We determine the quark-hadron transition line in the whole region of temperature (T) and baryon-number chemical potential (mu_B) from lattice QCD results and neutron-star mass measurements, making the quark-hadron hybrid model that is consistent with the two solid constraints. The quark part of the hybrid model is the Polyakov-loop extended Nambu-Jona-Lasinio (PNJL) model with entanglement vertex that reproduces lattice QCD results at mu_B/T=0, while the hadron part is the hadron resonance gas model with volume-exclusion effect that reproduces neutron-star mass measurements and the neutron-matter equation of state calculated from two- and three-nucleon forces based on the chiral effective field theory. The lower bound of the critical mu_B of the quark-hadron transition at zero T is mu_B = 1.6 GeV. The interplay between the heavy-ion collision physics around mu_B/T =6 and the neutron-star physics where mu_B/T is infinity is discussed.
We aim at drawing the hadron-quark phase transition line in the QCD phase diagram by using the two phase model (TPM) in which the entanglement Polyakov-loop extended Nambu--Jona-Lasinio (EPNJL) model with vector-type four-quark interaction is used for the quark phase and the relativistic mean field (RMF) model is for the hadron phase. Reasonable TPM is constructed by using lattice QCD data and neutron star observations as reliable constraints. For the EPNJL model, we determine the strength of vector-type four-quark interaction at zero quark chemical potential from lattice QCD data on quark number density normalized by its Stefan-Boltzmann limit. For the hadron phase, we consider three RMF models, NL3, TM1 and model proposed by Maruyama, Tatsumi, Endo and Chiba (MTEC). We find that MTEC is most consistent with the neutron star observations and TM1 is the second best. Assuming that the hadron-quark phase transition occurs in the core of neutron star, we explore the density-dependence of vector-type four-quark interaction. Particularly for the critical baryon chemical potential at zero temperature, we determine a range for the quark phase to occur in the core of neutron star.
We calculate the kaon semileptonic form factor $f_+(0)$ from lattice QCD, working, for the first time, at the physical light-quark masses. We use gauge configurations generated by the MILC collaboration with $N_f=2+1+1$ flavors of sea quarks, which incorporate the effects of dynamical charm quarks as well as those of up, down, and strange. We employ data at three lattice spacings to extrapolate to the continuum limit. Our result, $f_+(0) = 0.9704(32)$, where the error is the total statistical plus systematic uncertainty added in quadrature, is the most precise determination to date. Combining our result with the latest experimental measurements of $K$ semileptonic decays, one obtains the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix element $|V_{us}|=0.22290(74)(52)$, where the first error is from $f_+(0)$ and the second one is from experiment. In the first-row test of Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa unitarity, the error stemming from $|V_{us}|$ is now comparable to that from $|V_{ud}|$.
We present details of simulations for the light hadron spectrum in quenched QCD carried out on the CP-PACS parallel computer. Simulations are made with the Wilson quark action and the plaquette gauge action on 32^3x56 - 64^3x112 lattices at four lattice spacings (a approx 0.1-0.05 fm) and the spatial extent of 3 fm. Hadronic observables are calculated at five quark masses (m_{PS}/m_V approx 0.75 - 0.4), assuming the u and d quarks being degenerate but treating the s quark separately. We find that the presence of quenched chiral singularities is supported from an analysis of the pseudoscalar meson data. We take m_pi, m_rho and m_K (or m_phi) as input. After chiral and continuum extrapolations, the agreement of the calculated mass spectrum with experiment is at a 10% level. In comparison with the statistical accuracy of 1-3% and systematic errors of at most 1.7% we have achieved, this demonstrates a failure of the quenched approximation for the hadron spectrum: the meson hyperfine splitting is too small, and the octet masses and the decuplet mass splittings are both smaller than experiment. Light quark masses are calculated using two definitions: the conventional one and the one based on the axial-vector Ward identity. The two results converge toward the continuum limit, yielding m_{ud}=4.29(14)^{+0.51}_{-0.79} MeV. The s quark mass depends on the strange hadron mass chosen for input: m_s = 113.8(2.3)^{+5.8}_{-2.9} MeV from m_K and m_s = 142.3(5.8)^{+22.0}_{-0} MeV from m_phi, indicating again a failure of the quenched approximation. We obtain Lambda_{bar{MS}}^{(0)}= 219.5(5.4) MeV. An O(10%) deviation from experiment is observed in the pseudoscalar meson decay constants.
Matrix elements of six-quark operators are needed to extract new physics constraints from experimental searches for neutron-antineutron oscillations. This work presents in detail the first lattice quantum chromodynamics calculations of the necessary neutron-antineutron transition matrix elements including calculation methods and discussions of systematic uncertainties. Implications of isospin and chiral symmetry on the matrix elements, power counting in the isospin limit, and renormalization of a chiral basis of six-quark operators are discussed. Calculations are performed with a chiral-symmetric discretization of the quark action and physical light quark masses in order to avoid the need for chiral extrapolation. Non-perturbative renormalization is performed, including a study of lattice cutoff effects. Excited-state effects are studied using two nucleon operators and multiple values of source-sink separation. Results for the dominant matrix elements are found to be significantly larger compared to previous results from the MIT bag model. Future calculations are needed to fully account for systematic uncertainties associated with discretization and finite-volume effects but are not expected to significantly affect this conclusion.
We sketch the basic ideas of the lattice regularization in Quantum Field Theory, the corresponding Monte Carlo simulations, and applications to Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD). This approach enables the numerical measurement of observables at the non-perturbative level. We comment on selected results, with a focus on hadron masses and the link to Chiral Perturbation Theory. At last we address two outstanding issues: topological freezing and the sign problem.