Moments and power corrections of longitudinal and transverse proton structure functions from lattice QCD

We present a simultaneous extraction of the moments of $F_2$ and $F_L$ structure functions of the proton for a range of photon virtuality, $Q^2$. This is achieved by computing the forward Compton amplitude on the lattice utilizing the second-order Feynman-Hellmann theorem. Our calculations are performed on configurations with two different lattice spacings and volumes, all at the $SU(3)$ symmetric point. We find the moments of $F_{2}$ and $F_{L}$ in good agreement with experiment. Power corrections turn out to be significant. This is the first time the $Q^2$ dependence of the lowest moment of $F_2$ has been quantified.Comment: 14 pages, 11 figures, 2 tables. Version to appear in PR

Scaling and higher twist in the nucleon Compton amplitude

The partonic structure of hadrons plays an important role in a vast array of high-energy and nuclear physics experiments. It also underpins the theoretical understanding of hadron structure. Recent developments in lattice QCD offer new opportunities for reliably studying partonic structure from first principles. Here we report on the use of the Feynman-Hellmann theorem to study the forward Compton amplitude in the unphysical region. We demonstrate how this amplitude provides direct constraint on hadronic inelastic structure functions. The use of external momentum transfer allows us to study the Q2 evolution to explore the onset of asymptotic scaling and reveal higher-twist effects in partonic structure

Lattice QCD evaluation of the Compton amplitude employing the Feynman-Hellmann theorem

Published 8 December 2020The forward Compton amplitude describes the process of virtual photon scattering from a hadron and provides an essential ingredient for the understanding of hadron structure. As a physical amplitude, the Compton tensor naturally includes all target mass corrections and higher twist effects at a fixed virtuality, Q². By making use of the second-order Feynman-Hellmann theorem, the nucleon Compton tensor is calculated in lattice QCD at an unphysical quark mass across a range of photon momenta 3 ≲ Q² ≲ 7 GeV². This allows for the Q² dependence of the low moments of the nucleon structure functions to be studied in a lattice calculation for the first time. The results demonstrate that a systematic investigation of power corrections and the approach to parton asymptotics is now within reach.K. U. Can, A. Hannaford-Gunn, R. Horsley, Y. Nakamura, H. Perlt, P. E. L. Rakow, G. Schierholz, K. Y. Somfleth, H. Stüben, R. D. Young, and J. M. Zanotti (QCDSF/UKQCD/CSSM Collaborations

Duration of androgen deprivation therapy with postoperative radiotherapy for prostate cancer: a comparison of long-course versus short-course androgen deprivation therapy in the RADICALS-HD randomised trial

Background Previous evidence supports androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) with primary radiotherapy as initial treatment for intermediate-risk and high-risk localised prostate cancer. However, the use and optimal duration of ADT with postoperative radiotherapy after radical prostatectomy remains uncertain. Methods RADICALS-HD was a randomised controlled trial of ADT duration within the RADICALS protocol. Here, we report on the comparison of short-course versus long-course ADT. Key eligibility criteria were indication for radiotherapy after previous radical prostatectomy for prostate cancer, prostate-specific antigen less than 5 ng/mL, absence of metastatic disease, and written consent. Participants were randomly assigned (1:1) to add 6 months of ADT (short-course ADT) or 24 months of ADT (long-course ADT) to radiotherapy, using subcutaneous gonadotrophin-releasing hormone analogue (monthly in the short-course ADT group and 3-monthly in the long-course ADT group), daily oral bicalutamide monotherapy 150 mg, or monthly subcutaneous degarelix. Randomisation was done centrally through minimisation with a random element, stratified by Gleason score, positive margins, radiotherapy timing, planned radiotherapy schedule, and planned type of ADT, in a computerised system. The allocated treatment was not masked. The primary outcome measure was metastasis-free survival, defined as metastasis arising from prostate cancer or death from any cause. The comparison had more than 80% power with two-sided α of 5% to detect an absolute increase in 10-year metastasis-free survival from 75% to 81% (hazard ratio [HR] 0·72). Standard time-to-event analyses were used. Analyses followed intention-to-treat principle. The trial is registered with the ISRCTN registry, ISRCTN40814031, and ClinicalTrials.gov , NCT00541047 . Findings Between Jan 30, 2008, and July 7, 2015, 1523 patients (median age 65 years, IQR 60–69) were randomly assigned to receive short-course ADT (n=761) or long-course ADT (n=762) in addition to postoperative radiotherapy at 138 centres in Canada, Denmark, Ireland, and the UK. With a median follow-up of 8·9 years (7·0–10·0), 313 metastasis-free survival events were reported overall (174 in the short-course ADT group and 139 in the long-course ADT group; HR 0·773 [95% CI 0·612–0·975]; p=0·029). 10-year metastasis-free survival was 71·9% (95% CI 67·6–75·7) in the short-course ADT group and 78·1% (74·2–81·5) in the long-course ADT group. Toxicity of grade 3 or higher was reported for 105 (14%) of 753 participants in the short-course ADT group and 142 (19%) of 757 participants in the long-course ADT group (p=0·025), with no treatment-related deaths. Interpretation Compared with adding 6 months of ADT, adding 24 months of ADT improved metastasis-free survival in people receiving postoperative radiotherapy. For individuals who can accept the additional duration of adverse effects, long-course ADT should be offered with postoperative radiotherapy. Funding Cancer Research UK, UK Research and Innovation (formerly Medical Research Council), and Canadian Cancer Society

Adding 6 months of androgen deprivation therapy to postoperative radiotherapy for prostate cancer: a comparison of short-course versus no androgen deprivation therapy in the RADICALS-HD randomised controlled trial

Background Previous evidence indicates that adjuvant, short-course androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) improves metastasis-free survival when given with primary radiotherapy for intermediate-risk and high-risk localised prostate cancer. However, the value of ADT with postoperative radiotherapy after radical prostatectomy is unclear. Methods RADICALS-HD was an international randomised controlled trial to test the efficacy of ADT used in combination with postoperative radiotherapy for prostate cancer. Key eligibility criteria were indication for radiotherapy after radical prostatectomy for prostate cancer, prostate-specific antigen less than 5 ng/mL, absence of metastatic disease, and written consent. Participants were randomly assigned (1:1) to radiotherapy alone (no ADT) or radiotherapy with 6 months of ADT (short-course ADT), using monthly subcutaneous gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogue injections, daily oral bicalutamide monotherapy 150 mg, or monthly subcutaneous degarelix. Randomisation was done centrally through minimisation with a random element, stratified by Gleason score, positive margins, radiotherapy timing, planned radiotherapy schedule, and planned type of ADT, in a computerised system. The allocated treatment was not masked. The primary outcome measure was metastasis-free survival, defined as distant metastasis arising from prostate cancer or death from any cause. Standard survival analysis methods were used, accounting for randomisation stratification factors. The trial had 80% power with two-sided α of 5% to detect an absolute increase in 10-year metastasis-free survival from 80% to 86% (hazard ratio [HR] 0·67). Analyses followed the intention-to-treat principle. The trial is registered with the ISRCTN registry, ISRCTN40814031, and ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT00541047. Findings Between Nov 22, 2007, and June 29, 2015, 1480 patients (median age 66 years [IQR 61–69]) were randomly assigned to receive no ADT (n=737) or short-course ADT (n=743) in addition to postoperative radiotherapy at 121 centres in Canada, Denmark, Ireland, and the UK. With a median follow-up of 9·0 years (IQR 7·1–10·1), metastasis-free survival events were reported for 268 participants (142 in the no ADT group and 126 in the short-course ADT group; HR 0·886 [95% CI 0·688–1·140], p=0·35). 10-year metastasis-free survival was 79·2% (95% CI 75·4–82·5) in the no ADT group and 80·4% (76·6–83·6) in the short-course ADT group. Toxicity of grade 3 or higher was reported for 121 (17%) of 737 participants in the no ADT group and 100 (14%) of 743 in the short-course ADT group (p=0·15), with no treatment-related deaths. Interpretation Metastatic disease is uncommon following postoperative bed radiotherapy after radical prostatectomy. Adding 6 months of ADT to this radiotherapy did not improve metastasis-free survival compared with no ADT. These findings do not support the use of short-course ADT with postoperative radiotherapy in this patient population

Generalised Parton Distributions from Lattice Feynman-Hellmann Techniques

We report on the use of Feynman-Hellmann techniques to calculate the off-forward Compton amplitude (OFCA) in lattice QCD. At leading-twist, the Euclidean OFCA is parameterised by the Mellin moments of generalised parton distributions (GPDs). Hence we extract GPD moments for two values of the soft momentum transfer, t = −1.10, −2.20 GeV2 and zero-skewness kinematics at an unphysical pion mass of mπ ≈ 470 MeV. This includes the first determination of the n = 4 moments

Reconstructing generalized parton distributions from the lattice off-forward Compton amplitude

We present a determination of the structure functions of the off-forward Compton amplitude H1 and E1 from the Feynman-Hellmann method in lattice QCD. At leading twist, these structure functions give access to the generalized parton distributions (GPDs) H and E, respectively. This calculation is performed for an unphysical pion mass of mπ=412  MeV and four values of the soft momentum transfer, t≈0,−0.3,−0.6,−1.1  GeV2, all at a hard momentum scale of Q¯2≈5  GeV2. Using these results, we test various methods to determine properties of the real-time scattering amplitudes and GPDs: (1) we fit their Mellin moments, and (2) we use a simple GPD ansatz to reconstruct the entire distribution. Our final results show promising agreement with phenomenology and other lattice results and highlight specific systematics in need of control. Published by the American Physical Society 2024 </jats:sec

Investigating the low moments of the nucleon structure functions in lattice QCD

We highlight QCDSF/UKQCD Collaboration's recent developments on computing the Compton amplitude directly via an implementation of the second order Feynman-Hellmann theorem. As an application, we compute the nucleon Compton tensor across a range of photon virtuality at an unphysical quark mass. This enables us to study the Q2 dependence of the low moments of the nucleon structure functions in a lattice calculation for the first time. We present some selected results for the moments of the F1, F2 and FL structure functions and discuss their implications

Generalized parton distributions from the off-forward Compton amplitude in lattice QCD

We determine the properties of generalised parton distributions (GPDs) from a lattice QCD calculation of the off-forward Compton amplitude (OFCA). By extending the Feynman-Hellmann relation to second-order matrix elements at off-forward kinematics, this amplitude can be calculated from lattice propagators computed in the presence of a background field. Using an operator product expansion, we show that the deeply-virtual part of the OFCA can be parameterised in terms of the low-order Mellin moments of the GPDs. We apply this formalism to a numerical investigation for zero-skewness kinematics at two values of the soft momentum transfer, $t = -1.1, -2.2 \;\text{GeV}^2$, and a pion mass of $m_{\pi}\approx 470\;\text{MeV}$. The form factors of the lowest two moments of the nucleon GPDs are determined, including the first lattice QCD determination of the $n=4$ moments. Hence we demonstrate the viability of this method to calculate the OFCA from first principles, and thereby provide novel constraint on the $x$- and $t$-dependence of GPDs.Comment: 20 pages, 7 figure