No Arabic abstract
Recently, a framework has been developed to study form factors of two-hadron states probed by an external current. The method is based on relating finite-volume matrix elements, computed using numerical lattice QCD, to the corresponding infinite-volume observables. As the formalism is complicated, it is important to provide non-trivial checks on the final results and also to explore limiting cases in which more straightforward predications may be extracted. In this work we provide examples on both fronts. First, we show that, in the case of a conserved vector current, the formalism ensures that the finite-volume matrix element of the conserved charge is volume-independent and equal to the total charge of the two-particle state. Second, we study the implications for a two-particle bound state. We demonstrate that the infinite-volume limit reproduces the expected matrix element and derive the leading finite-volume corrections to this result for a scalar current. Finally, we provide numerical estimates for the expected size of volume effects in future lattice QCD calculations of the deuterons scalar charge. We find that these effects completely dominate the infinite-volume result for realistic lattice volumes and that applying the present formalism, to analytically remove an infinite-series of leading volume corrections, is crucial to reliably extract the infinite-volume charge of the state.
Using the general formalism presented in Refs. [1,2], we study the finite-volume effects for the $mathbf{2}+mathcal{J}tomathbf{2}$ matrix element of an external current coupled to a two-particle state of identical scalars with perturbative interactions. Working in a finite cubic volume with periodicity $L$, we derive a $1/L$ expansion of the matrix element through $mathcal O(1/L^5)$ and find that it is governed by two universal current-dependent parameters, the scalar charge and the threshold two-particle form factor. We confirm the result through a numerical study of the general formalism and additionally through an independent perturbative calculation. We further demonstrate a consistency with the Feynman-Hellmann theorem, which can be used to relate the $1/L$ expansions of the ground-state energy and matrix element. The latter gives a simple insight into why the leading volume corrections to the matrix element have the same scaling as those in the energy, $1/L^3$, in contradiction to earlier work, which found a $1/L^2$ contribution to the matrix element. We show here that such a term arises at intermediate stages in the perturbative calculation, but cancels in the final result.
In this talk, we present a framework for studying structural information of resonances and bound states coupling to two-hadron scattering states. This makes use of a recently proposed finite-volume formalism to determine a class of observables that are experimentally inaccessible but can be accessed via lattice QCD. In particular, we shown that finite-volume two-body matrix elements with one current insertion can be directly related to scattering amplitudes coupling to the external current. For two-hadron systems with resonances or bound states, one can extract the corresponding form factors of these from the energy-dependence of the amplitudes.
We discuss signatures of bound-state formation in finite volume via the Luscher finite size method. Assuming that the phase-shift formula in this method inherits all aspects of the quantum scattering theory, we may expect that the bound-state formation induces the sign of the scattering length to be changed. If it were true, this fact provides us a distinctive identification of a shallow bound state even in finite volume through determination of whether the second lowest energy state appears just above the threshold. We also consider the bound-state pole condition in finite volume, based on Luschers phase-shift formula and then find that the condition is fulfilled only in the infinite volume limit, but its modification by finite size corrections is exponentially suppressed by the spatial lattice size L. These theoretical considerations are also numerically checked through lattice simulations to calculate the positronium spectrum in compact scalar QED, where the short-range interaction between an electron and a positron is realized in the Higgs phase.
On the basis of the Luschers finite volume formula, a simple test (consistency check or sanity check) is introduced and applied to inspect the recent claims of the existence of the nucleon-nucleon ($NN$) bound state(s) for heavy quark masses in lattice QCD. We show that the consistency between the scattering phase shifts at $k^2 > 0$ and/or $k^2 < 0$ obtained from the lattice data and the behavior of phase shifts from the effective range expansion (ERE) around $k^2=0$ exposes the validity of the original lattice data, otherwise such information is hidden in the energy shift $Delta E$ of the two nucleons on the lattice. We carry out this sanity check for all the lattice results in the literature claiming the existence of the $NN$ bound state(s) for heavy quark masses, and find that (i) some of the $NN$ data show clear inconsistency between the behavior of ERE at $k^2 > 0$ and that at $k^2 < 0$, (ii) some of the $NN$ data exhibit singular behavior of the low energy parameter (such as the divergent effective range) at $k^2<0$, (iii) some of the $NN$ data have the unphysical residue for the bound state pole in S-matrix, and (iv) the rest of the $NN$ data are inconsistent among themselves. Furthermore, we raise a caution of using the ERE in the case of the multiple bound states. Our finding, together with the fake plateau problem previously pointed out by the present authors, brings a serious doubt on the existence of the $NN$ bound states for pion masses heavier than 300 MeV in the previous studies.
There exist two methods to study two-baryon systems in lattice QCD: the direct method which extracts eigenenergies from the plateaux of the temporal correlator and the HAL QCD method which extracts observables from the non-local potential associated with the tempo-spatial correlator. Although the two methods should give the same results theoretically, qualitatively different results have been reported. Recently, we pointed out that the separation of the ground state from the excited states is crucial to obtain sensible results in the former, while both states provide useful signals in the latter. In this paper, we identify the contribution of each state in the direct method by decomposing the two-baryon correlators into the finite-volume eigenmodes obtained from the HAL QCD method. We consider the $XiXi$ system in the $^1$S$_0$ channel at $m_pi = 0.51$ GeV in 2+1 flavor lattice QCD using the wall and smeared quark sources. We demonstrate that the pseudo-plateau at early time slices (t = 1~2 fm) from the smeared source in the direct method indeed originates from the contamination of the excited states, and the true plateau with the ground state saturation is realized only at t > 5~15 fm corresponding to the inverse of the lowest excitation energy. We also demonstrate that the two-baryon operator can be optimized by utilizing the finite-volume eigenmodes, so that (i) the finite-volume energy spectra from the HAL QCD method agree with those from the optimized temporal correlator and (ii) the correct spectra would be accessed in the direct method only if highly optimized operators are employed. Thus we conclude that the long-standing issue on the consistency between the Luschers finite volume method and the HAL QCD method for two baryons is now resolved: They are consistent with each other quantitatively only if the excited contamination is properly removed in the former.