Hadron structure with light dynamical quarks

TL;DR

This paper uses lattice QCD to explore the three-dimensional quark and gluon structure of the nucleon through generalized parton distributions, providing theoretical predictions to guide future experiments.

Contribution

It presents hybrid lattice QCD calculations of generalized parton distributions with improved staggered sea quarks and domain wall valence quarks at near-physical pion masses.

Findings

Results include form factors and parton distributions consistent with experimental data.

Provides predictions for generalized distributions where experimental data is lacking.

Demonstrates the feasibility of hybrid lattice approaches at low pion masses.

Abstract

Generalized parton distributions encompass a wealth of information concerning the three-dimensional quark and gluon structure of the nucleon, and thus provide an ideal focus for the study of hadron structure using lattice QCD. The special limits corresponding to form factors and parton distributions are well explored experimentally, providing clear tests of lattice calculations, and the lack of experimental data for more general cases provides opportunities for genuine predictions and for guiding experiment. We present results from hybrid calculations with improved staggered (Asqtad) sea quarks and domain wall valence quarks at pion masses down to 350 MeV.