Search for low-lying lattice QCD eigenstates in the Roper regime

TL;DR

This study investigates the nucleon spectrum near the Roper resonance using lattice QCD with novel five-quark operators, finding no new low-lying states and supporting the interpretation of the Roper as a meson-baryon resonance.

Contribution

Introduces five-quark meson-baryon operators in lattice QCD to search for missing eigenstates near the Roper resonance, with no new states found.

Findings

No new low-lying eigenstates observed with five-quark operators.

Results support the Roper as a coupled-channel meson-baryon resonance.

Finite-volume scattering states are non-localized.

Abstract

The positive-parity nucleon spectrum is explored in $2 + 1$-flavour lattice QCD in a search for new low-lying energy eigenstates near the energy regime of the Roper resonance. In addition to conventional three-quark operators, we consider novel, local five-quark meson-baryon type interpolating fields that hold the promise to reveal new eigenstates that may have been missed in previous analyses. Drawing on phenomenological insight, five-quark operators based on $\sigma{N}$, $\pi{N}$ and $a_0{N}$ channels are constructed. Spectra are produced in a high-statistics analysis on the PACS-CS dynamical gauge-field configurations with $m_{\pi} = 411\textrm{ MeV}$ via variational analyses of several operator combinations. Despite the introduction of qualitatively different interpolating fields, no new states are observed in the energy regime of the Roper resonance. This result provides further evidence that the low-lying finite-volume scattering states are not localised, and strengthens the interpretation of the Roper as a coupled-channel, dynamically-generated meson-baryon resonance.