Precise Treatment of Quark-Sea Contributions in Lattice QCD

• Applicant: Professor Georg von Hippel, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Nuclear and Elementary Particle Physics, Quantum Mechanics, Relativity, Fields
• Term: since 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 399400745

Hadronic uncertainties arising from our limited knowledge of low-energy strong-interaction physics are an important limiting factor in precision searches for the limits of the Standard Model. In particular, the theoretical predictions for quantities such as the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon are currently limited by the accuracy with which hadronic contributions are known. A true first-principles treatment of these contributions is possible only in the fully non-perturbative framework of lattice QCD, which therefore faces a new precision frontier: full control of statistical and systematic errors is needed. Contributions from the quark sea within hadrons have only recently become accessible in practical simulations of lattice QCD; building on the successful results of the previous funding periods of this project, we will exploit the precise lattice data we have accumulated to adress sea-quark dominated observables such as the strange and charm content of the nucleon, the pion-nucleon sigma term, the transition form factors η/η'→γγ, and the scalar form factor of the pion.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: France, Switzerland
• Cooperation Partners: Dr. Marco Cè; Dr. Antoine Gérardin