4,246 research outputs found
Calculating the hadronic vacuum polarization and leading hadronic contribution to the muon anomalous magnetic moment with improved staggered quarks
We present a lattice calculation of the hadronic vacuum polarization and the
lowest-order hadronic contribution to the muon anomalous magnetic moment, a_\mu
= (g-2)/2, using 2+1 flavors of improved staggered fermions. A precise fit to
the low-q^2 region of the vacuum polarization is necessary to accurately
extract the muon g-2. To obtain this fit, we use staggered chiral perturbation
theory, including the vector particles as resonances, and compare these to
polynomial fits to the lattice data. We discuss the fit results and associated
systematic uncertainties, paying particular attention to the relative
contributions of the pions and vector mesons. Using a single lattice spacing
ensemble (a=0.086 fm), light quark masses as small as roughly one-tenth the
strange quark mass, and volumes as large as (3.4 fm)^3, we find a_\mu^{HLO} =
(713 \pm 15) \times 10^{-10} and (748 \pm 21) \times 10^{-10} where the error
is statistical only and the two values correspond to linear and quadratic
extrapolations in the light quark mass, respectively. Considering systematic
uncertainties not eliminated in this study, we view this as agreement with the
current best calculations using the experimental cross section for e^+e^-
annihilation to hadrons, 692.4 (5.9) (2.4)\times 10^{-10}, and including the
experimental decay rate of the tau lepton to hadrons, 711.0 (5.0)
(0.8)(2.8)\times 10^{-10}. We discuss several ways to improve the current
lattice calculation.Comment: 44 pages, 4 tables, 17 figures, more discussion on matching the chpt
calculation to lattice calculation, typos corrected, refs added, version to
appear in PR
Current Physics Results from Staggered Chiral Perturbation Theory
We review several results that have been obtained using lattice QCD with the
staggered quark formulation. Our focus is on the quantities that have been
calculated numerically with low statistical errors and have been extrapolated
to the physical quark mass limit and continuum limit using staggered chiral
perturbation theory. We limit our discussion to a brief introduction to
staggered quarks, and applications of staggered chiral perturbation theory to
the pion mass, decay constant, and heavy-light meson decay constants.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figures, commissioned review article, to appear in Mod.
Phys. Lett.
Chiral anomalies and rooted staggered fermions
A popular approximation in lattice gauge theory is an extrapolation in the
number of fermion species away from the four fold degeneracy natural with the
staggered fermion formulation. I show that the extrapolation procedure
mutilates the expected continuum holomorphic behavior in the quark masses. The
conventional resolution proposes canceling the unphysical singularities with a
plethora of extra states appearing at finite lattice spacing. This unproven
conjecture requires an explicit loss of unitarity and locality. Even if
correct, the approach implies large cutoff effects in the low-energy
flavor-neutral sector.Comment: 10 pages, no figures; revision includes various clarifications, a
changed title, and an additional reference; version to appear in Physics
Letters
Functional Integration Over Geometries
The geometric construction of the functional integral over coset spaces
is reviewed. The inner product on the cotangent space of
infinitesimal deformations of defines an invariant distance and volume
form, or functional integration measure on the full configuration space. Then,
by a simple change of coordinates parameterizing the gauge fiber , the
functional measure on the coset space is deduced. This
change of integration variables leads to a Jacobian which is entirely
equivalent to the Faddeev-Popov determinant of the more traditional gauge fixed
approach in non-abelian gauge theory. If the general construction is applied to
the case where is the group of coordinate reparametrizations of
spacetime, the continuum functional integral over geometries, {\it i.e.}
metrics modulo coordinate reparameterizations may be defined. The invariant
functional integration measure is used to derive the trace anomaly and
effective action for the conformal part of the metric in two and four
dimensional spacetime. In two dimensions this approach generates the
Polyakov-Liouville action of closed bosonic non-critical string theory. In four
dimensions the corresponding effective action leads to novel conclusions on the
importance of quantum effects in gravity in the far infrared, and in
particular, a dramatic modification of the classical Einstein theory at
cosmological distance scales, signaled first by the quantum instability of
classical de Sitter spacetime. Finite volume scaling relations for the
functional integral of quantum gravity in two and four dimensions are derived,
and comparison with the discretized dynamical triangulation approach to the
integration over geometries are discussed.Comment: 68 pages, Latex document using Revtex Macro package, Contribution to
the special issue of the Journal of Mathematical Physics on Functional
Integration, to be published July, 1995
Heavy-Light Semileptonic Decays in Staggered Chiral Perturbation Theory
We calculate the form factors for the semileptonic decays of heavy-light
pseudoscalar mesons in partially quenched staggered chiral perturbation theory
(\schpt), working to leading order in , where is the heavy quark
mass. We take the light meson in the final state to be a pseudoscalar
corresponding to the exact chiral symmetry of staggered quarks. The treatment
assumes the validity of the standard prescription for representing the
staggered ``fourth root trick'' within \schpt by insertions of factors of 1/4
for each sea quark loop. Our calculation is based on an existing partially
quenched continuum chiral perturbation theory calculation with degenerate sea
quarks by Becirevic, Prelovsek and Zupan, which we generalize to the staggered
(and non-degenerate) case. As a by-product, we obtain the continuum partially
quenched results with non-degenerate sea quarks. We analyze the effects of
non-leading chiral terms, and find a relation among the coefficients governing
the analytic valence mass dependence at this order. Our results are useful in
analyzing lattice computations of form factors and when the
light quarks are simulated with the staggered action.Comment: 53 pages, 8 figures, v2: Minor correction to the section on finite
volume effects, and typos fixed. Version to be published in Phys. Rev.
The constraint equations for the Einstein-scalar field system on compact manifolds
We study the constraint equations for the Einstein-scalar field system on
compact manifolds. Using the conformal method we reformulate these equations as
a determined system of nonlinear partial differential equations. By introducing
a new conformal invariant, which is sensitive to the presence of the initial
data for the scalar field, we are able to divide the set of free conformal data
into subclasses depending on the possible signs for the coefficients of terms
in the resulting Einstein-scalar field Lichnerowicz equation. For many of these
subclasses we determine whether or not a solution exists. In contrast to other
well studied field theories, there are certain cases, depending on the mean
curvature and the potential of the scalar field, for which we are unable to
resolve the question of existence of a solution. We consider this system in
such generality so as to include the vacuum constraint equations with an
arbitrary cosmological constant, the Yamabe equation and even (all cases of)
the prescribed scalar curvature problem as special cases.Comment: Minor changes, final version. To appear: Classical and Quantum
Gravit
Covariant Poisson equation with compact Lie algebras
The covariant Poisson equation for Lie algebra-valued mappings defined in
3-dimensional Euclidean space is studied using functional analytic methods.
Weighted covariant Sobolev spaces are defined and used to derive sufficient
conditions for the existence and smoothness of solutions to the covariant
Poisson equation. These conditions require, apart from suitable continuity,
appropriate local integrability of the gauge potentials and global weighted
integrability of the curvature form and the source. The possibility of
nontrivial asymptotic behaviour of a solution is also considered. As a
by-product, weighted covariant generalisations of Sobolev embeddings are
established.Comment: 31 pages, LaTeX2
Dual-species quantum degeneracy of potassium-40 and rubidium-87 on an atom chip
In this article we review our recent experiments with a 40K-87Rb mixture. We
demonstrate rapid sympathetic cooling of a 40K-87Rb mixture to dual quantum
degeneracy on an atom chip. We also provide details on efficient BEC
production, species-selective magnetic confinement, and progress toward
integration of an optical lattice with an atom chip. The efficiency of our
evaporation allows us to reach dual degeneracy after just 6 s of evaporation -
more rapidly than in conventional magnetic traps. When optimizing evaporative
cooling for efficient evaporation of 87Rb alone we achieve BEC after just 4 s
of evaporation and an 8 s total cycle time.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures. To be published in the Proceedings of the 20th
International Conference on Atomic Physics, 2006 (Innsbruck, Austria
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