arXiv subjects

Aaron S. Meyer

Publications and source records attributed to Aaron S. Meyer.

28 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2021

Nucleon Axial Form Factor from Domain Wall on HISQ

The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is an upcoming neutrino oscillation experiment that is poised to answer key questions about the nature of neutrinos. Lattice QCD has the ability to make significant impact upon DUNE, beginning with computations of nucleon-neutrino interactions with weak currents. Nucleon amplitudes involving the axial form factor are part of the primary signal measurement process for DUNE, and precise calculations from LQCD can significantly reduce the uncertainty for inputs into Monte Carlo generators. Recent calculations of the nucleon axial charge have demonstrated that sub-percent precision is possible on this vital quantity. In these proceedings, we discuss preliminary results for the CalLat collaboration's calculation of the axial form factor of the nucleon. These computations are performed with Möbius domain wall valence quarks on HISQ sea quark ensembles generated by the MILC and CalLat collaborations. The results use a variety of ensembles including several at physical pion mass.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2021

Nucleon Mass with Highly Improved Staggered Quarks

We present the first computation in a program of lattice-QCD baryon physics using staggered fermions for sea and valence quarks. For this initial study, we present a calculation of the nucleon mass, obtaining $964\pm16$ MeV with all sources of statistical and systematic errors controlled and accounted for. This result is the most precise determination to date of the nucleon mass from first principles. We use the highly-improved staggered quark action, which is computationally efficient. Three gluon ensembles are employed, which have approximate lattice spacings $a=0.09$ fm, $0.12$ fm, and $0.15$ fm, each with equal-mass $u$/$d$, $s$, and $c$ quarks in the sea. Further, all ensembles have the light valence and sea $u$/$d$ quarks tuned to reproduce the physical pion mass, avoiding complications from chiral extrapolations or nonunitarity. Our work opens a new avenue for precise calculations of baryon properties, which are both feasible and relevant to experiments in particle and nuclear physics.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2020

Computing Nucleon Charges with Highly Improved Staggered Quarks

This work continues our program of lattice-QCD baryon physics using staggered fermions for both the sea and valence quarks. We present a proof-of-concept study that demonstrates, for the first time, how to calculate baryon matrix elements using staggered quarks for the valence sector. We show how to relate the representations of the continuum staggered flavor-taste group $\text{SU}(8)_{FT}$ to those of the discrete lattice symmetry group. The resulting calculations yield the normalization factors relating staggered baryon matrix elements to their physical counterparts. We verify this methodology by calculating the isovector vector and axial-vector charges $g_V$ and $g_A$. We use a single ensemble from the MILC Collaboration with 2+1+1 flavors of sea quark, lattice spacing $a\approx 0.12$ fm, and a pion mass $M_π\approx305$ MeV. On this ensemble, we find results consistent with expectations from current conservation and neutron beta decay. Thus, this work demonstrates how highly-improved staggered quarks can be used for precision calculations of baryon properties, and, in particular, the isovector nucleon charges.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2020

Consistency of hadronic vacuum polarization between lattice QCD and the R-ratio

There are emerging tensions for theory results of the hadronic vacuum polarization contribution to the muon anomalous magnetic moment both within recent lattice QCD calculations and between some lattice QCD calculations and R-ratio results. In this paper we work towards scrutinizing critical aspects of these calculations. We focus in particular on a precise calculation of Euclidean position-space windows defined by RBC/UKQCD that are ideal quantities for cross-checks within the lattice community and with R-ratio results. We perform a lattice QCD calculation using physical up, down, strange, and charm sea quark gauge ensembles generated in the staggered formalism by the MILC collaboration. We study the continuum limit using inverse lattice spacings from $a^{-1}\approx 1.6$ GeV to $3.5$ GeV, identical to recent studies by FNAL/HPQCD/MILC and Aubin et al. and similar to the recent study of BMW. Our calculation exhibits a tension for the particularly interesting window result of $a_μ^{\rm ud, conn.,isospin, W}$ from $0.4$ fm to $1.0$ fm with previous results obtained with a different discretization of the vector current on the same gauge configurations. Our results may indicate a difficulty related to estimating uncertainties of the continuum extrapolation that deserves further attention. In this work we also provide results for $a_μ^{\rm ud,conn.,isospin}$, $a_μ^{\rm s,conn.,isospin}$, $a_μ^{\rm SIB,conn.}$ for the total contribution and a large set of windows. For the total contribution, we find $a_μ^{\rm HVP~LO}=714(27)(13) 10^{-10}$, $a_μ^{\rm ud,conn.,isospin}=657(26)(12) 10^{-10}$, $a_μ^{\rm s,conn.,isospin}=52.83(22)(65) 10^{-10}$, and $a_μ^{\rm SIB,conn.}=9.0(0.8)(1.2) 10^{-10}$, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic. We also comment on finite-volume corrections for the strong-isospin-breaking corrections.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2019

wickop: Lattice Cubic Rotation Operator Generator

This document outlines the usage of a series of python 2.7 scripts designed to easily and efficiently create compound operators. This is accomplished by computing tensor products of smaller building blocks that transform irreducibly under lattice cubic rotational and translational symmetry. In particular, the code has the ability to handle representations of the cubic rotation group with any spatial momentum. The key paradigm is to track the momentum separately from the rotations, fully utilizing the abelian structure of the translation subgroup. This goes through the Wigner little group method to classify the subgroup of rotations that leave the momentum direction unchanged. Using little groups circumvents the issue of a volume factor in the number of representation matrices that are needed, instead only requiring the 96 cubic rotation representation matrices. Tensor products are computed with character tables and Clebsch-Gordan coefficients are saved for each decomposition in the tensor product. The code also builds operators in a consistent basis, ensuring that operators that transform in the same representation have the same properties.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2019

Nucleon and $Ω$ Baryon Masses with All-HISQ Fermions at the Physical Point

We present the results of the nucleon and $Ω$ baryon masses using staggered action for both valence and sea quarks. Three ensembles with the physical pion mass at approximate lattice spacings of $0.15$, $0.12$, and $0.088$fm are employed to extrapolate the masses to continuum and we obtain $M_N = 964(16)$ MeV and $M_Ω= 1678(9)$. Both statistical and systematic uncertainties are included in the nucleon mass, whereas only the statistical uncertainty is accounted for in the $Ω$ baryon mass.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2019

Exclusive Channel Study of the Muon HVP

The Hadronic Vacuum Polarization (HVP) is a dominant contribution to the theoretical uncertainty of the muon anomalous magnetic moment. The uncertainty in a lattice QCD calculation of the connected light-quark contribution to the HVP is dominated by the long-distance region of the vector correlation function. Explicit studies of the exclusive channels of the HVP diagram make it possible to reconstruct the long-distance behavior of the correlation function. This removes most of the statistical uncertainty of the correlation function. In these proceedings, preliminary results of an exclusive study of the isospin symmetric connected-only vector-vector correlation function using a hybrid of distillation and A2A techniques are presented. The computation is performed on 2+1 flavor Möbius Domain Wall Fermion ensembles with physical pion mass. Reconstruction of the long-distance correlation function will enable lattice-only calculations of the HVP to achieve precision similar to estimates of the HVP from the R-ratio method on the timescale of the new experimental measurements of the muon anomalous magnetic moment.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2019

Lattice QCD and Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering

This document is one of a series of whitepapers from the USQCD collaboration. Here, we discuss opportunities for lattice QCD in neutrino-oscillation physics, which inevitably entails nucleon and nuclear structure. In addition to discussing pertinent lattice-QCD calculations of nucleon and nuclear matrix elements, the interplay with models of nuclei is discussed. This program of lattice- QCD calculations is relevant to current and upcoming neutrino experiments, becoming increasingly important on the timescale of LBNF/DUNE and HyperK.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2016

Calculation of the Nucleon Axial Form Factor Using Staggered Lattice QCD

The nucleon axial form factor is a dominant contribution to errors in neutrino oscillation studies. Lattice QCD calculations can help control theory errors by providing first-principles information on nucleon form factors. In these proceedings, we present preliminary results on a blinded calculation of $g_A$ and the axial form factor using HISQ staggered baryons with 2+1+1 flavors of sea quarks. Calculations are done using physical light quark masses and are absolutely normalized. We discuss fitting form factor data with the model-independent $z$ expansion parametrization.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2016

Deuterium target data for precision neutrino-nucleus cross sections

Amplitudes derived from scattering data on elementary targets are basic inputs to neutrino-nucleus cross section predictions. A prominent example is the isovector axial nucleon form factor, $F_A(q^2)$, which controls charged current signal processes at accelerator-based neutrino oscillation experiments. Previous extractions of $F_A$ from neutrino-deuteron scattering data rely on a dipole shape assumption that introduces an unquantified error. A new analysis of world data for neutrino-deuteron scattering is performed using a model-independent, and systematically improvable, representation of $F_A$. A complete error budget for the nucleon isovector axial radius leads to $r_A^2=0.46(22) \,{\rm fm}^2$, with a much larger uncertainty than determined in the original analyses. The quasielastic neutrino-neutron cross section is determined as $σ(ν_μn \to μ^- p)\big|_{E_ν=1\,{\rm GeV}} = 10.1(0.9) \times 10^{-39}{\rm cm}^2$. The propagation of nucleon-level constraints and uncertainties to nuclear cross sections is illustrated using MINERvA data and the GENIE event generator. These techniques can be readily extended to other amplitudes and processes.

hep-ph↗