We study isovector unpolarized and helicity parton distribution functions (PDF) of the proton within the framework of Large Momentum Effective Theory. We use a gauge ensemble, generated by the MILC Collaboration, with a superfine lattice spacing of $0.042$ fm and a pion mass of $310$ MeV, enabling us to simultaneously reach sub-fermi spatial separations and larger nucleon momenta. We compare the spatial dependence of quasi-PDF matrix elements in different renormalization schemes with the corresponding results of the global fits, obtained using 1-loop perturbative matching. We present determinations of the first four moments of the unpolarized and helicity PDFs of proton from the Ioffe-time dependence of the isovector matrix elements, obtained by employing a ratio-based renormalization scheme.
We present the first lattice-QCD calculation of the nucleon isovector unpolarized parton distribution functions (PDFs) at the physical-continuum limit using Large-Momentum Effective Theory (LaMET). The lattice results are calculated using ensembles with multiple sea pion masses with the lightest one around 135~MeV, 3 lattice spacings $a\in[0.06,0.12]$~fm, and multiple volumes with $M_πL$ ranging 3.3 to 5.5. We perform a simultaneous chiral-continuum extrapolation to obtain RI/MOM renormalized nucleon matrix elements with various Wilson-link displacements in the continuum limit at physical pion…
We present the first Monte Carlo based global QCD analysis of spin-averaged and spin-dependent parton distribution functions (PDFs) that includes nucleon isovector matrix elements in coordinate space from lattice QCD. We investigate the degree of universality of the extracted PDFs when the lattice and experimental data are treated under the same conditions within the Bayesian likelihood analysis. For the unpolarized sector, we find rather weak constraints from the current lattice data on the phenomenological PDFs, and difficulties in describing the lattice matrix elements at large spatial dist…
The fraction of the longitudinal momentum of ${}^3\text{He}$ that is carried by the isovector combination of $u$ and $d$ quarks is determined using lattice QCD for the first time. The ratio of this combination to that in the constituent nucleons is found to be consistent with unity at the few-percent level from calculations with quark masses corresponding to $m_π\sim 800$ MeV, extrapolated to the physical quark masses. This constraint is consistent with, and significantly more precise than, determinations from global nuclear parton distribution function fits. Including the lattice QCD determin…
We present a state-of-the-art calculation of the isovector quark helicity Bjorken-$x$ distribution in the proton using lattice-QCD ensembles at the physical pion mass. We compute quasi-distributions at proton momenta $P_z \in \{2.2, 2.6, 3.0\}$~GeV on the lattice, and match them systematically to the physical parton distribution using large-momentum effective theory (LaMET). We reach an unprecedented precision through high statistics in simulations, large-momentum proton matrix elements, and control of excited-state contamination. The resulting distribution with combined statistical and system…
The large-momentum effective theory (LaMET) framework has been widely used to determine the Bjorken-$x$ dependence of parton distribution functions (PDFs) in lattice-QCD hadron-structure calculations. In this proceeding, I highlighted selected recent lattice-QCD results on parton distributions from MSULat group. We use clover valence fermions on ensembles generated by MILC Collaboration with lattice spacing $a \approx 0.06$, 0.09, and 0.12 fm, with $M_πL \approx 4$, and with pion masses including 135, 220 and 310 MeV and $N_f=2+1+1$ flavors of highly improved staggered dynamical quarks. Result…
Parton convolution models have been used extensively in describing the sea quarks in the nucleon and explaining quark distributions in nuclei (the EMC effect). From effective field theory point of view, we construct the parton convolution formalism which has been the underlying conception of all convolution models. We explain the significance of scheme and scale dependence of the auxiliary quantities such as the pion distributions in a nucleon. As an application, we calculate the complete leading nonanalytic chiral contribution to the isovector component of the nucleon sea.
We present lattice results for the isovector unpolarized parton distribution with nonperturbative RI/MOM-scheme renormalization on the lattice. In the framework of large-momentum effective field theory (LaMET), the full Bjorken-$x$ dependence of a momentum-dependent quasi-distribution is calculated on the lattice and matched to the ordinary lightcone parton distribution at one-loop order, with power corrections included. The important step of RI/MOM renormalization that connects the lattice and continuum matrix elements is detailed in this paper. A few consequences of the results are also addr…
Lattice QCD Benchmark of Proton Helicity and Flavor-Dependent Unpolarized Transverse Momentum-Dependent Parton Distribution Functions at Physical Quark Masses
We present a detailed Lattice QCD study of the unpolarized isovector quark Parton Distribution Function (PDF) using large-momentum effective theory framework. We choose a quasi-PDF defined by a spatial correlator which is free from mixing with other operators of the same dimension. In the lattice simulation, we use a Gaussian-momentum-smeared source at $M_π=356$ MeV and $P_z \in \{1.8,2.3\}$ GeV. To control the systematics associated with the excited states, we explore {five different source-sink separations}. The nonperturbative renormalization is conducted in a regularization-independent mom…
We present the first lattice calculation of the nucleon isovector unpolarized generalized parton distribution (GPD) at the physical pion mass using a lattice ensemble with 2+1+1 flavors of highly improved staggered quarks (HISQ) generated by MILC Collaboration, with lattice spacing $a\approx 0.09$~fm and volume $64^3\times 96$. We use momentum-smeared sources to improve the signal at nucleon boost momentum $P_z \approx 2.2$ GeV, and report results at nonzero momentum transfers in $[0.2,1.0]\text{ GeV}^2$. Nonperturbative renormalization in RI/MOM scheme is used to obtain the quasi-distribution…
We present a lattice-QCD calculation of the unpolarized isovector parton distribution function (PDF) using ensembles at the physical pion mass with large proton boost momenta $P_z \in \{2.2,2.6,3.0\}$~GeV within the framework of large-momentum effective theory (LaMET). In contrast to our previous physical-pion PDF result, we increase the statistics significantly, double the boost momentum, increase the investment in excited-state contamination systematics, and switch to $γ_t$ operator to avoid mixing with scalar matrix elements. We use four source-sink separations in our analysis to control th…
Proton's isovector PDF with updated analysis of large-momentum lattice data
Tsung-Dao Lee Institute and School of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University（上海交通大学物理与天文学院、李政道研究所）；Department of Physics, University of Maryland（马里兰大学物理系）
We present results for the $x$ dependence of the unpolarized, helicity, and transversity isovector quark distributions in the proton using lattice QCD, employing the method of quasi-distributions proposed by Ji in 2013. Compared to a previous calculation by us, the errors are reduced by a factor of about 2.5. Moreover, we present our first results for the polarized sector of the proton, which indicate an asymmetry in the proton sea in favor of the $u$ antiquarks for the case of helicity distributions, and an asymmetry in favor of the $d$ antiquarks for the case of transversity distributions.
We report the first-ever calculation of the isovector flavor combination of the chiral-odd twist-3 parton distribution $h_L(x)$ for the proton from lattice QCD. We employ gauge configurations with two degenerate light, a strange and a charm quark ($N_f=2+1+1$) of maximally twisted mass fermions with a clover improvement. The lattice has a spatial extent of 3 fm and lattice spacing of 0.093 fm. The values of the quark masses lead to a pion mass of $260$ MeV. We use a source-sink time separation of 1.12 fm to control contamination from excited states. Our calculation is based on the quasi-distri…
We present the first lattice-QCD calculation of the isovector polarized parton distribution functions (both helicity and transversity) using the large-momentum effective field theory (LaMET) approach for direct Bjorken-$x$ dependence. We first review the detailed steps of the procedure in the unpolarized case, then generalize to the helicity and transversity cases. We also derive a new mass-correction formulation for all three cases. We then compare the effects of each finite-momentum correction using lattice data calculated at $M_π\approx 310$ MeV. Finally, we discuss the implications of thes…
We revise the relation between Parton Distribution Functions (PDFs) and matrix elements computable from lattice QCD, focusing on the quasi-Parton Distribution Functions (qPDFs) approach. We exploit the relation between PDFs and qPDFs in the case of the unpolarized isovector parton distribution to obtain a factorization formula relating the real and imaginary part of qPDFs matrix elements to specific nonsinglet distributions, and we propose a general framework to extract PDFs from the available lattice data, treating them on the same footing as experimental data. We implement the proposed appro…
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 the chiral limit and incorporate the correct heavy quark limits. In the polarised cases, the inclusion of intermediate states involving…
The generalized parton distributions (GPDs) offer a window on three-dimensional imaging of the nucleon, providing understanding of how the fundamental properties of the nucleon, such as its mass and spin, arise from the underlying quark and gluon degrees of freedom. In this work, we present the first lattice calculation of the nucleon isovector helicity GPD at physical pion mass, using an $a \approx 0.09$ fm lattice ensemble with 2+1+1 flavors of highly improved staggered quarks generated by MILC Collaboration. We perform the GPD calculation in Breit frame using averaged nucleon boost momentum…
We consider the pion matrix elements of the isoscalar and isovector combinations of the vector and tensor twist-two operators that determine the moments of the various pion generalised parton distributions. Our analysis is performed using partially-quenched chiral perturbation theory. We work in the SU(2) and SU(4|2) theories and present our results at infinite volume and also at finite volume where some subtleties arise. These results are useful for extrapolations of lattice calculations of these matrix elements at small momentum transfer to the physical regime.
We present the first lattice results on isovector unpolarized and longitudinally polarized parton distribution functions (PDFs) at physical pion mass. The PDFs are obtained using the large-momentum effective field theory (LaMET) framework where the full Bjorken-$x$ dependence of finite-momentum PDFs, called "quasi-PDFs", can be calculated on the lattice. The quasi-PDF nucleon matrix elements are renormalized nonperturbatively in RI/MOM-scheme. However, the recent renormalized quasi-PDFs suffer from unphysical oscillations that alter the shape of the true distribution as a function of Bjorken-$…
Within the framework of large momentum effective theory (LaMET), genenaralized parton distributions (GPDs) can be extracted from lattice calculations of quasi-GPDs through a perturbative matching relation, up to power corrections that are suppressed by the hadron momentum. In this paper, we focus on isovector quark GPDs, including the unpolarized, longitudinally and transversely polarized cases, and present the one-loop matching that connects the quasi-GPDs renormalized in a regularization-independent momentum subtraction (RI/MOM) scheme to the GPDs in MS scheme. We find that the matching coef…
We present results for the moments of nucleon isovector vector and axial generalised parton distribution functions computed within lattice QCD. Three ensembles of maximally twisted mass clover-improved fermions simulated with a physical value of the pion mass are analyzed. Two of these ensembles are generated using two degenerate light quarks. A third ensemble is used having, in addition to the light quarks, strange and charm quarks in the sea. A careful analysis of the convergence to the ground state is carried out that is shown to be essential for extracting the correct nucleon matrix elemen…
In this document, we summarize the status and challenges of calculating parton physics in lattice QCD for the US Particle Physics Community Planning Exercise (a.k.a. "Snowmass"). While PDF-moments calculations have been very successful and been continuously improved, new methods have been developed to calculate distributions directly in $x$-space. Many recent lattice studies have been focused on calculating isovector PDFs of the pion and nucleon, learning to control systematics associated with excited-state contamination, renormalization and continuum extrapolations, pion-mass and finite-volum…
Generalized parton distributions (GPDs) are among the most fundamental quantities for describing the internal structure of hadrons. In this work, we present results on isovector GPDs of the proton obtained within lattice Quantum Chromodynamics. We use the quasi-distribution formalism and perform the calculations on an ensemble of $N_f = 2 + 1 + 1$ twisted mass fermions, with pion mass $M_π=260$~MeV and lattice spacing $a\simeq 0.093$~fm. Results are presented for unpolarized, helicity, and transversity GPDs at zero and nonzero skewness with controlled statistical uncertainties. Comparisons wit…
Momentum and spatial distributions of quarks and gluons inside hadrons are typically encoded in the so-called generalized parton distributions (GPDs). GPDs are multi-dimensional quantities that are very challenging to extract, both experimentally and within lattice QCD. We present the first lattice results on the $x$-dependence of isovector unpolarized, helicity and transversity GPDs of the proton, obtained from lattice QCD using an ensemble of $N_f=2+1+1$ maximally twisted mass fermions, with pion mass $M_π=260$ MeV and lattice spacing $a\simeq 0.093$ fm. Our calculations use the quasi-distri…
Proton isovector helicity PDF at NNLO and the twist-3 moment $\tilde{d}_2$ from lattice QCD at physical quark masses
Brookhaven National Laboratory（布鲁克海文国家实验室）；Kent State University（肯特州立大学）；Central China Normal University（华中师范大学）；Massachusetts Institute of Technology（麻省理工学院）；Argonne National Laboratory（阿贡国家实验室）
Large momentum effective theory allows extraction of hadron parton distribution functions in lattice QCD by matching them to quark bilinear matrix elements of hadrons with large momenta. We calculate the matching kernels for the unpolarized, helicity, and transversity isovector parton distribution functions and skewless generalized parton distributions of all hadrons in the hybrid-RI/MOM scheme. This renormalization scheme uses RI/MOM when the Wilson line length is less then $z_s$, otherwise a mass subtraction scheme is used. By design, the non-hybrid scheme is recovered as $z_s \to \infty$. I…
Precise exploration of the partonic structure of the nucleon is one of the most important aims of high-energy physics. In recent years, it has become possible to address this topic with first-principle lattice QCD investigations. In this talk, we focus on the so-called pseudo-distribution approach to determine the isovector unpolarized PDFs. In particular, we employ three lattice spacings to study discretization effects and extract the distributions in the continuum limit, at a pion mass of around 370 MeV. Also, for the first time with pseudo-PDFs, we explore effects of the 2-loop matching fro…
Precise quantification of the structure of nucleons is one of the crucial aims of hadronic physics for the coming years. The expected progress related to ongoing and planned experiments should be accompanied by calculations of partonic distributions from lattice QCD. While key insights from the lattice are expected to come for distributions that are difficult to access experimentally, it is important that lattice QCD can reproduce the well-known unpolarized parton distribution functions (PDFs) with full control over systematic uncertainties. One of the novel methods for accessing the partonic …
We present the first calculation of the $x$-dependence of the proton generalized parton distributions (GPDs) within lattice QCD. Results are obtained for the isovector unpolarized and helicity GPDs. We compute the appropriate matrix elements of fast-moving protons coupled to non-local operators containing a Wilson line. We present results for proton momenta $0.83,\,1.25,\,1.67$ GeV, and momentum transfer squared $0.69,\,1.38$ GeV$^2$. These combinations include cases with zero and nonzero skewness. The calculation is performed using one ensemble of two degenerate mass light, a strange and a ch…
We discuss the determination of deep-inelastic hadron structure in lattice QCD. By using a fictitious heavy quark, direct calculations of the Compton scattering tensor can be performed in Euclidean space that allow the extraction of the moments of structure functions. This overcomes issues of operator mixing and renormalisation that have so far prohibited lattice computations of higher moments. This approach is especially suitable for the study of the twist-two contributions to isovector quark distributions, which is practical with current computing resources. While we focus on the isovector u…
In this work, we present the first-ever calculation of the isovector flavor combination of the twist-3 parton distribution function $g_T(x)$ for the proton from lattice QCD. We use an 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 a clover improvement. The lattice has a spatial extent of 3~fm, lattice spacing of 0.093~fm, and reproduces a pion mass of $260$ MeV. We use the quasi-distribution approach and employ three values of the proton momentum boost, 0.83 GeV, 1.25 GeV, and 1.67 GeV. We use a sour…
We present the first direct lattice calculation of the isovector sea-quark parton distributions using the formalism developed recently by one of the authors. We use $N_f=2+1+1$ HISQ lattice gauge ensembles (generated by MILC Collaboration) and clover valence fermions with pion mass 310 MeV. We are able to obtain the qualitative features of the nucleon sea flavor structure even at this large pion mass: We observe violation of the Gottfried sum rule, indicating $\overline{d}(x) > \overline{u}(x)$; the helicity distribution obeys $Δ\overline{u}(x) > Δ\overline{d}(x)$, which is consistent with the…
We apply the Distillation spatial smearing program to the extraction of the unpolarized isovector valence PDF of the nucleon. The improved volume sampling and control of excited-states afforded by distillation leads to a dramatically improved determination of the requisite Ioffe-time Pseudo-distribution (pITD). The impact of higher-twist effects is subsequently explored by extending the Wilson line length present in our non-local operators to one half the spatial extent of the lattice ensemble considered. The valence PDF is extracted by analyzing both the matched Ioffe-time Distribution (ITD),…
We examine the extraction of moments of parton distributions from lattice data, focusing in particular on the chiral extrapolation as a function of the quark mass. Inclusion of the correct chiral behavior of the spin-averaged isovector distribution resolves a long-standing discrepancy between the lattice moments and experiment. We extract the x-dependence of the valence u-d distribution from the lowest few lattice moments, and discuss the implications for the quark mass dependence of meson masses lying on the rho Regge trajectory. The role of chiral symmetry in spin-dependent distributions, an…
The quasi-PDF approach provides a path to computing parton distribution functions (PDFs) using lattice QCD. This approach requires matrix elements of a power-divergent operator in a nucleon at high momentum and one generically expects discretization effects starting at first order in the lattice spacing $a$. Therefore, it is important to demonstrate that the continuum limit can be reliably taken and to understand the size and shape of lattice artifacts. In this work, we report a calculation of isovector unpolarized and helicity PDFs using lattice ensembles with $N_f=2+1+1$ Wilson twisted mass …
Building upon the PDFSense framework developed in Ref. [1], we perform a comprehensive analysis of the sensitivity of present and future high-energy data to a number of quantities commonly evaluated in lattice gauge theory, with a particular focus on the integrated Mellin moments of nucleon parton distribution functions (PDFs), such as $\langle x \rangle_{u^+ - d^+}$ and $\langle x \rangle_{g}$, as well as $x$-dependent quark quasi-distributions -- in particular, that of the isovector combination. Our results demonstrate the potential for lattice calculations and phenomenological quark distrib…
We determine the generalized form factors, which correspond to the second Mellin moment (i.e., the first $x$-moment) of the generalized parton distributions of the nucleon at leading twist. The results are obtained using lattice QCD with $N_f=2$ nonperturbatively improved Wilson fermions, employing a range of quark masses down to an almost physical value with a pion mass of about 150 MeV. We also present results for the isovector quark angular momentum and for the first $x$-moment of the transverse quark spin density. We compare two different fit strategies and find that directly fitting the g…
We present a dedicated analysis of the influence of excited states on the calculation of nucleon matrix elements. This calculation is performed at a fixed value of the lattice spacing, volume and pion mass that are typical of contemporary lattice computations. We focus on the nucleon axial charge, g_A, for which we use about 7,500 measurements, and on the average momentum of the unpolarized isovector parton distribution, <x>_{u-d}, for which we use about 23,000 measurements. All computations are done employing N_f=2+1+1 maximally-twisted-mass Wilson fermions and using non-perturbatively calcul…
We present the first calculation of the $x$-dependence of the isovector transversity generalized parton distributions (GPDs) for the proton within lattice QCD. We compute the matrix elements with non-local operators containing a Wilson line. The calculation implements the Breit symmetric frame. The proton momenta are chosen as $0.83,\,1.25,\,1.67$ GeV, and the values of the momentum transfer squared are $0.69,\,1.02$ GeV$^2$. These combinations include cases with zero and nonzero skewness. The calculation is performed using one ensemble of two degenerate-mass light, a strange and a charm quark…
In these proceedings, we summarize the main results from the first-ever calculations of the chiral-even and chiral-odd twist-3 parton distributions, $g_T(x)$ and $h_L(x)$, of the proton from lattice QCD. We use an $N_f=2+1+1$ ensemble of maximally twisted mass fermions with a clover improvement. The lattice has a spatial extent of 3~fm, the lattice spacing is 0.093~fm, and the pion mass is $260$~MeV. The matrix elements are obtained with a source-sink time separation of 1.12~fm to control contamination from excited states. The calculation is based on the quasi-PDF approach and employs three va…
