We consider how to extract the pion form factors in the epsilon regime. Using the correlators with non-zero momenta and taking appropriate ratios of them, we eliminate the dominant finite volume effect from the zero-momentum pion mode. Our preliminar
y lattice result for the pion charge radius is consistent with the experiment.
A simulation of lattice QCD at (or even below) the physical pion mass is feasible on a small lattice size of sim 2 fm. The results are, however, subject to large finite volume effects. In order to precisely understand the chiral behavior in a finite
volume, we develop a new computational scheme to interpolate the conventional epsilon and p regimes within chiral perturbation theory. In this new scheme, we calculate the two-point function in the pseudoscalar channel, which is described by a set of Bessel functions in an infra-red finite way as in the epsilon regime, while chiral logarithmic effects are kept manifest as in the p regime. The new ChPT formula is compared to our 2+1- flavor lattice QCD data near the physical up and down quark mass, mud sim 3 MeV on an L sim 1.8 fm lattice. We extract the pion mass = 99(4) MeV, from which we attempt a chiral interpolation of the observables to the physical point.
We consider chiral perturbation theory in a finite volume and in a mixed regime of quark masses. We take N_l light quarks near the chiral limit, in the so-called epsilon-regime, while the remaining N_h quarks are heavier and in the standard p-regime.
We compute in this new mixed regime the finite-size scaling of the light meson correlators in the scalar, pseudoscalar, vector and axial vector channels.Using the replica method, we easily extend our results to the partially quenched theory. With the help of our results, lattice QCD simulations with 2+1 flavors can safely investigate pion physics with very light up and down quark masses even in the region where the pions correlation length overcomes the size of the space-time lattice.
