Interaction potentials for two-particle states with non-zero total momenta in lattice QCD

TL;DR

This paper extends the HAL QCD method to systems with non-zero total momentum, validating it through lattice QCD simulations of pion-pion scattering and demonstrating its consistency with traditional methods.

Contribution

It introduces a new formulation of the HAL QCD method for non-zero total momentum systems and verifies its effectiveness through numerical lattice QCD calculations.

Findings

Effective potentials and phase shifts agree with conventional methods.

The method is consistent with finite-volume results.

It offers increased flexibility for studying systems with the same quantum numbers as the vacuum.

Abstract

In this study, we extend the HAL QCD method to a case where a total momentum of a two-particle system is non-zero and apply it to the $I=2$ S-wave $\pi\pi$ scattering in order to confirm its validity. We derive a fundamental relation of an energy-independent non-local potential defined in the center of mass frame with NBS wave functions in a laboratory frame. Based on the relation, we propose the time-dependent method to extract potentials, often used in practice for the HALQCD method in the center of mass frame. For numerical simulations in the $I=2$ $\pi\pi$ system, we employ (2+1)-flavor gauge configurations on a $32^3 \times 64$ lattice at the lattice spacing $a \approx 0.0907$ fm and $m_{\pi} \approx 700$ MeV. Both effective leading order (LO) potentials and corresponding phase shifts obtained in laboratory frames agree with those obtained in the center-of-mass frame by the conventional HAL QCD method within somewhat larger statistical errors. In addition, we observe a consistency in scattering phase shifts between ours and results by the finite-volume method as well. The HAL QCD method with non-zero total momenta, established in this study, brings more flexibility to the HAL QCD method, which enables us to handle systems having the same quantum numbers with a vacuum or to access energy regions prohibited in the center of mass frame.