Reversibility Violation in the Hybrid Monte Carlo Algorithm

We investigate reversibility violations in the Hybrid Monte Carlo algorithm. Those violations are inevitable when computers with finite numerical precision are being used. In SU(2) gauge theory, we study the dependence of observables on the size of the reversibility violations. While we cannot find any statistically significant deviation in observables related to the simulated physical model, algorithmic specific observables signal an upper bound for reversibility violations below which simulations appear unproblematic. This empirically derived condition is independent of problem size and parameter values, at least in the range of parameters studied here.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures, typos corrected, comment added, matches published versio

Flavor-singlet meson decay constants from Nf=2+1+1N_f=2+1+1 twisted mass lattice QCD

We present an improved analysis of our lattice data for the $\eta$--$\eta'$ system, including a correction of the relevant correlation functions for residual topological finite size effects and employing consistent chiral and continuum fits. From this analysis we update our physical results for the masses $M_\eta=557(11)_\mathrm{stat}(03)_{\chi\mathrm{PT}}\,\mathrm{MeV}$ and $M_{\eta'}=911(64)_\mathrm{stat}(03)_{\chi\mathrm{PT}}\,\mathrm{MeV}$, as well as the mixing angle in the quark flavor basis $\phi=38.8(2.2)_\mathrm{stat}(2.4)_{\chi\mathrm{PT}}^\circ$ in excellent agreement with other results from phenomenology. Similarly, we include an analysis for the decay constant parameters, leading to $f_l=125(5)_\mathrm{stat}(6)_{\chi\mathrm{PT}}\,\mathrm{MeV}$ and $f_s=178(4)_\mathrm{stat}(1)_{\chi\mathrm{PT}}\,\mathrm{MeV}$. The second error reflects the uncertainty related to the chiral extrapolation. The data used for this study has been generated on gauge ensembles provided by the European Twisted Mass Collaboration with $N_f=2+1+1$ dynamical flavors of Wilson twisted mass fermions. These ensembles cover a range of pion masses from $220\,\mathrm{MeV}$ to $500\,\mathrm{MeV}$ and three values of the lattice spacing. Combining our data with a prediction from chiral perturbation theory, we give an estimate for the physical $\eta,\eta' \rightarrow \gamma\gamma$ decay widths and the singly-virtual $\eta,\eta'\rightarrow\gamma\gamma^*$ transition form factors in the limit of large momentum transfer.Comment: 22 pages, 8 figures, 12 tables; matching version accepted for publicatio

A Mixed Action Analysis of η\eta and η′\eta' Mesons

We study $\eta$ and $\eta'$ mesons and their mixing angle in a mixed action approach with so-called Osterwalder-Seiler valence quarks on a Wilson twisted mass sea. The gauge configurations have been generated by ETMC for $N_f=2+1+1$ dynamical quark flavours and for three values of the lattice spacing. The main results are that differences in between the mixed action and the unitary approach vanish towards the continuum limit with the expected rate of $\mathcal{O}(a^2)$. The individual size of the lattice artifacts depends, however, strongly on the observable used to match unitary and valence actions. Moreover, we show that for the $\eta$ mass valence and valence plus sea quark mass dependence differ significantly. Hence, in this case a re-tuning of the simulation parameters in the valence sector only is not sufficient to compensate for mismatches in the original quark masses.Comment: 30 pages, 8 figures, version accepted for publicatio

Testing the Witten-Veneziano Formula on the Lattice

In this proceeding contribution we report on a test of the famous Witten-Veneziano formula using lattice techniques. We perform dedicated quenched simulations and apply the spectral projector method to determine the topological susceptibility in pure Yang-Mills theory. In order to compute the relevant meson masses and the flavor singlet decay constant we employ lattice QCD with $N_f=2+1+1$ dynamical Wilson twisted mass fermions. Taking the continuum and the $SU(2)$ chiral limits we find good agreement within uncertainties for both sides of the formula.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, presented at the 33rd International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, 14 -18 July 2015, Kobe International Conference Center, Kobe, Japa

Lemon: an MPI parallel I/O library for data encapsulation using LIME

We introduce Lemon, an MPI parallel I/O library that is intended to allow for efficient parallel I/O of both binary and metadata on massively parallel architectures. Motivated by the demands of the Lattice Quantum Chromodynamics community, the data is stored in the SciDAC Lattice QCD Interchange Message Encapsulation format. This format allows for storing large blocks of binary data and corresponding metadata in the same file. Even if designed for LQCD needs, this format might be useful for any application with this type of data profile. The design, implementation and application of Lemon are described. We conclude with presenting the excellent scaling properties of Lemon on state of the art high performance computers