15 research outputs found
High-Precision Lattice QCD Confronts Experiment
We argue that high-precision lattice QCD is now possible, for the first time,
because of a new improved staggered quark discretization. We compare a wide
variety of nonperturbative calculations in QCD with experiment, and find
agreement to within statistical and systematic errors of 3% or less. We also
present a new determination of alpha_msbar(Mz); we obtain 0.121(3). We discuss
the implications of this breakthrough for phenomenology and, in particular, for
heavy-quark physics.Comment: 2 figures, revte
Predictions from Lattice QCD
In the past year, we calculated with lattice QCD three quantities that were
unknown or poorly known. They are the dependence of the form factor in
semileptonic decay, the decay constant of the meson, and the
mass of the meson. In this talk, we summarize these calculations, with
emphasis on their (subsequent) confirmation by experiments.Comment: v1: talk given at the International Conference on QCD and Hadronic
Physics, Beijing, June 16-20, 2005; v2: poster presented at the XXIIIrd
International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, Dublin, July 25-3
Leptonic decay constants f_Ds and f_D in three flavor lattice QCD
We determine the leptonic decay constants in three flavor unquenched lattice
QCD. We use O(a^2)-improved staggered light quarks and O(a)-improved charm
quarks in the Fermilab heavy quark formalism. Our preliminary results, based
upon an analysis at a single lattice spacing, are f_Ds = 263(+5-9)(+/-24) MeV
and f_D = 225(+11-13)(+/-21) MeV. In each case, the first reported error is
statistical while the is the combined systematic uncertainty.Comment: Talk presented at Lattice2004(heavy), Fermilab, June 21-26, 2004. 3
pages, 2 figure
Semileptonic D->pi/K and B->pi/D decays in 2+1 flavor lattice QCD
We present results for form factors of semileptonic decays of and
mesons in 2+1 flavor lattice QCD using the MILC gauge configurations. With an
improved staggered action for light quarks, we successfully reduce the
systematic error from the chiral extrapolation. The results for decays are
in agreement with experimental ones. The results for B decays are preliminary.
Combining our results with experimental branching ratios, we then obtain the
CKM matrix elements , , and . We also
check CKM unitarity, for the first time, using only lattice QCD as the
theoretical input.Comment: Talk presented at Lattice2004(heavy); 3 pages, 3 figure
Charmed meson decay constants in three-flavor lattice QCD
We present the first lattice QCD calculation with realistic sea quark content
of the D^+ meson decay constant f_{D^+}. We use the MILC Collaboration's
publicly available ensembles of lattice gauge fields, which have a quark sea
with two flavors (up and down) much lighter than a third (strange). We obtain
f_{D^+} = 201 +/- 3 +/- 17 MeV, where the errors are statistical and a
combination of systematic errors. We also obtain f_{D_s} = 249 +/- 3 +/- 16 MeV
for the D_s meson.Comment: note added on recent CLEO measurement; PRL versio
The Manganese Transporter MntH Is a Critical Virulence Determinant for Brucella abortus 2308 in Experimentally Infected Miceâ–¿
The gene designated BAB1_1460 in the Brucella abortus 2308 genome sequence is predicted to encode the manganese transporter MntH. Phenotypic analysis of an isogenic mntH mutant indicates that MntH is the sole high-affinity manganese transporter in this bacterium but that MntH does not play a detectable role in the transport of Fe2+, Zn2+, Co2+, or Ni2+. Consistent with the apparent selectivity of the corresponding gene product, the expression of the mntH gene in B. abortus 2308 is repressed by Mn2+, but not Fe2+, and this Mn-responsive expression is mediated by a Mur-like repressor. The B. abortus mntH mutant MWV15 exhibits increased susceptibility to oxidative killing in vitro compared to strain 2308, and a comparative analysis of the superoxide dismutase activities present in these two strains indicates that the parental strain requires MntH in order to make wild-type levels of its manganese superoxide dismutase SodA. The B. abortus mntH mutant also exhibits extreme attenuation in both cultured murine macrophages and experimentally infected C57BL/6 mice. These experimental findings indicate that Mn2+ transport mediated by MntH plays an important role in the physiology of B. abortus 2308, particularly during its intracellular survival and replication in the host