Nucleon axial and pseudoscalar form factors from lattice QCD at the physical point
C. Alexandrou, S. Bacchio, M. Constantinou, P. Dimopoulos, J. Finkenrath, K. Hadjiyiannakou, K. Jansen, G. Koutsou, B. Kostrzewa, T. Leontiou, C. Urbach
We compute the nucleon axial and induced pseudoscalar form factors using three ensembles of gauge configurations, generated with dynamical light quarks with mass tuned to approximately their physical value. One of the ensembles also includes the strange and charm quarks with their mass close to physical. The latter ensemble has large statistics and finer lattice spacing and it is used to obtain final results, while the other two are used for assessing volume effects. The pseudoscalar form factor is also computed using these ensembles. We examine the momentum dependence of these form factors as well as relations based on pion pole dominance and the partially conserved axial-vector current hypothesis.
We present a lattice QCD calculation of the $Δ(1232)$ matrix elements of the axial-vector and pseudoscalar currents. The decomposition of these matrix elements into the appropriate Lorentz invariant form factors is carried out and the techniques to calculate the form factors are developed and tested using quenched configurations. Results are obtained for 2+1 domain wall fermions and within a hybrid scheme with domain wall valence and staggered sea quarks. Two Goldberger-Treiman type relations connecting the axial to the pseudoscalar effective couplings are derived. These and further relations …
We compute the axial and pseudoscalar form factors of the nucleon in the Dyson-Schwinger approach. To this end, we solve a covariant three-body Faddeev equation for the nucleon wave function and determine the matrix elements of the axialvector and pseudoscalar isotriplet currents. Our only input is a well-established and phenomenologically successful ansatz for the nonperturbative quark-gluon interaction. As a consequence of the axial Ward-Takahashi identity that is respected at the quark level, the Goldberger-Treiman relation is reproduced for all current-quark masses. We discuss the timelike…
Octet baryon axial, induced pseudoscalar, and pseudoscalar form factors are computed using a symmetry-preserving treatment of a vector$\,\times\,$vector contact interaction (SCI), thereby unifying them with an array of other baryon properties and analogous treatments of semileptonic decays of pseudoscalar mesons. The baryons are treated as quark--plus--interacting-diquark bound states, whose structure is obtained by solving a Poincaré-covariant Faddeev equation. The approach is marked by algebraic simplicity, involves no free parameters, and since it is symmetry preserving, all consequences of…
It has been observed in multiple lattice determinations of isovector axial and pseudoscalar nucleon form factors, that, despite the fact that the partial conservation of the axialvector current is fulfilled on the level of correlation functions, the corresponding relation for form factors (sometimes called the generalized Goldberger-Treiman relation in the literature) is broken rather badly. In this work we trace this difference back to excited state contributions and propose a new projection method that resolves this problem. We demonstrate the efficacy of this method by computing the axial a…
We present first results on the axial and pseudoscalar $Δ$ form factors. The analysis is carried out in the quenched approximation where statistical errors are small and the lattice set-up can be investigated relatively quickly. We also present an analysis with a hybrid action using staggered sea quarks and domain-wall valence fermions.
We present results on the nucleon axial form factors within lattice QCD using two flavors of degenerate twisted mass fermions. Volume effects are examined using simulations at two volumes of spatial length $L=2.1$ fm and $L=2.8$ fm. Cut-off effects are investigated using three different values of the lattice spacings, namely $a=0.089$ fm, $a=0.070$ fm and $a=0.056$ fm. The nucleon axial charge is obtained in the continuum limit and chirally extrapolated to the physical pion mass enabling comparison with experiment.
With twisted boundary conditions on the quark fields, we study nucleon matrix elements of the axial current utilizing twisted heavy baryon chiral perturbation theory. One can explore the momentum transfer dependence of the axial form factors more easily than by using ordinary lattice quantized momenta alone. As examples, we derive expressions for the nucleon axial radius and pseudoscalar form factor.
We analyze the nucleon axial-vector coupling to two loops in chiral perturbation theory. We show that chiral extrapolations based on this representation require lattice data with pion masses below 300 MeV.
We consider a scenario (supported by some lattice results) in which a U(1)-breaking condensate survives across the chiral transition in QCD. This scenario has important consequences for the pseudoscalar-meson sector, which can be studied using an effective Lagrangian model. In particular, generalizing the results obtained in two previous papers, where the effects on the radiative decays eta,eta' --> gamma gamma were studied, in this paper we study the effects of the U(1) chiral condensate on the strong decays of the "light" pseudoscalar mesons, i.e., eta,eta' --> 3pi^0; eta,eta' --> pi^+ pi^- …
The RQCD collaboration proposed a projection method to remove the excited state contamination in lattice OCD calculations of nuclear form factors. The effectiveness of this method in removing the two-particle nucleon-pion-state contamination is examined using chiral perturbation theory. It is shown that the projection method has practically no impact in the calculation of the axial and induced pseudoscalar form factors. In the pseudoscalar form factor the projection method strongly enhances the nucleon-pion-state contamination. The generalized Goldberger-Treiman relation is satisfied even thou…
It is shown that the strong volume-dependence of the axial charge of the nucleon seen in lattice QCD calculations can be understood quantitatively in terms of the pion-induced interactions between neighbouring nucleons. The associated wave function renormalization leads to an increased suppression of the axial charge as the strength of the interaction increases, either because of a decrease in lattice size or in pion mass.
We use light-front Holography to estimate the valence quark and the meson cloud contributions to the nucleon axial form factor. The free couplings of the holographic model are determined by the empirical data and by the information extracted from lattice QCD. The holographic model provides a good description of the empirical data when we consider a meson cloud mixture of about 30\% in the physical nucleon state. The estimate of the valence quark contribution to the nucleon axial form factor compares well with the lattice QCD data for small pion masses. Our estimate of the meson cloud contribut…
The nucleon's axial charge, g_A, expresses features that are both fundamental to the strong interaction and crucial to its connection with weak interaction physics. We show that dynamical chiral symmetry breaking (DCSB) suppresses the axial-charge of a dressed-quark, g_A^q, at infrared momenta. Since this effect disappears as chiral symmetry is restored, one may argue that g_A vanishes with the restoration of chiral symmetry because no nucleon bound-state survives the associated transition. The suppression of g_A^q is shown to be part of an explanation for a 25% reduction of g_A from its nonre…
We present the first calculation on the $Δ$ axial-vector and pseudoscalar form factors using lattice QCD. Two Goldberger-Treiman relations are derived and examined. A combined chiral fit is performed to the nucleon axial charge, N to $Δ$ axial transition coupling constant and $Δ$ axial charge.
The nucleon-pion-state contribution in the QCD 3-point function of the pseudoscalar density is calculated to leading order in chiral perturbation theory. It predicts a nucleon-pion-state contamination in lattice estimates for the pseudoscalar form factor $G_{\rm P}(Q^2)$ determined with the plateau method. Depending on the momentum transfer $Q^2$ the contamination varies between -20% and +50% for a source-sink separation of 2 fm. The nucleon-pion-state contamination also causes violations in the generalized Goldberger-Treiman relation among the pseudoscalar and the axial nucleon form factors, …
Certain dark matter interactions with nuclei are mediated possibly by a scalar or pseudoscalar Higgs boson. The estimation of the corresponding cross sections requires a correct evaluation of the couplings between the scalar or pseudoscalar Higgs boson and the nucleons. Progress has been made in two aspects relevant to this study in the past few years. First, recent lattice calculations show that the strange-quark sigma term $σ_s$ and the strange-quark content in the nucleon are much smaller than what are expected previously. Second, lattice and model analyses imply sizable SU(3) breaking effe…
Using a Poincaré-covariant quark+diquark Faddeev equation and related symmetry-preserving weak interaction current, we deliver parameter-free predictions for the nucleon axialvector form factor, $G_A(Q^2)$, on the domain $0\leq x=Q^2/m_N^2\leq 10$, where $m_N$ is the nucleon mass. We also provide a detailed analysis of the flavour separation of the proton $G_A$ into contributions from valence $u$ and $d$ quarks; and with form factors available on such a large $Q^2$ domain, predictions for the flavour-separated axial-charge light-front transverse spatial density profiles. Our calculated axial c…
We present results on the nucleon scalar, axial and tensor charges, as well as, on the first moments of the unpolarized, polarized and transversity parton distributions using $N_f=2$ and $N_f=2+1+1$ twisted mass fermions. These include an ensemble that yields the physical value of the ratio of the nucleon to the pion mass. Results on the axial charges of hyperons and charmed baryons are also presented for a range of pion masses including the physical one.
We report lattice QCD results on the axial charges of ground and excited nucleon states of both parities. This is the first study of these quantities with approximately chiral (CI) fermions. Two energy levels in the range of the negative parity resonances N*(1535) and N*(1650) are observed and we determine the axial charge for both. We obtain a small axial charge for one of them, which is consistent with the chiral symmetry restoration in this state as well as with the small axial charge of the N*(1535) predicted within the quark model. This result agrees with the findings of Takahashi et al. …
We report on our calculation of the nucleon axial and tensor charges in 2+1-flavor QCD with dynamical overlap quarks. Gauge ensembles are generated at a single lattice spacing 0.12 fm and at a strange quark mass close to its physical value. We employ the all-mode-averaging technique to calculate the relevant nucleon correlation functions, and the disconnected quark loop is efficiently calculated by using the all-to-all quark propagator. We present our preliminary results for the isoscalar and isovector charges obtained at pion masses $m_π$ = 450 and 540 MeV.
A symmetry-preserving Poincaré-covariant quark+diquark Faddeev equation treatment of the nucleon is used to deliver parameter-free predictions for the nucleon's axial and induced pseudoscalar form factors, $G_A$ and $G_P$, respectively. The result for $G_A$ can reliably be represented by a dipole form factor characterised by an axial charge $g_A=G_A(0)=1.25(3)$ and a mass-scale $M_A = 1.23(3) m_N$, where $m_N$ is the nucleon mass; and regarding $G_P$, the induced pseudoscalar charge $g_p^\ast = 8.80(23)$, the ratio $g_p^\ast/g_A = 7.04(22)$, and the pion pole dominance Ansatz is found to provi…
The nucleon axial charge is calculated as a function of the pion mass in full QCD. Using domain wall valence quarks and improved staggered sea quarks, we present the first calculation with pion masses as light as 354 MeV and volumes as large as (3.5 fm)^3. We show that finite volume effects are small for our volumes and that a constrained fit based on finite volume chiral perturbation theory agrees with experiment within 7% statistical errors.
We study the momentum and the quark mass dependence of the axial nucleon to Delta(1232) transition form factors in the framework of non-relativistic chiral effective field theory to leading-one-loop order. The outcome of our analysis provides a theoretical guidance for chiral extrapolations of lattice QCD results with dynamical fermions.
The nucleon axial form factor is a dominant contribution to errors in neutrino oscillation studies. Lattice QCD calculations can help control theory errors by providing first-principles information on nucleon form factors. In these proceedings, we present preliminary results on a blinded calculation of $g_A$ and the axial form factor using HISQ staggered baryons with 2+1+1 flavors of sea quarks. Calculations are done using physical light quark masses and are absolutely normalized. We discuss fitting form factor data with the model-independent $z$ expansion parametrization.
The $Nπ$-state contribution to nucleon 3-pt functions involving the pseudoscalar density $P(x)$ and the time component $A_4(x)$ of the axial vector current are computed to LO in ChPT. In case of the latter the $Nπ$ contribution is O($M_N$) enhanced compared to the single-nucleon ground state contribution. In addition, a relative sign in two terms of the $Nπ$ contribution leads an almost linear dependence on the operator insertion time, as it is observed in lattice data. In case of the pseudoscalar density the $Nπ$ contribution is strongly dependent on the momentum transfer, leading to a distor…
The extrapolation of nucleon axial charge $g_A$ is investigated within the framework of heavy baryon chiral effective field theory. The intermediate octet and decuplet baryons are included in the one loop calculation. Finite range regularization is applied to improve the convergence in the quark-mass expansion. The lattice data from three different groups are used for the extrapolation. At physical pion mass, the extrapolated $g_A$ are all smaller than the experimental value.
We consider corrections to nucleon correlation functions arising from times that are far from the asymptotic limit. For such times, the single nucleon state is contaminated by the pion-nucleon and pion-delta continuum. We use heavy baryon chiral perturbation theory to derive the spectral representation of the nucleon two-point function. Finite time corrections to the axial current correlation function are also derived. Pion-nucleon excited state contributions drive the axial correlator upward, while contributions from the interference of pion-delta and pion-nucleon states drive the axial corre…
We report the current status of RBCK calculations on nucleon structure with both quenched and unquenched lattice QCD. The combination of domain wall fermions and DBW2 gauge action works well for isovector vector and axial charges, and moments of structure functions <x>_q, d_1, and <1>_{δq}.
Spectroscopic parameters and widths of the fully open-flavor axial-vector and pseudoscalar tetraquarks $X_{\mathrm{AV}}$ and $X_{\mathrm{PS}}$ with content $[ud][\overline{c}\overline{s}]$ are calculated by means of the QCD sum rule methods. Masses and current couplings of $X_{\mathrm{AV}}$ and $X_{ \mathrm{PS}}$ are found using two-point sum rule computations performed by taking into account various vacuum condensates up to dimension $10$. The full width of the axial-vector state $X_{\mathrm{AV}}$ is evaluated by including into analysis $S$-wave decay modes $X_{\mathrm{AV}}\to D^{\ast }(2010)…
The nucleon-pion-state contributions to QCD 2- and 3-point functions used in the calculation of the nucleon axial charge are studied in chiral perturbation theory. For sufficiently small quark masses and large volumes the nucleon-pion states are expected to have smaller total energy than the single-particle excited states. To leading order in chiral perturbation theory the results do not depend on low-energy constants associated with the interpolating nucleon fields and apply to local as well as smeared interpolators. The nucleon-pion-state contribution is found to be at the few percent level.
The isovector axial form factor of the nucleon plays a key role in interpreting data from long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments. We present a lattice QCD calculation of this form factor, introducing a new method to directly extract its z-expansion from lattice correlators. Our final parameterization of the form factor, which extends up to spacelike virtualities of 0.7 GeV^2 with fully quantified uncertainties, agrees with previous lattice calculations but is significantly less steep than neutrino-deuterium scattering data suggests.
The isovector axial form factor of the nucleon plays a key role in interpreting data from long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments. We perform a lattice-QCD based calculation of this form factor, introducing a new method to directly extract its $z$-expansion from lattice correlators. Our final parametrization of the form factor, which extends up to spacelike virtualities of $0.7\,{\rm GeV}^2$ with fully quantified uncertainties, agrees with previous lattice calculations but is significantly less steep than neutrino-deuterium scattering data suggests.
We consider the chiral Lagrangian with nucleon, isobar, and pion degrees of freedom. The baryon masses and the axial-vector form factor of the nucleon are derived at the one-loop level. We explore the impact of using on-shell baryon masses in the loop expressions. As compared to results from conventional chiral perturbation theory we find significant differences. An application to QCD lattice data is presented. We perform a global fit to the available lattice data sets for the baryon masses and the nucleon axial-vector form factor, and determine the low-energy constants relevant at N$^3$LO for…
Sea quark contributions to the scalar density and the axial current matrix elements of the nucleon are studied in lattice qcd with two flavours of dynamical wilson fermions. the results are compared to trends in heavy quark mass expansions, and contrasted with the numbers obtained using dynamical staggered fermions.
We study the nucleon axial charge in the chiral perturbation theory for a mixed lattice action of Ginsparg-Wilson valence quarks and staggered sea quarks. In particular, we investigate the lattice spacing $a^2$-dependence of the neutron to proton axial transition matrix element. By using the known low-energy constants (LEC's) and an estimated value of a new LEC which appears in the calculation, we see a large lattice spacing effect on $g_A$.
We present results on the nucleon axial vector form factors $G_A(q^2)$ and $G_p(q^2)$ in the quenched theory and using two degenerate flavors of dynamical Wilson fermions for momentum transfer squared from about 0.1 to about 2 GeV^2 and for pion masses in the range of 380 to 600 MeV. We also present results on the corresponding N to Delta axial vector transition form factors $C_5^A(q^2)$ and $C_6^A(q^2)$ using, in addition to Wilson fermions, domain wall valence quarks and dynamical staggered sea quarks provided by the MILC collaboration.
The domain wall fermion (DWF) method, with its almost perfectly preserved chiral symmetry on the lattice, makes the calculation of the nucleon axial charge particularly easy. By maintaining chiral symmetry and using the Ward-Takahashi (WT) identity, one has Z_A = Z_V and the bare lattice calculation yields the physical value without explicit renormalization. The DBW2 improved gauge action provides further enhancement of the symmetry and hence a more accurate WT identity at coarse lattice spacing. Taking advantage of these methods, we confirmed a significant volume dependence of the nucleon axi…
The strange and flavor-singlet axial form factors of the nucleon from lattice QCD
Helmholtz-Institut Mainz, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz（美因茨亥姆霍兹研究所）；GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung（GSI重离子研究中心）；Theoretical Physics Department, CERN（欧洲核子研究中心理论物理部）；Helmholtz-Institut für Strahlen- und Kernphysik, Universität Bonn（波恩大学辐射与核物理亥姆霍兹研究所）
We present preliminary results for the axial and tensor charge of the nucleon obtained from simulations with N_f=2 clover fermions. A comparison with chiral perturbation theory is attempted.
The nucleon-pion-state contribution to QCD two- and three-point functions used in the calculation of the axial form factors of the nucleon are studied in chiral perturbation theory. For physically small quark masses the nucleon-pion states are expected to dominante the excited-state contamination at large euclidean time separations. To leading order in chiral perturbation theory the results depend on two experimentally well-known low-energy constants only and the nucleon-pion-state contribution can be reliably estimated. The nucleon-pion-state contribution to the axial form factor $G_{\rm A}(Q…
The flavor singlet axial and tensor charges of the nucleon are calculated in lattice QCD. We find $ΔΣ=Δu+Δd+Δs=+0.638(54)-0.347(46)-0.109(30) = +0.18(10)$ for the axial charge and $δΣ=δu+δd+δs=+0.839(60)-0.231(55)-0.046(34) = +0.562(88)$ for the tensor charge. The result for the axial charge shows reasonable agreement with the experiment and that for the tensor charge is the first prediction from lattice QCD before experimental measurements.
We present results for the nucleon electromagnetic and axial form factors using an N$_f$=2 twisted mass fermion ensemble with pion mass of about 131 MeV. We use multiple sink-source separations to identify excited state contamination. Dipole masses for the momentum dependence of the form factors are extracted and compared to experiment, as is the nucleon magnetic moment and charge and magnetic radii.
For Wilson and clover fermions traditional formulations of the axial vector current do not respect the continuum Ward identity which relates the divergence of that current to the pseudoscalar density. Here we propose to use a point-split or one-link axial vector current whose divergence exactly satisfies a lattice Ward identity, involving the pseudoscalar density and a number of irrelevant operators. We check in one-loop lattice perturbation theory with SLiNC fermion and gauge plaquette action that this is indeed the case including order $O(a)$ effects. Including these operators the axial Ward…
We present recent Monte Carlo data for the axial charge of the nucleon obtained by the QCDSF-UKQCD collaboration for N_f=2 dynamical quarks. We compare them with formulae from chiral perturbation theory in finite and infinite volume and find a remarkably consistent picture.
We correct the values of the dominant nucleon to Delta axial transition form factors CA_5 and CA_6 published in C. Alexandrou et.al., Phys. Rev. D 76,094511 (2007). The analysis error affects only the values obtained when using the hybrid action in the low Q^2 regime bringing them into agreement with those obtained with Wilson fermions.
We present results on the nucleon axial and induced pseudo-scalar form factors using an ensemble of two degenerate twisted mass clover-improved fermions generated at the physical value of the pion mass. We evaluate the isovector and the isoscalar, as well as, the strange and the charm axial form factors. The disconnected contributions are evaluated using recently developed methods that include deflation of the lower eigenstates, allowing us to extract the isoscalar, strange and charm axial form factors. We find that the disconnected quark loop contributions are non-zero and particularly large …
We present an updated analysis of the quark mass dependence of the nucleon mass and nucleon axial-vector coupling g_A, comparing different formulations of SU(2) Baryon Chiral Effective Field Theory, with and without explicit delta (1232) degrees of freedom. We discuss the outcome of the corresponding interpolations between lattice QCD data and the physical values for these two nucleon observables. It turns out that in order to obtain successful interpolating functions at one-loop order, the inclusion of explicit delta (1232) degrees of freedom is not decisive for the nucleon mass but crucial f…
Protons and neutrons have a rich structure in terms of their constituents, the quarks and gluons. Understanding this structure requires solving Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD). However QCD is extremely complicated, so we must numerically solve the equations of QCD using a method known as lattice QCD. Here we describe a typical lattice QCD calculation by examining our recent computation of the nucleon axial charge.
Nucleon isovector vector, $g_V$, and axialvector, $g_A$, charges calculated on a 2+1-flavor dynamical domain-wall-fermions (DWF) ensemble at physical mass jointly generated by RIKEN-BNL-Columbia (RBC) and UKQCD Collaborations with lattice cut off of 1.730(4) GeV, are reported with about a percent statistical errors, along with isovector ``scalar,'' $g_S$, and ``tensor charges,'' $g_T$, with larger statistical errors. Nucleon mass is estimated as 947(6) MeV. A few standard-deviation systematics is seen in the vector charge, likely from $O(a^2)$ discretization error through small excited-state c…
The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is an upcoming neutrino oscillation experiment that is poised to answer key questions about the nature of neutrinos. Lattice QCD has the ability to make significant impact upon DUNE, beginning with computations of nucleon-neutrino interactions with weak currents. Nucleon amplitudes involving the axial form factor are part of the primary signal measurement process for DUNE, and precise calculations from LQCD can significantly reduce the uncertainty for inputs into Monte Carlo generators. Recent calculations of the nucleon axial charge have demonst…
We present results on the isovector and isoscalar nucleon axial form factors including disconnected contributions,using an ensemble of $N_f =2$ twisted mass clover- improved Wilson fermions simulated with approximately the physical value of the pion mass. The light disconnected quark loops are computed using exact deflation, while the strange and the charm quark loops are evaluated using the truncated solver method. Techniques such as the summation and the two-state fits have been employed to access ground-state dominance.
The nucleon axial form factors -- axial $G_A$, induced pseudoscalar $\widetilde{G}_P$ and pseudoscalar $G_P$ -- have displayed large systematics in lattice QCD calculations. The major symptoms were the violation of the partially conserved axial current (PCAC) relation between the three form factors, and the underestimation of the induced pseudoscalar coupling $g_P^\ast$ and the axial charge radius $r_A$ compared to phenomenological estimates. The small $g_P^\ast$ was a consequence of the failure of the pion-pole dominance (PPD) hypothesis, especially at low $M_π^2$. The small charge radius $r_…
We present results on the isoscalar form factors including the disconnected contributions, as well as on the strange and charm quark form factors. Using previous results on the isovector form factors, we determine the flavor decomposition of the nucleon axial form factors. These are computed using an ensemble of $N_f=2+1+1$ twisted mass fermions simulated with physical values of quark masses. We investigate the SU(3) flavor symmetry and show that there is up to 10\% breaking for the axial and up to 50\% for the induced pseudoscalar form factors. By fitting the $Q^2$-dependence, we determined t…
Excited-state contamination is one of the dominant uncertainties in lattice calculations of the nucleon axial-charge, $g_A$. Recently published results in leading-order chiral perturbation theory (ChPT) predict the excited-state contamination to be independent of the nucleon interpolator and positive. However, empirical results from numerical lattice calculations show negative contamination (downward curvature), indicating that present-day calculations are not in the regime where the leading-order ChPT predictions apply. In this paper we show that, under plausible assumptions, one can reproduc…
