We present results for the nucleon electromagnetic form factors, including the momentum transfer dependence and derived quantities (charge radii and magnetic moment). The analysis is performed using O(a) improved Wilson fermions in Nf=2 QCD measured
on the CLS ensembles. Particular focus is placed on a systematic evaluation of the influence of excited states in three-point correlation functions, which lead to a biased evaluation, if not accounted for correctly. We argue that the use of summed operator insertions and fit ansatze including excited states allow us to suppress and control this effect. We employ a novel method to perform joint chiral and continuum extrapolations, by fitting the form factors directly to the expressions of covariant baryonic chiral effective field theory. The final results for the charge radii and magnetic moment from our lattice calculations include, for the first time, a full error budget. We find that our estimates are compatible with experimental results within their overall uncertainties.
We report on our calculation of the nucleon axial charge gA in QCD with two flavours of dynamical quarks. A detailed investigation of systematic errors is performed, with a particular focus on contributions from excited states to three-point correlat
ion functions. The use of summed operator insertions allows for a much better control over such contamination. After performing a chiral extrapolation to the physical pion mass, we find gA=1.223 +/- 0.063 (stat) +0.035 -0.060 (syst), in good agreement with the experimental value.
In this review I discuss the role of chiral extrapolations for the determination of several phenomenologically relevant quantities, including light quark masses, meson decay constants and the axial charge of the nucleon. In particular, I investigate
whether chiral extrapolations are sufficiently controlled in order to rightfully claim the accuracy which is quoted in recent compilations of these quantities. While this is the case for the masses of the light quarks and the ratio fK/fpi of decay constants, small inconsistencies in the chiral and continuum behaviour of individual decay constants fK and fpi, as well as the hadronic radii r0, r1 remain and must be clarified. In the case of the nucleon axial charge, gA, the chiral behaviour is still poorly understood due to the presence of other systematic effects.
Lattice simulations of QCD have produced precise estimates for the masses of the lowest-lying hadrons which show excellent agreement with experiment. By contrast, lattice results for the vector and axial vector form factors of the nucleon show signif
icant deviations from their experimental determination. We present results from our ongoing project to compute a variety of form factors with control over all systematic uncertainties. In the case of the pion electromagnetic form factor we employ partially twisted boundary conditions to extract the pion charge radius directly from the linear slope of the form factor near vanishing momentum transfer. In the nucleon sector we focus specifically on the possible contamination from contributions of higher excited states. We argue that summed correlation functions offer the possibility of eliminating this source of systematic error. As an illustration of the method we discuss our results for the axial charge, gA, of the nucleon.
We present an update on our on-going project to compute hadronic observables for Nf=2 flavours of O(a) improved Wilson fermions at small lattice spacings. The procedure to determine the lattice scale via the mass of the Omega baryon is described. Fur
thermore we present preliminary results for the pion form factor computed using twisted boundary conditions, and report on the implementation of a novel approach to determine the contribution of the hadronic vacuum polarisation to the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon.
