Leptonic decay constants fK, fD and fDs with Nf = 2+1+1 twisted-mass lattice QCD

TL;DR

This paper reports a lattice QCD calculation of leptonic decay constants for kaons, D, and Ds mesons using Nf=2+1+1 twisted-mass configurations, providing precise results that inform CKM matrix elements and test unitarity.

Contribution

The study presents the first calculation of decay constants with Nf=2+1+1 twisted-mass lattice QCD including dynamical strange and charm quarks, with results close to physical quark masses.

Findings

Calculated decay constants with high precision

Determined CKM matrix elements from decay constants

Confirmed CKM unitarity at permille level

Abstract

We present a lattice QCD calculation of the pseudoscalar decay constants fK, fD and fDs performed using the gauge configurations produced by the European Twisted Mass Collaboration with Nf = 2 + 1 + 1 dynamical quarks, which include in the sea, besides two light mass degenerate quarks, also the strange and charm quarks with masses close to their values in the real world. The simulations are based on a unitary setup for the two light mass-degenerate quarks and on a mixed action approach for the strange and charm quarks. We use data simulated at three different values of the lattice spacing in the range 0.06 - 0.09 fm and at pion masses in the range 210 - 450 MeV. Our main results are: fK+ / fpi+ = 1.184 (16), fK+ = 154.4 (2.0) MeV, which incorporate the leading strong isospin breaking correction due to the up- and down-quark mass difference, and fK = 155.0 (1.9) MeV, fD = 207.4 (3.8) MeV, fDs = 247.2 (4.1) MeV, fDs / fD = 1.192 (22) and (fDs / fD) / (fK / fpi) = 1.003 (14) obtained in the isospin symmetric limit of QCD. Combined with the experimental measurements of the leptonic decay rates of kaon, pion, D- and Ds-mesons our results lead to the following determination of the CKM matrix elements: |Vus| = 0.2269 (29), |Vcd| = 0.2221 (67) and |Vcs| = 1.014 (24). Using the latest value of |Vud| from superallowed nuclear beta decays the unitarity of the first row of the CKM matrix is fulfilled at the permille level.