No Arabic abstract
The axion is a hypothetical elementary particle postulated by the Peccei-Quinn theory to resolve the strong CP problem in QCD. If axions exist and have low mass, they are a candidate for dark matter as well. So far our knowledge of the properties of the QCD axion rests on semi-classical arguments and effective theory. In this work we perform, for the first time, a fully dynamical investigation of the Peccei-Quinn theory, focussing on the axion mass, by simulating the theory on the lattice. The results of the simulation are found to be in conflict with present axion phenomenology.
We investigate three-nucleon forces (3NF) from lattice QCD simulations, utilizing the Nambu-Bethe-Salpeter (NBS) wave function to determine two-nucleon forces (2NF) and 3NF on the same footing. Quantum numbers of the three-nucleon (3N) system are chosen to be (I, J^P)=(1/2, 1/2^+) (the triton channel). We consider the simplest geometrical configuration where 3N are aligned linearly with an equal spacing, to reduce the enormous computational cost. Lattice QCD simulations are performed using Nf=2 dynamical clover fermion configurations at the lattice spacing of a = 0.156 fm on a 16^3 x 32 lattice with a large quark mass corresponding to m(pi) = 1.13 GeV. We find repulsive 3NF at short distance.
Axions are one of the most attractive dark matter candidates. The evolution of their number density in the early universe can be determined by calculating the topological susceptibility $chi(T)$ of QCD as a function of the temperature. Lattice QCD provides an ab initio technique to carry out such a calculation. A full result needs two ingredients: physical quark masses and a controlled continuum extrapolation from non-vanishing to zero lattice spacings. We determine $chi(T)$ in the quenched framework (infinitely large quark masses) and extrapolate its values to the continuum limit. The results are compared with the prediction of the dilute instanton gas approximation (DIGA). A nice agreement is found for the temperature dependence, whereas the overall normalization of the DIGA result still differs from the non-perturbative continuum extrapolated lattice results by a factor of order ten. We discuss the consequences of our findings for the prediction of the amount of axion dark matter.
Study of the hadronic matrix elements can provide not only tests of the QCD sector of the Standard Model (in comparing with existing experiments) but also reliable low-energy hadronic quantities applicable to a wide range of beyond-the-Standard Model scenarios where experiments or theoretical calculations are limited or difficult. On the QCD side, progress has been made in the notoriously difficult problem of addressing gluonic structure inside the nucleon, reaching higher-$Q^2$ region of the form factors, and providing a complete picture of the proton spin. However, even further study and improvement of systematic uncertainties are needed. There are also proposed calculations of higher-order operators in the neutron electric dipole moment Lagrangian, which would be useful when combined with effective theory to probe BSM. Lattice isovector tensor and scalar charges can be combined with upcoming neutron beta-decay measurements of the Fierz interference term and neutrino asymmetry parameter to probe new interactions in the effective theory, revealing the scale of potential new TeV particles. Finally, I revisit the systematic uncertainties in recent calculations of $g_A$ and review prospects for future calculations.
We investigate QCD-like theory with exact center symmetry, with emphasis on the finite-temperature phase transition concerning center and chiral symmetries. On the lattice, we formulate center symmetric $SU(3)$ gauge theory with three fundamental Wilson quarks by twisting quark boundary conditions in a compact direction ($Z_3$-QCD model). We calculate the expectation value of Polyakov loop and the chiral condensate as a function of temperature on 16^3 x 4 and 20^3 x 4 lattices along the line of constant physics realizing $m_{PS}/m_{V}=0.70$. We find out the first-order center phase transition, where the hysteresis of the magnitude of Polyakov loop exists depending on thermalization processes. We show that chiral condensate decreases around the critical temperature in a similar way to that of the standard three-flavor QCD, as it has the hysteresis in the same range as that of Polyakov loop. We also show that the flavor symmetry breaking due to the twisted boundary condition gets qualitatively manifest in the high-temperature phase. These results are consistent with the predictions based on the chiral effective model in the literature. Our approach could provide novel insights to the nonperturbative connection between the center and chiral properties.
We study the three nucleon force in the triton channel using dynamical clover fermion lattice QCD. The Nambu-Bethe-Salpeter wave function is utilized to obtain the potentials among three nucleons. Since the straightforward calculation is prohibitively expensive, two different frameworks are developed to meet the challenge. In the first method, we study the effective two nucleon potentials in the three nucleon system, where the differences between the effective two nucleon potentials and the genuine two nucleon potentials correspond to the three nucleon system effect, part of which is originated from the three nucleon force. The calculation is performed using Nf=2 clover fermion at m(pi)= 1.13GeV generated by CP-PACS Collaboration, and Nf=2+1 clover fermion at m(pi)= 0.70, 0.57GeV generated by PACS-CS Collaboration. In the second method, we study the three nucleon system with 3D-configuration of nucleons fixed. This enables us to extract the three nucleon force directly, if both of parity-even and parity-odd two nucleon potentials are provided. Since parity-odd two nucleon potentials are not available in lattice QCD at this moment, we propose a new general procedure to identify the three nucleon force using only parity-even two nucleon potentials. The calculation are performed with Nf=2 clover fermion at m(pi)= 1.13GeV generated by CP-PACS Collaboration, employing the linear setup for the 3D-configuration. Preliminary results for the scalar/isoscalar three nucleon force are presented.