arXiv subjects

David Richards

Publications and source records attributed to David Richards.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Femtoscale imaging of the proton with Ioffe-time distributions

Mapping how strongly interacting constituents are distributed within protons is a key goal of nuclear physics and a major direction of the future Electron Ion Collider program. We propose a novel space-time description of hadron structure in terms of impact-parameter Ioffe-time distributions, relating spatial density in the plane transverse to the proton momentum and the time between the probe's absorption and the product's emission in the longitudinal direction. Using lattice Quantum Chromodynamics, we perform the first calculation of the Ioffe-time-dependent mean squared proton radii and compare our results with estimates in the Goloskokov-Kroll model. We derive a relationship between the experimentally measurable Compton form factor and the generalized Ioffe-time distribution, which allows us to perform the first extraction of the Compton form factor from lattice calculations.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2026

Reconstructing the full kinematic dependence of GPDs from pseudo-distributions

We propose a reconstruction of the full $(x, \xi, t)$ dependence of unpolarized isovector proton generalized parton distributions (GPDs) $H^{u-d}$ and $E^{u-d}$ from lattice QCD data in the pseudo-distribution formalism. For the first time, we extract double distributions (DDs) directly from lattice data, enforcing therefore an important property of GPDs linked to Lorentz symmetry. We use the flexible framework of multidimensional Gaussian process regression to regularize the inverse problem and present an assessment of the impact of model dependence on the systematic uncertainty. Our lattice ensemble corresponds to a pion mass $m_\pi = 358$~MeV and a lattice spacing $a = 0.094$~fm. We use larger hadron momenta, up to 2.7~GeV, and kinematic coverage compared to our previous computations and extract additional skewness-dependent moments of the GPD.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2026

Accessing the Gluon Momentum Fraction of Nucleons through the Gradient Flow

We calculate the gluon momentum fraction of the nucleon using lattice quantum chromodynamics (QCD), with a nonperturbative renormalization technique based on the gradient flow. The gluon momentum fraction is determined on a single Wilson-clover ensemble using Nf = 2+1 flavors with pion mass 358 MeV and lattice spacing 0.094 fm. We employ the variational method to reduce excited-state contamination and apply the distillation framework to ensure a large operator basis. To reduce systematic uncertainties, we apply Bayesian model averaging to all fit procedures. We apply matching coefficients to the flow-time dependent lattice results to recover the gluon momentum fraction in the MS-scheme at 2 GeV. Our final result is _g(\mu = 2 GeV) = 0.482(35), where we quote only statistical uncertainties.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2025

Comment on "LaMET's Asymptotic Extrapolation vs. Inverse Problem"

In arXiv:2504.17706 {Dutrieux:2025jed} we criticized the excessive model-dependence introduced by rigid few-parameter fits to extrapolate lattice data in the large momentum effective theory (LaMET) when the data are noisy and lose signal before an exponential asymptotic behavior of the space-like correlators is established. In reaction, arXiv:2505.14619 {Chen:2025cxr} claims that even when the data is of poor quality, rigid parametrizations are better than attempts at representing the uncertainty using what they call "inverse problem methods". We clarify the fundamental differences in our perspectives regarding how to meaningfully handle noisy lattice matrix elements, especially when they exhibit a strong sensitivity to the choice of regularization in the inverse problem. We additionally correct misunderstandings of {Chen:2025cxr} on our message and methods.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2025

Inverse problem in the LaMET framework

One proposal to compute parton distributions from first principles is the large momentum effective theory (LaMET), which requires the Fourier transform of matrix elements computed non-perturbatively. Lattice quantum chromodynamics (QCD) provides calculations of these matrix elements over a finite range of Fourier harmonics that are often noisy or unreliable in the largest computed harmonics. It has been suggested that enforcing an exponential decay of the missing harmonics helps alleviate this issue. Using non-perturbative data, we show that the uncertainty introduced by this inverse problem in a realistic setup remains significant without very restrictive assumptions, and that the importance of the exact asymptotic behavior is minimal for values of $x$ where the framework is currently applicable. We show that the crux of the inverse problem lies in harmonics of the order of $\lambda=zP_z \sim 5-15$, where the signal in the lattice data is often barely existent in current studies, and the asymptotic behavior is not firmly established. We stress the need for more sophisticated techniques to account for this inverse problem, whether in the LaMET or related frameworks like the short-distance factorization. We also address a misconception that, with available lattice methods, the LaMET framework allows a "direct" computation of the $x$-dependence, whereas the alternative short-distance factorization only gives access to moments or fits of the $x$-dependence.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2024

Towards Unpolarized GPDs from Pseudo-Distributions

We present an exploration of the unpolarized isovector proton generalized parton distributions (GPDs) $H^{u-d}(x, \xi, t)$ and $E^{u-d}(x, \xi, t)$ in the pseudo-distribution formalism using distillation. Taking advantage of the large kinematic coverage made possible by this approach, we present results on the moments of GPDs up to the order $x^3$ -- including their skewness dependence -- at a pion mass $m_\pi = 358$ MeV and a lattice spacing $a = 0.094$ fm.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2022

Non-singlet quark helicity PDFs of the nucleon from pseudo-distributions

The non-singlet helicity quark parton distribution functions (PDFs) of the nucleon are determined from lattice QCD, by jointly leveraging pseudo-distributions and the distillation spatial smearing paradigm. A Lorentz decomposition of appropriately isolated space-like matrix elements reveals pseudo-distributions that contain information on the leading-twist helicity PDFs, as well as an invariant amplitude that induces an additional $z^2$ contamination of the leading-twist signal. An analysis of the short-distance behavior of the space-like matrix elements using matching coefficients computed to next-to-leading order (NLO) exposes the desired PDF up to this additional $z^2$ contamination. Due to the non-conservation of the axial current, we elect to isolate the helicity PDFs normalized by the nucleon axial charge at the same scale $\mu^2$. The leading-twist helicity PDFs as well as several sources of systematic error, including higher-twist effects, discretization errors, and the aforementioned $z^2$ contaminating amplitude are jointly determined by characterizing the computed pseudo-distribution in a basis of Jacobi polynomials. The Akaike Information Criterion is exploited to effectively average over distinct model parameterizations and cuts on the pseudo-distribution. Encouraging agreement is observed with recent global analyses of each non-singlet quark helicity PDF, notably a rather small non-singlet anti-quark helicity PDF for all quark momentum fractions.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2022

Lattice QCD Calculations of Parton Physics

In this document, we summarize the status and challenges of calculating parton physics in lattice QCD for the US Particle Physics Community Planning Exercise (a.k.a. "Snowmass"). While PDF-moments calculations have been very successful and been continuously improved, new methods have been developed to calculate distributions directly in $x$-space. Many recent lattice studies have been focused on calculating isovector PDFs of the pion and nucleon, learning to control systematics associated with excited-state contamination, renormalization and continuum extrapolations, pion-mass and finite-volume effects, etc. Although in some cases, the lattice results are already competitive with experimental data, to reach the level of precision in a wide range of $x$ for unpolarized nucleon PDFs impactful for future collider physics remains a challenge, and may require exascale supercomputing power. The new theoretical methods open the door for calculating other partonic observables which will be the focus of the experimental program in nuclear physics, including generalized parton distributions and transverse-momentum dependent PDFs. A fruitful interplay between experimental data and lattice-QCD calculations will usher in a new era for parton physics and hadron structure.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2020

The Positive-Parity Baryon Spectrum and the Role of Hybrid Baryons

We calculate the low-lying spectra for the positive-parity $\Delta$ and $N$ at two pion masses of 358 and 278 MeV using an isotropic clover action with two degenerate light-quaark and one strange-quark flavors through the application of the generalized variational method within the distillation framework. The spectrum exhibits the general features observed in previous calculations using an anisotropic clover lattice, with a counting of states at least as rich as the quark model. Furthermore, we identify states that are hybrid in nature, where gluonic degrees of freedom play a structural role, indicatinng that such states appear a feature of the excited baryon spectrum, irrespective of the lattice action, or the precise details of the smearing of the lattice interpolating operators used to identify such states.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2020

Parton Distribution Functions from Ioffe time pseudo-distributions

In this paper, we present a detailed study of the unpolarized nucleon parton distribution function (PDF) employing the approach of parton pseudo-distribution functions. We perform a systematic analysis using three lattice ensembles at two volumes, with lattice spacings $a=$ 0.127 fm and $a=$ 0.094 fm, for a pion mass of roughly 400 MeV. With two lattice spacings and two volumes, both continuum limit and infinite volume extrapolation systematic errors of the PDF are estimated. In addition to the $x$ dependence of the PDF, we compute their first two moments and compare them with the pertinent phenomenological determinations.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2018

Controlling Excited-State Contributions with Distillation in Lattice QCD Calculations of Nucleon Isovector Charges $g_S^{u-d}$, $g_A^{u-d}$, $g_T^{u-d}$

We investigate the application of the distillation smearing approach, and the use of the variational method with an extended basis of operators facilitated by this approach, on the calculation of the nucleon isovector charges $g_S^{u-d}$, $g_A^{u-d}$, and $g_T^{u-d}$. We find that the better sampling of the lattice enabled through the use of distillation yields a substantial reduction in the statistical uncertainty in comparison with the use of alternative smearing methods, and furthermore, appears to offer better control over the contribution of excited-states compared to use of a single, local interpolating operator. The additional benefit arising through the use of the variational method in the distillation approach is less dramatic, but nevertheless significant given that it requires no additional Dirac inversions.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2017

Isovector charges of the nucleon from 2+1-flavor QCD with clover fermions

We present high-statistics estimates of the isovector charges of the nucleon from four 2+1-flavor ensembles generated using Wilson-clover fermions with stout smearing and tree-level tadpole improved Symanzik gauge action at lattice spacings $a=0.114$ and $0.080$ fm and with $M_π\approx 315$ and 200 MeV. The truncated solver method with bias correction and the coherent source sequential propagator construction are used to cost-effectively achieve $O(10^5)$ measurements on each ensemble. Using these data, the analysis of two-point correlation functions is extended to include four states in the fits and of three-point functions to three states. Control over excited-state contamination in the calculation of the nucleon mass, the mass gaps between excited states, and in the matrix elements is demonstrated by the consistency of estimates using this multistate analysis of the spectral decomposition of the correlation functions and from simulations of the three-point functions at multiple values of the source-sink separation. The results for all three charges, $g_A$, $g_S$ and $g_T$, are in good agreement with calculations done using the clover-on-HISQ lattice formulation with similar values of the lattice parameters.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2017

Controlling Excited-State Contamination in Nucleon Matrix Elements

We present a detailed analysis of methods to reduce statistical errors and excited-state contamination in the calculation of matrix elements of quark bilinear operators in nucleon states. All the calculations were done on a 2+1 flavor ensemble with lattices of size $32^3 \times 64$ generated using the rational hybrid Monte Carlo algorithm at $a=0.081$~fm and with $M_π=312$ MeV. The statistical precision of the data is improved using the all-mode-averaging method. We compare two methods for reducing excited-state contamination: a variational analysis and a two-state fit to data at multiple values of the source-sink separation $t_{\rm sep}$. We show that both methods can be tuned to significantly reduce excited-state contamination and discuss their relative advantages and cost-effectiveness. A detailed analysis of the size of source smearing used in the calculation of quark propagators and the range of values of $t_{\rm sep}$ needed to demonstrate convergence of the isovector charges of the nucleon to the $t_{\rm sep} \to \infty $ estimates is presented.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2016

Matrix elements from moments of correlation functions

Momentum-space derivatives of matrix elements can be related to their coordinate-space moments through the Fourier transform. We derive these expressions as a function of momentum transfer $Q^2$ for asymptotic in/out states consisting of a single hadron. We calculate corrections to the finite volume moments by studying the spatial dependence of the lattice correlation functions. This method permits the computation of not only the values of matrix elements at momenta accessible on the lattice, but also the momentum-space derivatives, providing {\it a priori} information about the $Q^2$ dependence of form factors. As a specific application we use the method, at a single lattice spacing and with unphysically heavy quarks, to directly obtain the slope of the isovector form factor at various $Q^2$, whence the isovector charge radius. The method has potential application in the calculation of any hadronic matrix element with momentum transfer, including those relevant to hadronic weak decays.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2016

Spontaneous Emission in Nonlocal Materials

Light-matter interactions can be dramatically modified by the surrounding environment. Here we report on the first experimental observation of molecular spontaneous emission inside a highly nonlocal metamaterial based on a plasmonic nanorod assembly. We show that the emission process is dominated not only by the topology of its local effective medium dispersion, but also by the nonlocal response of the composite, so that metamaterials with different geometric parameters but the same local effective medium properties exhibit different Purcell factors. A record-high enhancement of a decay rate is observed, in agreement with the developed quantitative description of the Purcell effect in a nonlocal medium. An engineered material nonlocality introduces an additional degree of freedom into quantum electrodynamics, enabling new applications in quantum information processing, photo-chemistry, imaging, and sensing.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2016

$N^*$ Resonances in Lattice QCD from (mostly) Low to (sometimes) High Virtualities

I present a survey of calculations of the excited $N^*$ spectrum in lattice QCD. I then describe recent advances aimed at extracting the momentum-dependent phase shifts from lattice calculations, notably in the meson sector, and the potential for their application to baryons. I conclude with a discussion of calculations of the electromagnetic transition form factors to excited nucleons, including calculations at high $Q^2$.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2014

Pre-Town Meeting on Spin Physics at an Electron-Ion Collider

A polarized $ep/eA$ collider (Electron--Ion Collider, or EIC), with polarized proton and light-ion beams and unpolarized heavy-ion beams with a variable center--of--mass energy $\sqrt{s} \sim 20$ to $\sim100$~GeV (upgradable to $\sim 150$ GeV) and a luminosity up to $\sim 10^{34} \, \textrm{cm}^{-2} \textrm{s}^{-1}$, would be uniquely suited to address several outstanding questions of Quantum Chromodynamics, and thereby lead to new qualitative and quantitative information on the microscopic structure of hadrons and nuclei. During this meeting at Jefferson Lab we addressed recent theoretical and experimental developments in the spin and the three--dimensional structure of the nucleon (sea quark and gluon spatial distributions, orbital motion, polarization, and their correlations). This mini--review contains a short update on progress in these areas since the EIC White paper~\cite{Accardi:2012qut}.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2014

Feedback-enhanced algorithm for aberration correction of holographic atom traps

We show that a phase-only spatial light modulator can be used to generate non-trivial light distributions suitable for trapping ultracold atoms, when the hologram calculation is included within a simple and robust feedback loop that corrects for imperfect device response and optical aberrations. This correction reduces the discrepancy between target and experimental light distribution to the level of a few percent (RMS error). We prove the generality of this algorithm by applying it to a variety of target light distributions of relevance for cold atomic physics.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗