Hadronic transitions from the lattice

Abstract

I discuss strategies to determine hadronic decay couplings from lattice studies. As a check of the methods, I explore the decay of a vector meson to two pseudoscalar mesons with $N_f=2$ flavours of sea quark. Although we are working with quark masses that do not allow a physical decay, I show how the transition rate can be evaluated from the amplitude for $\rho \to \pi \pi$ and from the annihilation component of $\pi \pi \to \pi \pi$. I explore the decay amplitude for two different pion momenta and find consistent results. The coupling strength found is in agreement with experiment. I also find evidence for a shift in the $\rho$ mass caused by mixing with two pion states. I also present results for the decay of a hybrid meson, for the case of heavy valence quarks.