Meson Decay Constants from the Valence Approximation to Lattice QCD

Abstract

We evaluate $f_{\pi}/ m_{\rho}$, $f_K/ m_{\rho}$, $1/f_{\rho}$, and $ m_{\phi}/(f_{\phi} m_{\rho})$, extrapolated to physical quark mass, zero lattice spacing and infinite volume, for lattice QCD with Wilson quarks in the valence (quenched) approximation. The predicted ratios differ from experiment by amounts ranging from 12\% to 17\% equivalent to between 0.9 and 2.8 times the corresponding statistical uncertainties.