Numerical Exploration of the RI/MOM Scheme Gauge Dependence

The gauge dependence of some fermion bilinear RI/MOM renormalization constants is studied by comparing data which have been gauge-fixed in two different realizations of the Landau gauge and in a generic covariant gauge. The very good agreement between the various sets of results and the theory indicates that the numerical uncertainty induced by the lattice gauge-fixing procedure is below the statistical errors of our data sample which is of the order of (1-1.5)%.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figures, Lattice2002(theoretical

Relaxation time of LL-reversal chains and other chromosome shuffles

We prove tight bounds on the relaxation time of the so-called $L$-reversal chain, which was introduced by R. Durrett as a stochastic model for the evolution of chromosome chains. The process is described as follows. We have $n$ distinct letters on the vertices of the ${n}$-cycle (${{\mathbb{Z}}}$ mod $n$); at each step, a connected subset of the graph is chosen uniformly at random among all those of length at most $L$, and the current permutation is shuffled by reversing the order of the letters over that subset. We show that the relaxation time $\tau (n,L)$, defined as the inverse of the spectral gap of the associated Markov generator, satisfies $\tau (n,L)=O(n\vee \frac{n^3}{L^3})$. Our results can be interpreted as strong evidence for a conjecture of R. Durrett predicting a similar behavior for the mixing time of the chain.Comment: Published at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/105051606000000295 in the Annals of Applied Probability (http://www.imstat.org/aap/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

The quest for three-color entanglement: experimental investigation of new multipartite quantum correlations

We experimentally investigate quadrature correlations between pump, signal, and idler fields in an above-threshold optical parametric oscillator. We observe new quantum correlations among the pump and signal or idler beams, as well as among the pump and a combined quadrature of signal and idler beams. A further investigation of unforeseen classical noise observed in this system is presented, which hinders the observation of the recently predicted tripartite entanglement. In spite of this noise, current results approach the limit required to demonstrate three-color entanglement.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Opt. Expres

Effects of finite volume on the KL-KS mass difference

Phenomena that involve two or more on-shell particles are particularly sensitive to the effects of finite volume and require special treatment when computed using lattice QCD. In this paper we generalize the results of Lüscher and Lellouch and Lüscher, which determine the leading-order effects of finite volume on the two-particle spectrum and two-particle decay amplitudes to determine the finite-volume effects in the second-order mixing of the K0 and K0¯ states. We extend the methods of Kim, Sachrajda, and Sharpe to provide a direct, uniform treatment of these three, related, finite-volume corrections. In particular, the leading, finite-volume corrections to the KL-KS mass difference ΔMK and the CP-violating parameter εK are determined, including the potentially large effects which can arise from the near degeneracy of the kaon mass and the energy of a finite-volume, two-pion state

Electromagnetic corrections to leptonic decay rates of charged pseudoscalar mesons: finite-volume effects

In Carrasco et al. we have recently proposed a method to calculate $O(e^2)$ electromagnetic corrections to leptonic decay widths of pseudoscalar mesons. The method is based on the observation that the infrared divergent contributions (that appear at intermediate stages of the calculation and that cancel in physical quantities thanks to the Bloch-Nordsieck mechanism) are universal, i.e. depend on the charge and the mass of the meson but not on its internal structure. In this talk we perform a detailed analysis of the finite-volume effects associated with our method. In particular we show that also the leading $1/L$ finite-volume effects are universal and perform an analytical calculation of the finite-volume leptonic decay rate for a point-like meson

Finite-Volume QED Corrections to Decay Amplitudes in Lattice QCD

We demonstrate that the leading and next-to-leading finite-volume effects in the evaluation of leptonic decay widths of pseudoscalar mesons at $O(\alpha)$ are universal, i.e. they are independent of the structure of the meson. This is analogous to a similar result for the spectrum but with some fundamental differences, most notably the presence of infrared divergences in decay amplitudes. The leading non-universal, structure-dependent terms are of $O(1/L^2)$ (compared to the $O(1/L^3)$ leading non-universal corrections in the spectrum). We calculate the universal finite-volume effects, which requires an extension of previously developed techniques to include a dependence on an external three-momentum (in our case, the momentum of the final state lepton). The result can be included in the strategy proposed in Ref.\,\cite{Carrasco:2015xwa} for using lattice simulations to compute the decay widths at $O(\alpha)$, with the remaining finite-volume effects starting at order $O(1/L^2)$. The methods developed in this paper can be generalised to other decay processes, most notably to semileptonic decays, and hence open the possibility of a new era in precision flavour physics

Leading isospin-breaking corrections to pion, kaon and charmed-meson masses with Twisted-Mass fermions

We present a lattice computation of the isospin-breaking corrections to pseudoscalar meson masses using the gauge configurations produced by the European Twisted Mass collaboration with $N_f = 2 + 1 + 1$ dynamical quarks at three values of the lattice spacing ($a \simeq 0.062, 0.082$ and $0.089$ fm) with pion masses in the range $M_\pi \simeq 210 - 450$ MeV. The strange and charm quark masses are tuned at their physical values. We adopt the RM123 method based on the combined expansion of the path integral in powers of the $d$- and $u$-quark mass difference ($\widehat{m}_d - \widehat{m}_u$) and of the electromagnetic coupling $\alpha_{em}$. Within the quenched QED approximation, which neglects the effects of the sea-quark charges, and after the extrapolations to the physical pion mass and to the continuum and infinite volume limits, we provide results for the pion, kaon and (for the first time) charmed-meson mass splittings, for the prescription-dependent parameters $\epsilon_{\pi^0}$, \epsilon_\gamma(\overline{MS}, 2~\mbox{GeV}), \epsilon_{K^0}(\overline{MS}, 2~\mbox{GeV}), related to the violations of the Dashen's theorem, and for the light quark mass difference (\widehat{m}_d - \widehat{m}_u)(\overline{MS}, 2~\mbox{GeV}).Comment: 47 pages, 20 figures, 4 tables; comments on QED and QCD splitting prescriptions added; version to appear in PR

Relaxation times of kinetically constrained spin models with glassy dynamics

We analyze the density and size dependence of the relaxation time $\tau$ for kinetically constrained spin systems. These have been proposed as models for strong or fragile glasses and for systems undergoing jamming transitions. For the one (FA1f) or two (FA2f) spin facilitated Fredrickson-Andersen model at any density $\rho<1$ and for the Knight model below the critical density at which the glass transition occurs, we show that the persistence and the spin-spin time auto-correlation functions decay exponentially. This excludes the stretched exponential relaxation which was derived by numerical simulations. For FA2f in $d\geq 2$, we also prove a super-Arrhenius scaling of the form $\exp(1/(1-\rho))\leq \tau\leq\exp(1/(1-\rho)^2)$. For FA1f in $d$=$1,2$ we rigorously prove the power law scalings recently derived in \cite{JMS} while in $d\geq 3$ we obtain upper and lower bounds consistent with findings therein. Our results are based on a novel multi-scale approach which allows to analyze $\tau$ in presence of kinetic constraints and to connect time-scales and dynamical heterogeneities. The techniques are flexible enough to allow a variety of constraints and can also be applied to conservative stochastic lattice gases in presence of kinetic constraints.Comment: 4 page

Constraining Fundamental Physics with Future CMB Experiments

The Planck experiment will soon provide a very accurate measurement of Cosmic Microwave Background anisotropies. This will let cosmologists determine most of the cosmological parameters with unprecedented accuracy. Future experiments will improve and complement the Planck data with better angular resolution and better polarization sensitivity. This unexplored region of the CMB power spectrum contains information on many parameters of interest, including neutrino mass, the number of relativistic particles at recombination, the primordial Helium abundance and the injection of additional ionizing photons by dark matter self-annihilation. We review the imprint of each parameter on the CMB and forecast the constraints achievable by future experiments by performing a Monte Carlo analysis on synthetic realizations of simulated data. We find that next generation satellite missions such as CMBPol could provide valuable constraints with a precision close to that expected in current and near future laboratory experiments. Finally, we discuss the implications of this intersection between cosmology and fundamental physics.Comment: 11 pages, 14 figure