Quantum geometry of del Pezzo surfaces in the Nekrasov-Shatashvili limit

We use mirror symmetry, quantum geometry and modularity properties of elliptic curves to calculate the refined free energies in the Nekrasov-Shatashvili limit on non-compact toric Calabi-Yau manifolds, based on del Pezzo surfaces. Quantum geometry here is to be understood as a quantum deformed version of rigid special geometry, which has its origin in the quantum mechanical behaviour of branes in the topological string B-model. We will argue that, in the Seiberg-Witten picture, only the Coulomb parameters lead to quantum corrections, while the mass parameters remain uncorrected. In certain cases we will also compute the expansion of the free energies at the orbifold point and the conifold locus. We will compute the quantum corrections order by order on ℏ, by deriving second order differential operators, which act on the classical periods

A mixed action analysis of η and η′ mesons

We study η and η′ mesons and their mixing angle in a mixed action approach with so-called Osterwalder–Seiler valence quarks on a Wilson twisted mass sea. The gauge configurations have been generated by ETMC for Nf=2+1+1 dynamical quark flavours and for three values of the lattice spacing. The main results are that differences in between the mixed action and the unitary approach vanish towards the continuum limit with the expected rate of O(a2) . The individual size of the lattice artifacts depends, however, strongly on the observable used to match unitary and valence actions. Moreover, we show that for the η mass valence and valence plus sea quark mass dependence differ significantly. Hence, in this case a re-tuning of the simulation parameters in the valence sector only is not sufficient to compensate for mismatches in the original quark masses

Photoproduction of ω mesons off the proton

The differential cross sections and unpolarized spin-density matrix elements for the reaction γp→pω were measured using the CBELSA/TAPS experiment for initial photon energies ranging from the reaction threshold to 2.5 GeV. These observables were measured from the radiative decay of the ω meson, ω→π0γ . The cross sections cover the full angular range and show the full extent of the t -channel forward rise. The overall shape of the angular distributions in the differential cross sections and unpolarized spin-density matrix elements are in fair agreement with previous data. In addition, for the first time, a beam of linearly-polarized tagged photons in the energy range from 1150 MeV to 1650 MeV was used to extract polarized spin-density matrix elements

The polarization observables T , P , and H and their impact on γp→pπ0 multipoles

Data on the polarization observables T , P , and H for the reaction γp→pπ0 are reported. Compared to earlier data from other experiments, our data are more precise and extend the covered range in energy and angle substantially. The results were extracted from azimuthal asymmetries measured using a transversely polarized target and linearly polarized photons. The data were taken at the Bonn electron stretcher accelerator ELSA with the CBELSA/TAPS detector. Within the Bonn-Gatchina partial wave analysis, the new polarization data lead to a significant narrowing of the error band for the multipoles for neutral-pion photoproduction

Data on Is and Ic in γ→p→pπ0π0 reveal cascade decays of N(1900) via N(1520)π

Photoproduction of two neutral pions off the proton is studied using linearly polarized photons, and the polarization observables Is and Ic are measured for the first time. These two observables are unique to multi-meson final states; they characterize correlations between the linear photon polarization and the direction of outgoing single particles in photoproduction of three-body final states. The Is and Ic distributions suggest that, in the 1.8 to 2.0 GeV mass region, the N(1520)3/2−π intermediate state is reached with reaction dynamics consistent with a dominant JP=3/2+ wave. These data are included in the Bonn–Gatchina (BnGa) partial wave analysis which is based on a large variety of data; the analysis confirms a significant contribution from the reaction chain γp→N(1900)3/2+→N(1520)3/2−π0→pπ0π0

Cumulants of the QCD topological charge distribution

The distribution of the QCD topological charge can be described by cumulants, with the lowest one being the topological susceptibility. The vacuum energy density in a θ -vacuum is the generating function for these cumulants. In this paper, we derive the vacuum energy density in SU(2) chiral perturbation theory up to next-to-leading order keeping different up and down quark masses, which can be used to calculate any cumulant of the topological charge distribution. We also give the expression for the case of SU( N ) with degenerate quark masses. In this case, all cumulants depend on the same linear combination of low-energy constants and chiral logarithm, and thus there are sum rules between the N -flavor quark condensate and the cumulants free of next-to-leading order corrections

Reduction of the proton radius discrepancy by 3 σ

We show that in previous analyses of electron–proton scattering, the uncertainties in the statistical procedure to extract the proton charge radius are underestimated. Using a fit function based on a conformal mapping, we can describe the scattering data with high precision and extract a radius value in agreement with the one obtained from muonic hydrogen

Generalized heavy-to-light form factors in light-cone sum rules

We study the form factors for a heavy meson into the S-wave <math altimg="si1.gif" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mi>K</mi><mi>π</mi><mo stretchy="false">/</mo><mi>π</mi><mi>π</mi></math> system with an invariant mass below 1 GeV. The mesonic final state interactions are described in terms of the scalar form factors, which are obtained from unitarized chiral perturbation theory. Employing generalized light-cone distribution amplitudes, we compute the heavy-to-light transition using light-cone sum rules. Our approach simultaneously respects constraints from analyticity and unitarity, and also takes advantage of the power expansion in the <math altimg="si2.gif" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mn>1</mn><mo stretchy="false">/</mo><msub><mrow><mi>m</mi></mrow><mrow><mi>b</mi></mrow></msub></math> and the strong coupling constant

Partial twisting for scalar mesons

The possibility of imposing partially twisted boundary conditions is investigated for the scalar sector of lattice QCD. According to the commonly shared belief, the presence of quark-antiquark annihilation diagrams in the intermediate state generally hinders the use of the partial twisting. Using effective field theory techniques in a finite volume, and studying the scalar sector of QCD with total isospin I = 1, we however demonstrate that partial twisting can still be performed, despite the fact that annihilation diagrams are present. The reason for this are delicate cancellations, which emerge due to the graded symmetry in partially quenched QCD with valence, sea and ghost quarks. The modified Lüscher equation in case of partial twisting is given

Finite-volume corrections to the CP-odd nucleon matrix elements of the electromagnetic current from the QCD vacuum angle

Nucleon electric dipole moments originating from strong CP-violation are being calculated by several groups using lattice QCD. We revisit the finite volume corrections to the CP-odd nucleon matrix elements of the electromagnetic current, which can be related to the electric dipole moments in the continuum, in the framework of chiral perturbation theory up to next-to-leading order taking into account the breaking of Lorentz symmetry. A chiral extrapolation of the recent lattice results of both the neutron and proton electric dipole moments is performed, which results in dn=(−2.7±1.2)×10−16eθ0 cm and dp=(2.1±1.2)×10−16eθ0 cm