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Anthony W. Thomas

Publications and source records attributed to Anthony W. Thomas.

139 records · Page 8Linked to original sources

Boundary of Nuclear Physics and QCD

Recent progress in lattice QCD, combined with the imminent advent of a new generation of dedicated supercomputers and advances in chiral extrapolation mean that the next few years will bring quite novel insights into hadron structure. We review some of the recent highlights in this field, the questions which might be addressed and the experiments which may be expected to stretch that understanding to its limits. Only with a sound understanding of hadron structure can one hope to explore the fundamental issue of how that structure may change at finite density (or temperature). We explore potential future insights from lattice QCD into the phenomenon of nuclear saturation and a very important hint from recent data of a change in the structure of a bound nucleon.

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Chiral Extrapolations and Exotic Meson Spectrum

We examine the chiral corrections to exotic meson masses calculated in lattice QCD. In particular, we ask whether the non-linear chiral behavior at small quark masses, which has been found in other hadronic systems, could lead to large corrections to the predictions of exotic meson masses based on linear extrapolations to the chiral limit. We find that our present understanding of exotic meson decay dynamics suggests that open channels may not make a significant contribution to such non-linearities whereas the virtual, closed channels may be important.

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The Sigma Commutator from Lattice QCD

As a direct source of information on chiral symmetry breaking within QCD, the sigma commutator is of considerable importance. Since hadron structure is a non-perturbative problem, numerical calculations on a space-time lattice are currently the only rigorous approach. With recent advances in the calculation of hadron masses within full QCD, it is of interest to see whether the sigma commutator can be calculated directly from the dependence of the nucleon mass on the input quark mass. We show that, provided the correct chiral behaviour of QCD is respected in the extrapolation to realistic quark masses, one can indeed obtain a fairly reliable determination of the sigma commutator using present lattice data. For two-flavour dynamical fermion QCD the sigma commutator lies between 45 and 55 MeV based on recent data from CP-PACS and UKQCD.

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A Lattice QCD Analysis of the Strangeness Magnetic Moment of the Nucleon

The outcome of the SAMPLE Experiment suggests that the strange-quark contribution to the nucleon magnetic moment, G_M^s(0), may be greater than zero. This result is very difficult to reconcile with expectations based on the successful baryon magnetic-moment phenomenology of the constituent quark model. We show that careful consideration of chiral symmetry reveals some rather unexpected properties of QCD. In particular, it is found that the valence u-quark contribution to the magnetic moment of the neutron can differ by more than 50% from its contribution to the Xi^0 magnetic moment. This hitherto unforeseen result leads to the value G_M^s(0) = -0.16 +/- 0.18 with a systematic error, arising from the relatively large strange quark mass used in existing lattice calculations, that would tend to shift G_M^s(0) towards small positive values.

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Chiral Corrections to Baryon Masses Calculated within Lattice QCD

Consideration of the analytic properties of pion-induced baryon self energies leads to new functional forms for the extrapolation of light baryon masses. These functional forms reproduce the leading non-analytic behavior of chiral perturbation theory, the correct non-analytic behavior at the $N π$ threshold and the appropriate heavy-quark limit. They involve only three unknown parameters, which may be obtained by fitting lattice QCD data. Recent dynamical fermion results from CP-PACS and UKQCD are extrapolated using these new functional forms. We also use these functions to probe the limit of applicability of chiral perturbation theory.

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Baryon Mass Extrapolation

Consideration of the analytical properties of pion-induced baryon self-energies leads to new functional forms for the extrapolation of light baryon masses. These functional forms reproduce the leading non-analytic behavior of chiral perturbation theory, the correct heavy-quark limit and have the advantage of containing information on the extended structure of hadrons. The forms involve only three unknown parameters which may be optimized by fitting to present lattice data. Recent dynamical fermion results from CP-PACS and UK-QCD are extrapolated using these new functional forms. We also use these functions to probe the limit of the chiral perturbative regime and shed light on the applicability of chiral perturbation theory to the extrapolation of present lattice QCD results.

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Nucleon Magnetic Moments Beyond the Perturbative Chiral Regime

The quark mass dependence of nucleon magnetic moments is explored over a wide range. Quark masses currently accessible to lattice QCD, which lie beyond the regime of chiral perturbation theory (chiPT), are accessed via the cloudy bag model (CBM). The latter reproduces the leading nonanalytic behavior of chiPT, while modeling the internal structure of the hadron under investigation. We find that the predictions of the CBM are succinctly described by the simple formula, μ_N(m_π) = μ^{(0)}_N / (1 + αm_π+ βm_π^2), which reproduces the lattice data, as well as the leading nonanalytic behavior of chiPT. As this form also incorporates the anticipated Dirac moment behavior in the limit m_π\to \infty, it constitutes a powerful method for extrapolating lattice results to the physical mass regime.

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Electromagnetic Gauge Invariance of the Cloudy Bag Model

We examine the question of the gauge invariance of electromagnetic form factors calculated within the cloudy bag model. One of the assumptions of the model is that electromagnetic form factors are most accurately evaluated in the Breit frame. This feature is used to show that gauge invariance is respected in this frame.

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Quark Degrees of Freedom in Finite Nuclei

Properties of finite nuclei are investigated based on relativistic Hartree equations which have been derived from a relativistic quark model of the structure of bound nucleons. Nucleons are assumed to interact through the (self-consistent) exchange of scalar ($σ$) and vector ($ω$ and $ρ$) mesons at the quark level. The coupling constants and the mass of the $σ$-meson are determined from the properties of symmetric nuclear matter and the rms charge radius in $^{40}$Ca. Calculated properties of static, closed-shell nuclei, as well as symmetric nuclear matter are compared with experimental data and with the results of Quantum Hadrodynamics (QHD).

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Variation of hadron masses in finite nuclei

Using a self-consistent, Hartree description for both infinite nuclear matter and finite nuclei based on a relativistic quark model (the quark-meson coupling model), we investigate the variation of the masses of the non-strange vector mesons, the hyperons and the nucleon in infinite nuclear matter and in finite nuclei.

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Self-consistent description of finite nuclei based on a relativistic quark model

Relativistic Hartree equations for spherical nuclei have been derived from a relativistic quark model of the structure of bound nucleons which interact through the (self-consistent) exchange of scalar ($σ$) and vector ($ω$ and $ρ$) mesons. The coupling constants and the mass of the $σ$-meson are determined from the properties of symmetric nuclear matter and the rms charge radius in $^{40}$Ca. Calculated properties of static, closed-shell nuclei from $^{16}$O to $^{208}$Pb are compared with experimental data and with results of Quantum Hadrodynamics (QHD). The dependence of the results on the nucleon size and the quark mass is investigated. Several possible extensions of the model are also discussed.

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Effect of Nucleon Structure Variation in Super-allowed Fermi Beta-decay

There is a well known anomaly between the value of the Fermi decay constant extracted from super-allowed Fermi beta-decay of nuclear isotriplets and that required by unitarity of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix. This discrepancy remains at the level of a few tenths of a percent after the most rigorous investigation of conventional nuclear and radiative corrections. Within the framework of the quark-meson coupling model of nuclear matter, which has been previously applied successfully to phenomena such as nuclear saturation and nuclear charge symmetry violation, we show that it is possible to understand a significant fraction of the observed anomaly.

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Composite nucleons in scalar and vector mean-fields

We emphasize that the composite structure of the nucleon may play quite an important role in nuclear physics. It is shown that the momentum-dependent repulsive force of second order in the scalar field, which plays an important role in Dirac phenomenology, can be found in the quark-meson coupling (QMC) model, and that the properties of nuclear matter are well described through the quark-scalar density in a nucleon and a self-consistency condition for the scalar field. The difference between theories of point-like nucleons and composite ones may be seen in the change of the $ω$-meson mass in nuclear matter if the composite nature of the nucleon suppresses contributions from nucleon-antinucleon pair creation.

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