Automatic O$(a)$ improvement for twisted-mass QCD

Abstract

We present a condition for automatic O$(a)$ improvement in twisted mass lattice QCD, using symmetries of the Symanzik effective theory. If the continuum part of the Symanzik effective theory is invariant under a particular transformation, named $T_1$ in this report, scaling violations of all quantities invariant under $T_1$ transformation are even in the lattice spacing $a$. On the other hand, quantities non-invariant under $T_1$ vanish in the continuum limit with odd powers in $a$. We prove this statement even for the massive case without using the equation of motion. We also consider a few different criteria for the $T_1$ invariant condition in lattice theories and discuss ambiguities of the lattice condition for O$(a)$ improvement.