeslami-Wohlert Wilson Fermionic action. We simulate n_F=2 mass degenerate sea quarks with a pion mass of about 285 MeV and a lattice spacing a approx 0.073 fm. The renormalization of the matrix elements involves mixing between contributions from different quark flavours. The pion-nucleon sigma-term is extrapolated to physical quark masses exploiting the sea quark mass dependence of the nucleon mass. We obtain the renormalized values \sigma_{\pi N} = 38(12) MeV at the physical point and f_{T_s}=\sigma_s/m_N= 0.012(14)^{+10}_{-3} for the strangeness contribution at our larger than physical sea quark mass.

Strangeness Contribution to the Proton Spin from Lattice QCD

We compute the strangeness and light-quark contributions Δs, Δu, and Δd to the proton spin in n(f)=2 lattice QCD at a pion mass of about 285 MeV and at a lattice spacing a≈0.073 fm, using the nonperturbatively improved Sheikholeslami-Wohlert Wilson action. We carry out the renormalization of these matrix elements, which involves mixing between contributions from different quark flavors. Our main result is the small negative value Δs(MS)(√(7.4) GeV)=-0.020(10)(4) of the strangeness contribution to the nucleon spin. The second error is an estimate of the uncertainty, due to the missing extrapolation to the physical point.

Heavy-light mesons and baryons with b quarks

We present lattice results for the spectrum of mesons containing one heavy quark and of baryons containing one or two heavy quarks. The calculation is done in the quenched approximation using the NRQCD formalism for the heavy quark. We analyze the dependence of the mass splittings on both the heavy and the light quark masses. Meson P-state fine structure and baryon hyperfine splittings are resolved for the first time. We fix the b quark mass using both M{sub B} and M{sub {lambda}{sub b}, and our best estimate is m{sub b}{sup MS}(m{sub b}{sup MS})=4.35(10)({sub +2}{sup -3})(20) GeV. The spectrum, obtained by interpolation to m{sub b}, is compared with the experimental data. (c) 2000 The American Physical Society.

Dirac and Pauli form factors from lattice QCD

We present a comprehensive analysis of the electromagnetic form factors of the nucleon from a lattice simulation with two flavors of dynamical O(a)-improved Wilson fermions. A key feature of our calculation is that we make use of an extensive ensemble of lattice gauge field configurations with four different lattice spacings, multiple volumes, and pion masses down to m{sub {pi}{approx}1}80 MeV. We find that by employing Kelly-inspired parametrizations for the Q{sup 2} dependence of the form factors, we are able to obtain stable fits over our complete ensemble. Dirac and Pauli radii and the anomalous magnetic moments of the nucleon are extracted and results at light quark masses provide evidence for chiral nonanalytic behavior in these fundamental observables.

Mesons in large-N QCD

A bstractWe present the results of a systematic, first-principles study of the spectrum and decay constants of mesons for different numbers of color charges N, via lattice computations. We restrict our attention to states in the non-zero isospin sector, evaluating the masses associated with the ground-state and first excitation in the pseudoscalar, vector, scalar, and axial vector channels. Our results are based on a new set of simulations of four dimensional SU(N) Yang-Mills theories with the number of colors ranging from N = 2 to N =17;thespectraandthedecayconstantsarecomputedinthequenchedapproximation (which becomes exact in the ’t Hooft limit) using Wilson fermions. After discussing the extrapolations to the chiral and large-N limits, we present a comparison of our results to some of the numerical computations and analytical predictions available in the literature — including, in particular, those from holographic computations.

Scaling of the B and D meson spectrum in lattice QCD

We give results for the B and the D meson spectrum using NRQCD on the lattice in the quenched approximation. The masses of radially and orbitally excited states are calculated as well as S-wave hyperfine and P-wave fine structure. Radially excited P states are observed for the first time. Radial and orbital excitation energies match well to experiment, as does the strange-nonstrange S-wave splitting. We compare the light and heavy quark mass dependence of various splittings to experiment. Our B results cover a range in lattice spacings of more than a factor of two. Our D results are from a single lattice spacing and we compare them to numbers in the literature from finer lattices using other methods. We see no significant dependence of physical results on the lattice spacing. (c) 2000 The American Physical Society.

Charmonium spectroscopy and mixing with light quark and open charm states from n{sub F}=2 lattice QCD

We study the charmonium spectrum including higher spin and gluonic excitations. We determine an upper limit on the mixing of the {eta}{sub c} ground state with light pseudoscalar flavor-singlet mesons and investigate the mixing of charmonia near open charm thresholds with pairs of (excited) D and D mesons. For charm and light valence quarks and n{sub F}=2 sea quarks, we employ the nonperturbatively improved Sheikholeslami-Wohlert (clover) action. Excited states are accessed using the variational technique, starting from a basis of suitably optimized operators. For some aspects of this study, the use of improved stochastic all-to-all propagators was essential.

B Meson Decay Constants From NRQCD

Abstract We present quenched results for B meson decay constants using NRQCD b quarks and O (a) tadpole improved clover light quarks. For the first time, one-loop matching factors between lattice and continuum currents are incorporated through O (α/M ) taking operator mixing fully into account. This includes an important O (α a ) discretization correction to the heavy-light axial vector current. We find fB=147(11)(+8−12)(9)(6) MeV and fBs/fB=1.20(4)(+4−0).