Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “nonperturbative QCD”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 55 records · Page 3
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2026

Parton physics from a heavy-quark operator product expansion: Lattice QCD calculation of the fourth moment of the pion distribution amplitude

The pion light-cone distribution amplitude (LCDA) is an essential nonperturbative input for a range of high-energy exclusive processes in quantum chromodynamics. Building on our previous work, the continuum limit of the fourth Mellin moment of the pion LCDA is determined in quenched QCD using quark masses which correspond to a pion mass of 𝑚 𝜋 = 550 MeV. This calculation finds ⟨𝜉 2 ⟩ = 0.202⁢(8)⁢(9) and ⟨𝜉 4 ⟩ = 0.039⁢(28)⁢(11) where the first error indicates the combined statistical and systematic uncertainty from the analysis and the second indicates the uncertainty from working with Wilson coefficients computed to next-to-leading order. These results are presented in the $\overline{\textrm{MS}}$ scheme at a renormalization scale of 𝜇 = 2 GeV.

Detmold, William [Massachusetts Inst. of Technolog↗
DOE OSTI2024

Pion gravitational form factors in the QCD instanton vacuum. II

We revisit the hard QCD contributions to the pion gravitational form factors, in terms of the twist-2,3 pion distribution amplitudes (DAs), including novel semihard contributions from the instantons. The pion DAs are evaluated in the QCD instanton vacuum and then properly evolved to higher resolution. The results are compared to our recent results from the QCD instanton vacuum, as well as Bethe-Salpeter calculations and recent lattice data. The interpolated hard and soft contributions to the pion D form factor are used to derive the (gravitational) pressure and shear within the pion, with a clear delineation of their range.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Bridging hadronic and vacuum structure by heavy quarkonia

We discuss the central and, mostly, spin-dependent potentials in heavy quarkonia $\overline{b}$$b$,$\overline{c}$$c$, with two goals in mind. The first is phenomenological: using the splitting between the 1S and 2S pairs, as well as the 1P and 2P quartet masses, we obtain pertinent matrix elements of all these potentials. The second is theoretical: using standard wave functions, we compute these matrix elements, quantifying the perturbative, nonperturbative and “string” contributions. The model for nonperturbative effects is a “dense instanton liquid model,” in which the QCD vacuum is made mostly of (strongly color correlated) instanton-anti-instanton pairs or “molecules.” Their contributions are calculated via standard Wilson lines, with or without extra powers of gauge fields. We find a reasonable description of all central, spin-spin, and spin-orbit forces at distances 𝑟 = 0–0.7 fm, relevant for $\overline{b}$$b$ and $\overline{c}$$c$ quarkonia.

Bound states↗
DOE OSTI2025

Quantum entropy as a harbinger of factorizability

Deeply inelastic scattering (DIS) is a powerful probe for investigating the QCD structure of hadronic matter and testing the standard model (SM). DIS can be described through QCD factorization theorems which separate contributions to the scattering interaction arising from disparate scales — e.g ., with nonperturbative matrix elements associated with long distances and a perturbative hard scattering kernel applying to short-distance parton-level interactions. The fundamental underpinnings of factorization may be recast in the quantum-theoretic terms of entanglement, (de)coherence, and system localization in a fashion which sheds complementary light on the dynamics at work in DIS from QCD bound states. In this Letter, we propose and quantitatively test such a quantum-information theoretic approach for dissecting factorization in DIS and its domain of validity; we employ metrics associated with quantum entanglement such as a differential quantum entropy and associated Kullback-Leibler (KL) divergences in numerical tests. We deploy these methods on an archetypal quark-spectator model of the proton, for which we monitor quantum decoherence in DIS as underlying model parameters are varied. On this basis, we demonstrate quantitatively how factorization-breaking effects may be imprinted on quantum entropies in a kinematic regime where leading-twist factorization increasingly receives large corrections from finite- Q 2 effects; our findings suggest potential applications of quantum simulation to QCD systems and their interactions.

Deep inelastic scattering↗
DOE OSTI2024

Is infrared-collinear safe information all you need for jet classification?

Machine learning-based jet classifiers are able to achieve impressive tagging performance in a variety of applications in high-energy and nuclear physics. However, it remains unclear in many cases which aspects of jets give rise to this discriminating power, and whether jet observables that are tractable in perturbative QCD such as those obeying infrared-collinear (IRC) safety serve as sufficient inputs. In this article, we introduce a new classifier, Jet Flow Networks (JFNs), in an effort to address the question of whether IRC unsafe information provides additional discriminating power in jet classification. JFNs are permutation-invariant neural networks (deep sets) that take as input the kinematic information of reconstructed subjets. The subjet radius and a cut on the subjet’s transverse momenta serve as tunable hyperparameters enabling a controllable sensitivity to soft emissions and nonperturbative effects. We demonstrate the performance of JFNs for quark vs. gluon and Z vs. QCD jet tagging. For small subjet radii and transverse momentum cuts, the performance of JFNs is equivalent to the IRC-unsafe Particle Flow Networks (PFNs), demonstrating that infrared-collinear unsafe information is not necessary to achieve strong discrimination for both cases. As the subjet radius is increased, the performance of the JFNs remains essentially unchanged until physical thresholds that we identify are crossed. For relatively large subjet radii, we show that the JFNs may offer an increased model independence with a modest tradeoff in performance compared to classifiers that use the full particle information of the jet. These results shed new light on how machines learn patterns in high-energy physics data.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Spatial String Tension and Its Effects on Screening Correlators in a Thermal QCD Plasma

We calculate the spatial Wilson line correlator for 2 +1 flavor QCD using highly improved staggered quark discretization for fermions and in quenched QCD for a wide range of temperatures, from the chiral crossover temperature 𝑇 pc ≃ 156 MeV or the deconfinement temperature ≃300 MeV, respectively, up to 2 GeV. Extracting the spatial string tension for different lattice cutoffs and by performing a continuum extrapolation of this observable, we show that the soft (magnetic) gluons interact nonperturbatively even at temperatures ≳1 GeV. We provide incriminating evidences to demonstrate that dimensionally reduced effective theories can describe these soft quark and gluon quasi-particles for both quenched and 2 +1 flavor QCD, at temperatures 𝑇 ≳ 5⁢𝑇 pc . We also show for the first time the imprints of the nonperturbative pseudopotential in the properties of mesonic screening masses for temperatures ranging from 0.8 to 164 GeV in the quark-gluon plasma.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Tomography of the rho meson in the QCD instanton vacuum: Transverse momentum dependent parton distribution functions

We analyze the rho meson unpolarized and polarized transverse momentum dependent parton distribution functions (TMDPDFs) in the instanton liquid model (ILM). The corresponding TMDs in ILM are approximated by a constituent quark beam function in the leading Fock state multiplied by a rapidity-dependent factor resulting from the staple-shaped Wilson lines, for fixed longitudinal momentum, transverse separation, and rapidity. At the resolution of the ILM, all of the rho meson TMDs are symmetric in parton 𝑥 for fixed transverse momentum, and Gaussian-like in the transverse momentum for fixed parton 𝑥. The latter is a direct consequence of the profiling of the quark zero modes in the ILM. The evolved TMDs at higher rapidity using the Collins-Soper kernel, and higher resolution using the renormalization group, show substantial skewness towards low parton 𝑥.

Gluons↗
DOE OSTI2025

What is the Quark-Gluon Plasma made of?

This article surveys our present understanding of the internal structure of the fully developed quark-gluon plasma at temperatures outside the crossover region. The theoretical part of the review covers perturbative and nonperturbative approaches to quark-gluon plasma structure, in particular, hard-thermal loop effective theory, lattice QCD and the functional renormalization group. The phenomenological part of the review scrutinizes the information that has been derived from bulk observables and hard probes in relativistic heavy ion collisions in terms of how it informs our knowledge about the structure of the quark-gluon plasma. The final section lists possible avenues for future progress.

FOS: Physical sciences↗
DOE OSTI2024

Gauge-invariant renormalization of four-quark operators

We study the renormalization of four-quark operators in one-loop perturbation theory. We employ a coordinate-space gauge-invariant renormalization scheme (GIRS), which can be advantageous compared to other schemes, especially in nonperturbative lattice investigations. From our perturbative calculations, we extract the conversion factors between GIRS and the modified minimal subtraction scheme ( MS ¯ ) at the next-to-leading order. As a by-product, we also obtain the relevant anomalous dimensions in the GIRS scheme. A formidable issue in the study of the four-quark operators is that operators with different Dirac matrices mix among themselves upon renormalization. We focus on both parity-conserving and parity-violating four-quark operators, which change flavor numbers by two units ( Δ F = 2 ). The extraction of the conversion factors entails the calculation of two-point Green’s functions involving products of two four-quark operators, as well as three-point Green’s functions with one four-quark and two bilinear operators. The significance of our results lies in their potential to refine our understanding of QCD phenomena, offering insights into the precision of Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) matrix elements and shedding light on the nonperturbative treatment of complex mixing patterns associated with four-quark operators. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Constantinou, M. (ORCID:0000000269881745)↗
DOE OSTI2024

Kaon mixing beyond the standard model with physical masses

We present nonperturbative results for beyond the standard model kaon mixing matrix elements in the isospin symmetric limit ( m u = m d ) of QCD, including a complete estimate of all dominant sources of systematic error. Our results are obtained from numerical simulations of lattice QCD with N f = 2 + 1 flavors of dynamical domain wall fermions. For the first time, these quantities are simulated directly at the physical pion mass m π ∼ 139 MeV for two different lattice spacings. We include data at three lattice spacings in the range a = 0.11 – 0.07 fm and with pion masses ranging from the physical value up to 450 MeV. Compared to our earlier work, we have added both direct calculations at physical quark masses and a third lattice spacing making the removal of discretization effects significantly more precise and eliminating the need for any significant mass extrapolation beyond the range of simulated data. We renormalize the lattice operators nonperturbatively using RI-SMOM off-shell schemes. These schemes eliminate the need to model and subtract nonperturbative pion poles that arises in the RI-MOM scheme and, since the calculations are performed with domain wall fermions, the unphysical mixing between chirality sectors is suppressed. Our results for the bag parameters in the MS ¯ scheme at 3 GeV are B K ≡ B 1 = 0.5240 ( 17 ) ( 54 ) , B 2 = 0.4794 ( 25 ) ( 35 ) , B 3 = 0.746 ( 13 ) ( 17 ) , B 4 = 0.897 ( 02 ) ( 10 ) and B 5 = 0.6882 ( 78 ) ( 94 ) , where the first error is from lattice uncertainties and the second is the uncertainty due to the perturbative matching to MS ¯ . Published by the American Physical Society 2024

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Lattice QCD estimates of thermal photon production from the QGP

Thermal photons produced in heavy-ion collision experiments are an important observable for understanding quark-gluon plasma (QGP). The thermal photon rate from the QGP at a given temperature can be calculated from the spectral function of the vector current correlator. Extraction of the spectral function from the lattice correlator is known to be an ill-conditioned problem, as there is no unique solution for a spectral function for a given lattice correlator with statistical errors. The vector current correlator, on the other hand, receives a large ultraviolet contribution from the vacuum, which makes the extraction of the thermal photon rate difficult from this channel. We therefore consider the difference between the transverse and longitudinal part of the spectral function, only capturing the thermal contribution to the current correlator, simplifying the reconstruction significantly. The lattice correlator is calculated for light quarks in quenched QCD at T = 470 MeV ( ∼ 1.5 T c ), as well as in 2 + 1 flavor QCD at T = 220 MeV ( ∼ 1.2 T p c ) with m π = 320 MeV . In order to quantify the nonperturbative effects, the lattice correlator is compared with the corresponding NLO + LPM LO estimate of correlator. The reconstruction of the spectral function is performed in several different frameworks, ranging from physics-informed models of the spectral function to more general models in the Backus-Gilbert method and Gaussian process regression. We find that the resulting photon rates agree within errors. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗
DOE OSTI2026

First constraints on the nonperturbative gluon Collins-Soper kernel

The gluon Collins-Soper kernel, which encodes the rapidity evolution of transverse-momentum-dependent gluon distributions, is constrained for the first time in the nonperturbative regime, for transverse momentum scales $q_{T} \in [ 300\text{ MeV}, 1.3\text{ GeV}]$. The constraints are determined in lattice QCD at a close-to-physical pion mass $M_π= 172(3)\text{ MeV}$, a single lattice spacing $a=0.15\text{ fm}$, and next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic matching in Large-Momentum Effective Theory. These results represent the first step toward a controlled determination of the gluon Collins-Soper kernel in QCD, with eventual phenomenological import and relevance to present and future experiments sensitive to the gluon structure of hadronic matter.

Avkhadiev, Artur [Argonne; MIT, Cambridge, CTP]↗
DOE OSTI2024

Gluon moment and parton distribution function of the pion from 𝑁 𝑓 = 2 +1 +1 lattice QCD

We present the first calculation of the pion gluon moment from lattice QCD in the continuum-physical limit. The calculation is done using clover fermions for the valence action with three pion masses, 220, 310 and 690 MeV, and three lattice spacings, 0.09, 0.12, and 0.15 fm, using ensembles generated by MILC Collaboration with 2+1+1 flavors of highly improved staggered quarks (HISQ). On the lattice, we nonperturbatively renormalize the gluon operator in RI/MOM scheme using the cluster-decomposition error reduction (CDER) technique to enhance the signal-to-noise ratio of the renormalization constant. We extrapolate the pion gluon moment to the continuum-physical limit and obtain ⟨𝑥⟩ 𝑔 = 0.394⁢(58) stat+NPR ⁢(39) mixing in the $\overline{MS}$ scheme at 2 GeV, with first error being the statistical error and uncertainties in nonperturbative renormalization, and the second being a systematic uncertainty estimating the effect of ignoring quark mixing. Our pion gluon momentum fraction has a central value lower than two recent single-ensemble lattice-QCD results near physical pion mass but is consistent with the recent global fits by JAM and xFitter and with most QCD-model estimates.

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗
DOE OSTI2026

Quantum Scaling in Energy Correlators beyond the Confinement Transition

We study the QCD scaling behavior of the small-angle energy-energy correlator (EEC), focusing on the transition between its perturbative preconfinement and nonperturbative postconfinement regimes. Applying the light-ray operator product expansion (OPE), we develop a formalism that describes the scaling of the EEC with the input energy 𝑄 in the transition and the postconfinement region, where the latter quantum scaling is determined by the 𝐽 = 5 DGLAP anomalous dimension. A key result of our Letter is a novel connection between the light-ray OPE and the dihadron fragmentation function (DFF), where we show that the nonperturbative OPE coefficients correspond to moments of the DFF. This finding establishes a new paradigm for studying hadronization. Our theoretical predictions are validated against Monte Carlo simulations for both 𝑒 + ⁢𝑒 − and 𝑝⁢𝑝 collisions, showing excellent agreement. The potential role of the quantum scaling in the precision determination of 𝛼 𝑠 is also discussed.

Chang, Cyuan-Han [University of Chicago, IL (Unite↗
DOE OSTI2025

Understanding baryon stopping at the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider top energies

The nucleon exhibits a rich internal structure governed by quantum chromodynamics (QCD), where its electric charge arises from valence quarks, while its spin and mass emerge from complex interactions among valence quarks, sea (anti)quarks, and gluons. At the advent of QCD, an alternative hypothesis emerged suggesting, at high energies, the transport of a nucleon's baryon number could be traced by a nonperturbative configuration of gluon fields connecting its three valence quarks, forming a 𝑌-shaped topology known as the gluon junction. Recent measurements by the STAR experiment are compatible with this scenario. In light of these measurements, this study aims to explore the mechanisms of baryon transport in high-energy nuclear collisions using the pythia-8 framework, which incorporates a state-of-the-art hadronization model with advanced color flow (CF) and color reconnection (CR) mechanisms that mimic signatures of a baryon junction. Within this model setup, we investigate (i) the rapidity slope of the net-baryon distributions in photon-included processes (𝛾 + 𝑝) and (ii) baryon over charge transport in the isobaric (Ru + Ru and Zr + Zr) collisions. Our study highlights the importance of the CF and CR mechanisms in pythia-8, which play a crucial role in baryon transport. The results show that the CF and CR schemes significantly affect the isobaric baryon-to-charge ratio, leading to different predictions for baryon stopping and underscoring the need to account for CF and CR effects in comparisons with experimental measurements.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Toward a microscopic picture of hadronization and multi-parton processes

This project advanced the understanding of how quarks and gluons produced in high-energy collisions transform into the hadrons observed in particle detectors, a fundamental process known as quantum chromodynamics (QCD) hadronization. By combining theoretical calculations, quantum simulation methods, and modern AI techniques, the research developed new tools to study multi-parton dynamics and nonperturbative effects that are essential for interpreting data from current and future nuclear physics experiments. Key outcomes include new theoretical frameworks for jet and hadron measurements, pioneering quantum simulation algorithms for real-time dynamics in field theories, and the development of advanced machine-learning models, such as diffusion models and explainable classifiers, to simulate and analyze collider events. These results are directly relevant to experiments at Jefferson Lab, Brookhaven National Laboratory, and the future Electron-Ion Collider, and they also have a broader impact in areas such as quantum information science and data-driven modeling of complex systems. The project supported the training of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows and contributed to the broader scientific community through publications, workshops, and collaborative activities. Overall, this work provides new insights into the microscopic mechanisms of hadron formation and establishes a foundation for future studies at the intersection of nuclear physics, artificial intelligence, and quantum computing.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Astrophysical Equation-of-State Constraints on the Color-Superconducting Gap

We demonstrate that astrophysical constraints on the dense-matter equation of state place an upper bound on the color-superconducting gap in dense matter above the transition from nuclear matter to quark matter. Pairing effects in the color-flavor locked quark matter phase increase the pressure at high density, and if this effect is sufficiently large then the requirements of causality and mechanical stability make it impossible to reach such a pressure in a way that is consistent with what is known at lower densities. The intermediate-density equation of state is inferred by considering extensions of chiral effective field theory to neutron star densities, and conditioning these using current astrophysical observations of neutron star radius, maximum mass, and tidal deformability (PSR J⁢0348+0432, PSR J1624-2230, PSR J⁢0740+6620, GW170817). At baryon number chemical potential μ = 2.6 GeV we find a 95% upper limit on the color-flavor locked pairing gap Δ of 457 MeV using overly conservative assumptions and 216 MeV with more reasonable assumptions. Furthermore, this constraint may be strengthened by future astrophysical measurements as well as by future advances in high-density QCD calculations.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2026

Baryon-baryon, meson-meson, and meson-baryon interactions in nonrelativistic QCD

Van der Waals potentials describing interactions between color-singlet mesons and/or baryons vanish at leading order in potential nonrelativistic quantum chromodynamics (pNRQCD). This result and constraints from Gauss’s law are used to prove that weakly coupled pNRQCD van der Waals potentials in generic non-Abelian gauge theories with only heavy quarks are too weak to form bound states whose color state is a product of color singlets. Quantum Monte Carlo calculations of four, five, and six quarks with equal masses provide numerical evidence that exotic color configurations are higher energy than products of color-singlet hadrons, suggesting that equal-mass fully heavy tetraquark, pentaquark, and hexaquark bound states do not exist at next-to-leading order in pNRQCD and at all orders in QCD-like theories in which all quark masses are asymptotically large. Mechanisms for generating hadron-hadron bound states are identified, which necessarily involve large quark-mass hierarchies, relativistic effects arising from the presence of sufficiently light quarks, or nonperturbative effects outside the scope of weakly coupled pNRQCD.

Effective field theory↗