Recent progress in applying lattice QCD to kaon physics

Standard lattice calculations in kaon physics are based on the evaluation of matrix elements of local operators between two single-hadron states or a single-hadron state and the vacuum. Recent progress in lattice QCD has gone beyond these standard observables. I will review the status and prospects of lattice kaon physics with an emphasis on non-leptonic $K\to\pi\pi$ decay and long-distance processes including $K^0$-$\overline{K^0}$ mixing and rare kaon decays.Comment: 23 pages, 13 figures, 3 tables; Plenary talk given at Lattice 201

Quark structure of pseudoscalar mesons

I review to which extent the properties of pseudoscalar mesons can be understood in terms of the underlying quark (and eventually gluon) structure. Special emphasis is put on the progress in our understanding of eta-eta' mixing. Process-independent mixing parameters are defined, and relations between different bases and conventions are studied. Both, the low-energy description in the framework of Chiral Perturbation Theory and the high-energy application in terms of light-cone wave functions for partonic Fock states, are considered. A thorough discussion of theoretical and phenomenological consequences of the mixing approach will be given. Finally, I will discuss mixing with other states pi^0, eta(c), ...).Comment: 48 pages, 7 figures, using epsfig.st

Nuclear Reactions from Lattice QCD

One of the overarching goals of nuclear physics is to rigorously compute properties of hadronic systems directly from the fundamental theory of strong interactions, Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD). In particular, the hope is to perform reliable calculations of nuclear reactions which will impact our understanding of environments that occur during big bang nucleosynthesis, the evolution of stars and supernovae, and within nuclear reactors and high energy/density facilities. Such calculations, being truly ab initio, would include all two-nucleon and three- nucleon (and higher) interactions in a consistent manner. Currently, lattice QCD provides the only reliable option for performing calculations of some of the low- energy hadronic observables. With the aim of bridging the gap between lattice QCD and nuclear many-body physics, the Institute for Nuclear Theory held a workshop on Nuclear Reactions from Lattice QCD on March 2013. In this review article, we report on the topics discussed in this workshop and the path planned to move forward in the upcoming years.Comment: 35 pages, 13 figures, 1 table, review article for the "Nuclear Reactions from Lattice QCD" workshop hosted by the Institute for Nuclear Theory on March 2013; version 2 includes updated references and extended discussion of previous wor

Application of Jain and Munczek's bound-state approach to gamma gamma-processes of pi0, eta_c and eta_b

We point out the problems affecting most quark--antiquark bound state approaches when they are faced with the electromagnetic processes dominated by Abelian axial anomaly. However, these problems are resolved in the consistently coupled Schwinger-Dyson and Bethe-Salpeter approach. Using one of the most successful variants of this approach, we find the dynamically dressed propagators of the light u and d quarks, as well as the heavy c and b quarks, and find the Bethe-Salpeter amplitudes for their bound states pi0, eta_c and \eta_b. Thanks to incorporating the dynamical chiral symmetry breaking, the pion simultaneously appears as the (pseudo)Goldstone boson. We give the theoretical predictions for the gamma-gamma decay widths of pi0, eta_c and eta_b, and for the pi0 gamma* -> gamma transition form factor, and compare them with experiment. In the chiral limit, the axial-anomaly result for pi0->gamma-gamma is reproduced analytically in the consistently coupled Schwinger-Dyson and Bethe-Salpeter approach, provided that the quark-photon vertex is dressed consistently with the quark propagator, so that the vector Ward-Takahashi identity of QED is obeyed. On the other hand, the present approach is also capable of quantitatively describing systems of heavy quarks, concretely eta_c and possibly eta_b, and their gamma-gamma decays. We discuss the reasons for the broad phenomenological success of the bound-state approach of Jain and Munczek.Comment: RevTeX, 37 pages, 7 eps figures, submitted to Int. J. Mod. Phys.

Using effective field theory to analyse low-energy Compton scattering data from protons and light nuclei

Compton scattering provides important insight into the structure of the nucleon. For photons up to about 300 MeV, it is parameterised by six dynamical dipole polarisabilities which characterise the response of the nucleon to a monochromatic photon of fixed frequency and multipolarity. Their zero-energy limit yields the well-known static electric and magnetic dipole polarisabilities \alpha and \beta, and the four dipole spin polarisabilities. Chiral Effective Field Theory (ChiEFT) describes nucleon, deuteron and 3-He Compton scattering, using consistent nuclear currents, rescattering and wave functions. It can thus also be used to extract useful information on the neutron amplitude from Compton scattering on light nuclei. We summarise past work in ChiEFT on all of these reactions and compare with other theoretical approaches. We also discuss all proton experiments up to about 400 MeV, as well as the three modern elastic deuteron data sets, paying particular attention to precision and accuracy of each set. Constraining the Delta(1232) parameters from the resonance region, we then perform new fits to the proton data up to omega(lab)=170 MeV, and a new fit to the deuteron data. After checking in each case that a two-parameter fit is compatible with the respective Baldin sum rules, we obtain, using the sum-rule constraints in a one-parameter fit, \alpha=10.7\pm0.3(stat)\pm0.2(Baldin)\pm0.8(theory), \beta=3.1\mp0.3(stat)\pm0.2(Baldin)\pm0.8(theory), for the proton polarisabilities, and \alpha =10.9\pm 0.9(stat)\pm0.2(Baldin)\pm0.8(theory), \beta =3.6\mp 0.9(stat)\pm0.2(Baldin)\pm0.8(theory), for the isoscalar polarisabilities, each in units of 10^(-4) fm^3. We discuss plans for polarised Compton scattering, their promise as tools to access spin polarisabilities, and other future avenues for theoretical and experimental investigation.Comment: 82 pages LaTeX2e including 24 figures as .eps file embedded with includegraphicx; review for Prog. Part Nucl Phys. Final version identical to published areticle; spelling and grammar correcte