Lattice study of the chiral properties of large $N_c$ QCD

TL;DR

This study uses lattice QCD simulations to analyze how low energy constants vary with the number of colors, providing insights into chiral properties across different SU(N_c) gauge theories.

Contribution

It presents the first systematic lattice calculation of low energy constants in SU(N_c) QCD for N_c=3, 4, and 5, extending understanding of chiral dynamics beyond N_c=3.

Findings

Low energy constants vary smoothly with N_c.

Data fits well to next-to-next-to-leading order chiral perturbation theory.

Results inform the behavior of QCD-like theories at different N_c.

Abstract

We present a lattice calculation of the low energy constants of QCD with $N_c=3$, 4 and 5 colors and $N_f=2$ flavors of degenerate mass fermions. We fit data for the pseudoscalar meson mass, the pseudoscalar decay constant, and the Axial Ward Identity fermion mass to formulas from next to next to leading order chiral perturbation theory. We extract the next to leading order low energy constants and study their behavior as a function of $N_c$. Pre-existing analyses of $N_c=3$ inform our fitting strategies.