Exploring Proton Structure Using Lattice QCD

Exploring Proton Structure Using Lattice QCD
Author: Dru Bryant Renner
Publisher:
Total Pages: 444
Release: 2004
Genre:
ISBN:

We calculate moments of the generalized parton distributions of the nucleon using lattice QCD. The generalized parton distributions determine the angular momentum decomposition of the nucleon and the transverse distributions of partons within the nucleon. Additionally, the generalized parton distributions reduce to the elastic form factors and ordinary parton distributions in particular kinematic limits. Thus by calculating moments of the generalized parton distributions in lattice QCD we can explore many facets of the structure of the nucleon. In this effort, we have developed the building block method to determine all the lattice correlation functions which con- tribute to the off forward matrix elements of the twist two operators. These matrix elements determine the generalized form factors of the nucleon which in turn give the moments of the generalized parton distributions. Thus we use our building block method to calculate all the matrix elements of the lowest twist two operators. Fur- thermore, we use our method to construct an overdetermined set of matrix elements allowing a more accurate calculation of the generalized form factors.

Exploration of Nucleon Structure in Lattice QCD with Chiral Quarks

Exploration of Nucleon Structure in Lattice QCD with Chiral Quarks
Author: Sergey Nikolaevich Syritsyn
Publisher:
Total Pages: 195
Release: 2010
Genre:
ISBN:

In this work, we calculate various nucleon structure observables using the fundamental theory of quarks and gluons, QCD, simulated on a lattice. In our simulations, we use the full QCD action including Nf = 2+ 1 dynamical quarks in the SU(2) isospin limit. We compute the nucleon vector and axial vector form factors as well as the generalized form factors, and analyze the nucleon charge, magnetization, and axial radii, anomalous magnetic moment, and axial charge. In addition, we compute quark contributions to the nucleon momentum and spin. Our calculation is novel for three reasons. It is a first full QCD calculation using both sea and valence chiral quarks with pion masses as low as m[pi] = 300 MeV. We develop a method to keep systematic effects in the lattice nucleon matrix elements under control, which helps us to obtain a better signal-to-noise ratio, to achieve higher precision and to test the applicability of low-energy effective theories. Finally, we compare the results from lattice QCD calculations with two different discretization methods and lattice spacings, with the rest of the calculation technique kept equal. The level of agreement between these results indicates that our calculations are not significantly affected by discretization effects.

Exploring Hadron Structure Through Monte-Carlo Fits and Model Calculations

Exploring Hadron Structure Through Monte-Carlo Fits and Model Calculations
Author: Christopher Cocuzza
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2023
Genre:
ISBN:

Since the discovery in the 1960's that the proton is not a fundamental particle but instead composed of even smaller particles known as quarks and gluons, there has been a concerted effort to understand the proton's internal structure. There still remain many mysteries about the proton and the theory that describes the interactions within: Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD). The distributions of quarks and gluons are encoded in objects known as parton correlation functions. Physicists use high-energy scattering experiments to access these functions by means of QCD factorization. This process of extracting information is known as a global QCD analysis. Further insight can be gained through first-principles calculations in lattice QCD as well as models for the strong interaction. In this thesis, we will use global QCD analyses to provide information on the one-dimensional (1D) structure of the proton using the latest experimental data available. Among the mysteries that remain within the proton, we provide insight on the non-perturbative nature of the proton's sea quarks, for both cases where the proton is unpolarized and longitudinally polarized. We also bring new information on the "proton spin puzzle," which concerns the delegation of the proton's spin into its constituent quarks and gluons. We shed light on the proton's transversely polarized structure, where current results from global QCD analyses and lattice QCD fail to paint a consistent picture. Our analyses also reveal a new feature of nuclear effects within light, highly asymmetric nuclei such as helium and tritium. Finally, we perform derivations in a spectator diquark model to glean information on the proton's 3D structure, and calculate moments that can be used in future lattice QCD studies.

Structure of Nucleon Excited States from Lattice QCD

Structure of Nucleon Excited States from Lattice QCD
Author: Finn M. Stokes
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 237
Release: 2019-08-20
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3030257223

Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) describes the interactions between elementary quarks and gluons as they compose the nucleons at the heart of atomic structure. The interactions give rise to complexity that can only be examined via numerical simulations on supercomputers. This work provides an introduction to the numerical simulations of lattice QCD and establishes new formalisms relevant to understanding the structure of nucleons and their excited states. The research opens with an examination of the non-trivial QCD vacuum and the emergence of “centre domains.” The focus then turns to establishing a novel Parity-Expanded Variational Analysis (PEVA) technique solving the important problem of isolating baryon states moving with finite momentum. This seminal work provides a foundation for future calculations of baryon properties. Implementation of the PEVA formalism discloses important systematic errors in conventional calculations and reveals the structure of nucleon excited states from the first principles of QCD for the first time.

A COMPREHENSIVE STUDY OF THE PROTON STRUCTURE

A COMPREHENSIVE STUDY OF THE PROTON STRUCTURE
Author: Shohini Bhattacharya
Publisher:
Total Pages: 383
Release: 2021
Genre:
ISBN:

It has been known since the 1930's that protons and neutrons, collectively called as nucleons, are not "point-like" elementary particles, but rather have a substructure. Today, we know from Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) that nucleons are made from quarks and gluons, with gluons being the elementary force carriers for strong interactions. Quarks and gluons are collectively called as partons. The substructure of the nucleons can be described in terms of parton correlation functions such as Form Factors, (1D) Parton Distribution Functions (PDFs) and their 3D generalizations in terms of Transverse Momentum-dependent parton Distributions (TMDs) and Generalized Parton Distributions (GPDs). All these functions can be derived from the even more general Generalized Transverse Momentum-dependent Distributions (GTMDs). This dissertation promises to provide an insight into all these functions from the point of view of their accessibility in experiments, from model calculations, and from their direct calculation within lattice formulations of QCD. In the first part of this dissertation, we identify physical processes to access GTMDs. By considering the exclusive double Drell-Yan process, we demonstrate, for the very first time, that quark GTMDs can be measured. We also show that exclusive double-quarkonium production in nucleon-nucleon collisions is a direct probe of gluon GTMDs. In the second part of this dissertation, we shift our focus to the "parton quasi-distributions". Over the last few decades, lattice QCD extraction of the full x-dependence of the parton distributions has always been prohibited by the explicit time-dependence of the correlation functions. In 2013, there was a path-breaking proposal by X. Ji to calculate instead parton quasi-distributions (quasi-PDFs). The procedure of "matching" is a crucial ingredient in the lattice QCD extraction of parton distributions from the quasi-PDF approach. We address the matching for the twist-3 PDFs gT (x), e(x), and hL(x) for the very first time. We pay special attention to the challenges involved in the calculations due to the presence of singular zero-mode contributions. We also present the first-ever lattice QCD results for gT (x) and hL(x) and we discuss the impact of these results on the phenomenology. Next, we explore the general features of quasi-GPDs and quasi-PDFs in diquark spectator models. Furthermore, we address the Burkhardt-Cottingham-type sum rules for the relevant light-cone PDFs and quasi-PDFs in a model-independent manner and also check them explicitly in perturbative model calculations. The last part of this dissertation focuses on the extraction g1T (x,~k2⊥) TMD for the very first time from experimental data using Monte Carlo techniques. This dissertation therefore unravels different aspects of the distribution functions from varied perspectives.