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 mass. Then, we apply one-loop perturbative matching to the quasi-PDFs to obtain the lightcone PDFs. We find the lattice-spacing dependence to be much larger than the dependence on pion mass and lattice volume for these LaMET matrix elements. Our physical-continuum limit unpolarized isovector nucleon PDFs are found to be consistent with global-PDF results.
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 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 determina…
We present results on the quark unpolarized, helicity and transversity parton distributions functions of the nucleon. We use the quasi-parton distribution approach within the lattice QCD framework and perform the computation using an ensemble of twisted mass fermions with the strange and charm quark masses tuned to approximately their physical values and light quark masses giving pion mass of 260 MeV. We use hierarchical probing to evaluate the disconnected quark loops. We discuss identification of ground state dominance, the Fourier transform procedure and convergence with the momentum boost.…
We present a complete analysis of the chiral extrapolation of lattice moments of all twist-2 isovector quark distributions, including corrections from N pi and Delta pi loops. Even though the Delta resonance formally gives rise to higher order non-analytic structure, the coefficients of the higher order terms for the helicity and transversity moments are large and cancel much of the curvature generated by the wave function renormalization. The net effect is that, whereas the unpolarized moments exhibit considerable curvature, the polarized moments show little deviation from linearity as the ch…
In this letter, we report the results for the isovector polarized quark quasi-distribution functions $Δu(x,v) - Δd(x,v)$ in the large $N_c$, calculated within the chiral quark-soliton model. It is shown that the polarized quark quasi-distributions present good convergence to the light-cone PDFs in the limit of the nucleon boost momentum $P_N \to \infty$ (or the velocity $v \to 1$), compared to the case of the unpolarized isosinglet distributions.
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…
Lattice QCD Benchmark of Proton Helicity and Flavor-Dependent Unpolarized Transverse Momentum-Dependent Parton Distribution Functions at Physical Quark Masses
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…
In this letter, we investigate the nucleon quasi-parton distribution functions in the chiral quark soliton model. We derive a set of sum-rules depending on the velocity of the nucleon and on the Dirac matrix defining the distribution functions. We present numerical results for the isosinglet unpolarized distribution, in which we find that the anti-quark distribution breaks the positivity condition at nucleon velocities $v\approx 0.99\;(P_N\approx 7.0 M_N)$ and smaller. We found that, for the isosinglet unpolarized case, a large nucleon momentum is required for the quasi-parton distribution to …
We discuss the first moments of the parity-even Generalized Parton Distributions (GPDs) in a nucleon, corresponding to six (generalized) vector form factors. We evaluate these fundamental properties of baryon structure at low energies, utilizing the methods of covariant Chiral Perturbation Theory in the baryon sector (BChPT). Our analysis is performed at leading-one-loop order in BChPT, predicting both the momentum and the quark-mass dependence for the three (generalized) isovector and (generalized) isoscalar form factors, which are currently under investigation in lattice QCD analyses of bary…
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.
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…
We review the calculation of moments of both the polarized and unpolarized parton distribution functions of the nucleon in lattice QCD, and in particular their extrapolation to the physical region. We also discuss the reconstruction of the x dependence of the valence quark distributions in the nucleon from a finite number of lattice moments.
Traditionally, lattice QCD computations of generalized parton distributions (GPDs) have been carried out in a symmetric frame, where the transferred momentum is symmetrically distributed between the incoming and outgoing hadrons. However, such frames are inconvenient since they require a separate calculation for each value of the momentum transfer, increasing significantly the computational cost. In this work, by focusing on the quasi-distribution approach, we lay the foundation for faster and more effective lattice QCD calculations of GPDs exploiting asymmetric frames, with freedom in the tra…
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）
A brief review on the status of unpolarized parton densities and the determination of the QCD scale $Λ_{\rm QCD}$ from deep-inelastic scattering data is presented.
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…
We present our recent high precision calculations (Phys. Rev. D102 (2020) no.5, 054512 and JHEP 04 (2021) 044, JHEP 21 (2020) 004) of the first moment of nucleon isovector polarized, unpolarized and transversity distributions, i.e., momentum fraction, helicity and transversity moment, respectively. We use the standard method for the calculation of these moments (via matrix elements of twist two operators), and carry out a detailed analysis of the sources of systematic uncertainty, in particular of excited state contributions. Our calculations have been performed using two different lattice set…
We present results for the unpolarized parton distribution function of the nucleon computed in lattice QCD at the physical pion mass. This is the first study of its kind employing the method of Ioffe time pseudo-distributions. Beyond the reconstruction of the Bjorken-$x$ dependence we also extract the lowest moments of the distribution function using the small Ioffe time expansion of the Ioffe time pseudo-distribution. We compare our findings with the pertinent phenomenological determinations.
We perform a first calculation for the unpolarized parton distribution function of the $Δ^+$ baryon using lattice QCD simulations within the framework of Large Momentum Effective Theory. Two ensembles of $N_f=2+1+1$ twisted mass fermions are utilized with a pion mass of 270 MeV and 360 MeV, respectively. The baryon, which is treated as a stable single-particle state, is boosted with momentum $P_3$ with values $\{0.42,0.83,1.25\}$ GeV, and we utilize momentum smearing to improve the signal. The unpolarized parton distribution function of $Δ^+$ is obtained using a non-perturbative renormalizatio…
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…
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…
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 …
I review the current status of lattice calculations for two selected observables related to nucleon structure: the second moment of the unpolarized parton distribution, <x> (u-d), and the first moment of the polarized parton distribution, the non-singlet axial coupling gA. The major challenge is the requirement to extract them sufficiently close to the chiral limit. In the former case, there still remains a puzzling disagreement between lattice data and experiment. For the latter quantity, however, we may be close to obtaining its value from the lattice in the immediate future.
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…
We present a review of recent applications of nonlocal chiral effective theory to hadron structure studies. Starting from a nonlocal meson--baryon effective chiral Lagrangian, we show how the introduction of a correlation function representing the finite extent of hadrons regularizes the meson loop integrals and introduces momentum dependence in vertex form factors in a gauge invariant manner. We apply the framework to the calculation of nucleon electromagnetic form factors, unpolarized and polarized parton distributions, as well as transverse momentum dependent distributions and generalized p…
In this paper, we present a detailed study of the unpolarized nucleon parton distribution function (PDF) employing the approach of parton pseudo-distribution functions. We perform a systematic analysis using three lattice ensembles at two volumes, with lattice spacings $a=$ 0.127 fm and $a=$ 0.094 fm, for a pion mass of roughly 400 MeV. With two lattice spacings and two volumes, both continuum limit and infinite volume extrapolation systematic errors of the PDF are estimated. In addition to the $x$ dependence of the PDF, we compute their first two moments and compare them with the pertinent ph…
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.
A quantum field theoretic treatment of inclusive deep--inelastic diffractive scattering is given. The process can be described in the general framework of non--forward scattering processes using the light--cone expansion in the generalized Bjorken region. Target mass and finite $t$ corrections of the diffractive hadronic tensor are derived at the level of the twist--2 contributions both for the unpolarized and the polarized case. They modify the expressions contributing in the limit $t, M^2 \to 0$ for larger values of $β$ or/and $t$ in the region of low $Q^2$. The different diffractive structu…
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…
We present a calculation of the Mellin moments of the transverse quark spin densities in the nucleon using lattice QCD. The densities are extracted from the unpolarized and transversity generalized form factors extrapolated to the continuum limit using three $N_f=2+1+1$ twisted mass fermion gauge ensembles simulated with physical quark masses and spanning three lattice spacings. The first moment of transversely polarized quarks in an unpolarized nucleon shows an interesting distortion, which can be traced back to the sharp falloff of the transversity generalized form factor $\bar{B}_{Tn0}(t)$.…
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…
