arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Véronique Bernard.
We analyze the nucleon axial-vector coupling to two loops in chiral perturbation theory. We show that chiral extrapolations based on this representation require lattice data with pion masses below 300 MeV.
Clean tests of a small admixture of right-handed quark currents directly coupled to the standard W are still lacking. We show that such non-standard couplings can be significantly constrained measuring the value of the scalar Kpi form factor at the Callan-Treiman point to a few percent. A realistic prospect of such a measurement in K^L_{mu3} decay based on an accurate dispersive representation of the scalar form factor is presented. The inadequacy of the currently used linear parametrisation is explained and illustrated using recent KTeV data. We briefly comment on the charged Kaon mode.
We calculate the nucleon and the delta mass to fourth order in a covariant formulation of the small scale expansion. We analyze lattice data from the MILC collaboration and demonstrate that the available lattice data combined with our knowledge of the physical values for the nucleon and delta masses lead to consistent chiral extrapolation functions for both observables up to fairly large pion masses. This holds in particular for very recent data on the delta mass from the QCDSF collaboration. The resulting pion-nucleon sigma term is sigma_{piN} = 48.9 MeV. This first quantitative analysis of the quark-mass dependence of the structure of the Delta(1232) in full QCD within chiral effective field theory suggests that (the real part of) the nucleon-delta mass-splitting in the chiral limit, Delta_0 = 0.33 GeV, is slightly larger than at the physical point. Further analysis of simultaneous fits to nucleon and delta lattice data are needed for a precision determination of the properties of the first excited state of the nucleon.
We analyze the Fubini-Furlan-Rosetti sum rule in the framework of covariant baryon chiral perturbation theory to leading one-loop accuracy and including next-to-leading order polynomial contributions. We discuss the relation between the subtraction constants in the invariant amplitudes and certain low-energy constants employed in earlier chiral perturbation theory studies of threshold neutral pion photoproduction off nucleons. In particular, we consider the corrections to the sum rule due to the finite pion mass and show that below the threshold they agree well with determinations based on fixed-t dispersion relations. We also discuss the energy dependence of the electric dipole amplitude E_{0+}.
We discuss the use of cutoff methods in chiral perturbation theory. We develop a cutoff scheme based on the operator structure of the effective field theory that allows to suppress high momentum contributions in Goldstone boson loop integrals and by construction is free of the problems traditional cutoff schemes have with gauge invariance or chiral symmetries. As an example, we discuss the chiral expansion of the nucleon mass. Contrary to other claims in the literature we show that the mass of a nucleon in heavy baryon chiral perturbation theory has a well behaved chiral expansion up to effective Goldstone boson masses of 400 MeV when one utilizes standard dimensional regularization techniques. With the help of the here developed cutoff scheme we can demonstrate a well-behaved chiral expansion for the nucleon mass up to 600 MeV of effective Goldstone Boson masses. We also discuss in detail the prize, in numbers of additional short distance operators involved, that has to be paid for this extended range of applicability of chiral perturbation theory with cutoff regularization, which is usually not paid attention to. We also compare the fourth order result for the chiral expansion of the nucleon mass with lattice results and draw some conclusions about chiral extrapolations based on such type of representation.
We present a Lorentz-invariant formulation of baryon chiral perturbation theory including spin-3/2 fields. Particular attention is paid to the projection on the spin-3/2 components of the delta fields. We also discuss the nucleon mass and the pion-nucleon sigma term.
Some recent developments in the description of nuclear forces and few-nucleon dynamics derived from chiral effective field theory are reviewed.
The spin structure of the nucleon is analyzed in the framework of a Lorentz-invariant formulation of baryon chiral perturbation theory. The structure functions of doubly virtual Compton scattering are calculated to one-loop accuracy (fourth order in the chiral expansion). We discuss the generalization of the Gerasimov-Drell-Hearn sum rule, the Burkhardt-Cottingham sum rule and moments of these. We give predictions for the forward and the longitudinal-transverse spin polarizabilities of the proton and the neutron at zero and finite photon virtuality. A detailed comparison to results obtained in heavy baryon chiral perturbation theory is also given.
We study the chiral loop corrections to the generalized Gerasimov-Drell-Hearn sum rule of the nucleon for finite photon virtuality in the framework of a Lorentz-invariant formulation of baryon chiral perturbation theory. We perform a complete one-loop calculation and obtain significant differences to previously found results based on the heavy baryon approach for the proton and neutron spin-dependent forward Compton amplitudes.
We review the current status of experimental and theoretical understanding of the axial nucleon structure at low and moderate energies. Topics considered include (quasi)elastic (anti)neutrino-nucleon scattering, charged pion electroproduction off nucleons and ordinary as well as radiative muon capture on the proton.
We investigate near threshold neutral pion photoproduction off protons to fourth order in heavy baryon chiral perturbation theory in the light of the new data from MAMI. We show that the unitarity cusp at the secondary π^+ n threshold is in agreement with expectations from the final state theorem. We also analyze the fourth order corrections to the P-wave low-energy theorems and show that potentially large Delta-isobar contributions are cancelled by sizeable pion loop effects. This solidifies the parameter free third order predictions, which are in excellent agreement with the data.
We calculate ordinary and radiative muon capture on the proton in an effective field theory of pions, nucleons and delta isobars, working to third and second order in the small scale expansion respectively. Preceding calculations in chiral effective field theories only employed pion and nucleon degrees of freedom and were not able to reproduce the photon spectrum in the pioneering experiment of radiative muon capture on the proton from TRIUMF. For the past few years it has been speculated that the discrepancy between theory and experiment might be due to Delta(1232) related effects, which are only included via higher order contact interactions in the standard chiral approach. In this report we demonstrate that this speculation does not hold true. We show that contrary to expectations from naive dimensional analysis isobar effects on the photon spectrum and the total rate in radiative muon capture are of the order of a few percent, consistent with earlier findings in a more phenomenological approach. We further demonstrate that both ordinary and radiative muon capture constitute systems with a very well behaved chiral expansion, both in standard chiral perturbation theory and in the small scale expansion, and present some new ideas that might be at the bottom of the still unresolved discrepancy between theory and experiment in radiative muon capture. Finally we comment upon the procedure employed by the TRIUMF group to extract new information from their radiative muon capture experiment on the pseudoscalar form factor of the nucleon. We show that it is inconsistent with the ordinary muon capture data.
We analyze a low-energy theorem of threshold pion electroproduction which allows one to determine the charge radius of the pion. We show that at the same order where the radius appears, pion loops induce a correction to the momentum dependence of the longitudinal dipole amplitude $L_{0+}^{(-)}$. This model-independent correction amounts to an increase of the pion charge radius squared from the electroproduction data by about 0.26~fm$^2$. It sheds light on the apparent discrepancy between the recent determination of the pion radius from electroproduction data and the one based on pion-electron scattering.
Single pion production off nucleons is studied in the framework of heavy baryon chiral perturbation theory to third order in the chiral expansion. Using total and some older differential cross section data to pin down the low-energy constants, most of the recent differential cross sections and angular correlation functions can be described as well as total cross sections at higher energies. We show that the contributions from the one loop graphs are essentially negligible and that the dominant terms at second and third order are related to pion-nucleon scattering graphs with one pion added. We also discuss the possibility of extracting the pion-pion S-wave scattering lengths from the unpolarized data.
We study the low energy expansion of the nucleon's electroweak form factors in the framework of an effective chiral Lagrangian including pions, nucleons and the $Delta (1232)$. We work to third order in the so-called small scale expansion and compare the results with the ones previously obtained in the chiral expansion. In addition, these calculations serve as a first exploratory study of renormalization and decoupling within the small scale expansion.
Photoproduction of neutral and charged pions off nucleons and deuterium has been precisely calculated in baryon chiral perturbation theory. I review the predictions with the accurate data that have become available over the last few years. Some progress in the description of neutral pion electroproduction off protons is also discussed.
The momentum-space bosonization method is extended to the case of a Nambu--Jona-Lasinio type model with vector and axial-vector mesons. The method presented gives the possibility of deriving any meson vertex function to all orders in momenta and to the leading order in $1/N_c$. Two-point functions, which describe one-particle transitions to the hadronic vacuum, and meson self-energies are considered. We find new relations which generalize the well-known KSFR relation and both the first and the second Weinberg sum rules. These result from a consistent treatment of higher order terms in the momentum expansion.
We calculate the nucleons' electromagnetic polarizabilities in heavy baryon chiral perturbation theory including all terms to order ${\cal O} (q^4)$. The chiral prediction of the electric polarizabilities for the neutron and the proton are in good agreement with the data. In the case of the magnetic polarizabilities the big positive contribution from the $Δ(1232)$ resonance is largely cancelled by a non--analytic loop contribution of the $\ln M_π$ type. This novel effect helps to understand the rather small empirical value of the nucleons' magnetic polarizability.