arXiv subjects

Rainer Sommer

Publications and source records attributed to Rainer Sommer.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Precision renormalisation and improvement of $N_{\rm f}=3$ lattice QCD with Wilson fermions

We renormalise (and improve) the flavour non-singlet axial current, pseudo-scalar density, vector current and tensor current, as well as quark masses, in O(a) improved lattice QCD with three massless flavours and lattice spacings down to 0.01 fm. To this end, we tune a number of lattices with Schr\"odinger functional boundary conditions and resolutions $8\leq L/a\leq 64$ to lines of constant physics with massless quarks and fixed gradient flow coupling $\bar{g}_\mathrm{GF}^2(L_i),\; i=0,1,2$, corresponding to $L_0 \approx 0.25$ fm, $L_1=2L_0$ and $L_2=4L_0$. We further renormalise and improve the quark mass of additional heavy quarks for use in the B-physics programme of the collaboration (arXiv:2312.09811). Our somewhat technical results enable first-principles strategies for solving multi-scale problems involving, e.g., the b-quark mass (arXiv:2312.10017) or a large temperature (arXiv:2501.11603). Comparing also to other determinations of the axial current renormalisation constant $Z_{\rm A}$, we have a precise confirmation of how renormalisation and the restoration of chiral symmetry work out with Wilson fermions at small $a$. In particular, the accurate restoration of chiral symmetry and the exact flavour symmetry lead to practically negligible uncertainties in observables determined from Ward identities: four to five significant digits are achieved for $Z_{\rm A},Z_{\rm V}$. We provide an explanation for the strong suppression of their statistical variances.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2026

Heavy quark masses from step-scaling

We present a determination of the charm- and bottom-quark masses using the heavy-quark step-scaling strategy. Renormalization is performed in small volumes where relativistic bottom quarks can be simulated directly. A sequence of finite-volume simulations connects this calculation to large-volume CLS ensembles, where simulations at physical light and strange quark masses provide reliable control over low-energy hadronic physics. In all but the smallest volume, the B-scale is reached by interpolating between relativistic heavy-quark data and the static limit. The resulting quark masses are obtained with good precision, with subdominant systematic uncertainties that differ from, and thus complement, those of standard large-volume determinations.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2025

The strength of the interaction between quarks and gluons

Modern particle physics experiments, e.g. at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, crucially depend on the precise description of the scattering processes in terms of the known fundamental forces. This is limited by our current understanding of the strong nuclear force, as quantified by the strong coupling, $\alpha_s$, between quarks and gluons. Relating $\alpha_s$ to experiments poses a major challenge as the strong interactions lead to the confinement of quarks and gluons inside hadronic bound states. At high energies, however, the strong interactions become weaker ("asymptotic freedom") and thus amenable to an expansion in powers of the coupling. Attempts to relate both regimes usually rely on modeling of the bound state problem in one way or another. Using large scale numerical simulations of a first principles formulation of Quantum Chromodynamics on a space-time lattice, we have carried out a model-independent determination of $\alpha_s$ with unprecedented precision. The uncertainty, about half that of all other results combined, originates predominantly from the statistical Monte Carlo evaluation and has a clear probabilistic interpretation. The result for $\alpha_s$ describes a variety of physical phenomena over a wide range of energy scales. If used as input information, it will enable significantly improved analyses of many high energy experiments, by removing an important source of theoretical uncertainty. This will increase the likelihood to uncover small effects of yet unknown physics, and enable stringent precision tests of the Standard Model. In summary, this result boosts the discovery potential of the LHC and future colliders, and the methods developed in this work pave the way for even higher precision in the future.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2024

A non-perturbative determination of $b_{\rm g}$

Close to the continuum limit, lattice QCD with mass-degenerate Wilson quarks can be described by Symanzik's effective continuum action, which contains the dimension 5 operator, $m\,{\rm tr}(F_{\mu\nu}F_{\mu\nu})$. Its effect can be eliminated by an O($am_{\rm q}$) rescaling of the bare lattice coupling constant. Until recently, the corresponding improvement coefficient, $b_{\rm g}$, was only known perturbatively to 1-loop order and an estimate of the remaining uncertainty is the dominant systematic error in the ALPHA collaboration's recent determination of $\alpha_s(m_Z)$ with the decoupling method. To remove this error we have determined $b_{\rm g}$ non-perturbatively for the corresponding parameter range. We here briefly review improvement conditions for $b_{\rm g}$, perform a perturbative test and report on our non-perturbative results for $b_{\rm g}$.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2023

Heavy Wilson Quarks and O($a$) Improvement: Nonperturbative Results for $b_{\rm g}$

With Wilson quarks, on-shell O($a$) improvement of the lattice QCD action is achieved by including the Sheikholeslami-Wohlert term and two further operators of mass dimension 5, which amount to a mass-dependent rescaling of the bare parameters. We here focus on the rescaled bare coupling, $\tilde{g}_0^2 = g_0^2(1 + b_{\rm g} am_{\rm q})$, and the determination of $b_{\rm g}(g_0^2)$, which is currently only known to 1-loop order of perturbation theory. We derive suitable improvement conditions in the chiral limit and in a finite space-time volume and evaluate these for different gluonic observables, both with and without the gradient flow. The choice of $\beta$-values and the line of constant physics are motivated by the ALPHA collaboration's decoupling strategy to determine $\alpha_s(m_Z)$. However, the improvement conditions and some insight into systematic effects may prove useful in other contexts, too.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2023

A strategy for B-physics observables in the continuum limit

In a somewhat forgotten paper [1] it was shown how to perform interpolations between relativistic and static computations in order to obtain results for heavy-light observables for masses from, say, $m_{\rm charm}$ to $m_{\rm bottom}$. All quantities are first continuum extrapolated and then interpolated in $1/m_h=1/m_{\rm heavy}$. Large volume computations are combined with finite volume ones where a relativistic bottom quark is accessible with small $am_{\rm bottom}$. We discuss how this strategy is extended to semi-leptonic form factors and other quantities of phenomenological interest. The essential point is to form quantities where the limit $m_h\to\infty$ is approached with power corrections O$(1/m_h)$ only. Perturbative corrections $\sim\alpha_s(m_h)^{\gamma+n}$ are cancelled in the construction of the observables. We also point out how such an approach can help to control systematics in semi-leptonic decays with just large volume data. First numerical results with $N_f = 2 + 1$ and lattice spacings down to 0.039 fm are presented in [2].

hep-lat↗

arXiv2023

$m_B$ and $f_{B^{(\star)}}$ in $2+1$ flavour QCD from a combination of continuum limit static and relativistic results

We present preliminary results for B-physics from a combination of non-perturbative results in the static limit with relativistic computations satisfying $am_{\mathrm{heavy}}\ll 1$. Relativistic measurements are carried out at the physical b-quark mass using the Schr\"{o}dinger Functional in a $0.5 \ \mathrm{fm}$ box. They are connected to large volume observables through step scaling functions that trace the mass dependence between the physical charm region and the static limit, such that B-physics results can be obtained by interpolation; the procedure is designed to exactly cancel the troublesome $\alpha_s(m_{\mathrm{heavy}})^{n+\gamma}$ corrections to large mass scaling. Large volume computations for both static and relativistic quantities use CLS $N_f=2+1$ ensembles at $m_u=m_d=m_s$, and with five values of the lattice spacing down to $0.039$ fm. Our preliminary results for the b-quark mass and leptonic decay constants have competitive uncertainties, which are furthermore dominated by statistics, allowing for substantial future improvement. Here we focus on numerical results, while the underlying strategy is discussed in a companion contribution.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2023

$B\pi$ excited-state contamination in lattice calculations of B-meson correlation functions

Multi-particle states with additional pions are expected to result in a difficult-to-control excited-state contamination in lattice simulations. We show that heavy meson chiral perturbation theory can be employed to estimate the contamination due to two-particle $B\pi$ states in various $B$-meson observables like the $B$-meson decay constant and the $BB^*\pi$ coupling. We work in the static limit and to next-to-leading order in the chiral expansion, i.e. including $\rm O(p)$. The $B\pi$ states are found to typically overestimate the observables at the few percent level. We determine two of the LECs from $B\to \pi$ form factor computations of the KEK group and discuss ways to determine the others. In particular two LECs which are associated with smeared interpolating fields seem to be easily accessible and thus open up a way to systematically study the effect of smearing on excited state effects.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2022

The influence of gauge field smearing on discretisation effects

When designing lattice actions, gauge field smearing is frequently used to define the lattice Dirac operator. Since the smearing procedure removes effects of ultraviolet fluctuations, the fermions effectively see a larger lattice spacing than the gauge fields. Creutz ratios, formed from ratios of rectangular Wilson loops, based on smeared gauge fields are adequate observables to investigate the effect of smearing since they do not need renormalisation and provide a measure of the physical forces felt by the fermions. We study their behaviour at various smearing radii (fixed in lattice units) and in particular how the smearing influences the scaling towards the continuum limit. Since we employ the Wilson gradient flow as smearing, the same Creutz ratios have another, well defined continuum limit, when the flow time is fixed in physical units. That continuum limit is reached with smaller corrections at finite $a$.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2022

Log-enhanced discretization errors in integrated correlation functions

Integrated time-slice correlation functions $G(t)$ with weights $K(t)$ appear, e.g., in the moments method to determine $\alpha_s$ from heavy quark correlators, in the muon g-2 determination or in the determination of smoothed spectral functions. For the (leading-order-)normalised moment $R_4$ of the pseudo-scalar correlator we have non-perturbative results down to $a=10^{-2}$ fm and for masses, $m$, of the order of the charm mass in the quenched approximation. A significant bending of $R_4$ as a function of $a^2$ is observed at small lattice spacings. Starting from the Symanzik expansion of the integrand we derive the asymptotic convergence of the integral at small lattice spacing in the free theory and prove that the short distance part of the integral leads to $\log(a)$-enhanced discretisation errors when $G(t)K(t) \sim\, t $ for small $t$. In the interacting theory an unknown, function $K(a\Lambda)$ appears. For the $R_4$-case, we modify the observable to improve the short distance behavior and demonstrate that it results in a very smooth continuum limit. The strong coupling and the $\Lambda$-parameter can then be extracted. In general, and in particular for $g-2$, the short distance part of the integral should be determined by perturbation theory. The (dominating) rest can then be obtained by the controlled continuum limit of the lattice computation.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2022

$B\pi$-state contamination in $B$-meson observables

Multi-particle states with additional pions are expected to result in a non-negligible excited-state contamination in lattice simulations. We show that heavy meson chiral perturbation theory can be employed to calculate the contamination due to two-particle $B\pi$ states in various $B$-meson observables like the $B$-meson decay constant and the $BB^*\pi$ coupling. We work in the static limit and to next-to-leading order in the chiral expansion. The $B\pi$ states are found to typically overestimate the observables at the few percent level depending on the size of two currently unknown NLO low-energy coefficients. A strategy to independently measure one of them with the 3-point function of the light axial vector current will be discussed.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2022

Estimating excited states contamination of $B \to \pi$ form factors using heavy meson chiral perturbation theory

Using Heavy Meson Chiral Perturbation Theory (HMChPT), the $B^* \pi$ excited states contamination of the $B \to \pi$ vector form factors is computed to NLO in the chiral expansion and in the static limit. The results suggest that the excited states for $h_\parallel$ are of the order of a few percent whereas $h_\perp$ receives large negative contributions and thus might be significantly underestimated in lattice simulations.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2022

On fits to correlated and auto-correlated data

Observables in particle physics and specifically in lattice QCD calculations are often extracted from fits. Standard $\chi^2$ tests require a reliable determination of the covariance matrix and its inverse from correlated and auto-correlated data, a challenging task often leading to close-to-singular estimates. These motivate modifications of the definition of $\chi^2$ such as uncorrelated fits. We show how the goodness-of-fit measured by their p-value can still be estimated robustly for a broad class of such fits.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2022

Determination of $\alpha_s(m_Z)$ by the non-perturbative decoupling method

We present the details and first results of a new strategy for the determination of $\alpha_s(m_Z)$. By simultaneously decoupling 3 fictitious heavy quarks we establish a relation between the $\Lambda$-parameters of three-flavor QCD and pure gauge theory. Very precise recent results in the pure gauge theory can thus be leveraged to obtain the three-flavour $\Lambda$-parameter in units of a common decoupling scale. Connecting this scale to hadronic physics in 3-flavour QCD leads to our result in physical units, $\Lambda^{(3)}_{\bar{\rm MS}} = 336(12)\, {\rm MeV}$, which translates to $\alpha_s(m_Z) = 0.11823(84)$. This is compatible with both the FLAG average and the previous ALPHA result, with a comparable, yet still statistics dominated, error. This constitutes a highly non-trivial check, as the decoupling strategy is conceptually very different from the 3-flavour QCD step-scaling method, and so are their systematic errors. These include the uncertainties of the combined decoupling and continuum limits, which we discuss in some detail. We also quantify the correlation between both results, due to some common elements, such as the scale determination in physical units and the definition of the energy scale where we apply decoupling.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2022

A lattice QCD perspective on weak decays of b and c quarks Snowmass 2022 White Paper

Lattice quantum chromodynamics has proven to be an indispensable method to determine nonperturbative strong contributions to weak decay processes. In this white paper for the Snowmass community planning process we highlight achievements and future avenues of research for lattice calculations of weak $b$ and $c$ quark decays, and point out how these calculations will help to address the anomalies currently in the spotlight of the particle physics community. With future increases in computational resources and algorithmic improvements, percent level (and below) lattice determinations will play a central role in constraining the standard model or identifying new physics.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2022

Investigation of the Perturbative Expansion of Moments of Heavy Quark Correlators for $N_f=0$

The QCD-coupling is a necessary input in the computation of many observables, and the parametric error on input parameters can be a dominant source of uncertainty. The coupling can be extracted by comparing high order perturbative computations and lattice evaluated moments of mesonic two-point functions with heavy quarks, which provide a high energy scale for perturbation theory. The truncation of the perturbative series is an important systematic uncertainty. We report on our attempt to study this issue by measuring pseudo-scalar two-point functions in volumes of $L=2\, \text{fm}$ with twisted-mass Wilson fermions in the quenched approximation. We use full twist, the non-perturbative clover term and lattice spacings down to $a=0.015\,\text{fm}$ to tame the sizable discretization effects. Our preliminary results indicate that either higher order perturbative corrections or the continuum limit are not under sufficient control despite our small lattice spacings and quark masses extending beyond $2\,m_{\text{charm}}$.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2022

Logarithmic corrections to $\mathbf{a^2}$ scaling in lattice QCD with Wilson and Ginsparg-Wilson quarks

We analyse the leading logarithmic corrections to the $a^2$ scaling of lattice artefacts in QCD, following the seminal work of Balog, Niedermayer and Weisz in the O(n) non-linear sigma model. Limiting the discussion to contributions from the action, the leading logarithmic corrections can be determined by the anomalous dimensions of mass-dimension 6 operators. These operators form a minimal on-shell basis of the Symanzik Effective Theory. We present results for non-perturbatively O($a$) improved Wilson and Ginsparg-Wilson quarks.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2021

Results for $α_s$ from the decoupling strategy

We present analysis details and new results for the strong coupling $α_s(m_Z)$, determined by the decoupling strategy. We measure a massive gradient flow (GF) coupling defined in finite volume with Schrödinger functional (SF) boundary conditions in a theory with $N_\text{f}=3$ degenerate heavy quarks of mass $M$. The massive couplings are matched to effective couplings in pure gauge. Using the running in the pure gauge theory and the perturbative relation of the Lambda parameters, the Lambda parameter of the three flavor theory is obtained by an extrapolation to infinite M. Our final result is compatible both with the FLAG average and with the previous ALPHA result, albeit with a slightly smaller, yet still statistics dominated, error. This constitutes a non-trivial check, as the decoupling strategy is conceptually very different from the 3-flavor QCD step-scaling method, and so are most of its systematic errors. These include the uncertainties of the decoupling and continuum limits, which we discuss in some detail. Furthermore, by relying on decoupling once again, we could estimate the small $O(a)$ and $O(1/M)$ contaminations to the massive GF coupling stemming from the SF boundaries by means of pure gauge simulations.

hep-lat↗