arXiv subjects

Stanley J. Brodsky

Publications and source records attributed to Stanley J. Brodsky.

At least 145 records · Page 8Linked to original sources

arXiv2013

The Renormalization Scale-Setting Problem in QCD

A key problem in making precise perturbative QCD predictions is to set the proper renormalization scale of the running coupling. The conventional scale-setting procedure assigns an arbitrary range and an arbitrary systematic error to fixed-order pQCD predictions. In fact, this {\it ad hoc} procedure gives results which depend on the choice of the renormalization scheme, and it is in conflict with the standard scale-setting procedure used in QED. Predictions for physical results should be independent of the choice of scheme or other theoretical conventions. We review current ideas and points of view on how to deal with the renormalization scale ambiguity and show how to obtain renormalization scheme- and scale- independent estimates. We begin by introducing the renormalization group (RG) equation and an extended version, which expresses the invariance of physical observables under both the renormalization scheme and scale-parameter transformations. The RG equation provides a convenient way for estimating the scheme- and scale- dependence of a physical process. We then discuss self-consistency requirements of the RG equations, such as reflexivity, symmetry, and transitivity, which must be satisfied by a scale-setting method. Four typical scale setting methods suggested in the literature, {\it i.e.,} the Fastest Apparent Convergence (FAC) criterion, the Principle of Minimum Sensitivity (PMS), the Brodsky-Lepage-Mackenzie method (BLM), and the Principle of Maximum Conformality (PMC), are introduced. Basic properties and their applications are discussed. We pay particular attention to the PMC, which satisfies all of the requirements of RG invariance...... [full Abstract is in the paper].

hep-ph↗

arXiv2013

Application of the Principle of Maximum Conformality to Top-Pair Production

A major contribution to the uncertainty of finite-order perturbative QCD predictions is the perceived ambiguity in setting the renormalization scale $μ_r$. For example, by using the conventional way of setting $μ_r \in [m_t/2,2m_t]$, one obtains the total $t \bar{t}$ production cross-section $σ_{t \bar{t}}$ with the uncertainty $Δσ_{t \bar{t}}/σ_{t \bar{t}}\sim ({}^{+3%}_{-4%})$ at the Tevatron and LHC even for the present NNLO level. The Principle of Maximum Conformality (PMC) eliminates the renormalization scale ambiguity in precision tests of Abelian QED and non-Abelian QCD theories. In this paper we apply PMC scale-setting to predict the $t \bar t$ cross-section $σ_{t\bar{t}}$ at the Tevatron and LHC colliders. It is found that $σ_{t\bar{t}}$ remains almost unchanged by varying $μ^{\rm init}_r$ within the region of $[m_t/4,4m_t]$. The convergence of the expansion series is greatly improved. For the $(q\bar{q})$-channel, which is dominant at the Tevatron, its NLO PMC scale is much smaller than the top-quark mass in the small $x$-region, and thus its NLO cross-section is increased by about a factor of two. In the case of the $(gg)$-channel, which is dominant at the LHC, its NLO PMC scale slightly increases with the subprocess collision energy $\sqrt{s}$, but it is still smaller than $m_t$ for $\sqrt{s}\lesssim 1$ TeV, and the resulting NLO cross-section is increased by $\sim 20%$. As a result, a larger $σ_{t\bar{t}}$ is obtained in comparison to the conventional scale-setting method, which agrees well with the present Tevatron and LHC data. More explicitly, by setting $m_t=172.9\pm 1.1$ GeV, we predict $σ_{\rm Tevatron,\;1.96\,TeV} = 7.626^{+0.265}_{-0.257}$ pb, $σ_{\rm LHC,\;7\,TeV} = 171.8^{+5.8}_{-5.6}$ pb and $σ_{\rm LHC,\;14\,TeV} = 941.3^{+28.4}_{-26.5}$ pb. [full abstract can be found in the paper.]

hep-ph↗

arXiv2013

Single-Spin Asymmetries in Semi-inclusive Deep Inelastic Scattering and Drell-Yan Processes

We examine in detail the diagrammatic mechanisms which provide the change of sign between the single transverse spin asymmetries measured in semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering (SIDIS) and in the Drell-Yan process (DY). This asymmetry is known to arise due to the transverse spin dependence of the target proton combined with a T-odd complex phase. Using the discrete symmetry properties of transverse spinors, we show that the required complex phase originates in the denominators of rescattering diagrams and their respective cuts. For simplicity, we work in a model where the proton consists of a valence quark and a scalar diquark. We then show that the phases generated in SIDIS and in DY originate from distinctly different cuts in the amplitudes, which at first appears to obscure the relationship between the single-spin asymmetries in the two processes. Nevertheless, further analysis demonstrates that the contributions of these cuts are identical in the leading-twist Bjorken kinematics considered, resulting in the standard sign-flip relation between the Sivers functions in SIDIS and DY. Physically, this fundamental, but yet untested, prediction occurs because the Sivers effect in the Drell-Yan reaction is modified by the initial-state "lensing" interactions of the annihilating antiquark, in contrast to the final-state lensing which produces the Sivers effect in deep inelastic scattering.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2013

Conformal Symmetry, Confinement, and Light-Front Holographic QCD

We show that (a) the conformal properties of Anti-de Sitter (AdS) space, (b) the properties of a field theory in one dimension under the full conformal group found by de Alfaro, Fubini and Furlan, and (c) the frame-independent single-variable light-front Schrödinger equation for bound states all lead to the same result: a relativistic nonperturbative model which successfully incorporates salient features of hadronic physics, including confinement, linear Regge trajectories, and results which are conventionally attributed to spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2013

Puzzles in Hadronic Physics and Novel Quantum Chromodynamics Phenomenology

We review some outstanding puzzles and experimental anomalies in hadron physics that appear to challenge conventional wisdom and, in some cases, the foundations of QCD. We also discuss possible solutions and propose new tests and experiments that could illuminate the underlying physics and novel phenomenological features of QCD. In some cases, new perspectives for QCD physics have emerged.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2013

AdS/QCD, Light-Front Holography, and Color Confinement

A remarkable holographic feature of dynamics in AdS space in five dimensions is that it is dual to Hamiltonian theory in physical space-time, quantized at fixed light-front time τ = t+z/c. This light-front holographic principle provides a precise relation between the bound-state amplitudes in AdS space and the boost-invariant light-front wavefunctions describing the internal structure of hadrons in physical space-time. The fifth dimension coordinate z is dual to the light front variable ζ describing the invariant separation of the quark constituents. The resulting valence Fock-state wavefunction eigensolutions of the light-front QCD Hamiltonian satisfy a single-variable relativistic equation of motion, analogous to the nonrelativistic radial Schrödinger equation. The soft-wall dilaton profile exp (κ^2 ζ^2) provides a model for the light-front potential which is color-confining and reproduces well the linear Regge behavior of the light-quark hadron spectrum in both L, the orbital angular momentum, and n, the radial node number. The pion mass vanishes in the chiral limit and other features of chiral symmetry are satisfied. The resulting running QCD coupling displays an infrared fixed point. The elastic and transition form factors of the pion and the nucleons are also found to be well described in this framework. The light-front AdS/QCD holographic approach thus gives a frame-independent analytic first approximation of the color-confining dynamics, spectroscopy, and excitation spectra of relativistic light-quark bound states in QCD.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2013

Kinematical and Dynamical Aspects of Higher-Spin Bound-State Equations in Holographic QCD

In this paper we derive holographic wave equations for hadrons with arbitrary spin starting from an effective action in a higher-dimensional space asymptotic to anti-de Sitter (AdS) space. Our procedure takes advantage of the local tangent frame, and it applies to all spins, including half-integer spins. An essential element is the mapping of the higher-dimensional equations of motion to the light-front Hamiltonian, thus allowing a clear distinction between the kinematical and dynamical aspects of the holographic approach to hadron physics. Accordingly, the non-trivial geometry of pure AdS space encodes the kinematics, and the additional deformations of AdS space encode the dynamics, including confinement. It thus becomes possible to identify the features of holographic QCD which are independent of the specific mechanisms of conformal symmetry breaking. In particular, we account for some aspects of the striking similarities and differences observed in the systematics of the meson and baryon spectra.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2012

QCD and Light-Front Holography

The eigenvalues of the light-front QCD Hamiltonian, quantized at fixed light-front time τ= t+z/c, predict the hadronic mass spectrum and the corresponding eigensolutions provide the light-front wavefunctions which describe hadron structure. More generally, we show that the valence Fock-state wavefunctions of the light-front QCD Hamiltonian satisfy a single-variable relativistic equation of motion, analogous to the nonrelativistic radial Schrödinger equation, with an effective confining potential $U$ which systematically incorporates the effects of higher quark and gluon Fock states. We outline a method for computing the required potential from first principles in QCD. The holographic mapping of gravity in AdS space to QCD, quantized at fixed light-front time, yields the same light-front Schrödinger equation; in fact, the soft-wall AdS/QCD approach provides a model for the light-front potential which is color-confining and reproduces well the light-hadron spectrum. One also derives via light-front holography a precise relation between the bound-state amplitudes in the fifth dimension of AdS space and the boost-invariant light-front wavefunctions describing the internal structure of hadrons in physical space-time. The elastic and transition form factors of the pion and the nucleons are found to be well described in this framework. The light-front AdS/QCD holographic approach thus gives a frame-independent first approximation of the color-confining dynamics, spectroscopy, and excitation spectra of relativistic light-quark bound states in QCD.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2012

Setting the Renormalization Scale in QCD: The Principle of Maximum Conformality

A key problem in making precise perturbative QCD predictions is the uncertainty in determining the renormalization scale $μ$ of the running coupling $α_s(μ^2).$ The purpose of the running coupling in any gauge theory is to sum all terms involving the $β$ function; in fact, when the renormalization scale is set properly, all non-conformal $β\ne 0$ terms in a perturbative expansion arising from renormalization are summed into the running coupling. The remaining terms in the perturbative series are then identical to that of a conformal theory; i.e., the corresponding theory with $β=0$. The resulting scale-fixed predictions using the "principle of maximum conformality" (PMC) are independent of the choice of renormalization scheme -- a key requirement of renormalization group invariance. The results avoid renormalon resummation and agree with QED scale-setting in the Abelian limit. The PMC is also the theoretical principle underlying the BLM procedure, commensurate scale relations between observables, and the scale-setting method used in lattice gauge theory. The number of active flavors $n_f$ in the QCD $β$ function is also correctly determined. We discuss several methods for determining the PMC scale for QCD processes. We show that a single global PMC scale, valid at leading order, can be derived from basic properties of the perturbative QCD cross section. The elimination of the renormalization scale ambiguity and the scheme dependence using the PMC will not only increase the precision of QCD tests, but it will also increase the sensitivity of collider experiments to new physics beyond the Standard Model.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2012

Self-Consistency Requirements of the Renormalization Group for Setting the Renormalization Scale

In conventional treatments, predictions from fixed-order perturbative QCD calculations cannot be fixed with certainty due to ambiguities in the choice of the renormalization scale as well as the renormalization scheme. In this paper we present a general discussion of the constraints of the renormalization group (RG) invariance on the choice of the renormalization scale. We adopt the RG based equations, which incorporate the scheme parameters, for a general exposition of RG invariance, since they simultaneously express the invariance of physical observables under both the variation of the renormalization scale and the renormalization scheme parameters. We then discuss the self-consistency requirements of the RG, such as reflexivity, symmetry, and transitivity, which must be satisfied by the scale-setting method. The Principle of Minimal Sensitivity (PMS) requires the slope of the approximant of an observable to vanish at the renormalization point. This criterion provides a scheme-independent estimation, but it violates the symmetry and transitivity properties of the RG and does not reproduce the Gell-Mann-Low scale for QED observables. The Principle of Maximum Conformality (PMC) satisfies all of the deductions of the RG invariance - reflectivity, symmetry, and transitivity. Using the PMC, all non-conformal $\{β^{\cal R}_i\}$-terms (${\cal R}$ stands for an arbitrary renormalization scheme) in the perturbative expansion series are summed into the running coupling, and one obtains a unique, scale-fixed, scheme-independent prediction at any finite order. The PMC scales and the resulting finite-order PMC predictions are both to high accuracy independent of the choice of initial renormalization scale, consistent with RG invariance. [...More in the text...]

hep-ph↗

arXiv2012

Light-Front Holography and the Light-Front Schrodinger Equation

One of the most important nonperturbative methods for solving QCD is quantization at fixed light-front time, τ= t+z/c -- Dirac's "Front Form". The eigenvalues of the light-front QCD Hamiltonian predict the hadron spectrum and the eigensolutions provide the light-front wavefunctions which describe hadron structure. More generally, we show that the valence Fock-state wavefunctions of the light-front QCD Hamiltonian satisfy a single-variable relativistic equation of motion, analogous to the nonrelativistic radial Schrödinger equation, with an effective confining potential U which systematically incorporates the effects of higher quark and gluon Fock states. We outline a method for computing the required potential from first principles in QCD. The holographic mapping of gravity in AdS space to QCD, quantized at fixed light-front time, yields the same light front Schrödinger equation; in fact, the soft-wall AdS/QCD approach provides a model for the light-front potential which is color-confining and reproduces well the light-hadron spectrum. One also derives via light-front holography a precise relation between the bound-state amplitudes in the fifth dimension of AdS space and the boost-invariant light-front wavefunctions describing the internal structure of hadrons in physical space-time. The elastic and transition form factors of the pion and the nucleons are found to be well described in this framework. The light-front AdS/QCD holographic approach thus gives a frame-independent first approximation of the color-confining dynamics, spectroscopy, and excitation spectra of relativistic light-quark bound states in QCD.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2012

Light-front holography - A new approach to relativistic hadron dynamics and nonperturbative QCD

The holographic mapping of gravity in AdS space to QCD, quantized at fixed light-front time, provides a precise relation between the bound-state amplitudes in the fifth dimension of AdS space and the boost-invariant light-front wavefunctions describing the internal structure of hadrons in physical space-time. In particular, the elastic and transition form factors of the pion and the nucleons are well described in this framework. The light-front AdS/QCD holographic approach thus gives a frame-independent first approximation of the color-confining dynamics, spectroscopy, and excitation spectra of relativistic light-quark bound states in QCD. More generally, we show that the valence Fock-state wavefunctions of the eigensolutions of the light-front QCD Hamiltonian satisfy a single-variable relativistic equation of motion, analogous to the nonrelativistic radial Schrödinger equation, with an effective confining potential which systematically incorporates the effects of higher quark and gluon Fock states. The proposed method to compute the effective interaction thus resembles the two-particle-irreducible functional techniques used in quantum field theory.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2012

Eliminating the Renormalization Scale Ambiguity for Top-Pair Production Using the Principle of Maximum Conformality

It is conventional to choose a typical momentum transfer of the process as the renormalization scale and take an arbitrary range to estimate the uncertainty in the QCD prediction. However, predictions using this procedure depend on the renormalization scheme, leave a non-convergent renormalon perturbative series, and moreover, one obtains incorrect results when applied to QED processes. In contrast, if one fixes the renormalization scale using the Principle of Maximum Conformality (PMC), all non-conformal $\{β_i\}$-terms in the perturbative expansion series are summed into the running coupling, and one obtains a unique, scale-fixed, scheme-independent prediction at any finite order. The PMC scale $μ^{\rm PMC}_R$ and the resulting finite-order PMC prediction are both to high accuracy independent of the choice of initial renormalization scale $μ^{\rm init}_R$, consistent with renormalization group invariance. As an application, we apply the PMC procedure to obtain NNLO predictions for the $t\bar{t}$-pair production at the Tevatron and LHC colliders. The PMC prediction for the total cross-section $σ_{t\bar{t}}$ agrees well with the present Tevatron and LHC data. We also verify that the initial scale-independence of the PMC prediction is satisfied to high accuracy at the NNLO level: the total cross-section remains almost unchanged even when taking very disparate initial scales $μ^{\rm init}_R$ equal to $m_t$, $20\,m_t$, $\sqrt{s}$. Moreover, after PMC scale setting, we obtain $A_{FB}^{t\bar{t}} \simeq 12.5%$, $A_{FB}^{p\bar{p}} \simeq 8.28%$ and $A_{FB}^{t\bar{t}}(M_{t\bar{t}}>450 \;{\rm GeV}) \simeq 35.0%$. These predictions have a $1\,σ$-deviation from the present CDF and D0 measurements; the large discrepancy of the top quark forward-backward asymmetry between the Standard Model estimate and the data are thus greatly reduced.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2012

Application of the Principle of Maximum Conformality to the Top-Quark Forward-Backward Asymmetry at the Tevatron

The renormalization scale uncertainty can be eliminated by the Principle of Maximum Conformality (PMC) in a systematic scheme-independent way. Applying the PMC for the $t\bar{t}$-pair hadroproduction at the NNLO level, we have found that the total cross-sections $σ_{t\bar{t}}$ at both the Tevatron and LHC remain almost unchanged when taking very disparate initial scales $μ^{\rm init}_R$ equal to $m_t$, $10\,m_t$, $20\,m_t$ and $\sqrt{s}$, which is consistent with renormalization group invariance. As an important new application, we apply PMC scale-setting to study the top-quark forward-backward asymmetry. We observe that the more convergent perturbative series after PMC scale-setting leads to a more accurate top-quark forward-backward asymmetry. The resulting PMC prediction on the asymmetry is also free from the initial renormalization scale-dependence. Because the NLO PMC scale has a dip behavior for the $(q\bar{q})$-channel at small subprocess collision energies, the importance of this channel to the asymmetry is increased. We observe that the asymmetries $A_{FB}^{t\bar{t}}$ and $A_{FB}^{p\bar{p}}$ at the Tevatron will be increased by 42% in comparison to the previous estimates obtained by using conventional scale-setting; i.e. we obtain $A_{FB}^{t\bar{t},{\rm PMC}} \simeq 12.5%$ and $A_{FB}^{p\bar{p},{\rm PMC}} \simeq 8.28%$. Moreover, we obtain $A_{FB}^{t\bar{t},{\rm PMC}}(M_{t\bar{t}}>450 \;{\rm GeV}) \simeq 35.0%$. These predictions have a $1σ$-deviation from the present CDF and D0 measurements; the large discrepancies of the top-quark forward-backward asymmetry between the Standard Model estimate and the CDF and D0 data are thus greatly reduced.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2012

Hadronic Form Factor Models and Spectroscopy Within the Gauge/Gravity Correspondence

We show that the nonperturbative light-front dynamics of relativistic hadronic bound states has a dual semiclassical gravity description on a higher dimensional warped AdS space in the limit of zero quark masses. This mapping of AdS gravity theory to the boundary quantum field theory, quantized at fixed light-front time, allows one to establish a precise relation between holographic wave functions in AdS space and the light-front wavefunctions describing the internal structure of hadrons. The resulting AdS/QCD model gives a remarkably good accounting of the spectrum, elastic and transition form factors of the light-quark hadrons in terms of one parameter, the QCD gap scale. The light-front holographic approach described here thus provides a frame-independent first approximation to the light-front Hamiltonian problem for QCD. This article is based on lectures at the Niccolo Cabeo International School of Hadronic Physics, Ferrara, Italy, May 2011.

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arXiv2012

Novel Perspectives for Hadron Physics

I discuss several novel and unexpected aspects of quantum chromodynamics. These include: (a) the nonperturbative origin of intrinsic strange, charm and bottom quarks in the nucleon at large light-cone momenta x; the breakdown of pQCD factorization theorems due to the lensing effects of initial- and final-state interactions; (b) important corrections to pQCD scaling for inclusive reactions due to processes in which hadrons are created at high transverse momentum directly in the hard processes and their relation to the baryon anomaly in high-centrality heavy-ion collisions; and (c) the nonuniversality of quark distributions in nuclei. I also discuss some novel theoretical perspectives in QCD: (a) light-front holography -- a relativistic, color-confining, first approximation to QCD based on the AdS/CFT correspondence principle; (b) the principle of maximum conformality -- a method which determines the renormalization scale at finite order in perturbation theory yielding scheme independent results; (c) the replacement of quark and gluon vacuum condensates by "in-hadron condensates" and how this helps to resolves the conflict between QCD vacuum and the cosmological constant.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2012

Confinement contains condensates

Dynamical chiral symmetry breaking and its connection with the generation of hadron masses has historically been viewed as a vacuum phenomenon. We argue that confinement makes such a position untenable. If quark-hadron duality is a reality in QCD, then condensates, those quantities that were commonly viewed as constant empirical mass-scales that fill all spacetime, are instead wholly contained within hadrons; viz., they are a property of hadrons themselves and expressed, e.g., in their Bethe-Salpeter or light-front wave functions. We explain that this paradigm is consistent with empirical evidence, and incidentally expose misconceptions in a recent Comment.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2011

Atoms in Flight and the Remarkable Connections between Atomic and Hadronic Physics

Atomic physics and hadron physics are both based on Yang Mills gauge theory; in fact, quantum electrodynamics can be regarded as the zero-color limit of quantum chromodynamics. I review a number of areas where the techniques of atomic physics provide important insight into the theory of hadrons in QCD. For example, the Dirac-Coulomb equation, which predicts the spectroscopy and structure of hydrogenic atoms, has an analog in hadron physics in the form of light-front relativistic equations of motion which give a remarkable first approximation to the spectroscopy, dynamics, and structure of light hadrons. The renormalization scale for the running coupling, which is unambiguously set in QED, leads to a method for setting the renormalization scale in QCD. The production of atoms in flight provides a method for computing the formation of hadrons at the amplitude level. Conversely, many techniques which have been developed for hadron physics, such as scaling laws, evolution equations, and light-front quantization have equal utility for atomic physics, especially in the relativistic domain. I also present a new perspective for understanding the contributions to the cosmological constant from QED and QCD.

hep-ph↗