Unquenched quark propagator in Landau gauge

We present an unquenched calculation of the quark propagator in Landau gauge with 2+1 flavors of dynamical quarks. We use configurations generated with an improved staggered (``Asqtad'') action by the MILC collaboration. This quark action has been seen to have excellent rotational symmetry and scaling properties in the quenched quark propagator. Quenched and dynamical calculations are performed on a $20^3\times 64$ lattice with a nominal lattice spacing of $a = 0.125$ fm. The matched quenched and dynamical lattices allow us to investigate the relatively subtle sea quark effects, and even in the quenched case the physical volume of these lattices gives access to lower momenta than our previous study. We calculate the quark mass function and renormalization function for a variety of valence and sea quark masses.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure

Scaling behavior of quark propagator in full QCD

We study the scaling behavior of the quark propagator on two lattices with similar physical volume in Landau gauge with 2+1 flavors of dynamical quarks in order to test whether we are close to the continuum limit for these lattices. We use configurations generated with an improved staggered (``Asqtad'') action by the MILC collaboration. The calculations are performed on $28^3\times 96$ lattices with lattice spacing $a = 0.09$ fm and on $20^3\times 64$ lattices with lattice spacing $a = 0.12$ fm. We calculate the quark mass function, $M(q^2)$, and the wave-function renormalization function, $Z(q^2)$, for a variety of bare quark masses. Comparing the behavior of these functions on the two sets of lattices we find that both $Z(q^2)$ and $M(q^2)$ show little sensitivity to the ultraviolet cutoff.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

Scaling behavior and positivity violation of the gluon propagator in full QCD

The Landau-gauge gluon propagator is studied using the coarse and fine dynamical MILC configurations. The effects of dynamical quarks are clearly visible and lead to a reduction of the nonperturbative infrared enhancement relative to the quenched case. Lattice spacing effects are studied and found to be small. The gluon spectral function is shown to clearly violate positivity in both quenched and full QCD.Comment: 7 pages, 9 figures. References and 1 figure added, minor text modifications, version to be published in PR

Phase diagrams in nonlocal PNJL models constrained by Lattice QCD results

Based on lattice QCD-adjusted SU(2) nonlocal Polyakov--Nambu--Jona-Lasinio (PNJL) models, we investigate how the location of the critical endpoint in the QCD phase diagram depends on the strenght of the vector meson coupling, as well as the Polyakov-loop (PL) potential and the form factors of the covariant model. The latter are constrained by lattice QCD data for the quark propagator. The strength of the vector coupling is adjusted such as to reproduce the slope of the pseudocritical temperature for the chiral phase transition at low chemical potential extracted recently from lattice QCD simulations. Our study supports the existence of a critical endpoint in the QCD phase diagram albeit the constraint for the vector coupling shifts its location to lower temperatures and higher baryochemical potentials than in the case without it.Comment: 23 pages, 10 figures. Version accepted in Phys. Part. Nucl. Lett. (to appear), references adde

The Infrared Behaviour of the Pure Yang-Mills Green Functions

We review the infrared properties of the pure Yang-Mills correlators and discuss recent results concerning the two classes of low-momentum solutions for them reported in literature; i.e. decoupling and scaling solutions. We will mainly focuss on the Landau gauge and pay special attention to the results inferred from the analysis of the Dyson-Schwinger equations of the theory and from "{\it quenched}" lattice QCD. The results obtained from properly interplaying both approaches are strongly emphasized.Comment: Final version to be published in FBS (54 pgs., 11 figs., 4 tabs

Effects of dynamical sea-quarks on quark and gluon propagators

We present an unquenched calculation of the quark propagator in Landau gauge with 2+1 flavors of dynamical quarks. We study the scaling behavior of the quark propagator in full QCD on two lattices with different lattice spacings and similar physical volume. We use configurations generated with an improved staggered ("Asqtad") action by the MILC collaboration. © 2006 American Institute of Physics.Maria B. Parappilly, Patrick O. Bowman, Urs M. Heller, Derek B. Leinweber, Anthony G. Williams, and J. B. Zhan

The chiral and angular momentum content of the rho-meson

It is possible to define and calculate in a gauge-invariant manner the chiral as well as the partial wave content of the quark-antiquark Fock component of a meson in the infrared, where mass is generated. Using the variational method and a set of interpolators that span a complete chiral basis we extract in a lattice QCD Monte Carlo simulation with two dynamical light quarks the orbital angular momentum and spin content of the rho-meson. We obtain in the infrared a simple 3S1 component as a leading component of the rho-meson with a small admixture of the 3D1 partial wave, in agreement with the SU(6) flavor-spin symmetry.Comment: 23 pages, 4 figures, 2 table

Some recent research highlights from the CSSM

Copyright © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.In this article we provide an overview of some of the recent research highlights from the CSSM. We present new results of our studies into the Θ⁺ pentaquark state from lattice QCD considering both spin-1/2 and spin-3/2 states. We continue our exploration of exotic states with a study of exotic meson states using hybrid meson interpolators with explicit gluonic degrees of freedom. To investigate scaling, we compare the behaviour of the quark mass function M(q²), and wave-function renormalization function Z(q²), in dynamical lattice QCD, for a variety of bare quark masses, on two lattices with lattice spacing of 0.090 and 0.125 fm, but similar physical volumes.http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/505717/description#descriptio

Effectiveness of interventions involving nurses in secondary stroke prevention: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background and purpose: Among members of the health care team, nurses play a large role in actively engaging stroke survivors in secondary stroke prevention programs. This systematic review and meta-analysis examines the effectiveness of interventions in which nurses have a primary role on modification of risk factors among stroke survivors. Methods: We systematically searched for randomized controlled trials in relevant databases investigating the role of nurses in secondary stroke prevention. Meta-analyses were conducted using Cochrane Review Manager Software. The mean pooled effect size, a 95% confidence interval (CI), and I-squared ( I2) for heterogeneity were calculated. Results: Sixteen randomized controlled trials were included with a total of 3568 stroke and transient ischemic attack patients. After removing one outlier, the models demonstrated a statistically significant effect on reducing systolic blood pressure (SMD = −0.14 (95% CI = −0.23, –0.05), I2 = 0%; p = 0.002, six studies, n =1885) and diastolic blood pressure (SMD = −0.16 (95% CI = −0.27, –0.05), I2 = 0%; p = 0.003, four studies, n =1316). The interventions also significantly improved physical activity (five studies, n=1234), diet (three studies, n=425), medication adherence (two studies, n=270), and knowledge of risk factors (three studies, n=516). However, there was no effect on smoking cessation or reduction in use of alcohol. Conclusion: We found that interventions in which nurses had a primary role were effective on improving medical and behavioral risk factors, as well as knowledge of risk factors as part of secondary prevention of stroke. </jats:sec