Search

We present results for the leptonic decay constants of the D and D$_{\rm s}$ mesons from $N_{\rm f}=2+1$ lattice QCD. We employ a set of 49 high statistics gauge ensembles generated by the Coordinated Lattice Simulations (CLS) effort utilising non-perturbatively improved Wilson fermions and the tree-level Symanzik improved gauge action at six values of the lattice spacing in the range $a = 0.098\,$fm down to $a = 0.039\,$fm, with pion masses varying from around $420\,$MeV down to below the physical point. The ensembles lie on three trajectories in the quark mass plane, two trajectories intersecting close to the physical quark mass point and the third one approaching the SU(3) chiral limit, enabling tight control of the light and strange quark mass dependence. We obtain $f_{\mathrm{D_s}}=246.8(1.3)\,$MeV, $f_\mathrm{D}=208.4(1.5)\,$MeV and $f_{\mathrm{D_s}}/f_\mathrm{D}=1.1842(36)$, where the precision of our results is mostly limited by the determination of the scale., Comment: 44 pages, 12 figures, 7 tables

We report on a first study towards the use of stabilised Wilson fermions in heavy flavour physics. In particular, we are interested in fixing the charm quark mass via various physical observables and to inspect cut-off effects arising from different choices. This is done on large-volume OpenLat ensembles with periodic boundary conditions. Two different ways of fixing the charm quark mass are explored, namely using the mass of the $D$- and $\eta_{\rm c}$-meson as physical inputs. We furthermore give an update on our determination of the non-singlet axial current improvement coefficient $c_{\rm A}$., Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, contribution to "The 40th International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory (Lattice 2023)"

It has been demonstrated that distillation profiles can be employed to build optimized quarkonium interpolators for spectroscopy calculations in lattice QCD. We test their usefulness for heavy-light systems on (3+1)-flavor ensembles with mass-degenerate light and a charm quark in the sea in preparation for a future $D\bar{D}$-scattering analysis. The additional cost of light inversions naturally leads to the question if knowledge of optimal profiles can be used to avoid superfluous computations. We show such optimal profiles for different lattice sizes and pion masses and discuss general trends. Furthermore, we discuss the handling of momenta in this framework.

In a somewhat forgotten paper [1] it was shown how to perform interpolations between relativistic and static computations in order to obtain results for heavy-light observables for masses from, say, $m_{\rm charm}$ to $m_{\rm bottom}$. All quantities are first continuum extrapolated and then interpolated in $1/m_h=1/m_{\rm heavy}$. Large volume computations are combined with finite volume ones where a relativistic bottom quark is accessible with small $am_{\rm bottom}$. We discuss how this strategy is extended to semi-leptonic form factors and other quantities of phenomenological interest. The essential point is to form quantities where the limit $m_h\to\infty$ is approached with power corrections O$(1/m_h)$ only. Perturbative corrections $\sim\alpha_s(m_h)^{\gamma+n}$ are cancelled in the construction of the observables. We also point out how such an approach can help to control systematics in semi-leptonic decays with just large volume data. First numerical results with $N_f = 2 + 1$ and lattice spacings down to 0.039 fm are presented in [2]., Comment: Lattice 2023 talk

We present preliminary results for B-physics from a combination of non-perturbative results in the static limit with relativistic computations satisfying $am_{\mathrm{heavy}}\ll 1$. Relativistic measurements are carried out at the physical b-quark mass using the Schr\"{o}dinger Functional in a $0.5 \ \mathrm{fm}$ box. They are connected to large volume observables through step scaling functions that trace the mass dependence between the physical charm region and the static limit, such that B-physics results can be obtained by interpolation; the procedure is designed to exactly cancel the troublesome $\alpha_s(m_{\mathrm{heavy}})^{n+\gamma}$ corrections to large mass scaling. Large volume computations for both static and relativistic quantities use CLS $N_f=2+1$ ensembles at $m_u=m_d=m_s$, and with five values of the lattice spacing down to $0.039$ fm. Our preliminary results for the b-quark mass and leptonic decay constants have competitive uncertainties, which are furthermore dominated by statistics, allowing for substantial future improvement. Here we focus on numerical results, while the underlying strategy is discussed in a companion contribution., Comment: Lattice 2023 talk

A lot of progress has been made in the direct determination of nucleon sigma terms. Using similar methods, we consider the sigma terms of the other octet baryons as well. These are determined on CLS gauge field ensembles employing the L\"uscher-Weisz gluon action and the Sheikholeslami-Wohlert fermion action with $N_\mathrm{f} = 2 + 1$. The ensembles have pion masses ranging from ${410}\,\mathrm{MeV}$ down to the physical value and lattice spacings covering a range between ${0.098}\,\mathrm{fm}$ and ${0.039}\,\mathrm{fm}$. We present some preliminary results for the pion and strange sigma terms and compare to indirect determinations. To do so, we discuss multi-state fits to tackle the well-known problem of excited state contamination comparing the ratio and summation methods also including priors., Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2112.00586

Our exploratory study looks for direct access to the resonant hadronic transition amplitude without resorting to the L\"uscher formalism. We study the decay $\Psi(3770)\to\bar{D}D$ by applying partially twisted boundary conditions to the quenched charm quark, circumventing possible problems with final state interactions. If successful, we could compute the dependence of the transition amplitude on the charm-quark mass and test the predictions made by phenomenological quark-pair-creation models. Finally, we study if and to what extent an extraction of the excited state $\Psi(3770)$ is necessary for this analysis.

We report on the determination of the improvement coefficient $c_{\rm A}$ for the non-singlet axial-vector current $A^{a}_{\mu}(x)$ in the framework of stabilised Wilson-Clover fermions within three flavour lattice QCD. This is done by requiring the PCAC relation to hold for two different pseudo-scalar states. To generate these states, wavefunctions altering spatial structures on the boundaries of a Schr\"odinger functional lattice are employed and some variations of the (previously applied) wavefunction method are explored. The improvement coefficient is determined on a few ensembles for a range of gauge couplings that is potentially useful for future applications. Preliminary results on the renormalisation constants $Z_{\rm V}$ for the vector current and $Z_{\rm A}$ for the axial-vector current are also presented., Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, contribution to the 39th International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, Lattice 2022, Bonn, Germany

Lattice quantum chromodynamics has proven to be an indispensable method to determine nonperturbative strong contributions to weak decay processes. In this white paper for the Snowmass community planning process we highlight achievements and future avenues of research for lattice calculations of weak $b$ and $c$ quark decays, and point out how these calculations will help to address the anomalies currently in the spotlight of the particle physics community. With future increases in computational resources and algorithmic improvements, percent level (and below) lattice determinations will play a central role in constraining the standard model or identifying new physics., Comment: contribution to Snowmass 2021; 19 pages; v2 corrected typo and added references

A lot of progress has been made in the determination of nucleon sigma terms. In this work we consider the sigma terms of the other octet baryons as well. These are determined on CLS gauge field ensembles employing the L\"uscher-Weisz gluon action and the Sheikholeslami-Wohlert fermion action with $N_\mathrm{f} = 2 + 1$. The ensembles have pion masses ranging from ${410}\,\mathrm{MeV}$ down to the physical value and lattice spacings covering a range between ${0.09}\,\mathrm{fm}$ and ${0.04}\,\mathrm{fm}$. We present some preliminary results for $a\approx 0.06$ fm along a trajectory where the sum of the sea quark masses is kept constant, focusing on the quark mass dependence. We discuss multi-state fits to tackle the well-known problem of excited state contamination and detail how we analyse connected and disconnected contributions., Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures

We report on a two-flavour lattice QCD determination of the $B_s\to D_s$ and $B_s\to D_s^*$ transitions, which in the heavy quark limit can be parameterised by the form factors $\mathcal{G}$, and $h_{\text A_1}$, $h_{\text A_2}$ and $h_{\text A_3}$. In the search of New Physics through tests of lepton-flavour universality, $B_s$ decay channels are complementary to $B$ decays and widely studied at $B$ factories and LHCb. The purpose of our study is to explore a suitable method to extract form factors associated with $b\to c$ currents from lattice QCD. In particular, we present numerical results for $\mathcal{G}$ and $h_{\text A_1}$.

We consider three-flavor QCD and perform a determination of the low-energy coupling $\hat{g}_\chi$ of SU(2) Heavy Meson Chiral Perturbation Theory. It is the $B^*B\pi$ coupling in the limit of static heavy and chiral light quarks and has not been determined with precision thus far. The calculation is performed on a large set of the $2+1$ flavor CLS ensembles with pion masses from 420 MeV down to 130 MeV. This allows us to significantly reduce the systematic uncertainty from the chiral extrapolation compared to previous works. Only a weak dependence on the lattice spacing is visible in our results., Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, The 38th International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, LATTICE2021 26th-30th July, 2021, Zoom/Gather@Massachusetts Institute of Technology

We report on a two-flavour lattice QCD study of the $B_s \to D_s$ and $B_s \to D^*_s$ transitions parameterized, in the heavy quark limit, by the form factors ${\cal G}$, and $h_{A_1}$, $h_{A_2}$ and $h_{A_3}$, respectively. In the search for New Physics through tests of lepton flavour universality, $B_s$ decay channels are complementary to the $B$ decays widely studied at $B$ factories and LHCb, while on the theory side they can be better controlled than the $B_c$ and $\Lambda_b$ decays. The purpose of this exploratory two-flavour study is, in preparation for future analyses of lattice QCD simulations with ${N_f>2}$ and physical quark-masses, to gain experience on a suitable method for a lattice extraction of form factors associated with $b \to c$ currents that may yield tighter control over systematic effects like contamination from excited states and cut-off effects. We obtain the zero-recoil values ${\cal G}^{B_s \to D_s}(1)=1.03(14)$ and $h^{B_s \to D^*_s}(1)=0.85(16)$.

We estimate the effects on the decay constants of charmonium and on heavy meson masses due to the charm quark in the sea. Our goal is to understand whether for these quantities $N_f=2+1$ lattice QCD simulations provide results that can be compared with experiments or whether $N_f=2+1+1$ QCD including the charm quark in the sea needs to be simulated. We consider two theories, $N_f=0$ QCD and QCD with $N_f=2$ charm quarks in the sea. The charm sea effects (due to two charm quarks) are estimated comparing the results obtained in these two theories, after matching them and taking the continuum limit. The absence of light quarks allows us to simulate the $N_f=2$ theory at lattice spacings down to $0.023$ fm that are crucial for reliable continuum extrapolations. We find that sea charm quark effects are below $1\%$ for the decay constants of charmonium. Our results show that decoupling of charm works well up to energies of about $500$ MeV. We also compute the derivatives of the decay constants and meson masses with respect to the charm mass. For these quantities we again do not see a significant dynamical charm quark effect, albeit with a lower precision. For mesons made of a charm quark and a heavy antiquark, whose mass is twice that of the charm quark, sea effects are only about $0.1\%$ in the ratio of vector to pseudoscalar masses., Comment: Matches version accepted for publication in Eur.Phys.J.C. 30 pages, 7 figures

We determine non-perturbatively the normalisation factor $r_\mathrm{m}\equiv Z_{\rm S}/Z_{\rm S}^{0}$, where $Z_{\rm S}$ and $Z_{\rm S}^{0}$ are the renormalisation parameters of the flavour non-singlet and singlet scalar densities, respectively. This quantity is required in the computation of quark masses with Wilson fermions and for instance the renormalisation of nucleon matrix elements of scalar densities. Our calculation involves simulations of finite-volume lattice QCD with the tree-level Symanzik-improved gauge action, $N_\mathrm{f} = 3$ mass-degenerate $\mathrm{O}(a)$ improved Wilson fermions and Schr\"odinger functional boundary conditions. The slope of the current quark mass, as a function of the subtracted Wilson quark mass is extracted both in a unitary setup (where nearly chiral valence and sea quark masses are degenerate) and in a non-unitary setup (where all valence flavours are chiral and the sea quark masses are small). These slopes are then combined with $Z \equiv Z_{\rm P}/(Z_{\rm S}Z_{\rm A})$ in order to obtain $r_\mathrm{m}$. A novel chiral Ward identity is employed for the calculation of the normalisation factor $Z$. Our results cover the range of gauge couplings corresponding to lattice spacings below $0.1\,$fm, for which $N_\mathrm{f} = 2+1$ QCD simulations in large volumes with the same lattice action are typically performed., Comment: 28 pages, 9 figures

We present a determination of the charm quark mass in lattice QCD with three active quark flavours. The calculation is based on PCAC masses extracted from $N_\mathrm{f}=2+1$ flavour gauge field ensembles at five different lattice spacings in a range from 0.087 fm down to 0.039 fm. The lattice action consists of the $\mathrm{O}(a)$ improved Wilson-clover action and a tree-level improved Symanzik gauge action. Quark masses are non-perturbatively $\mathrm{O}(a)$ improved employing the Symanzik-counterterms available for this discretisation of QCD. To relate the bare mass at a specified low-energy scale with the renormalisation group invariant mass in the continuum limit, we use the non-pertubatively known factors that account for the running of the quark masses as well as for their renormalisation at hadronic scales. We obtain the renormalisation group invariant charm quark mass at the physical point of the three-flavour theory to be $M_\mathrm{c} = 1486(21)\,\mathrm{MeV}$. Combining this result with five-loop perturbation theory and the corresponding decoupling relations in the $\overline{\mathrm{MS}}$ scheme, one arrives at a result for the renormalisation group invariant charm quark mass in the four-flavour theory of $M_\mathrm{c}(N_\mathrm{f}=4) = 1548(23)\,\mathrm{MeV}$. In the $\overline{\mathrm{MS}}$ scheme, and at finite energy scales conventional in phenomenology, we quote $m^{\overline{\mathrm{MS}}}_{\mathrm{c}}(m^{\overline{\mathrm{MS}}}_{\mathrm{c}}; N_\mathrm{f}=4)=1296(19)\,\mathrm{MeV}$ and $m^{\overline{\mathrm{MS}}}_{\mathrm{c}}(3\,\mathrm{GeV}; N_\mathrm{f}=4)=1007(16)\,\mathrm{MeV}$ for the renormalised charm quark mass, Comment: 40 pages, 5 figures; added figure, results unchanged, matches published version

We present the results of a non-perturbative determination of the improvement coefficient $c_\mathrm{V}$ and the renormalisation factor $Z_\mathrm{V}$, which define the renormalised vector current in three-flavour $\mathrm{O}(a)$ improved lattice QCD with Wilson quarks and tree-level Symanzik-improved gauge action. In case of the improvement coefficient, we consider both lattice descriptions of the vector current, the local as well as the conserved (i.e., point-split) one. Our improvement and normalisation conditions are based on massive chiral Ward identities and numerically evaluated in the Schr\"odinger functional setup, which allows to eliminate finite quark mass effects in a controlled way. In order to ensure a smooth dependence of the renormalisation constant and improvement coefficients on the bare gauge coupling, our computation proceeds along a line of constant physics, covering the typical range of lattice spacings $0.04\,\mathrm{fm}\lesssim a\lesssim 0.1\,\mathrm{fm}$ that is useful for phenomenological applications. Especially for the improvement coefficient of the local vector current, we report significant differences between the one-loop perturbative estimates and our non-perturbative results., Comment: 33 pages, 7 figures

We derive chiral Ward identities for lattice QCD with Wilson quarks and $N_\mathrm{f} \geq 3$ flavours, on small lattices with Schr\"odinger functional boundary conditions and vanishingly small quark masses. These identities relate the axial variation of the non-singlet pseudoscalar density to the scalar one, thus enabling the non-perturbative determination of the scale-independent ratio $Z_\mathrm{S}/Z_\mathrm{P}$ of the renormalisation parameters of these operators. We obtain results for $N_\mathrm{f}=3$ QCD with tree-level Symanzik-improved gluons and Wilson-Clover quarks, for bare gauge couplings which cover the typical range of large-volume $N_\mathrm{f} = 2+1$ simulations with Wilson fermions at lattice spacings below $0.1\,$fm. The precision of our results varies from 0.3\% to 1\%, except for the coarsest lattice, where it is 2\%. We discuss how the $Z_\mathrm{S}/Z_\mathrm{P}$ ratio can be used in the non-perturbative calculations of $\mathrm{O}(a)$ improved renormalised quark masses., Comment: 24 pages, 8 figures, corrected a few misprints of the published version

We present our progress in the non-perturbative O(a) improvement and renormalization of tensor currents in three-flavor lattice QCD with Wilson-clover fermions and tree-level Symanzik improved gauge action. The mass-independent O(a) improvement factor of tensor currents is determined via a Ward identity approach, and their renormalization group running is calculated via recursive finite-size scaling techniques, both implemented within the Schr\"odinger functional framework. We also address the matching factor between bare and renormalization group invariant currents for a range of lattice spacings < 0.1 fm, relevant for phenomenological large-volume lattice QCD applications., Comment: 7 pages including 6 figures, latex2e; Proceedings of the 37th International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory (Lattice 2019), 16-22 June 2019, Wuhan, China

We present the current status of our lattice QCD determination of the charm quark mass using $N_\mathrm{f}=2+1$ dynamical, non-perturbatively $\mathrm{O}(a)$ improved Wilson fermions. A subset of CLS ensembles with five different lattice spacings along the $\mathrm{Tr}[M_\mathrm{q}]=\text{const.}$ trajectory is used. For the computation of the correlation functions involving valence charm quark propagators, we employ distance preconditioning to gain the necessary precision. To stabilize the extrapolations to the physical point, we consider different definitions of the bare charm quark mass and corresponding renormalization procedures., Comment: 7 pages including 5 figures, latex2e; Proceedings of the 37th International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory (Lattice 2019), 16-22 June 2019, Wuhan, China

We determine non-perturbatively the normalisation constant Z_m*Z_P/Z_A as well as the Symanzik coefficients b_m and b_A-b_P, required in O(a) improved quark mass renormalisation with Wilson fermions. The strategy underlying their computation involves simulations in N_f=3 QCD with O(a) improved massless sea and non-degenerate valence quarks in the finite-volume Schroedinger functional scheme. Our results, which cover the typical gauge coupling range of large-volume N_f=2+1 QCD simulations with Wilson fermions at lattice spacings below 0.1 fm, are of particular use for the non-perturbative calculation of O(a) improved renormalised quark masses., Comment: 36 pages including figures and tables, latex2e; version published in Eur. Phys. J. C; small additions to the text and reference added; results unchanged

The use of Heavy Quark Effective Theory (HQET) on the lattice as an approach to B-physics phenomenology is based on a non-perturbative matching of HQET to QCD in finite volume. As a first step to apply the underlying strategy in the three-flavor ($N_f = 2+1$) theory, we determine the renormalization constant and improvement coefficients relating the renormalized current and subtracted quark mass of (quenched) valence quarks in $\mathcal{O}(a)$ improved $N_f=3$ lattice QCD. We present our strategy and first results for the relevant parameter region towards weak couplings along a line of constant physics, which corresponds to lattice resolutions $a\leq 0.02\,$fm and fixes the physical extent of the matching volume to $L\approx 0.5\,$fm., Comment: 7 pages including 7 figures, latex2e; Proceedings of the 36th International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory (Lattice 2018), 22-28 July 2018, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA

We report on advances in the non-perturbative determination of the ratio $Z_S/Z_P$ of the pseudoscalar to the scalar renormalization constants in three-flavour lattice QCD with Wilson-clover quarks and tree-level Symanzik improved gluons. The computations are based on the Ward identity approach, using Schr\"odinger functional boundary conditions. Our results for $Z_S/Z_P$ cover a range of couplings along a line of constant physics with lattice spacings of about 0.09 fm and below, relevant for phenomenological applications such as the calculation of renormalized quark masses., Comment: 7 pages including figures and tables, latex2e; Proceedings of the 36th International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory (Lattice 2018), 22-28 July 2018, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA

We report on a two-flavour lattice QCD study of the D_s and D_s^* leptonic decays parameterized by the decay constants f_{D_s} and f_{D_s^*}. As the phenomenology in the D_s sector seems very promising in the next years with the experiments LHCb and Belle II, it is worth putting a big effort in lattice computations regarding its non-perturbative QCD contributions. Before examining more challenging processes such as hadron-hadron transitions, a natural first step is to address some basic aspects in the context of leptonic decays, where systematic uncertainties from excited state contaminations and cut-off effects in the computation of charmed meson decay matrix elements can be investigated in a more straightforward setting., Comment: 11 pages including figures and tables, latex2e; version published in Phys. Rev. D; expanded discussion of systematics, small additions to the text and references added; results unchanged

We report on the status of an ongoing effort by the RQCD and ALPHA Collaborations, aimed at determining leptonic decay constants of charmed mesons. Our analysis is based on large-volume ensembles generated within the CLS effort, employing N_f=2+1 non-perturbatively O(a) improved Wilson quarks, tree-level Symanzik-improved gauge action and open boundary conditions. The ensembles cover lattice spacings from a ~ 0.09 fm to a ~ 0.05 fm, with pion masses varied from 420 to 200 MeV. To extrapolate to the physical masses, we follow both the 2m_l+m_s=const. and the m_s=const. lines in parameter space., Comment: 8 pages including figures and tables, latex2e; Proceedings of the 35th International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory (Lattice 2017), 18-24 June 2017, Granada, Spain

Among the different scenarios of New Physics, those with an extended Higgs sector are examined with a lot of attention. Recent experimental observations of several anomalies in flavour physics with respect to expectations of the Standard Model further motivate the effort of phenomenologists. First, informations about the $R_{D_s}$ ratio, a test of lepton flavour universality equivalent to $R_D$, already measured, but with the $s$ quark as spectator, are awaited in coming years to constrain the corner of an extended Higgs sector with charged doublets. On another side, leptonic widths of pseudoscalar quarkonia are particularly interesting to test an extended Higgs sector with a light CP-odd Higgs boson singlet, through the study of its mixing with quarkonia states. Hadronic parameters entering those processes have to be determined from lattice QCD with enough confidence on the control of systematic errors. We report on the very first step of a long-term program tackled with ${\rm N_f}=2$ Wilson-Clover fermions to put relevant constraints on extensions of the Higgs sector: extraction of decay constants of $D^*_s$, $\eta_c$, $\eta_c(2S)$, $J/\psi$ and $\psi(2S)$ with lattice ensembles provided by the CLS effort, considering 2 lattice spacings and a large range of pion masses to estimate cut-off effects and extrapolate results to the chiral limit., Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures. Talk given at the 35th International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, 18-24 June 2017, Granada, Spain

We report on non-perturbative computations of the improvement coefficient c_V and the renormalization factor Z_V of the vector current in three-flavour O(a) improved lattice QCD with Wilson quarks and tree-level Symanzik improved gauge action. To reduce finite quark mass effects, our improvement and normalization conditions exploit massive chiral Ward identities formulated in the Schroedinger functional setup, which also allow deriving a new method to extract the ratio Z_S/Z_P of scalar to pseudoscalar renormalization constants. We present preliminary results of a numerical evaluation of Z_V and c_V along a line of constant physics with gauge couplings corresponding to lattice spacings of about 0.09 fm and below, relevant for phenomenological applications., Comment: 8 pages including figures and tables, latex2e; Proceedings of the 35th International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory (Lattice 2017), 18-24 June 2017, Granada, Spain; typo in parametrization of c_V corrected, overall results unchanged

We present our preliminary results of the non-perturbative determination of the valence mass dependent coefficients $b_\mathrm{A}-b_\mathrm{P}$ and $b_\mathrm{m}$ as well as the ratio $Z_\mathrm{P} Z_\mathrm{m}/ Z_\mathrm{A}$ entering the flavour non-singlet PCAC relation in lattice QCD with $N_f=3$ dynamical flavours. We apply the method proposed in the past for quenched approximation and $N_f=2$ cases, employing a set of finite-volume ALPHA configurations with Schr\"odinger functional boundary conditions, generated with $O(a)$ improved Wilson fermions and the tree-level Symanzik-improved gauge action for a range of couplings relevant for simulations at lattice spacings of about $0.09 \,$fm and below., Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures. Talk given at Lattice2017, the 35th International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, 18-24 June 2017, Granada, Spain

We determine the masses and pseudoscalar decay constants of D and D_s mesons employing lattice QCD with non-perturbatively O(a) improved Wilson quarks and a tree-level Symanzik-improved gauge action. Our analysis is based on the large-volume N_f=2+1 ensembles using open boundary conditions, generated within the CLS effort. The status of results presented here covers two lattice spacings, a ~ 0.0854 fm and a ~ 0.0644 fm, and pion masses varied from 420 to 200 MeV. We also report on our implementation of distance preconditioning for the calculation of heavy quark propagators and discuss the impact of the resulting accuracy improvements on the extraction of charmed meson masses and decay constants. This is part of a continuing analysis by the RQCD and ALPHA Collaborations, aiming at a stable continuum extrapolation using several lattice spacings. To extrapolate to the physical masses, we follow both, the (2*m_l+m_s)=const. and the m_s=const. line in parameter space., Comment: 14 pages including figures and tables, latex2e; Proceedings of the 34th International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory (Lattice 2016), 24-30 July 2016, Southampton, UK

We non-perturbatively determine the renormalization factor of the axial vector current in lattice QCD with $N_f=3$ flavors of Wilson-clover fermions and the tree-level Symanzik-improved gauge action. The (by now standard) renormalization condition is derived from the massive axial Ward identity and it is imposed among Schr\"{o}dinger functional states with large overlap on the lowest lying hadronic state in the pseudoscalar channel, in order to reduce kinematically enhanced cutoff effects. We explore a range of couplings relevant for simulations at lattice spacings of $\approx 0.09$ fm and below. An interpolation formula for $Z_A(g_0^2)$, smoothly connecting the non-perturbative values to the 1-loop expression, is provided together with our final results., Comment: 13 pages, 2 tables, 5 figures. Version accepted for publication in PRD. References added, results unchanged. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1502.04999

We present a study of the B spectrum performed in the framework of Heavy Quark Effective Theory expanded to next-to-leading order in 1/m and non-perturbative in the strong coupling. Our analyses have been performed on Nf=2 lattice gauge field ensembles corresponding to three different lattice spacings and a wide range of pion masses. We obtain the Bs-meson mass and hyperfine splittings of the B- and Bs-mesons that are in good agreement with the experimental values and examine the mass difference m_{Bs}-m_B as a further cross-check of our previous estimate of the b-quark mass. We also report on the mass splitting between the first excited state and the ground state in the B and Bs systems., Comment: 35 pages, 14 tables, 17 figures; Introduction extended and typos corrected. Version accepted for publication in PRD

We report on a non-perturbative computation of the renormalization factor Z_A of the axial vector current in three-flavour O(a) improved lattice QCD with Wilson quarks and tree-level Symanzik improved gauge action and also recall our recent determination of the improvement coefficient c_A. Our normalization and improvement conditions are formulated at constant physics in a Schr\"odinger functional setup. The normalization condition exploits the full, massive axial Ward identity to reduce finite quark mass effects in the evaluation of Z_A and correlators with boundary wave functions to suppress excited state contributions in the pseudoscalar channel., Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures; proceedings of the 32nd International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory (Lattice 2014), 23-28 June, 2014, Columbia University New York, NY

The coefficient c_A required for O(a) improvement of the axial current in lattice QCD with N_f=3 flavors of Wilson fermions and the tree-level Symanzik-improved gauge action is determined non-perturbatively. The standard improvement condition using Schroedinger functional boundary conditions is employed at constant physics for a range of couplings relevant for simulations at lattice spacings of ~ 0.09 fm and below. We define the improvement condition projected onto the zero topological charge sector of the theory, in order to avoid the problem of possibly insufficient tunneling between topological sectors in our simulations at the smallest bare coupling. An interpolation formula for c_A(g_0^2) is provided together with our final results., Comment: 16 pages including figures and tables, latex2e; version published in Nucl. Phys. B, small additions to the text and references added, results unchanged

We review a lattice strategy how to non-perturbatively determine the coefficients in the HQET expansion of all components of the heavy-light axial and vector currents, including 1/m_h-corrections. We also discuss recent preliminary results on the form factors parameterizing semi-leptonic B-decays at the leading order in 1/m_h., Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, Contribution to the Proceedings of the Final Meeting of DFG SFB-TR-9 (Durbach, Germany, Sept. 2014), to appear in Nucl. Phys. (Proc. Suppl.)

We present a computation of the charm quark's mass and the leptonic D-meson decay constants f_D and f_{D_s} in two-flavour lattice QCD with non-perturbatively O(a) improved Wilson quarks. Our analysis is based on the CLS configurations at two lattice spacings (a=0.065 and 0.048 fm, where the lattice scale is set by f_K) and pion masses ranging down to ~ 190 MeV at L*m_pi > 4, in order to perform controlled continuum and chiral extrapolations with small systematic uncertainties., Comment: Presented at the 31st International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory (Lattice 2013), 29 July - 3 August 2013, Mainz, Germany; 7 pages including figures, latex2e, uses PoS.cls

We report on an ongoing non-perturbative determination of the improvement coefficient of the axial current, $c_\mathrm A$, with three flavours of dynamical $\mathrm O(a)$ improved Wilson quarks and tree-level Symanzik improved gauge action. Our computations are based on simulations with the openQCD code. The improvement condition for a range of couplings is formulated with Schr\"odinger functional boundary conditions and imposed along a line of constant physics in parameter space. Our analysis involves correlation functions with boundary wave functions such that a large sensitivity to $c_\mathrm A$ can be reached by exploiting the PCAC relation with two different pseudoscalar states., Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, presented at the 31st International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory (Lattice 2013), 29 July - 3 August 2013, Mainz, Germany

We present a strategy how to match the full set of components of the heavy-light axial and vector currents in Heavy Quark Effective Theory (HQET), up to and including 1/m-corrections, to QCD. While the ultimate goal is to apply these matching conditions non-perturbatively, in this study we first have implemented them at tree-level, in order to find good choices of the matching observables with small O(1/m^2) contributions. They can later be employed in the non-perturbative matching procedure which is a crucial part of precision HQET computations of semileptonic decay form factors in lattice QCD., Comment: 32 pages, 7 figures, 2 appendices. Matches version to be published in JHEP. One equation and one figure corrected, a few typos fixed. Results unchanged

We report on the ALPHA Collaboration's lattice B-physics programme based on N_f=2 O(a) improved Wilson fermions and HQET, including all NLO effects in the inverse heavy quark mass, as well as non-perturbative renormalization and matching, to fix the parameters of the effective theory. Our simulations in large physical volume cover 3 lattice spacings a ~ (0.08-0.05) fm and pion masses down to 190 MeV to control continuum and chiral extrapolations. We present the status of results for the b-quark mass and the B_(s)-meson decay constants, f_B and f_{B_s}., Comment: Presented at the 16th International Conference in Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD 2012), 2-7 July 2012, Montpellier, France; 7 pages including figures, latex2e, uses elsarticle.cls

We report on a non-perturbative determination of the parameters of the lattice Heavy Quark Effective Theory (HQET) Lagrangian and of the time component of the heavy-light axial-vector current with Nf=2 flavors of massless dynamical quarks. The effective theory is considered at the 1/mh order, and the heavy mass mh covers a range from slightly above the charm to beyond the beauty region. These HQET parameters are needed to compute, for example, the b-quark mass, the heavy-light spectrum and decay constants in the static approximation and to order 1/mh in HQET. The determination of the parameters is done non-perturbatively. The computation reported in this paper uses the plaquette gauge action and two different static actions for the heavy quark described by HQET. For the light-quark action we choose non-perturbatively O(a)-improved Wilson fermions., Comment: 24 pages, 9 figures, 4 tables

We present an updated analysis of the non-perturbatively renormalized b-quark mass and B meson decay constant based on CLS lattices with two dynamical non-perturbatively improved Wilson quarks. This update incorporates additional light quark masses and lattice spacings in large physical volume to improve chiral extrapolations and to reach the continuum limit. We use Heavy Quark Effective Theory (HQET) including 1/m_b terms with non-perturbative coefficients based on the matching of QCD and HQET developed by the ALPHA collaboration during the past years., Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures. Proceedings of the XXIX International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory - Lattice 2011, July 10-16, 2011, Squaw Valley, Lake Tahoe, California

I convey an idea of the significant recent progress, which opens up good perspectives for high-precision ab-initio computations in heavy flavour physics based on lattice QCD. This report focuses on the strategy and the challenges of fully non-perturbative investigations in the B-meson sector, where the b-quark is treated within an effective theory, as followed by the ALPHA Collaboration. As an application, I outline its use to determine the b-quark mass and summarize the status of our ongoing project in the two dynamical flavour theory., Comment: Invited talk at the Third Workshop on Theory, Phenomenology and Experiments in Heavy Flavour Physics, 5-7 July 2010, Capri, Italy; 8 pages including figures, latex2e, uses espcrc2.sty

We report on the status of an ALPHA Collaboration project to extract quantities for B physics phenomenology from Nf=2 lattice simulations. The framework is Heavy Quark Effective Theory (HQET) expanded up to the first order of the inverse b-quark mass. The couplings of the effective theory are determined by imposing matching conditions of observables computed in HQET with their counterpart computed in QCD. That program, based on Nf=2 simulations in a small physical volume with SF boundary conditions, is now almost finished. On the other side the analysis of configurations selected from the CLS ensembles, in order to measure HQET hadronic matrix elements, has just started recently so that only results obtained at a single lattice spacing, a=0.07 fm, will be discussed. We give our first results for the b-quark mass and for the B meson decay constant., Comment: 14 pages 9 figures, for the proceedings of the XXVIII International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, Lattice2010, June 14-19, 2010, Villasimius, Sardinia, Italy. v2 remove obsolete plots

We non-perturbatively determine the renormalization constant and the improvement coefficients relating the renormalized current and subtracted quark mass in O(a) improved two-flavour lattice QCD. We employ the Schr\"odinger functional scheme and fix the physical extent of the box by working at a constant value of the renormalized coupling. Our calculation yields results which cover two regions of bare parameter space. One is the weak-coupling region suitable for volumes of about half a fermi. By making simulations in this region, quarks as heavy as the bottom can be propagated with the full relativistic QCD action and renormalization problems in HQET can be solved non-perturbatively by a matching to QCD in finite volume. The other region refers to the common parameter range in large-volume simulations of two-flavour lattice QCD, where our results have particular relevance for charm physics applications., Comment: 31 pages including figures and tables, latex2e, uses JHEP3.cls; revised version published in JHEP, clarifying remarks and references added; typo(s) corrected, especially in eq. (3.10)