Scalar and tensor interactions were once competitors to the now well-established V − A structure of the Standard Model weak interactions. We revisit these interactions and survey constraints from low-energy probes (neutron, nuclear, and pion decays) as well as collider searches. Currently, the most stringent limit on scalar and tensor interactions arise from 0 + → 0 + nuclear decays and the radiative pion decay π → eνγ, respectively. For the future, we find that upcoming neutron beta decay and LHC measurements will compete in setting the most stringent bounds. For neutron beta decay, we demonstrate the importance of lattice computations of the neutronto-proton matrix elements to setting limits on these interactions, and provide the first lattice estimate of the scalar charge and a new average of existing results for the tensor charge. Data taken at the LHC is currently probing these interactions at the 10 −2 level (relative to the standard weak interactions), with the potential to reach the < ∼ 10 −3 level. We show that, with some theoretical assumptions, the discovery of a charged spin-0 resonance decaying to an electron and missing energy implies a lower limit on the strength of scalar interactions probed at low energy.

We highlight the progress, current status, and open challenges of QCD-driven physics, in theory and in experiment. We discuss how the strong interaction is intimately connected to a broad sweep of physical problems, in settings ranging from astrophysics and cosmology to strongly coupled, complex systems in particle and condensed-matter physics, as well as to searches for physics beyond the Standard Model. We also discuss how success in describing the strong interaction impacts other fields, and, in turn, how such subjects can impact studies of the strong interaction. In the course of the work we offer a perspective on the many research streams which flow into and out of QCD, as well as a vision for future developments.

The binding energies of a range of nuclei and hypernuclei with atomic number A ≤ 4 and strangeness |s| ≤ 2, including the deuteron, di-neutron, H-dibaryon, 3 He, ΛΛ He, are calculated in the limit of flavor-SU(3) symmetry at the physical strange-quark mass with quantum chromodynamics (without electromagnetic interactions). The nuclear states are extracted from Lattice QCD calculations performed with n f = 3 dynamical light quarks using an isotropic clover discretization of the quark action in three lattice volumes of spatial extent L ∼ 3.4 fm, 4.5 fm and 6.7 fm, and with a single lattice spacing b ∼ 0.145 fm.2

Studies of the structure of excited baryons are key factors to the N* program at Jefferson Lab (JLab). Within the first year of data taking with the Hall B CLAS12 detector following the 12 GeV upgrade, a dedicated experiment will aim to extract the N* electrocouplings at high photon virtualities Q2. This experiment will allow exploration of the structure of N* resonances at the highest photon virtualities ever achieved, with a kinematic reach up to Q2 = 12 GeV 2. This high-Q2 reach will make it possible to probe the excited nucleon structures at distance scales ranging from where effective degrees of freedom, such as constituent quarks, are dominant through the transition to where nearly massless bare-quark degrees of freedom are relevant. In this document, we present a detailed description of the physics that can be addressed through N* structure studies in exclusive meson electroproduction. The discussion includes recent advances in reaction theory for extracting N* electrocouplings from meson electroproduction off protons, along with Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD)-based approaches to the theoretical interpretation of these fundamental quantities. This program will afford access to the dynamics of the nonperturbative strong interaction responsible for resonance formation, and will be crucial in understanding the nature of confinement and dynamical chiral symmetry breaking in baryons, and how excited nucleons emerge from QCD.

We present high statistics results for the isovector charges g u−dA , g u−dS and g u−dT of the nucleon. Calculations were carried out on eleven ensembles of gauge configurations generated by the MILC collaboration using highly improved staggered quarks action with 2 þ 1 þ 1 dynamical flavors. These ensembles span four lattice spacings a ≈ 0.06, 0.09, 0.12 and 0.15 fm and light-quark masses corresponding to M π ≈ 135, 225 and 315 MeV. Excited-state contamination in the nucleon three-point correlation functions is controlled by including up to three-states in the spectral decomposition. Remaining systematic uncertainties associated with lattice discretization, lattice volume and light-quark masses are controlled using a simultaneous fit in these three variables. Our final estimates of the isovector charges in the MS scheme at 2 GeV are T with precision low-energy nuclear experiments, and find them comparable to those from the ATLAS and the CMS experiments at the LHC.

We present the first direct lattice calculation of the isovector sea-quark distributions in the nucleon within the framework of the large-momentum effective field theory proposed recently. We use N f = 2 + 1 + 1 HISQ lattice gauge ensembles (generated by MILC Collaboration) and clover valence fermions with pion mass 310 MeV. We establish the convergence of the result as the nucleon momentum increases within the uncertainty of the calculation. Although the lattice systematics are not yet fully under control, we obtain some qualitative features of the flavor structure of the nucleon sea : d(x) > u(x) leading to the violation of the Gottfried sum rule; ∆u(x) > ∆d(x) as indicated by the STAR data at large and small leptonic pseudorapidity.

We present evidence for the existence of a bound H-dibaryon, an I = 0, J = 0, s = −2 state with valence quark structure uuddss, at a pion mass of mπ ∼ 389 MeV. Using the results of Lattice QCD calculations performed on four ensembles of anisotropic clover gauge-field configurations, with spatial extents of L ∼ 2.0, 2.5, 3.0 and 3.9 fm at a spatial lattice spacing of bs ∼ 0.123 fm, we find an H-dibaryon bound by B H ∞ = 16.6 ± 2.1 ± 4.6 MeV at a pion mass of mπ ∼ 389 MeV.It is now well established that quantum chromodynamics (QCD), the theory describing the dynamics of quarks and gluons, and the electroweak interactions, underlie all of nuclear physics, from the hadronic mass spectrum to the synthesis of heavy elements in stars. To date, there have been few quantitative connections between nuclear physics and QCD, but fortunately, Lattice QCD is entering an era in which precise predictions for hadronic quantities with quantifiable errors are being made. This development is particularly important for processes which are difficult to explore in the laboratory, such as hyperon-hyperon and hyperon-nucleon interactions for which knowledge is scarce, primarily due to the short lifetimes of the hyperons, but which may impact the late-stages of supernovae evolution. In this letter we report strong evidence for a bound H-dibaryon, a six-quark hadron with valence structure uuddss, from n f = 2 + 1 Lattice QCD calculations at light-quark masses that give the pion a mass of m π ∼ 389 MeV.The prediction of a relatively deeply bound system with the quantum numbers of ΛΛ (called the H-dibaryon) by Jaffe [1] in the late 1970s, based upon a bag-model calculation, started a vigorous search for such a system, both experimentally and also with alternate theoretical tools. Experimental constraints on, and phenomenological models of, the H-dibaryon can be found in Refs. [2,3,4]. While experimental studies of doublystrange hypernuclei restrict the H-dibaryon to be unbound or to have a small binding energy, the most recent constraints on the existence of the H-dibaryon come from heavy-ion collisions at RHIC, from which it is concluded that the H-dibaryon does not exist in the mass region 2.136 < M H < 2.231 GeV [5], effectively eliminating the possibility of a loosely-bound H-dibaryon at the physical light-quark masses. Recent experiments at KEK suggest there is a resonance near threshold in the H-dibaryon channel [6].The first study of baryon-baryon interactions with Lattice QCD was performed more than a decade ago [7,8]. This calculation was quenched and with m π > ∼ 550 MeV. The NPLQCD collaboration performed the first n f = 2+ 1 QCD calculations of baryon-baryon interactions [9,10] at low-energies but at unphysical pion masses. Quenched and dynamical calculations were subsequently performed by the HALQCD collaboration [11,12]. A number of quenched Lattice QCD calculations [13,14,15,16,17,18] have searched for the H-dibaryon, but to date no definitive results have been reported. Earlier work concluded that the H-dibaryon does not exi...

Results of a high-statistics, multi-volume Lattice QCD exploration of the deuteron, the di-neutron, the H-dibaryon, and the Ξ − Ξ − system at a pion mass of m π ∼ 390 MeV are presented. Calculations were performed with an anisotropic n f = 2+1 Clover discretization in four lattice volumes of spatial extent L ∼ 2.0, 2.5, 2.9 and 3.9 fm, with a lattice spacing of b s ∼ 0.123 fm in the spatial-direction, and b t ∼ b s /3.5 in the time-direction. Using the results obtained in the largest two volumes, the Ξ − Ξ − is found to be bound by B Ξ − Ξ − = 14.0(1.4)(6.7) MeV, consistent with expectations based upon phenomenological models and low-energy effective field theories constrained by nucleonnucleon and hyperon-nucleon scattering data at the physical light-quark masses. Further, we find that the deuteron and the di-neutron have binding energies of B d = 11(05)(12) MeV and B nn = 7.1(5.2)(7.3) MeV, respectively. With an increased number of measurements and a refined analysis, the binding energy of the H-dibaryon is B H = 13.2(1.8)(4.0) MeV at this pion mass, updating our previous result.2