The Neutron Electric Dipole Moment in the Instanton Vacuum: Quenched Versus Unquenched Simulations

We investigate the role played by the fermionic determinant in the evaluation of the CP-violating neutron electric dipole moment (EDM) adopting the Instanton Liquid Model. Significant differences between quenched and unquenched calculations are found. In the case of unquenched simulations the neutron EDM decreases linearly with the quark mass and is expected to vanish in the chiral limit. On the contrary, within the quenched approximation, the neutron EDM increases as the quark mass decreases and is expected to diverge as (1/m)**Nf in the chiral limit. We argue that such a qualitatively different behavior is a parameter-free, semi-classical prediction and occurs because the neutron EDM is sensitive to the topological structure of the vacuum. The present analysis suggests that quenched and unquenched lattice QCD simulations of the neutron EDM as well as of other observables governed by topology might show up important differences in the quark mass dependence, for mq < Lambda(QCD).Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, 2 table

First Lattice QCD Study of the Sigma -> n Axial and Vector Form Factors with SU(3) Breaking Corrections

We present the first quenched lattice QCD study of the form factors relevant for the hyperon semileptonic decay Sigma -> n l nu. The momentum dependence of both axial and vector form factors is investigated and the values of all the form factors at zero-momentum transfer are presented. Following the same strategy already applied to the decay K0 -> pi- l nu, the SU(3)-breaking corrections to the vector form factor at zero-momentum transfer, f1(0), are determined with great statistical accuracy in the regime of the simulated quark masses, which correspond to pion masses above ~ 0.7 GeV. Besides f1(0) also the axial to vector ratio g1(0) / f1(0), which is relevant for the extraction of the CKM matrix element Vus, is determined with significant accuracy. Due to the heavy masses involved, a polynomial extrapolation, which does not include the effects of meson loops, is performed down to the physical quark masses, obtaining f1(0) = -0.948 +/- 0.029 and g1(0) / f1(0) = -0.287 +/- 0.052, where the uncertainties do not include the quenching effect. Adding a recent next-to-leading order determination of chiral loops, calculated within the Heavy Baryon Chiral Perturbation Theory in the approximation of neglecting the decuplet contribution, we obtain f1(0) = -0.988 +/- 0.029(lattice) +/- 0.040(HBChPT). Our findings indicate that SU(3)-breaking corrections are moderate on both f1(0) and g1(0). They also favor the experimental scenario in which the weak electricity form factor, g2(0), is large and positive, and correspondingly the value of |g1(0) / f1(0)| is reduced with respect to the one obtained with the conventional assumption g2(q**2) = 0 based on exact SU(3) symmetry.Comment: final version to appear in Nucl. Phys.

Lattice study of semileptonic form factors with twisted boundary conditions

We apply twisted boundary conditions to lattice QCD simulations of three-point correlation functions in order to access spatial components of hadronic momenta different from the integer multiples of 2 pi / L. We calculate the vector and scalar form factors relevant to the K -> pi semileptonic decay and consider all the possible ways of twisting one of the quark lines in the three-point functions. We show that the momentum shift produced by the twisted boundary conditions does not introduce any additional noise and easily allows to determine within a few percent statistical accuracy the form factors at quite small values of the four-momentum transfer, which are not accessible when periodic boundary conditions are considered. The use of twisted boundary conditions turns out to be crucial for a precise determination of the form factor at zero-momentum transfer, when a precise lattice point sufficiently close to zero-momentum transfer is not accessible with periodic boundary conditions.Comment: latex 15 pages, 4 figures and 3 tables; modified intro and discussions of the results; version to appear in PR

Corrigendum to "Analysis of the axial anomaly on the lattice with O(a)-improved Wilson action" [Nucl. Phys. B 670 (2003) 264–288]

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Chiral Corrections to the Hyperon Vector Form Factors

We present the complete calculation of the SU(3)-breaking corrections to the hyperon vector form factors up to O(p^4) in the Heavy Baryon Chiral Perturbation Theory. Because of the Ademollo-Gatto theorem, at this order the results do not depend on unknown low energy constants and allow to test the convergence of the chiral expansion. We complete and correct previous calculations and find that O(p^3) and O(1/M_0) corrections are important. We also study the inclusion of the decuplet degrees of freedom, showing that in this case the perturbative expansion is jeopardized. These results raise doubts on the reliability of the chiral expansion for hyperons.Comment: 20 pages, 4 figures, v2: published versio

SU(3)-breaking effects in kaon and hyperon semileptonic decays from lattice QCD

We discuss the result of a recent quenched lattice calculation of the K -> pi vector form factor at zero-momentum transfer, relevant for the determination of |V_us| from K-> pi l nu decays. Using suitable double ratios of three-point correlation functions, we show that it is possible to calculate this quantity at the percent-level precision. The leading quenched effects are corrected for by means of quenched chiral perturbation theory. The final result, f+(0) = 0.960 +- 0.005_stat +- 0.007_syst, turns out to be in good agreement with the old quark model estimate made by Leutwyler and Roos. In this paper, we discuss the phenomenological impact of the lattice result for the extraction of |V_us|, by updating the analysis of K -> pi l nu decays with the most recent experimental data. We also present a preliminary lattice study of hyperon Sigma -> n l nu decays, based on a similar strategy.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures. Based on talks given at: DAFNE 2004: Physics at meson factories, Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati (Italy), June 7-11, 2004; VIII International Conference on "Electron-Nucleus Scattering", Marciana Marina (Italy), June 21-25, 2004; Lattice 2004, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Batavia, Illinois (USA), June 21-26, 2004; ICHEP 2004, Beijing (China), August 16-22, 200

Bs to l+ l- gamma as a Test of Lepton Flavor Universality

We discuss a number of strategies to reduce the $\mathcal B(B^0_s \to \ell^{+} \ell^{-} \gamma)$ theoretical error, and make such a measurement a new probe of the interactions that are interesting in the light of present-day flavor discrepancies. In particular, for low di-lepton invariant mass we propose to exploit the close parenthood between $\mathcal B(B^0_s \to \ell^{+} \ell^{-} \gamma)$ and the measured $\mathcal B(B^0_s \to \phi (\to K^+ K^-) \gamma)$. For high $q^2$, conversely, we exploit the fact that the decay is dominated by two form-factor combinations, plus contributions from broad charmonium that we model accordingly. We construct the ratio $R_\gamma$, akin to $R_K$ and likewise sensitive to lepton-universality violation. Provided the two rates in this ratio are integrated in a suitable region that minimises bremsstrahlung contributions while maximising statistics, the ratio is very close to unity and the form-factor dependence cancels to an extent that makes it a new valuable probe of lepton-universality violating contributions in the effective Hamiltonian. We finally speculate on additional ideas to extract short-distance information from resonance regions, which are theoretically interesting but statistically limited at present.Comment: 21 pages, 4 figures. v4: in appendix removed equation already present in main tex

Semileptonic Hyperon Decays on the Lattice: an Exploratory Study

We present preliminary results of an exploratory lattice study of the vector form factor $f_1(q^2 = 0)$ relevant for the semileptonic hyperon decay $\Sigma^{-} --> n l \nu$. This study is based on the same method used for the extraction of $f^+(0)$ for the decay $K^0 --> \pi^{-} l \nu$. The main purpose of this study is to test the method for hyperon form factors in order to estimate the precision that can be reached and the importance of SU(3)-breaking effects.Comment: 3 pages, 5 figures, talk presented at Lattice2004(weak), Fermilab, Batavia, Illinois, 21-26 June 200