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Stephen Sharpe

Publications and source records attributed to Stephen Sharpe.

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Staggered fermion matrix elements using smeared operators

We investigate the use of two kinds of staggered fermion operators, smeared and unsmeared. The smeared operators extend over a $4^4$ hypercube, and tend to have smaller perturbative corrections than the corresponding unsmeared operators. We use these operators to calculate kaon weak matrix elements on quenched ensembles at $β=6.0$, 6.2 and 6.4. Extrapolating to the continuum limit, we find $B_K(NDR, 2 GeV)= 0.62\pm 0.02(stat)\pm 0.02(syst)$. The systematic error is dominated by the uncertainty in the matching between lattice and continuum operators due to the truncation of perturbation theory at one-loop. We do not include any estimate of the errors due to quenching or to the use of degenerate $s$ and $d$ quarks. For the $ΔI = {3/2}$ electromagnetic penguin operators we find $B_7^{(3/2)} = 0.62\pm 0.03\pm 0.06$ and $B_8^{(3/2)} = 0.77\pm 0.04\pm 0.04$. We also use the ratio of unsmeared to smeared operators to make a partially non-perturbative estimate of the renormalization of the quark mass for staggered fermions. We find that tadpole improved perturbation theory works well if the coupling is chosen to be $α_\MSbar(q^*=1/a)$.

hep-lat↗

Hadron Spectrum with Wilson fermions

We present results of a high statistics study of the quenched spectrum using Wilson fermions at $β=6.0$ on $32^3 \times 64$ lattices. We calculate the masses of mesons and baryons composed of both degenerate and non-degenerate quarks. Using non-degenerate quark combinations allows us to study baryon mass splittings in detail. We find significant deviations from the lowest order chiral expansion, deviations that are consistent with the expectations of quenched chiral perturbation theory. We find that there is a $\sim 20%$ systematic error in the extracted value of $m_s$, depending on the meson mass ratio used to set its value. Using the largest estimate of $m_s$ we find that the extrapolated octet mass-splittings are in agreement with the experimental values, as is $M_Δ- M_N$, while the decuplet splittings are 30% smaller than experiment. Combining our results with data from the GF11 collaboration we find considerable ambiguity in the extrapolation to the continuum limit. Our preferred values are $M_N / M_ρ= 1.38(7)$ and $M_Δ/ M_ρ= 1.73(10)$, suggesting that the quenched approximation is good to only $\sim 10-15%$. We also analyze the $O(ma)$ discretization errors in heavy quark masses.

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Testing the chiral behavior of the hadron spectrum

We analyze the chiral behavior of the hadron spectrum obtained with quenched Wilson fermions on 170 $32^3 \times 64$ lattices at $β= 6.0$. We calculate masses of hadrons composed of both degenerate and non-degenerate quarks. We reduce the statistical errors in mass splittings by directly fitting to the ratio of correlation functions. We find significant deviations from a linear dependence on the quark mass, deviations that are consistent with the higher order terms predicted by quenched chiral perturbation theory. Including these corrections yields splittings in the baryon octet that agree with those observed experimentally. Smaller higher order terms are also present in $m_ρ$ and $m_N$. By contrast, the decuplet baryons are well described by a linear mass term. We find the decuplet splittings to be 30% smaller than experiment. We extrapolate our data to $a \to 0$ by combining with the GF11 results, and the best fit suggests that the quenched approximation is only good to $10-15%$.

hep-lat↗

$B_K$ Using Staggered Fermions: An Update

Improved results for $B_K$ are discussed. Scaling corrections are argued to be of $O(a^2)$, leading to a reduction in the systematic error. For a kaon composed of degenerate quarks, the quenched result is ${\widehat{B}_K} = 0.825 \pm 0.027 \pm 0.023$.

hep-lat↗

Perturbative Corrections for Staggered Four-Fermion Operators

We present results for one-loop matching coefficients between continuum four-fermion operators, defined in the Naive Dimensional Regularization scheme, and staggered fermion operators of various types. We calculate diagrams involving gluon exchange between quark lines, and ``penguin'' diagrams containing quark loops. For the former we use Landau gauge operators, with and without $O(a)$ improvement, and including the tadpole improvement suggested by Lepage and Mackenzie.For the latter we use gauge-invariant operators. Combined with existing results for two-loop anomalous dimension matrices and one-loop matching coefficients, our results allow a lattice calculation of the amplitudes for $K\bar K$ mixing and $K\toππ$ decays with all corrections of $O(g^2)$ included. We also discuss the mixing of $ΔS=1$ operators with lower dimension operators, and show that, with staggered fermions, only a single lower dimension operator need be removed by non-perturbative subtraction.

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$I=2$ pion scattering amplitude with Wilson fermions

We present an exploratory calculation of the $I=2$ $π-π$ scattering amplitude at threshold using Wilson fermions in the quenched approximation, including all the required contractions. We find good agreement with the predictions of chiral perturbation theory even for pions of mass 560-700 MeV. Within the 10\% errors, we do not see the onset of the bad chiral behavior expected for Wilson fermions. We also derive rigorous inequalities that apply to 2-particle correlators and as a consequence show that the interaction in the antisymmetric state of two pions has to be attractive.

hep-lat↗

Recent Progress in Lattice QCD

I give a brief overview of the status of lattice QCD, concentrating on topics relevant to phenomenology. I discuss the calculation of the light quark spectrum, the lattice prediction of $α_\MS(M_Z)$, and the calculation of $f_B$.

hep-ph↗

Problems with the Quenched Approximation in the Chiral Limit

In the quenched approximation, loops of the light singlet meson (the $η'$) give rise to a type of chiral logarithm absent in full QCD. These logarithms are singular in the chiral limit throwing doubt upon the utility of the quenched approximation. In previous work, I summed a class of diagrams, leading to non-analytic power dependencies such as $\cond\propto m_q^{-δ/(1+δ)}$. I suggested, however, that these peculiar results could be redefined away. Here I give an alternative derivation of the results, based on the renormalization group, and argue that they cannot be redefined away. I discuss the evidence (or lack thereof) for such effects in numerical data.

hep-lat↗

Perturbative Corrections for Staggered Fermion Bilinears

We calculate the perturbative corrections to fermion bilinears that are used in numerical simulations when extracting weak matrix elements using staggered fermions. This extends previous calculations of Golterman and Smit, and Daniel and Sheard. In particular, we calculate the corrections for non-local bilinears defined in Landau gauge with gauge links excluded. We do this for the simplest operators, i.e. those defined on a $2^4$ hypercube, and for tree level improved operators which live on $4^4$ hypercubes. We also consider gauge invariant operators in which the ``tadpole'' contributions are suppressed by projecting the sums of products of gauge links back in to the gauge group. In all cases, we find that the variation in the size of the perturbative corrections is smaller than those with the gauge invariant unimproved operators. This is most strikingly true for the smeared operators. We investigate the efficacy of the mean-field method of Lepage and Mackenzie at summing up tadpole contributions. In a companion paper we apply these results to four-fermion operators.

hep-lat↗

Quenched Chiral Logarithms

I develop a diagrammatic method for calculating chiral logarithms in the quenched approximation. While not rigorous, the method is based on physically reasonable assumptions, which can be tested by numerical simulations. The main results are that, at leading order in the chiral expansion, (a) there are no chiral logarithms in quenched $f_π$, for $m_u=m_d$; (b) the chiral logarithms in $B_K$ and related kaon B-parameters are, for $m_d=m_s$, the same in the quenched approximation as in the full theory; (c) for $m_π$ and the condensate, there are extra chiral logarithms due to loops containing the $η'$, which lead to a peculiar non-analytic dependence of these quantities on the bare quark mass. Following the work of Gasser and Leutwyler, I discuss how there is a predictable finite volume dependence associated with each chiral logarithm. I compare the resulting predictions with numerical results: for most quantities the expected volume dependence is smaller than the errors, but for $B_V$ and $B_A$ there is an observed dependence which is consistent with the predictions.

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