We compute the matrix elements of the electromagnetic (EM) operator between kaon and pion states, using lattice QCD with maximally twisted-mass fermions and two flavors of dynamical quarks (Nf = 2). The EM operator is renormalized non-perturbatively in the RI'/MOM scheme and our simulations cover pion masses as light as 260 MeV and three values of the lattice spacing, ranging from ~ 0.07 up to ~ 0.1 fm. At the physical point our preliminary result for the K -> pion tensor form factor at zero-momentum transfer is fT[Kπ](0) = 0.42(2_stat), which differs significantly from the old quenched result fT[Kπ](0) = 0.78(6) obtained by the SPQcdR Collaboration with pion masses above 500 MeV. We investigate the source of this difference and conclude that it is mainly related to the chiral extrapolation of the quenched data. For the case of the tensor charge of the pion we obtain the preliminary value fT[ππ](0) = 0.200(14_stat), which can be compared with the result fT[ππ](0) = 0.216(34) obtained at Nf = 2 by the QCDSF Collaboration using higher pion masses.
We present the state-of-the-art lattice QCD calculation of the pion and kaon light-cone distribution amplitudes (DAs) using large-momentum effective theory. The calculation is done at three lattice spacings $a\approx\{0.06,0.09,0.12\}$ fm and physical pion and kaon masses, with the meson momenta $P_z = \{1.29,1.72,2.15\}$ GeV. The result is non-perturbatively renormalized in a recently proposed hybrid scheme with self renormalization, and extrapolated to the continuum as well as the infinite momentum limit. We find a significant deviation of the pion and kaon DAs from the asymptotic form, and …
We calculate the pion and kaon electromagnetic form factors in finite volume for a generic momentum transfer in space-like region, using SU(3) chiral perturbation theory. To this end, we first find the hadronic matrix element in a new form which is suitable for our calculation in finite volume. We present our numerical findings for the chiral behavior and finite volume corrections and compare these for pion and kaon form factors. As a result, for the pion electromagnetic form factor we find the finite volume correction $ΔF^π_{em} = 0.0041$ at momentum transfer $q^2 = -0.1358$ and for the kaon …
The different ground state energies of N-pion and M-kaon systems for N+M <=12 are studied in lattice QCD. These energies are then used to extract the various two- and three- body interactions that occur in these systems. Particular attention is paid to additional thermal states present in the spectrum because of the finite temporal extent. These calculations are performed using one ensemble of 2+1 flavor anisotropic lattices with a spatial lattice spacing a_s ~ 0.125 fm, an anisotropy factor ξ=a_s/a_t=3.5, and a spatial volume L^3 ~ (2.5 fm)^3. The quark masses used correspond to pion and kaon…
We present the first lattice-QCD calculation of the kaon valence-quark distribution functions using the large-momentum effective theory (LaMET) approach. The calculation is performed with multiple pion masses with the lightest one around 220 MeV, 2 lattice spacings $a=0.06$ and 0.12 fm, $(M_π)_\text{min} L \approx 5.5$, and high statistics ranging from 11,600 to 61,312 measurements. We also calculate the valence-quark distribution of pion and find it to be consistent with the FNAL E615 experimental results, and our ratio of the $u$ quark PDF in the kaon to that in the pion agrees with the CERN…
We consider the dependence of the pion and kaon decay constants on the up, down and strange quark masses in QCD with strict isospin symmetry. The role of dynamical vector meson degrees of freedom is scrutinized in terms of an effective chiral Lagrangian for vector mesons. Applying a set of low-energy parameters as determined previously from QCD lattice data on the masses of the light vector mesons from PACS-CS, QCDSF-UKQCD and HSC we compute its implications on the pion and kaon decay constants for QCD lattice ensembles of HPQCD, CLS and ETMC. It is shown that with Gasser-Leutwyler L_4 and L_5…
We present a calculation of the connected-diagram contributions to the first three non-trivial Mellin moments for the pion and kaon, extracted using local operators with up to 3 covariant derivatives. We use one ensemble of gauge configurations with two degenerate light, a strange and a charm quark ($N_f$=2+1+1) of maximally twisted mass fermions with clover improvement. The ensemble has a pion mass $\sim$260 MeV, and a kaon mass $\sim$530 MeV. We reconstruct the $x$-dependence of the PDFs via fits to our results, and find that our lattice data favor a $(1-x)^2$-behavior in the large-$x$ regio…
We study the contributions from the connected and disconnected contraction diagrams to the pion-kaon scattering amplitude within the framework of SU$(4|1)$ partially-quenched chiral perturbation theory. Combining this with a finite-volume analysis, we demonstrate that a lattice calculation of the easier computable connected correlation functions is able to provide valuable information of the noisier disconnected correlation functions, and may serve as a theory guidance for the future refinement of the corresponding lattice techniques.
In high energy Heavy Ion Collisions, the onset of the quark-gluon plasma is the colour glass condensate, dominated by gluons. The final state is hadronic, and dominated by pions and kaons. Here we investigate an effective approach of QCD with these bosonic fields and which can help to describe the transition of gluons into light mesons. Formally, our approach consists in integrating out the quark fields from the QCD path integral, utilizing auxiliary fields. In this way the fermionic fields are replaced by light mesons, such as the pions and sigma field. We apply our effective action to comput…
Based on our analysis of the contributions from the connected and disconnected contraction diagrams to the pion-kaon scattering amplitude, we provide the first determination of the only free low-energy constant at $\mathcal{O}(p^4)$, known as $L_0^r$, in SU$(4|1)$ Partially-Quenched Chiral Perturbation Theory using the data from the Extended Twisted Mass Collaboration, $L_0^r(μ=M_ρ) = 0.77(20)(25)(7)(7)(2)\cdot 10^{-3}$. The theory uncertainties originate from the unphysical scattering length, the physical low-energy constants, the higher-oder chiral corrections, the (lattice) meson masses and…
We present the current status of a non-perturbative lattice calculation of the moments of the pion and kaon distribution amplitudes by the RQCD collaboration. Our investigation is carried out using $N_f=2+1$ dynamical, non-perturbatively O(a)-improved Wilson fermions on the CLS ensembles with 5 different lattice spacings and pion masses down to the physical pion mass. A combined continuum and chiral extrapolation to the physical point is performed along two independent quark mass trajectories simultaneously. We employ momentum smearing in order to decrease the contamination by excited states a…
We investigate the parton-distribution functions (PDFs) for the positively charged pion and kaon at a low-renormalization scale ~ 1 GeV. To this end, we employ the gauge-invariant effective chiral action from the nonlocal chiral-quark model, resulting in that the vector currents are conserved. All the model parameters are determined phenomenologically with the normalization condition for PDF and the empirical values for the pseudoscalar-meson weak-decay constants. We consider the momentum dependence of the effective quark mass properly within the model calculations. It turns out that the leadi…
We present a calculation of the scalar, vector and tensor pion and kaon form factors using one ensemble of two degenerate light, a strange and a charm quark ($N_f=2+1+1$) of maximally twisted mass fermions with clover improvement. The quark masses are chosen so that they produce a pion mass of about 265 MeV, and a kaon mass of 530 MeV. The lattice spacing of the ensemble is 0.093 fm and the lattice has a spatial extent of 3 fm. We use a rest frame, as well as a boosted frame to obtain the form factors for a wider and denser set of four-vector momentum transfer squared, $Q^2$. To assess and eli…
First simultaneous global QCD analysis of kaon and pion parton distributions with lattice QCD constraints
Argonne National Laboratory（阿贡国家实验室）；North Carolina State University（北卡罗来纳州立大学）；Jefferson Lab（杰弗逊实验室）；Helmholtz-Institut für Strahlen- und Kernphysik, University of Bonn（波恩大学亥姆霍兹辐射与核物理研究所）；Bethe Center for Theoretical Physics, University of Bonn（波恩大学贝特理论物理中心）
A rainbow-ladder truncation of QCD's Dyson-Schwinger equations, constrained by existing applications to hadron physics, is employed to compute the valence-quark parton distribution functions of the pion and kaon. Comparison is made to pi-N Drell-Yan data for the pion's u-quark distribution and to Drell-Yan data for the ratio u_K(x)/u_π(x): the environmental influence of this quantity is a parameter-free prediction, which agrees well with existing data. Our analysis unifies the computation of distribution functions with that of numerous other properties of pseudoscalar mesons.
The dynamical fluctuations of kaon--to--pion ratios have been studied over a wide range of center--of--mass energies $\sqrt{s}$. Based on changing phase space volume which apparently is the consequence of phase transition from hadrons to quark--gluon plasma at large $\sqrt{s}$, single--particle distribution function $f$ is assumed to be rather modified. Varying $f$ and phase space volume are implemented in the grand--canonical partition function, especially at large $\sqrt{s}$, so that hadron resonance gas model, when taking into account the experimental acceptance and quark phase space occupa…
Algebraic Ansaetze for the Poincaré-covariant Bethe-Salpeter wave functions of the pion and kaon are used to calculate their light-front wave functions (LFWFs), parton distribution amplitudes (PDAs), quasi-PDAs (qPDAs), valence parton distribution functions (PDFs), and quasi-PDFs (qPDFs). The LFWFs are broad, concave functions; and the scale of flavour-symmetry violation in the kaon is roughly 15%, being set by the ratio of emergent masses in the $s$-and $u$-quark sectors. qPDAs computed with longitudinal momentum $P_z =1.75\,$GeV provide a semiquantitatively accurate representation of the obj…
In order for a Sullivan-like process to provide reliable access to a meson target as $t$ becomes spacelike, the pole associated with that meson should remain the dominant feature of the quark-antiquark scattering matrix and the wave function describing the related correlation must evolve slowly and smoothly. Using continuum methods for the strong-interaction bound-state problem, we explore and delineate the circumstances under which these conditions are satisfied: for the pion, this requires $-t \lesssim 0.6\,$GeV$^2$, whereas $-t\lesssim 0.9\,$GeV$^2$ will suffice for the kaon. These results …
We describe expressions for pion and kaon dressed-quark distribution functions that incorporate contributions from gluons which bind quarks into these mesons and hence overcome a flaw of the commonly used handbag approximation. The distributions therewith obtained are purely valence in character, ensuring that dressed-quarks carry all a meson's momentum at a characteristic hadronic scale and vanishing as $(1-x)^2$ when Bjorken-$x\to 1$. Comparing such distributions within the pion and kaon, it is apparent that the size of SU(3)-flavour symmetry breaking in meson parton distribution functions i…
We present a calculation of the pion and kaon Mellin moment $\langle x^3 \rangle$ extracted directly in lattice QCD using a three-derivative local operator. We use one ensemble of gauge configurations with two degenerate light, a strange and a charm quark ($N_f=2+1+1$) of maximally twisted mass fermions with clover improvement. The ensemble reproduces a pion mass $\sim260$ MeV, and a kaon mass $\sim530$ MeV. Excited-states contamination is evaluated using four values of the source-sink time separation within the range of $1.12-1.67$ fm. We use an operator that is free of mixing, and apply a mu…
Parton physics from a heavy-quark operator product expansion: Dynamical lattice QCD calculation of moments of the pion and kaon light-cone distribution amplitudes
Institute of Physics, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University（国立阳明交通大学物理研究所）；Center for Theoretical Physics - A Leinweber Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology（麻省理工学院理论物理中心-莱纳伯研究所）；University of Maryland（马里兰大学）；RIKEN Center for Computational Science（理化学研究所计算科学中心）；Chung-Yuan Christian University（中原大学）；Argonne National Laboratory（阿贡国家实验室）
We discuss the recent progress in the study of semileptonic kaon and pion decays, including new experimental results, improved electroweak radiative corrections, form factor calculations and isospin-breaking effects. As a result, we obtain $|V_{us}|=0.22309(40)(39)(3)$ from kaon semileptonic decays and $|V_{us}/V_{ud}|=0.22908(66)(41)(40)(2)(1)$ from the ratio between the kaon and pion semileptonic decay rates. We report an apparent violation of the top-row Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix unitarity at a $3.2\sim 5.6σ$ level, and a discrepancy at a $2.2σ$ level between the value of $|V_{us}/V_…
Pion and kaon structural properties provide insights into the emergence of mass within the Standard Model and attendant modulations by the Higgs boson. Novel expressions of these effects, in impact parameter space and in mass and pressure profiles, are exposed via $π$ and $K$ generalised parton distributions, built using the overlap representation from light-front wave functions constrained by one-dimensional valence distribution functions that describe available data. Notably, e.g. $K$ pressure profiles are spatially more compact than $π$ profiles and both achieve near-core pressures of simil…
We present an overview of searches fo violation of lepton flavor universality with focus on low energy precision probes using pions, kaons, tau leptons, and nuclear beta decays. The current experimental results are reviewed, the theoretical status within the context of the Standard Model is summarized, and future prospects (both experimental and theoretical) are discussed. We review the implications of these measurements for physics beyond the Standard Model by performing a global model-independent fit to modified $W$ couplings to leptons and four-fermion operators. We also discuss new physics…
Strangeness was discovered roughly seventy years ago, lodged in a particle now known as the kaon, $K$. Kindred to the pion, $π$; both states are massless in the absence of Higgs-boson couplings. Kaons and pions are Nature's most fundamental Nambu-Goldstone modes. Their properties are largely determined by the mechanisms responsible for emergent mass in the standard model, but modulations applied by the Higgs are crucial to Universe evolution. Despite their importance, little is known empirically about $K$ and $π$ structure. This study delivers the first parameter-free predictions for all $K$ d…
