Effects of staggered fermions and mixed actions on the scalar correlator

We provide the analytic predictions for the flavor non-singlet scalar correlator, which will enable determination of the scalar meson mass from the lattice scalar correlator. We consider simulations with 2+1 staggered sea quarks and staggered or chiral valence quarks. At small u/d masses the correlator is dominated by the bubble contribution, which is the intermediate state with two pseudoscalar mesons. We determine the bubble contribution within Staggered and Mixed Chiral Perturbation Theory. Its effective mass is smaller than the mass M_pi+M_eta, which is the lightest intermediate state in proper 2+1 QCD. The unphysical effective mass is a consequence of the taste breaking that makes possible the intermediate state with mass 2*M_pi. We find that the scalar correlator can be negative in the simulations with mixed quark actions if the sea and valence quark masses are tuned by matching the pion masses M_{val,val}=M_{pi_5}.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figure

I=2 pi-pi Scattering from Fully-Dynamical Mixed-Action Lattice QCD

We compute the I=2 pi-pi scattering length at pion masses of m_pi ~ 294, 348 and 484 MeV in fully-dynamical lattice QCD using Luscher's finite-volume method. The calculation is performed with domain-wall valence-quark propagators on asqtad-improved MILC configurations with staggered sea quarks at a single lattice spacing, b ~ 0.125 fm. Chiral perturbation theory is used to perform the extrapolation of the scattering length from lattice quark masses down to the physical value, and we find m_pi a_2 = -0.0426 +- 0.0006 +- 0.0003 +- 0.0018, in good agreement with experiment. The I=2 pi-pi scattering phase shift is calculated to be delta = -43 +- 10 +- 5 degrees at |p| ~ 544 MeV for m_pi ~ 484 MeV.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figure

Extrapolations of Lattice Meson Form Factors

We use chiral perturbation theory to study the extrapolations necessary to make physical predictions from lattice QCD data for the electromagnetic form factors of pseudoscalar mesons. We focus on the quark mass, momentum, lattice spacing, and volume dependence and apply our results to simulations employing mixed actions of Ginsparg-Wilson valence quarks and staggered sea quarks. To determine charge radii at quark masses on the lattices currently used, we find that all extrapolations except the one to infinite volume make significant contributions to the systematic error.Comment: 14pp, discussion and Ref. added for disconnected diagram

Mixed Meson Masses with Domain-Wall Valence and Staggered Sea Fermions

Mixed action lattice calculations allow for an additive lattice spacing dependent mass renormalization of mesons composed of one sea and one valence quark, regardless of the type of fermion discretization methods used in the valence and sea sectors. The value of the mass renormalization depends upon the lattice actions used. This mixed meson mass shift is an important lattice artifact to determine for mixed action calculations; because it modifies the pion mass, it plays a central role in the low energy dynamics of all hadronic correlation functions. We determine the leading order, $\mathcal{O}(a^2)$, and next to leading order, $\mathcal{O}(a^2 m_\pi^2)$, additive mass shift of \textit{valence-sea} mesons for a mixed lattice action with domain-wall valence fermions and rooted staggered sea fermions, relevant to the majority of current large scale mixed action lattice efforts. We find that on the asqtad improved coarse MILC lattices, this additive mass shift is well parameterized in lattice units by $\Delta(am)^2 = 0.034(2) -0.06(2) (a m_\pi)^2$, which in physical units, using $a=0.125$ fm, corresponds to $\Delta(m)^2 = (291\pm 8 \textrm{MeV})^2 -0.06(2) m_\pi^2$. In terms of the mixed action effective field theory parameters, the corresponding mass shift is given by $a^2 \Delta_\mathrm{Mix} = (316 \pm 4 \textrm{MeV})^2$ at leading order plus next-to-leading order corrections including the necessary chiral logarithms for this mixed action calculation, determined in this work. Within the precision of our calculation, one can not distinguish between the full next-to-leading order effective field theory analysis of this additive mixed meson mass shift and the parameterization given above.Comment: 28 pages, 3 figures, 5 table

B Physics on the Lattice: Present and Future

Recent experimental measurements and lattice QCD calculations are now reaching the precision (and accuracy) needed to over-constrain the CKM parameters $\bar\rho$ and $\bar\eta$. In this brief review, I discuss the current status of lattice QCD calculations needed to connect the experimental measurements of $B$ meson properties to quark flavor-changing parameters. Special attention is given to $B\to\pi\ell\nu$, which is becoming a competitive way to determine $|V_{ub}|$, and to $B^0-\bar{B^0}$ mixings, which now include reliable extrapolation to the physical light quark mass. The combination of the recent measurement of the $B_s$ mass difference and current lattice calculations dramatically reduces the uncertainty in $|V_{td}|$. I present an outlook for reducing dominant lattice QCD uncertainties entering CKM fits, and I remark on lattice calculations for other decay channels.Comment: Invited brief review for Mod. Phys. Lett. A. 15 pages. v2: typos corrected, references adde

The Critical Hopping Parameter in O(a) improved Lattice QCD

We calculate the critical value of the hopping parameter, $\kappa_c$, in O(a) improved Lattice QCD, to two loops in perturbation theory. We employ the Sheikholeslami-Wohlert (clover) improved action for Wilson fermions. The quantity which we study is a typical case of a vacuum expectation value resulting in an additive renormalization; as such, it is characterized by a power (linear) divergence in the lattice spacing, and its calculation lies at the limits of applicability of perturbation theory. The dependence of our results on the number of colors $N$, the number of fermionic flavors $N_f$, and the clover parameter $c_{SW}$, is shown explicitly. We compare our results to non perturbative evaluations of $\kappa_c$ coming from Monte Carlo simulations.Comment: 11 pages, 2 EPS figures. The only change with respect to the original version is inclusion of the standard formulae for the gauge fixing and ghost parts of the action. Accepted for publication in Physical Review

Large-scale electronic structure theory for simulating nanostructure process

Fundamental theories and practical methods for large-scale electronic structure calculations are given, in which the computational cost is proportional to the system size. Accuracy controlling methods for microscopic freedoms are focused on two practical solver methods, Krylov-subspace method and generalized-Wannier-state method. A general theory called the 'multi-solver' scheme is also formulated, as a hybrid between different solver methods. Practical examples are carried out in several insulating and metallic systems with 10^3-10^5 atoms. All the theories provide general guiding principles of constructing an optimal calculation for simulating nanostructure processes, since a nanostructured system consists of several competitive regions, such as bulk and surface regions, and the simulation is designed to reproduce the competition with an optimal computational cost.Comment: 19 pages, 6 figures. To appear in J. Phys. Cond. Matt. A preprint PDF file in better graphics is available at http://fujimac.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/lses/index_e.htm

B meson form factors from HQET simulations

We use simulations of heavy quark effective field theory to calculate the Isgur-Wise function, and we demonstrate the feasibility of calculating the matrix element for the B \to \pi + \leptons decay in the lattice heavy quark effective theory (HQET).Comment: 3 pages, 2 figures, talk presented at the lattice 97 conferenc

Two Meson Systems with Ginsparg-Wilson Valence Quarks

Unphysical effects associated with finite lattice spacing and partial quenching may lead to the presence of unphysical terms in chiral extrapolation formulae. These unphysical terms must then be removed during data analysis before physical predictions can be made. In this work, we show that through next-to-leading order, there are no unphysical counterterms in the extrapolation formulae, expressed in lattice-physical parameters, for meson scattering lengths in theories with Ginsparg-Wilson valence quarks. Our work applies to most sea quark discretization, provided that chiral perturbation theory is a valid approximation. We demonstrate our results with explicit computations and show that, in favorable circumstances, the extrapolation formulae do not depend on the unknown constant C_Mix appearing at lowest order in the mixed action chiral Lagrangian. We show that the I=1 KK scattering length does not depend on C_Mix in contrast to the I=3/2 K-pi scattering length. In addition, we show that these observables combined with f_K / f_pi and the I=2 pi-pi scattering length share only two linearly independent sets of counterterms, providing a means to test the mixed action theory at one lattice spacing. We therefore make a prediction for the I=1 KK scattering length.Comment: 21 pages, 2 figures, 2 tables. Version to be published in PRD. Improved discussion in Sec. III B. Added reference