No Arabic abstract
In this presentation, we briefly review recent investigations on pion and kaon structures from the instanton vacuum. Starting from the low-energy QCD partition function, we have computed the Gasser-Leutwyler low-energy constants, electromagnetic form factors of the pion and kaon, semileptonic decay form factors of the kaon, and light-cone distribution amplitues of the pion and kaon. The results are in good agreement with the experimental and empirical data.
We discuss a general diagrammatic description of n-point functions in the QCD instanton vacuum that resums planar diagrams, enforces gauge invariance and spontaneously broken chiral symmetry. We use these diagrammatic rules to derive the pion and kaon quasi-parton amplitude and distribution functions at leading order in the instanton packing fraction for large but finite momentum. The instanton and anti-instanton zero modes and non-zero modes are found to contribute to the quasi-distributions, but the latter are shown to drop out in the large momentum limit. The pertinent pion and kaon parton distribution amplitudes and functions are made explicit at the low renormalization scale fixed by the inverse instanton size. Assuming that factorization holds, the pion parton distributions are evolved to higher renormalization scales with one-loop DGLAP and compared to existing data.
The scalar susceptibility (chi_s) of QCD, which represents the response of the chiral condensate to a small perturbation of explicit chiral-symmetry breaking, is investigated within the nonlocal chiral quark model (NLchiQM) based on the instanton vacuum configuration for N_f = 2. We also take into account 1/N_c meson-loop (ML) corrections including scalar and pseudoscalar mesons. It turns out that the chiral condensate is modified to a large extend by the ML corrections in the vicinity of m = 0, whereas its effect becomes weak beyond m ~ 100 MeV. As numerical results, we find that chi_s = -0.34 GeV^2 with the ML corrections and 0.18 GeV^2 without it, respectively. From these observations, we conclude that the ML corrections play an important role in the presence of finite current-quark mass.
In the present work the Mott effect for pions and kaons is described within a Beth- Uhlenbeck approach on the basis of the PNJL model. The contribution of these degrees of freedom to the thermodynamics is encoded in the temperature dependence of their phase shifts. A comparison with results from $N_f = 2 + 1$ lattice QCD thermodynamics is performed.
We determine the leading Fock state light front wave functions (LFWFs) of the pion and kaon via light front projections of the covariant Bethe-Salpeter wave function. Using these LFWFs we study the multi-dimensional images of the valence quarks in the pion and kaon that are provided by their generalized parton distribution functions (GPDs) and transverse momentum dependent parton distribution functions (TMDs). Moments of the GPDs are taken to obtain the electromagnetic and gravitational form factors of the pion and kaon, and comparisons to available experimental and lattice data are made. Highlights from this study include predictions that the mean-squared impact parameter for the quarks in the pion and kaon are: $langle vec{b}_T^2rangle_{u}^pi=0.11$fm$^2$, $langle vec{b}_T^2rangle_{s}^K=0.08$fm$^2$, and $langle vec{b}_T^2rangle_{u}^K=0.13$fm$^2$, and therefore the $s$ quark in the kaon is much closer to the center of transverse momentum than the $u$ quark. From the electromagnetic and gravitational form factors we find that the light-cone energy radii are about 60% smaller than the light-cone charge radii for each quark sector in the pion and kaon. A quantitative measure of the importance of the leading Fock state is obtained via comparison with a full DSE calculation (containing an infinite tower of Fock states) for the pion form factor.
There are two mass generating mechanisms in the standard model of particle physics (SM). One is related to the Higgs boson and fairly well understood. The other is embedded in quantum chromodynamics (QCD), the SMs strong interaction piece; and although responsible for emergence of the roughly 1 GeV mass scale that characterises the proton and hence all observable matter, the source and impacts of this emergent hadronic mass (EHM) remain puzzling. As bound states seeded by a valence-quark and -antiquark, pseudoscalar mesons present a simpler problem in quantum field theory than that associated with the nucleon. Consequently, there is a large array of robust predictions for pion and kaon properties whose empirical validation will provide a clear window onto many effects of both mass generating mechanisms and the constructive interference between them. This has now become significant because new-era experimental facilities, in operation, construction, or planning, are capable of conducting such tests and thereby contributing greatly to resolving the puzzles of EHM. These aspects of experiment, phenomenology, and theory, along with contemporary successes and challenges, are sketched herein, simultaneously highlighting the potential gains that can accrue from a coherent effort aimed at finally reaching an understanding of the character and structure of Natures Nambu-Goldstone modes.