The Momentum Fraction, Helicity and Transversity Isovector Moments of Nucleons from \texorpdfstring{$2+1$}{2+1}-flavor Lattice QCD

Abstract

Results for the isovector momentum fraction, $\langle x \rangle_{u-d}$, helicity moment, $\langle x \rangle_{Δu-Δd}$, and the transversity moment, $\langle x\rangle_{δu-δd}$, of the nucleon are presented using high-statistics data on thirteen NME ensembles of gauge configurations generated by the JLab/W\&M/LANL/MIT/Marseille collaborations using $2+1$-flavors of dynamical Wilson-clover quarks. The much higher statistics facilitated better control over all systematics compared to our previous lattice calculation. The least controlled systematic---excited-state contamination---is quantified by studying the variation of the results as a function of three estimates of the mass gap of the first excited state, obtained from two- and three-point correlation functions. The final results are obtained using a simultaneous fit to extrapolate in the lattice spacing, $a$, pion and kaon masses, $M_π$ and $M_K$, and the finite volume parameter, $M_πL$. The data show no significant finite-volume correction, and some dependence on the lattice spacing and the renormalization factors. The largest systematic uncertainty is due to possible remaining excited states contributions. Our final results, in the $\overline{\rm MS}$ scheme at 2~GeV, are $\langle x \rangle_{u-d} = 0.154(10)(9)$, $\langle x \rangle_{Δu-Δd} = 0.177(10)(15)$ and $\langle x \rangle_{δu-δd} = 0.197(12)(18)$, where the first error is the overall statistical uncertainty and the second represents the various systematic uncertainties added in quadrature. Results for the momentum fraction and helicity moment are consistent with phenomenological global fit values, while the transversity moment is a prediction.