We present a lattice QCD calculation of the up, down, strange and charm quark masses performed using the gauge configurations produced by the European Twisted Mass Collaboration with N f = 2 + 1 + 1 dynamical quarks, which include in the sea, besides two light mass degenerate quarks, also the strange and charm quarks with masses close to their physical values. The simulations are based on a unitary setup for the two light quarks and on a mixed action approach for the strange and charm quarks. The analysis uses data at three values of the lattice spacing and pion masses in the range 210 ÷ 450 MeV, allowing for accurate continuum limit and controlled chiral extrapolation. The quark mass renormalization is carried out non-perturbatively using the RI -MOM method. The results for the quark masses converted to the MS scheme are: m ud (2 GeV) = 3.70(17) MeV, m s (2 GeV) = 99.6(4.3) MeV and m c (m c ) = 1.348(46) GeV. We obtain also the quark mass ratios m s /m ud = 26.66(32) and m c /m s = 11.62(16). By studying the mass splitting between the neutral and charged kaons and using available lattice results for the electromagnetic contributions, we evaluate m u /m d = 0.470(56), leading to m u = 2.36(24) MeV and m d = 5.03(26) MeV.

We present results of lattice QCD simulations with mass-degenerate up and down and mass-split strange and charm (N f = 2 + 1 + 1) dynamical quarks using Wilson twisted mass fermions at maximal twist. The tuning of the strange and charm quark masses is performed at two values of the lattice spacing a ≈ 0.078 fm and a ≈ 0.086 fm with lattice sizes ranging from L ≈ 1.9 fm to L ≈ 2.8 fm. We measure with high statistical precision the light pseudoscalar mass m PS and decay constant f PS in a range 270 m PS 510 MeV and determine the low energy parameters f 0 andl 3,4 of SU(2) chiral perturbation theory. We use the two values of the lattice spacing, several lattice sizes as well as different values of the light, strange and charm quark masses to explore the systematic effects. A first study of discretisation effects in light-quark observables and a comparison to N f = 2 results are performed.

We study Quantum Chromodynamics with eight flavours by use of lattice simulations and present evidence that the theory still breaks chiral symmetry in the zero temperature, continuum limit. This confirms that the lower end of the conformal window of QCD lies above Nf = 8.Comment: 19 pages, 7 figures; added a number of relevant references and comments to introduction, enhanced captions for figures 6 and 7, corrected typos and minor lapses of styl

We discuss the existence of a conformal phase in SUðNÞ gauge theories in four dimensions. In this lattice study, we explore the model in the bare parameter space, varying the lattice coupling and bare mass. Simulations are carried out with three colors and 12 flavors of dynamical staggered fermions in the fundamental representation. The analysis of the chiral order parameter and the mass spectrum of the theory indicates the restoration of chiral symmetry at zero temperature and the presence of a Coulomb-like phase, depicting a scenario compatible with the existence of an infrared stable fixed point at nonzero coupling. Our analysis supports the conclusion that the onset of the conformal window for QCD-like theories is smaller than N f ¼ 12, before the loss of asymptotic freedom at 16 and 1/2 flavors. We discuss open questions and future directions.

Here we report a photochemical and kinetic study of the thermal relaxation reaction of a double azobenzene system, in which two azobenzene photochromic units are connected via a phenyl ring. Upon UV irradiation, three thermally unstable isomers are formed. Kinetic studies using arrayed (1)H-NMR spectroscopy revealed four distinct barriers for the thermal reversion to the stable isomer. The double isomerised Z,Z-2 can revert thermally to the E,E-2 isomer via either of two isomerisation pathways. The thermal Z to E isomerisations are not significantly affected by the state of the neighbouring azo-switching unit in the meta position. These findings are supported by quantum chemical calculations on the thermal Z to E isomerisation.

We study the SU(3) gauge theory with N f = 12 flavors in the fundamental representation by use of lattice simulations with staggered fermions. With a non-improved action we observe a chiral zero-temperature (bulk) transition separating a region at weak coupling, where chiral symmetry is realized, from a region at strong coupling where chiral symmetry is broken. With improved actions, a more complicated pattern emerges, and in particular two first order transitions in the chiral limit appear. We observe that at sufficiently strong coupling the next-to-nearest neighbor terms of the improved lattice action are no longer irrelevant and can indeed modify the pattern observed without improvement. Baryon number conservation can be realized in an unusual way, allowing for an otherwise prohibited oscillating term in the pseudoscalar channel. We discuss the phenomenon by means of explicit examples borrowed from statistical mechanics. Finally, these observations can also be useful when simulating other strongly coupled systems on the lattice, such as graphene.

We investigate the spectral properties of the Wilson Dirac operator in quenched QCD in the microscopic regime. We distinguish the topological sectors using the index as determined by the Wilson flow method. Consequently, the distributions of the low-lying eigenvalues of the Wilson Dirac operator can be compared in each of the topological sectors to predictions from random matrix theory applied to the -regime of chiral perturbation theory. We find rather good agreement for volumes as small as (1.5 fm) 4 and lattice spacings as coarse as 0.1 fm, and demonstrate that it is indeed possible to extract low-energy constants for Wilson fermions from the spectral properties of the Wilson Dirac operator.

We present the status of runs performed in the twisted mass formalism with N f = 2+1+1 flavours of dynamical fermions: a degenerate light doublet and a mass split heavy doublet. The procedure for tuning to maximal twist will be described as well as the current status of the runs using both thin and stout links. Preliminary results for a few observables obtained on ensembles at maximal twist will be given. Finally, a reweighting procedure to tune to maximal twist will be described.