arXiv subjects

Martha Constantinou

Publications and source records attributed to Martha Constantinou.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2022

50 Years of Quantum Chromodynamics

This paper presents a comprehensive review of both the theory and experimental successes of Quantum Chromodynamics, starting with its emergence as a well defined theory in 1972-73 and following developments and results up to the present day. Topics include a review of the earliest theoretical and experimental foundations; the fundamental constants of QCD; an introductory discussion of lattice QCD, the only known method for obtaining exact predictions from QCD; methods for approximating QCD, with special focus on effective field theories; QCD under extreme conditions; measurements and predictions of meson and baryon states; a special discussion of the structure of the nucleon; techniques for study of QCD at high energy, including treatment of jets and showers; measurements at colliders; weak decays and quark mixing; and a section on the future, which discusses new experimental facilities or upgrades currently funded. The paper is intended to provide a broad background for Ph.D. students and postdocs starting their career. Some contributions include personal accounts of how the ideas or experiments were developed.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

Gluon PDF for the proton using the twisted mass formulation of lattice QCD

We present results of the x-dependence of the unpolarized gluon PDF for the proton. We use an $N_f=2+1+1$ ensemble of maximally twisted mass fermions with clover improvement and the Iwasaki improved gluon action. The quark masses are tuned so that the pion mass is 260 MeV. We use a $32^3\times64$ lattice size with a lattice spacing $a=0.093$ fm giving a spatial extent of 3 fm. We employ the pseudo-distribution approach and obtain the light-cone Ioffe time distribution (ITD) combining data for nucleon momentum boosts up to 1.67 GeV and Wilson line lengths, $z$, up to 0.56 fm. We explore systematic effects such as the dependence on the maximum value of $z$ entering the fits to obtain the gluon PDF.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2022

Accessing proton GPDs in asymmetric frames: Numerical implementation

In this work, we present a numerical investigation of a novel Lorentz-covariant parametrization to extract $x$-dependent GPDs using off-forward matrix elements of momentum-boosted hadrons coupled to non-local operators. The novelty of the method is the implementation of an asymmetric frame for the momentum transfer between the initial and final hadron state and the parametrization of the matrix elements into Lorentz-invariant amplitudes. The amplitudes can then be related to the standard light-cone GPDs. GPDs are defined in the symmetric frame, which requires a separate calculation for each value of the momentum transfer, increasing the computational cost significantly. The proposed method is powerful, as one can extract the GPDs at multiple values of the momentum transfer at the computational cost of a single value. For this proof-of-concept calculation, we use one ensemble of $N_f=2+1+1$ twisted mass fermions and a clover improvement with a pion mass of 260 MeV to calculate the proton unpolarized GPDs.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2022

Continuum limit of parton distribution functions from the pseudo-distribution approach on the lattice

Precise exploration of the partonic structure of the nucleon is one of the most important aims of high-energy physics. In recent years, it has become possible to address this topic with first-principle lattice QCD investigations. In this talk, we focus on the so-called pseudo-distribution approach to determine the isovector unpolarized PDFs. In particular, we employ three lattice spacings to study discretization effects and extract the distributions in the continuum limit, at a pion mass of around 370 MeV. Also, for the first time with pseudo-PDFs, we explore effects of the 2-loop matching from pseudo- to light-cone distributions.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2022

Nucleon transverse quark spin densities

We present a calculation of the Mellin moments of the nucleon transverse quark spin densities extracted from the unpolarized and transversity generalized form factors. We use three $N_F=2+1+1$ ensembles of twisted mass fermions with quark masses tuned to their physical values and lattice spacings $a\sim 0.08$~fm, $a\sim 0.07$~fm and $a\sim 0.06$~fm and extrapolate the form factors to the continuum limit. Besides isovector densities we also include results for the tensor charge for each quark flavor using the ensemble with $a\sim 0.08$~fm for which we include the disconnected contributions.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2022

Lattice QCD and Particle Physics

Contribution from the USQCD Collaboration to the Proceedings of the US Community Study on the Future of Particle Physics (Snowmass 2021).

hep-lat↗

arXiv2022

Improved renormalization scheme for nonlocal operators

In this paper we present an improved RI-type prescription appropriate for the non-perturbative renormalization of gauge invariant nonlocal operators. In this prescription, the non-perturbative vertex function is improved by subtracting unwanted finite lattice spacing ($a$) effects, calculated in lattice perturbation theory. The method is versatile and can be applied to a wide range of fermion and gluon actions, as well as types of nonlocal operators. The presence of operator mixing can also be accommodated. Compared to the standard RI' prescription, this variant can be recast as a supplementary finite renormalization, whose coefficients bring about corrections of higher order in $a$; consequently, it coincides with standard RI' as $a\to 0$, however it can afford us a smoother and more controlled extrapolation to the continuum limit. In this proof-of-concept calculation we focus on nonlocal fermion bilinear operators containing a straight Wilson line. In the numerical implementation we use Wilson/clover fermions and Iwasaki improved gluons. The finite-$a$ terms were calculated to one-loop level in lattice perturbation theory, and to all orders in $a$, using the same action as the non-perturbative vertex functions. We find that the method leads to significant improvement in the perturbative region indicated by small and intermediate values of the length of the Wilson line. This results in a robust extraction of the renormalization functions in that region. We have also applied the above method to operators with stout-smeared links. We show how to perform the perturbative correction for any number of smearing iterations, and evaluate its effect on the power divergent renormalization coefficients.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2022

Continuum limit of parton distribution functions from the pseudo-distribution approach on the lattice

Precise quantification of the structure of nucleons is one of the crucial aims of hadronic physics for the coming years. The expected progress related to ongoing and planned experiments should be accompanied by calculations of partonic distributions from lattice QCD. While key insights from the lattice are expected to come for distributions that are difficult to access experimentally, it is important that lattice QCD can reproduce the well-known unpolarized parton distribution functions (PDFs) with full control over systematic uncertainties. One of the novel methods for accessing the partonic $x$-dependence is the pseudo-distribution approach, which employs matrix elements of a spatially-extended nonlocal Wilson-line operator of length $z$. In this paper, we address the issue of discretization effects, related to the necessarily nonzero value of the lattice spacing $a$, which start at first order in $a$ as a result of the nonlocal operator. We use twisted mass fermions simulated at three values of the lattice spacing, at a pion mass of 370 MeV, and extract the continuum limit of isovector unpolarized PDFs. We also test, for the first time in the pseudo-distribution approach, the effects of the recently derived two-loop matching. Finally, we address the issue of the reliability of the extraction with respect to the maximal value of $z$.

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↗

arXiv2022

Lattice QCD Study of Transverse-Momentum Dependent Soft Function

In this work, we perform a lattice QCD study of the intrinsic, rapidity-independent soft function within the framework of large momentum effective theory. The computation is carried out using a gauge ensemble of $N_f=2+1+1$ clover-improved twisted mass fermion. After applying an appropriate renormalization procedure and the removal of significant higher-twist contamination, we obtain the intrinsic soft function that is comparable to the one-loop perturbative result at large external momentum. The determination of the nonperturbative soft function from first principles is crucial to sharpen our understanding of the processes with small transverse momentum such as the Drell-Yan production and the semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering. Additionally, we calculate the Collins-Soper evolution kernel using the quasi-transverse-momentum-dependent wave function as input.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2022

Transversity GPDs of the proton from lattice QCD

We present the first calculation of the $x$-dependence of the isovector transversity generalized parton distributions (GPDs) for the proton within lattice QCD. We compute the matrix elements with non-local operators containing a Wilson line. The calculation implements the Breit symmetric frame. The proton momenta are chosen as $0.83,\,1.25,\,1.67$ GeV, and the values of the momentum transfer squared are $0.69,\,1.02$ GeV$^2$. These combinations include cases with zero and nonzero skewness. The calculation is performed using one ensemble of two degenerate-mass light, a strange and a charm quark of maximally twisted mass fermions with a clover term. The lattice results are renormalized non-perturbatively and finally matched to the light-cone GPDs using one-loop perturbation theory within the framework of large momentum effective theory. The final GPDs are given in the $\overline{\rm MS}$ scheme at a scale of 2 GeV. In addition to the individual GPDs, we form the combination of the transversity GPDs that is related to the transverse spin structure of the proton. Finally, we extract the lowest two moments of GPDs and draw a number of important qualitative conclusions.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2022

Proton generalized parton distributions from lattice QCD

Momentum and spatial distributions of quarks and gluons inside hadrons are typically encoded in the so-called generalized parton distributions (GPDs). GPDs are multi-dimensional quantities that are very challenging to extract, both experimentally and within lattice QCD. We present the first lattice results on the $x$-dependence of isovector unpolarized, helicity and transversity GPDs of the proton, obtained from lattice QCD using an ensemble of $N_f=2+1+1$ maximally twisted mass fermions, with pion mass $M_π=260$ MeV and lattice spacing $a\simeq 0.093$ fm. Our calculations use the quasi-distribution formalism and the final distributions are presented in the MS-bar scheme at a renormalization scale of 2 GeV.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2022

Twisted mass gauge ensembles at physical values of the light, strange and charm quark masses

Lattice QCD simulations directly at physical masses of dynamical light, strange and charm quarks are highly desirable especially to remove systematic errors due to chiral extrapolations. However such simulations are still challenging. We discuss the adaption of efficient algorithms, like multi-grid methods or higher order integrators, within the molecular dynamic steps of the Hybrid Monte Carlo algorithm, that are enabling simulations of a new set of gauge ensembles by the Extended Twisted Mass collaboration (ETMC). We present the status of the on-going ETMC simulation effort that aims to enabling studies of finite size and discretization effects. We work within the twisted mass discretization which is free of odd-discretization effects at maximal twist and present our tuning procedure.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2021

Nucleon form factors from $N_f$=2+1+1 twisted mass QCD at the physical point

We present the nucleon axial and electromagnetic form factors using \Nf{2}{1}{1} ensembles of twisted mass fermions with clover improvement and with masses tuned to their physical values. Excited state effects are studied using several sink-source time separations in the range 0.8 fm - 1.6 fm, exponentially increasing statistics with the separation such that statistical errors remain approximately constant. In addition, quark loop disconnected diagrams are included in order to extract the isoscalar axial form factors and the proton and neutron electromagnetic form factors, as well as their strange-quark contributions. The radii and moments are extracted by modelling the $Q^2$ dependence, including using the so-called $z$-expansion. A preliminary assessment of lattice cut-off effects is presented using two lattice spacings directly at the physical point.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2021

First Lattice QCD Study of Proton Twist-3 GPDs

We present first results on selected twist-3 quark GPDs using the quasi-distribution method. This approach relates lattice QCD data and light-cone distribution functions using Large Momentum Effective Theory (LaMET). We calculate quark-antiquark correlators of boosted nucleons coupled to non-local operators with vector and axial Dirac structure, which is transverse to the momentum boost. We use three values of the momentum boost, namely 0.83, 1.25, 1.67 GeV. The GPDs are defined in the symmetric (Breit) frame, which we implement here with 4-vector momentum transfer squared of 0, 0.69 and 1.39 GeV 2 , all at zero skewness. The calculation is performed using one ensemble of two degenerate light, a strange and a charm quark ($N_f$ = 2 + 1 + 1) of maximally twisted mass fermions with a clover term, corresponding to a pion mass of 260 MeV.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2021

$x$-dependence reconstruction of pion and kaon PDFs from Mellin moments

We present a calculation of the connected-diagram contributions to the first three non-trivial Mellin moments for the pion and kaon, extracted using local operators with up to 3 covariant derivatives. We use one ensemble of gauge configurations with two degenerate light, a strange and a charm quark ($N_f$=2+1+1) of maximally twisted mass fermions with clover improvement. The ensemble has a pion mass $\sim$260 MeV, and a kaon mass $\sim$530 MeV. We reconstruct the $x$-dependence of the PDFs via fits to our results, and find that our lattice data favor a $(1-x)^2$-behavior in the large-$x$ region for both the pion and kaon PDFs. We integrate the reconstructed PDFs to extract the higher moments, $\langle x^n \rangle$, with $4 \leq n \leq 6$. Finally, we compare the pion and kaon PDFs, as well as the ratios of their Mellin moments, to address the effect of SU(3) flavor symmetry breaking.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2021

Pion and kaon form factors using twisted-mass fermions

We present a calculation of the scalar, vector and tensor pion and kaon form factors using one ensemble of two degenerate light, a strange and a charm quark ($N_f=2+1+1$) of maximally twisted mass fermions with clover improvement. The quark masses are chosen so that they produce a pion mass of about 265 MeV, and a kaon mass of 530 MeV. The lattice spacing of the ensemble is 0.093 fm and the lattice has a spatial extent of 3 fm. We use a rest frame, as well as a boosted frame to obtain the form factors for a wider and denser set of four-vector momentum transfer squared, $Q^2$. To assess and eliminate excited-states contamination, we analyze several values of the source-sink time separation within the range of 1.12 - 2.23 fm (1.12 - 1.67 fm) for the rest (boosted) frame. The $Q^2$ dependence of the form factors is parametrized using a monopole fit, which leads to the extraction of the corresponding radius, and the tensor anomalous magnetic moment for the tensor form factor. The results for these parametrizations are compared for the pion and kaon to assess the level of the SU(3) flavor symmetry breaking.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2021

Renormalization constants of quark bilinear operators in QCD with dynamical up, down, strange and charm quarks

We present preliminary results of a calculation of the QCD renormalization constants (RCs) for quark bilinear operators, evaluated non-perturbatively on the lattice in the RI'-MOM scheme. The calculation is performed by using dedicated ensembles with $N_f=4$ degenerate dynamical twisted mass (clover) fermions and the Iwasaki gauge action. A detailed analysis is reported, with emphasis on the control or subtraction of the hadronic contaminations occurring in the lattice estimators of RCs and a check of proper scaling with $a^2$ of the final results. Such a careful study of systematic errors is the counterpart of the high statistical precision reached by current calculations of RCs in the RI'-MOM scheme and is important in order to quote accurate results in phenomenological applications, such as the computation of quark masses.

hep-lat↗