Helicity operators for mesons in flight on the lattice

Motivated by the desire to construct meson-meson operators of definite relative momentum in order to study resonances in lattice QCD, we present a set of single-meson interpolating fields at non-zero momentum that respect the reduced symmetry of a cubic lattice in a finite cubic volume. These operators follow from the subduction of operators of definite helicity into irreducible representations of the appropriate little groups. We show their effectiveness in explicit computations where we find that the spectrum of states interpolated by these operators is close to diagonal in helicity, admitting a description in terms of single-meson states of identified J^{PC}. The variationally determined optimal superpositions of the operators for each state give rapid relaxation in Euclidean time to that state, ideal for the construction of meson-meson operators and for the evaluation of matrix elements at finite momentum.Comment: 25 pages, 14 figures; v2: minor changes to reflect journal versio

S and D-wave phase shifts in isospin-2 pi pi scattering from lattice QCD

The isospin-2 pi pi system provides a useful testing ground for determining elastic hadron scattering parameters from finite-volume spectra obtained using lattice QCD computations. A reliable determination of the excited state spectrum of two pions in a cubic box follows from variational analysis of correlator matrices constructed using a large basis of operators. A general operator construction is presented which respects the symmetries of a multi-hadron system in flight. This is applied to the case of pi pi and allows for the determination of the scattering phase-shifts at a large number of kinematic points, in both S-wave and D-wave, within the elastic region. The technique is demonstrated with a calculation at a pion mass of 396 MeV, where the elastic scattering is found to be well described by a scattering length parameterisation.Comment: Tables of little-group CGCs in ancillary file; v2: minor changes to reflect published versio

Exotic and excited-state radiative transitions in charmonium from lattice QCD

We compute, for the first time using lattice QCD methods, radiative transition rates involving excited charmonium states, states of high spin and exotics. Utilizing a large basis of interpolating fields we are able to project out various excited state contributions to three-point correlators computed on quenched anisotropic lattices. In the first lattice QCD calculation of the exotic 1-+ eta_c1 radiative decay, we find a large partial width Gamma(eta_c1 -> J/psi gamma) ~ 100 keV. We find clear signals for electric dipole and magnetic quadrupole transition form factors in chi_c2 -> J/psi gamma, calculated for the first time in this framework, and study transitions involving excited psi and chi_c1,2 states. We calculate hindered magnetic dipole transition widths without the sensitivity to assumptions made in model studies and find statistically significant signals, including a non-exotic vector hybrid candidate Y_hyb? -> eta_c gamma. As well as comparison to experimental data, we discuss in some detail the phenomenology suggested by our results and the extent to which it mirrors that of quark potential models and make suggestions for the interpretation of our results involving exotic quantum numbered states

Isoscalar meson spectroscopy from lattice QCD

We extract to high statistical precision an excited spectrum of single-particle isoscalar mesons using lattice QCD, including states of high spin and, for the first time, light exotic JPC isoscalars. The use of a novel quark field construction has enabled us to overcome the long-standing challenge of efficiently including quark-annihilation contributions. Hidden-flavor mixing angles are extracted and while most states are found to be close to ideally flavor mixed, there are examples of large mixing in the pseudoscalar and axial sectors in line with experiment. The exotic JPC isoscalar states appear at a mass scale comparable to the exotic isovector states.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Characterizing the Hydrology of Shallow Floodplain Lakes in the Slave River Delta, NWT, Canada, Using Water Isotope Tracers

The relative importance of major hydrological processes on thaw season 2003 lakewater balances in the Slave River Delta, NWT, Canada, is characterized using water isotope tracers and total suspended sediment (TSS) analyses. A suite of 41 lakes from three previously recognized biogeographical zones—outer delta, mid-delta, and apex—were sampled immediately following the spring melt, during summer, and in the fall of 2003. Oxygen and hydrogen isotope compositions were evaluated in the context of an isotopic framework calculated from 2003 hydroclimatic data. Our analysis reveals that flooding from the Slave River and Great Slave Lake dominated early spring lakewater balances in outer and most mid-delta lakes, as also indicated by elevated TSS concentrations (\u3e0.01 g L-1). In contrast, the input of snowmelt was strongest on all apex and some mid-delta lakes. After the spring melt, all delta lakes underwent heavy-isotope enrichment due to evaporation, although lakes flooded by the Slave River and Great Slave Lake during the spring freshet continued to be more depleted isotopically than those dominated by snowmelt input. The isotopic signatures of lakes with direct connections to the Slave River or Great Slave Lake varied throughout the season in response to the nature of the connection. Our findings provide the basis for identifying three groups of lakes based on the major factors that control their water balances: (1) flood-dominated (n=10), (2) evaporation-dominated (n=25), and (3) exchange-dominated (n=6) lakes. Differentiation of the hydrological processes that influence Slave River Delta lakewater balances is essential for ongoing hydroecological and paleohydrological studies, and ultimately, for teasing apart the relative influences of variations in local climate and Slave River hydrology