Lattice QCD calculations with different staggered valence and sea quarks can be used to improve determinations of quark masses, Gasser-Leutwyler couplings, and other parameters relevant to phenomenology. We calculate the masses and decay constants of flavored pions and kaons through next-to-leading order in staggered-valence, staggered-sea mixed-action chiral perturbation theory. We present the results in the valence-valence and valence-sea sectors, for all tastes. As in unmixed theories, the taste-pseudoscalar, valence-valence mesons are exact Goldstone bosons in the chiral limit, at non-zero lattice spacing. The results reduce correctly when the valence and sea quark actions are identical, connect smoothly to the continuum limit, and provide a way to control light quark and gluon discretization errors in lattice calculations performed with different staggered actions for the valence and sea quarks.
We calculate the kaon B-parameter, B_K, to next-to-leading order in staggered chiral perturbation theory. We extend the usual power counting to include the effects of using perturbative (rather than non-perturbative) matching factors. Taste breaking enters through the O(a^2) terms in the effective action, through mixing with higher-dimension operators, and through the truncation of matching factors. These effects cause mixing with several additional operators, complicating the chiral and continuum extrapolations. We summarize the results here; all details can be found in hep-lat/0507012.
We compute pseudoscalar meson masses and decay constants using staggered quarks on lattices with three flavors of sea quarks and lattice spacings $\approx 0.12$ fm and $\approx 0.09$ fm. We fit partially quenched results to ``staggered chiral perturbation theory'' formulae, thereby taking into account the effects of taste-symmetry violations. Chiral logarithms are observed. From the fits we calculate $f_π$ and $f_K$, extract Gasser-Leutwyler parameters of the chiral Lagrangian, and (modulo rather large perturbative errors) find the light and strange quark masses.
Different versions of improved staggered fermions can be used as valence quarks to reduce discretization effects in lattice QCD calculations while increasing statistics on existing staggered gauge ensembles. Such mixed-action simulations can be used to improve determinations of light quark masses, Gasser-Leutwyler couplings, decay constants, and other parameters relevant to particle phenomenology. We recall the generalization of ordinary, unmixed staggered chiral perturbation theory required to describe data from lattice calculations with a mixed action such as with HYP staggered valence quark…
We show how to compute chiral logarithms that take into account both the $\cO(a^2)$ taste-symmetry breaking of staggered fermions and the fourth-root trick that produces one taste per flavor. The calculation starts from the Lee-Sharpe Lagrangian generalized to multiple flavors. An error in a previous treatment by one of us is explained and corrected. The one loop chiral logarithm corrections to the pion and kaon masses in the full (unquenched), partially quenched, and quenched cases are computed as examples.
The ground state energy of a collection of n pions and m kaons with short range interactions is calculated for a volume with finite spatial extent L and periodic boundary conditions. This calculation is accomplished to order L^-6 in the large volume expansion. With this result one can extract the various two- and three-body interactions between pions and kaons from lattice QCD data.
We present a calculation of the kaon $B$-parameter, $B_K$, using lattice QCD. We use improved staggered valence and sea fermions, the latter generated by the MILC collaboration with $N_f=2+1$ light flavors. To control discretization errors, we use four different lattice spacings ranging down to $a\approx 0.045\;$fm. The chiral and continuum extrapolations are done using SU(2) staggered chiral perturbation theory. Our final result is $\hat{B}_K = 0.727 \pm 0.004 (\text{stat}) \pm 0.038 (\text{sys})$, where the dominant systematic error is from our use of truncated (one-loop) matching factors.
Models of new physics induce K-Kbar mixing operators having Dirac structures other than the "left-left" form of the Standard Model. We calculate the functional form of the corresponding B-parameters at next-to-leading order in both SU(3) and SU(2) staggered chiral perturbation theory (SChPT). Numerical results for these matrix elements are being generated using improved staggered fermions; our results can be used to extrapolate these matrix elements to the physical light and strange quark masses. The SU(3) SChPT results turn out to be much simpler than that for the Standard Model B_K operator,…
We calculate the next-to-leading order axial current decay constants of taste non-Goldstone pions and kaons in staggered chiral perturbation theory. This is an extension of the taste Goldstone decay constants calculation to that of the non-Goldstone tastes. We present results for the partially quenched case in the SU(3) and SU(2) staggered chiral perturbation theories and discuss the difference between the taste Goldstone and non-Goldstone cases.
We study the pion spectrum (and in particular taste-symmetry breaking within it) using HYP-smeared valence staggered fermions on the coarse and fine MILC lattices (which have asqtad staggered sea quarks). We focus on the dependence on lattice spacing and sea-quark mass. We also update our results on source dependence. Our main conclusion is that on the MILC fine lattices the appropriate power-counting for SU(3) staggered chiral perturbation theory may have discretization errors entering at next-to-leading order rather than at leading-order.
We present updated results for kaon B-parameters for operators arising in models of new physics. We use HYP-smeared staggered quarks on the $N_f = 2+1$ MILC asqtad lattices. During the last year we have added new ensembles, which has necessitated chiral-continuum fitting with more elaborate fitting functions. We have also corrected an error in a two-loop anomalous dimension used to evolve results between different scales. Our results for the beyond-the-Standard-Model B-parameters have total errors of $5-10$\%. We find that the discrepancy observed last year between our results and those of the…
We present results for the pion multiplet spectrum calculated using both unimproved staggered fermions and improved HYP-smeared staggered fermions. In the case of unimproved staggered fermions, we observe (consistent with previous work) that ${\cal O}(a^2)$ taste symmetry breaking effects are large and comparable to the $\approx {\cal O}(p^2)$ contributions to their masses. Higher order ${\cal O}(a^2 p^2)$ effects are also substantial enough to be seen. For HYP-smeared staggered fermions, we find that taste breaking is much reduced. The ${\cal O}(a^2)$ effects are observable, but are noticeabl…
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…
The determination of $\vert V_{us}\vert$ from kaon semileptonic decays requires the value of the form factor $f_+(q^2=0)$, which can be calculated precisely on the lattice. We provide the one-loop partially quenched staggered chiral perturbation theory expressions that may be employed to analyze staggered simulations of $f_+(q^2)$ with three light flavors. We consider both the case of a mixed action, where the valence and sea sectors have different staggered actions, and the standard case where these actions are the same. The momentum transfer $q^2$ of the form factor is allowed to have an arb…
We extend our previous study of taste-symmetry breaking using HYP-smeared staggered fermions in two ways. First, we improve the statistics of a comparison of unimproved and HYP-smeared staggered fermions on quenched lattices with $a\approx 0.1 $fm. This allows us to obtain a signal for all pion tastes, rather than just a subset, and thus to make a complete comparison. In addition, it allows us to differentiate between wall and local sources. Second, we compare HYP-smeared valence quarks to asqtad valence quarks on 2+1 flavor unquenched MILC lattices. We find that taste breaking is substantiall…
We calculate the kaon B-parameter, B_K, in chiral perturbation theory for a partially quenched, mixed action theory with Ginsparg-Wilson valence quarks and staggered sea quarks. We find that the resulting expression is similar to that in the continuum, and in fact has only two additional unknown parameters. At one-loop order, taste-symmetry violations in the staggered sea sector only contribute to flavor-disconnected diagrams by generating an O(a^2) shift to the masses of taste-singlet sea-sea mesons. Lattice discretization errors also give rise to an analytic term which shifts the tree-level …
The use of improved staggered actions (HYP, Asqtad) has been proved to reduce the scaling corrections that affected previous calculations of B_K with unimproved (standard) staggered fermions in the quenched approximation. This improved behaviour allows us to perform a reliable calculation of B_K including quark vacuum polarization effects, using the MILC configurations with n_f=2+1 flavours of sea fermions. We perform such a calculation for a single lattice spacing, a=0.125 fm, and with kaons made up of degenerate quarks with m_s/2. The valence strange quark mass m_s is fixed to its physical v…
We study the improvement of staggered fermions using hypercubically smeared (HYP) links. We calculate the strange quark mass and the kaon B-parameter, $B_K$, in quenched QCD on a $16^3 \times 64$ lattice at $β=6.0$. We find $m_s(\bar{\rm MS},2 {\rm GeV})=101.2\pm1.3\pm4 $MeV and $B_K(\bar{\rm MS},2 {\rm GeV}) = 0.578 \pm 0.018\pm 0.042$, where the first error is from statistics and fitting, and the second from using one-loop matching factors. The scale ($1/a=1.95$GeV) is set by $M_ρ$, and $m_s$ is determined using the kaon mass. Comparing to quenched results obtained using unimproved staggered…
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 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 Lattice results for the pion and kaon decay constants are analysed within the Resonance Chiral Theory framework in the large NC limit. The approximately linear behaviour of the observable at large light-quark mass is explained through the interaction with the lightest multiplet of scalar resonances. The analysis of the Lattice results allows to obtain the resonance mass MS=1049 +- 25 MeV and the Chiral Perturbation Theory parameters at leading order in 1/NC.
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 review recent progress in calculating kaon spectrum, pseudoscalar meson decay constants, $B_K$, $ε'/ε$, $K\to ππ$ matrix elements, kaon semileptonic form factors, and moments of kaon distribution amplitudes on the lattice. We also address the issue of how best to improve the staggered fermion formulation for the action and operators.
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 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.
We present results of the masses of taste non-Goldstone $(F \ne ξ_5)$ pions and kaons calculated up to the next-to-leading order in the SU(3) staggered chiral perturbation theory (SChPT). The results can be used to fit data and to understand taste symmetry breaking effect quantitatively. The final expressions for the non-Goldstone masses contain 20 low energy constants unique to the non-Goldstone sector. We have calculated the several cases such as the full QCD, partially quenched QCD, and quenched QCD in the $N_f=1+1+1$ flavor and $N_f=2+1$ flavor cases in the SU(3) and SU(2) SChPT. In this p…
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…
Using staggered fermions and twisted boundary conditions, we calculate the K meson semileptonic decay vector form factor at zero momentum transfer. The HISQ formulation is used for the valence quarks, while the sea quarks are simulated with the asqtad action (MILC N_f=2+1 configurations). For the chiral and continuum extrapolation we use two-loop continuum CHPT, supplemented by partially quenched staggered CHPT at one loop. Our result is f_+^{Kπ}(0) = 0.9667+-0.0023+-0.0033, where the first error is statistical and the second is the sum in quadrature of the systematic uncertainties. This resul…
Using the tadpole improved Wilson quark action on small, coarse and anisotropic lattices, $Kπ$ scattering length in the $I=3/2$ channel is calculated within quenched approximation. The results are extrapolated towards the chiral and physical kaon mass region. Finite volume and finite lattice spacing errors are also analyzed and a result in the infinite volume and continuum limit is obtained. Our result is compared with the results obtained using Roy equations, Chiral Perturbation Theory, dispersion relations and the experimental data.
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.
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）
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…
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 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 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…
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…
