arXiv subjects

Tianbo Liu

Publications and source records attributed to Tianbo Liu.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2021

Gluon distributions and their applications to Ioffe-time distributions

We investigate unpolarized and polarized gluon distributions and their applications to the Ioffe-time distributions, which are related to lattice QCD calculations of parton distribution functions. Guided by the counting rules based on the perturbative QCD at large momentum fraction $x$ and the color coherence of gluon couplings at small $x$, we parametrize gluon distributions in the helicity basis. By fitting the unpolarized gluon distribution, the inferred polarized gluon distribution from our parametrization agrees with the one from global analysis. A simultaneous fit to both unpolarized and polarized gluon distributions is also performed to explore the model uncertainty. The agreement with the global analysis supports the $(1-x)$ power suppression of the helicity-antialigned distribution relative to the helicity-aligned distribution. The corresponding Ioffe-time distributions and their asymptotic expansions are calculated from the gluon distributions. Our results of the Ioffe-time distributions can provide guidance to the extrapolation of lattice QCD data to the region lacking precise gluonic matrix elements. Therefore, they can help regulate the ill-posed inverse problem associated with extracting the gluon distributions from discrete data from first-principle calculations, which are available in a limited range of the nucleon momentum and the spatial separation between the gluonic currents. Given various limitations in obtaining lattice QCD data at large Ioffe time, phenomenological approaches can provide important complementary information to extract the gluon distributions in the entire $x$ region. The possibility of investigating higher-twist effects and other systematic uncertainties in the contemporary first-principle calculations of parton distributions from phenomenologically well-determined Ioffe-time distributions in the large Ioffe-time region is also discussed.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2020

Constraints on charm-anticharm asymmetry in the nucleon from lattice QCD

We present the first lattice QCD calculation of the charm quark contribution to the nucleon electromagnetic form factors $G^c_{E,M}(Q^2)$ in the momentum transfer range $0\leq Q^2 \leq 1.4$ $\rm GeV^2$. The quark mass dependence, finite lattice spacing and volume corrections are taken into account simultaneously based on the calculation on three gauge ensembles including one at the physical pion mass. The nonzero value of the charm magnetic moment $μ^c_M=-0.00127(38)_{\rm stat}(5)_{\rm sys}$, as well as the Pauli form factor, reflects a nontrivial role of the charm sea in the nucleon spin structure. The nonzero $G^c_{E}(Q^2)$ indicates the existence of a nonvanishing asymmetric charm-anticharm sea in the nucleon. Performing a nonperturbative analysis based on holographic QCD and the generalized Veneziano model, we study the constraints on the $[c(x)-\bar{c}(x)]$ distribution from the lattice QCD results presented here. Our results provide complementary information and motivation for more detailed studies of physical observables that are sensitive to intrinsic charm and for future global analyses of parton distributions including asymmetric charm-anticharm distribution.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2020

Unified Description of Polarized and Unpolarized Quark Distributions in the Proton

We propose a unified new approach to describe polarized and unpolarized quark distributions in the proton based on the gauge-gravity correspondence, light-front holography, and the generalized Veneziano model. We find that the spin-dependent quark distributions are uniquely determined in terms of the unpolarized distributions by chirality separation without the introduction of additional free parameters. The predictions are consistent with existing experimental data and agree with perturbative QCD constraints at large longitudinal momentum $x$. In particular, we predict the sign reversal of the polarized down-quark distribution in the proton at $x=0.8\pm0.03$, a key property of nucleon substructure which will be tested very soon in upcoming experiments.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2020

Power corrections in semi-inclusive deep inelastic scatterings at fixed target energies

The COMPASS collaboration published precise data on production cross section of charged hadrons in lepton-hadron semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering, showing almost an order of magnitude larger than next-to-leading order QCD calculations when $P_{h_T}$ and $z_h$ are sufficiently large. We explore the role of power corrections to the theoretical calculations, and quantitatively demonstrate that the power corrections are extremely important for these data when the final-state multiplicity is low and the production kinematics is near the edge of phase space. Our finding motivates more detailed studies on power corrections for upcoming experiments at Jefferson Lab, as well as the future Electron-Ion Collider.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2018

Nonperturbative strange-quark sea from lattice QCD, light-front holography, and meson-baryon fluctuation models

We demonstrate that a nonzero strangeness contribution to the spacelike electromagnetic form factor of the nucleon is evidence for a strange-antistrange asymmetry in the nucleon's light-front wave function, thus implying different nonperturbative contributions to the strange and antistrange quark distribution functions. A recent lattice QCD calculation of the nucleon strange quark form factor predicts that the strange quark distribution is more centralized in coordinate space than the antistrange quark distribution, and thus the strange quark distribution is more spread out in light-front momentum space. We show that the lattice prediction implies that the difference between the strange and antistrange parton distribution functions, $s(x)-\bar{s}(x)$, is negative at small-$x$ and positive at large-$x$. We also evaluate the strange quark form factor and $s(x)-\bar{s}(x)$ using a baryon-meson fluctuation model and a novel nonperturbative model based on light-front holographic QCD. This procedure leads to a Veneziano-like expression of the form factor, which depends exclusively on the twist of the hadron and the properties of the Regge trajectory of the vector meson which couples to the quark current in the hadron. The holographic structure of the model allows us to introduce unambiguously quark masses in the form factors and quark distributions preserving the hard scattering counting rule at large-$Q^2$ and the inclusive counting rule at large-$x$. Quark masses modify the Regge intercept which governs the small-$x$ behavior of quark distributions, therefore modifying their small-$x$ singular behavior. Both nonperturbative approaches provide descriptions of the strange-antistrange asymmetry and intrinsic strangeness in the nucleon consistent with the lattice QCD result.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2018

Universality of Generalized Parton Distributions in Light-Front Holographic QCD

The structure of generalized parton distributions is determined from light-front holographic QCD up to a universal reparametrization function $w(x)$ which incorporates Regge behavior at small $x$ and inclusive counting rules at $x \to 1$. A simple ansatz for $w(x)$ which fulfills these physics constraints with a single-parameter results in precise descriptions of both the nucleon and the pion quark distribution functions in comparison with global fits. The analytic structure of the amplitudes leads to a connection with the Veneziano model and hence to a nontrivial connection with Regge theory and the hadron spectrum.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2018

Search for a hidden strange baryon-meson bound state from $ϕ$ production in a nuclear medium

We investigate the hidden strange light baryon-meson system. With the resonating-group method, two bound states, $η'-N$ and $ϕ-N$, are found in the quark delocalization color screening model. Focusing on the $ϕ-N$ bound state around 1950\,MeV, we obtain the total decay width of about 4\,MeV by calculating the phase shifts in the resonance scattering processes. To study the feasibility of an experimental search for the $ϕ-N$ bound state, we perform a Monte Carlo simulation of the bound state production with an electron beam and a gold target. In the simulation, we use the CLAS12 detector with the Forward Tagger and the BONUS12 detector in Hall B at Jefferson Lab. Both the signal and the background channels are estimated. We demonstrate that the signal events can be separated from the background with some momentum cuts. Therefore it is feasible to experimentally search for the $ϕ-N$ bound state through the near threshold $ϕ$ meson production from heavy nuclei.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2018

Experimental constraint on quark electric dipole moments

The electric dipole moments (EDMs) of nucleons are sensitive probes of additional $\cal CP$ violation sources beyond the standard model to account for the baryon number asymmetry of the universe. As a fundamental quantity of the nucleon structure, tensor charge is also a bridge that relates nucleon EDMs to quark EDMs. With a combination of nucleon EDM measurements and tensor charge extractions, we investigate the experimental constraint on quark EDMs, and its sensitivity to $\cal CP$ violation sources from new physics beyond the electroweak scale. We obtain the current limits on quark EDMs as $1.27\times10^{-24}\,e\cdot{\rm cm}$ for the up quark and $1.17\times10^{-24}\,e\cdot{\rm cm}$ for the down quark at the scale of $4\,\rm GeV^2$. We also study the impact of future nucleon EDM and tensor charge measurements, and show that upcoming new experiments will improve the constraint on quark EDMs by about three orders of magnitude leading to a much more sensitive probe of new physics models.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2017

Learning Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Control for Autonomous Target Following

While deep reinforcement learning (RL) methods have achieved unprecedented successes in a range of challenging problems, their applicability has been mainly limited to simulation or game domains due to the high sample complexity of the trial-and-error learning process. However, real-world robotic applications often need a data-efficient learning process with safety-critical constraints. In this paper, we consider the challenging problem of learning unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) control for tracking a moving target. To acquire a strategy that combines perception and control, we represent the policy by a convolutional neural network. We develop a hierarchical approach that combines a model-free policy gradient method with a conventional feedback proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller to enable stable learning without catastrophic failure. The neural network is trained by a combination of supervised learning from raw images and reinforcement learning from games of self-play. We show that the proposed approach can learn a target following policy in a simulator efficiently and the learned behavior can be successfully transferred to the DJI quadrotor platform for real-world UAV control.

cs.AI↗

arXiv2017

Unveiling the nucleon tensor charge at Jefferson Lab: A study of the SoLID case

Future experiments at the Jefferson Lab 12 GeV upgrade, in particular, the Solenoidal Large Intensity Device (SoLID), aim at a very precise data set in the region where the partonic structure of the nucleon is dominated by the valence quarks. One of the main goals is to constrain the quark transversity distributions. We apply recent theoretical advances of the global QCD extraction of the transversity distributions to study the impact of future experimental data from the SoLID experiments. Especially, we develop a simple strategy based on the Hessian matrix analysis that allows one to estimate the uncertainties of the transversity quark distributions and their tensor charges extracted from SoLID data simulation. We find that the SoLID measurements with the proton and the effective neutron targets can improve the precision of the u- and d-quark transversity distributions up to one order of magnitude in the range 0.05 < x < 0.6.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2016

Light-front holographic QCD with generic dilaton profile

We generalize the soft-wall and hard-wall models to a light-front holographic QCD model with a generic dilaton profile. The effective potential induced by a higher power dilaton profile is interpreted as a stronger color confinement at long distance, and it gradually evolves to the hard-wall model when the power increases to infinity. As an application, we investigate the exotic meson states recently discovered in experiments in the generic soft-wall model with a higher power dilaton profile, and the results are in agreement with the spectra of the exotic mesons. Our calculation indicates a weaker interaction at short distance and a stronger interaction at large distance for the components in the exotic mesons. The generic dilaton profile deserves further scrutiny for understanding the strong interaction and for applications.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2015

Baryon properties from light-front holographic QCD

We investigate the properties of octet and decuplet baryons in a light-front holographic model. By taking into account the effect of nonvanishing quark mass, we obtain the modified light-front wave functions which are applicable at both low and high energy scales. We calculate the spectra, form factors, magnetic moments and electromagnetic radii of octet and decuplet baryons with the results all matching the experiments well. The axial charge, which describes the contribution of quark helicity to the proton spin in the quark-parton model at the high energy scale, is also consistent with the experimental value. Therefore, the light-front holographic method is successful in studying hadronic physics at all energy scales, and the nonzero quark mass is essential to understand the spin structures together with other low energy properties.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2015

Quark Wigner distributions in a light-cone spectator model

We investigate the quark Wigner distributions in a light-cone spectator model. The Wigner distribution, as a quasi-distribution function, provides the most general one-parton information in a hadron. Combining the polarization configurations, unpolarized, longitudinal polarized or transversal polarized, of the quark and the proton, we can define 16 independent Wigner distributions at leading twist. We calculate all these Wigner distributions for the $u$ quark and the $d$ quark respectively. In our calculation, both the scalar and the axial-vector spectators are included, and the Melosh-Wigner rotation effects for both the quark and the axial-vector spectator are taken into account. The results provide us a very rich picture of the quark structure in the proton.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2015

Quark angular momentum in a spectator model

We investigate the quark angular momentum in a model with the nucleon being a quark and a spectator. Both scalar and axial-vector spectators are included. We perform the calculations in the light-cone formalism where the parton concept is well defined. We calculate the quark helicity and canonical orbital angular momentum. Then we calculate the gravitational form factors which are often related to the kinetic angular momentums, and find that even in a no gauge field model we cannot identify the canonical angular momentums with half the sum of gravitational form factors. In addition, we examine the model relation between the orbital angular momentum and pretzelosity, and find it is violated in the axial-vector case.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2014

Angular momentum decomposition from a QED example

We investigate the angular momentum decomposition with a quantum electrodynamics example to clarify the proton spin decomposition debates. We adopt the light-front formalism where the parton model is well defined. We prove that the sum of fermion and boson angular momenta is equal to half the sum of the two gravitational form factors $A(0)$ and $B(0)$, as is well known. However, the suggestion to make a separation of the above relation into the fermion and boson pieces, as a way to measure the orbital angular momentum of fermions or bosons, respectively, is not justified from our explicit calculation.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2014

Generalized form factors of the nucleon in a light-cone spectator-diquark model

We investigate the generalized form factors of the nucleon in a light-cone spectator-diquark model. Compared to the form factors, the generalized form factors contain some more information of the structure of the nucleon. In our calculation, both the scalar and the axial-vector spectator-diquark are taken into account. As a relation between the spin in the instant form and that in the light-cone form, the Melosh-Wigner rotation effect is included for both the quark and the axial-vector diquark. We also provide numerical results from our model calculations, and the results are comparable with those from lattice QCD.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2014

Quark orbital motions from Wigner distributions

We investigate quark Wigner distributions in a light-cone spectator model. Both the scalar and the axial-vector spectators are included. The light-cone wave functions are derived from effective quark-spectator-nucleon vertex and then generalized by adjusting the power of energy denominators. The gauge link is taken into account by introducing relative phases to the light-cone amplitudes, and the phases are estimated from one gluon exchange interactions. The mixing distributions, which describe the correlation between transverse coordinate and transverse momentum and represent quark orbital motions, are calculated from the Wigner distributions. We find both $u$ quark and $d$ quark have positive orbital angular momentum in a polarized proton at small $x$ region, but a sign change is observed at large $x$ region for the $d$ quark. Besides, some model relations between Wigner distributions with different polarization configurations are found.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2014

Present status on experimental search for pentaquarks

It has been ten years since the first report for a positive strangeness pentaquark-like baryon state. However the existence of the pentaquark state is still controversial. Some contradictions between the experiments are unsolved. In this paper we review the experimental search for the pentaquark candidates $Θ^+$, $Θ^{++}$, $Ξ^{--}$, $Θ_c^0$ and $N^*$ in details. We review the experiments with positive results and compare the experiments with similar conditions but opposite results.

hep-ex↗