A novel method for nonperturbative renormalization of lattice operators is introduced, which lends itself to the calculation of renormalization factors for nonsinglet as well as singlet operators. The method is based on the Feynman-Hellmann relation,
and involves computing two-point correlators in the presence of generalized background fields arising from introducing additional operators into the action. As a first application, and test of the method, we compute the renormalization factors of the axial vector current $A_mu$ and the scalar density $S$ for both nonsinglet and singlet operators for $N_f=3$ flavors of SLiNC fermions. For nonsinglet operators, where a meaningful comparison is possible, perfect agreement with recent calculations using standard three-point function techniques is found.
We perform a Nf = 2 + 1 lattice QCD simulation to determine the quark spin fractions of hadrons using the Feynman-Hellmann theorem. By introducing an external spin operator to the fermion action, the matrix elements relevant for quark spin fractions
are extracted from the linear response of the hadron energies. Simulations indicate that the Feynman-Hellmann method offers statistical precision that is comparable to the standard three-point function approach, with the added benefit that it is less susceptible to excited state contamination. This suggests that the Feynman-Hellmann technique offers a promising alternative for calculations of quark line disconnected contributions to hadronic matrix elements. At the SU(3)-flavour symmetry point, we find that the connected quark spin fractions are universally in the range 55-70% for vector mesons and octet and decuplet baryons. There is an indication that the amount of spin suppression is quite sensitive to the strength of SU(3) breaking.
