The problem of obtaining spectral densities from lattice data has been receiving great attention due to its importance in our understanding of scattering processes in Quantum Field Theory, with applications both in the Standard Model and beyond. The problem is notoriously difficult as it amounts to performing an inverse Laplace transform, starting from a finite set of noisy data. Several strategies are now available to tackle this inverse problem. In this work, we discuss how Backus–Gilbert methods, in particular the variation introduced by some of the authors, relate to the solution based on Gaussian Processes. Both methods allow computing spectral densities smearing with a kernel whose features depend on the detail of the algorithm. We will discuss such kernel, and show how Backus–Gilbert methods can be understood in a Bayesian fashion. As a consequence of this correspondence, we are able to interpret the algorithmic parameters of Backus–Gilbert methods as hyperparameters in the Bayesian language, which can be chosen by maximising a likelihood function. By performing a comparative study on lattice data, we show that, when both frameworks are set to compute the same quantity, the results are generally in agreement. Finally, we adopt a strategy to systematically validate both methodologies against pseudo-data, using covariance matrices measured from lattice simulations. In our setup, we find that the determination of the algorithmic parameters based on a stability analysis provides results that are, on average, more conservative than those based on the maximisation of a likelihood function.

United Kingdom

Luigi Debbio

France

Alessandro Lupo

Italy

Finland

Marco Panero

Nazario Tantalo

Bayesian solution to the inverse problem and its relation to Backus–Gilbert methods

We discuss a Bayesian methodology for the solution of the inverse problem underlying the determination of parton distribution functions (PDFs). In our approach, Gaussian processes (GPs) are used to model the PDF prior, while Bayes’ theorem is used in order to determine the posterior distribution of the PDFs given a set of data. We discuss the general formalism, the Bayesian inference at the level of both parameters and hyperparameters, and the simplifications which occur when the observable entering the analysis is linear in the PDF. We benchmark the new methodology in two simple examples for the determination of a single PDF flavor from a set of deep inelastic scattering (DIS) data and from a set of equal-time correlators computed using lattice QCD. We discuss our results, showing how the proposed methodology allows for a well-defined statistical interpretation of the different sources of errors entering the PDF uncertainty, and how results can be validated a posteriori.

CERN

Alessandro Candido

Netherlands

Tommaso Giani

Giacomo Petrillo

Bayesian inference with Gaussian processes for the determination of parton distribution functions

Quantum Chromodynamics, the theory of quarks and gluons, whose interactions can be described by a local SU(3) gauge symmetry with charges called “color quantum numbers”, is reviewed; the goal of this review is to provide advanced Ph.D. students a comprehensive handbook, helpful for their research. When QCD was “discovered” 50 years ago, the idea that quarks could exist, but not be observed, left most physicists unconvinced. Then, with the discovery of charmonium in 1974 and the explanation of its excited states using the Cornell potential, consisting of the sum of a Coulomb-like attraction and a long range linear confining potential, the theory was suddenly widely accepted. This paradigm shift is now referred to as the November revolution. It had been anticipated by the observation of scaling in deep inelastic scattering, and was followed by the discovery of gluons in three-jet events. The parameters of QCD include the running coupling constant,  $$\alpha _s(Q^2)$$  <math> <mrow> <msub> <mi>α</mi> <mi>s</mi> </msub> <mrow> <mo>(</mo> <msup> <mi>Q</mi> <mn>2</mn> </msup> <mo>)</mo> </mrow> </mrow> </math>  , that varies with the energy scale  $$Q^2$$  <math> <msup> <mi>Q</mi> <mn>2</mn> </msup> </math>   characterising the interaction, and six quark masses. QCD cannot be solved analytically, at least not yet, and the large value of  $$\alpha _s$$  <math> <msub> <mi>α</mi> <mi>s</mi> </msub> </math>   at low momentum transfers limits perturbative calculations to the high-energy region where  $$Q^2\gg \varLambda _{{\textrm{QCD}}} ^2\simeq $$  <math> <mrow> <msup> <mi>Q</mi> <mn>2</mn> </msup> <mo>≫</mo> <msubsup> <mi>Λ</mi> <mrow> <mtext>QCD</mtext> </mrow> <mn>2</mn> </msubsup> <mo>≃</mo> </mrow> </math>   (250 MeV) $$^2$$  <math> <msup> <mrow></mrow> <mn>2</mn> </msup> </math>  . Lattice QCD (LQCD), numerical calculations on a discretized space-time lattice, is discussed in detail, the dynamics of the QCD vacuum is visualized, and the expected spectra of mesons and baryons are displayed. Progress in lattice calculations of the structure of nucleons and of quantities related to the phase diagram of dense and hot (or cold) hadronic matter are reviewed. Methods and examples of how to calculate hadronic corrections to weak matrix elements on a lattice are outlined. The wide variety of analytical approximations currently in use, and the accuracy of these approximations, are reviewed. These methods range from the Bethe–Salpeter, Dyson–Schwinger coupled relativistic equations, which are formulated in both Minkowski or Euclidean spaces, to expansions of multi-quark states in a set of basis functions using light-front coordinates, to the AdS/QCD method that imbeds 4-dimensional QCD in a 5-dimensional deSitter space, allowing confinement and spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking to be described in a novel way. Models that assume the number of colors is very large, i.e. make use of the large  $$N_c$$  <math> <msub> <mi>N</mi> <mi>c</mi> </msub> </math>  -limit, give unique insights. Many other techniques that are tailored to specific problems, such as perturbative expansions for high energy scattering or approximate calculations using the operator product expansion are discussed. The very powerful effective field theory techniques that are successful for low energy nuclear systems (chiral effective theory), or for non-relativistic systems involving heavy quarks, or the treatment of gluon exchanges between energetic, collinear partons encountered in jets, are discussed. The spectroscopy of mesons and baryons has played an important historical role in the development of QCD. The famous X,Y,Z states – and the discovery of pentaquarks – have revolutionized hadron spectroscopy; their status and interpretation are reviewed as well as recent progress in the identification of glueballs and hybrids in light-meson spectroscopy. These exotic states add to the spectrum of expected  $$q{{\bar{q}}}$$  <math> <mrow> <mi>q</mi> <mover> <mrow> <mi>q</mi> </mrow> <mrow> <mo>¯</mo> </mrow> </mover> </mrow> </math>   mesons and qqq baryons. The progress in understanding excitations of light and heavy baryons is discussed. The nucleon as the lightest baryon is discussed extensively, its form factors, its partonic structure and the status of the attempt to determine a three-dimensional picture of the parton distribution. An experimental program to study the phase diagram of QCD at high temperature and density started with fixed target experiments in various laboratories in the second half of the 1980s, and then, in this century, with colliders. QCD thermodynamics at high temperature became accessible to LQCD, and numerical results on chiral and deconfinement transitions and properties of the deconfined and chirally restored form of strongly interacting matter, called the Quark–Gluon Plasma (QGP), have become very precise by now. These results can now be confronted with experimental data that are sensitive to the nature of the phase transition. There is clear evidence that the QGP phase is created. This phase of QCD matter can already be characterized by some properties that indicate, within a temperature range of a few times the pseudocritical temperature, the medium behaves like a near ideal liquid. Experimental observables are presented that demonstrate deconfinement. High and ultrahigh density QCD matter at moderate and low temperatures shows interesting features and new phases that are of astrophysical relevance. They are reviewed here and some of the astrophysical implications are discussed. Perturbative QCD and methods to describe the different aspects of scattering processes are discussed. The primary parton–parton scattering in a collision is calculated in perturbative QCD with increasing complexity. The radiation of soft gluons can spoil the perturbative convergence, this can be cured by resummation techniques, which are also described here. Realistic descriptions of QCD scattering events need to model the cascade of quark and gluon splittings until hadron formation sets in, which is done by parton showers. The full event simulation can be performed with Monte Carlo event generators, which simulate the full chain from the hard interaction to the hadronic final states, including the modelling of non-perturbative components. The contribution of the LEP experiments (and of earlier collider experiments) to the study of jets is reviewed. Correlations between jets and the shape of jets had allowed the collaborations to determine the “color factors” – invariants of the SU(3) color group governing the strength of quark–gluon and gluon–gluon interactions. The calculated jet production rates (using perturbative QCD) are shown to agree precisely with data, for jet energies spanning more than five orders of magnitude. The production of jets recoiling against a vector boson,  $$W^\pm $$  <math> <msup> <mi>W</mi> <mo>±</mo> </msup> </math>   or Z, is shown to be well understood. The discovery of the Higgs boson was certainly an important milestone in the development of high-energy physics. The couplings of the Higgs boson to massive vector bosons and fermions that have been measured so far support its interpretation as mass-generating boson as predicted by the Standard Model. The study of the Higgs boson recoiling against hadronic jets (without or with heavy flavors) or against vector bosons is also highlighted. Apart from the description of hard interactions taking place at high energies, the understanding of “soft QCD” is also very important. In this respect, Pomeron – and Odderon – exchange, soft and hard diffraction are discussed. Weak decays of quarks and leptons, the quark mixing matrix and the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon are processes which are governed by weak interactions. However, corrections by strong interactions are important, and these are reviewed. As the measured values are incompatible with (most of) the predictions, the question arises: are these discrepancies first hints for New Physics beyond the Standard Model? This volume concludes with a description of future facilities or important upgrades of existing facilities which improve their luminosity by orders of magnitude. The best is yet to come!

United States

Franz Gross

Germany

Eberhard Klempt

Stanley Brodsky

Andrzej Buras

Volker Burkert

Gudrun Heinrich

Karl Jakobs

Curtis Meyer

Kostas Orginos

Michael Strickland

Johanna Stachel

Giulia Zanderighi

Nora Brambilla

Peter Braun-Munzinger

Daniel Britzger

Simon Capstick

Tom Cohen

Volker Crede

Martha Constantinou

Christine Davies

Achim Denig

Carleton DeTar

Alexandre Deur

Russia

Latvia

Yuri Dokshitzer

Hans Dosch

Jozef Dudek

Monica Dunford

Evgeny Epelbaum

Spain

Miguel Escobedo

Harald Fritzsch

Japan

Kenji Fukushima

Paolo Gambino

Canada

Sweden

Dag Gillberg

Steven Gottlieb

Per Grafstrom

Switzerland

Massimiliano Grazzini

Boris Grube

JINR

Alexey Guskov

Toru Iijima

Xiangdong Ji

Frithjof Karsch

Stefan Kluth

John Kogut

Frank Krauss

Shunzo Kumano

Australia

Derek Leinweber

Heinrich Leutwyler

China

Hai-Bo Li

Yang Li

Bogdan Malaescu

Chiara Mariotti

Pieter Maris

Simone Marzani

Wally Melnitchouk

Johan Messchendorp

Harvey Meyer

Ryan Mitchell

Chandan Mondal

Frank Nerling

Sebastian Neubert

Marco Pappagallo

Saori Pastore

José Peláez

Andrew Puckett

Jianwei Qiu

Klaus Rabbertz

Alberto Ramos

Patrizia Rossi

Azerbaijan

Anar Rustamov

Andreas Schäfer

Stefan Scherer

Matthias Schindler

Steven Schramm

Mikhail Shifman

Edward Shuryak

Torbjörn Sjöstrand

George Sterman

Iain Stewart

Joachim Stroth

Eric Swanson

Costa Rica

Guy Téramond

Ulrike Thoma

Antonio Vairo

Danny Dyk

James Vary

Javier Virto

Marcel Vos

Christian Weiss

Markus Wobisch

Sau Wu

Christopher Young

Feng Yuan

Xingbo Zhao

Xiaorong Zhou

50 Years of quantum chromodynamics

As the number of fermion fields is increased, gauge theories are expected to undergo a transition from a QCD-like phase, characterised by confinement and chiral symmetry breaking, to a conformal phase, where the theory becomes scale-invariant at large distances. In this paper, we discuss some properties of a third phase, where spontaneously broken conformal symmetry is characterised by its Goldstone boson, the dilaton. In this phase, which we refer to as conformal dilaton phase, the massless pole corresponding to the Goldstone boson guarantees that the conformal Ward identities are satisfied in the infrared despite the other hadrons carrying mass. In particular, using renormalisation group arguments in Euclidean space, we show that for massless quarks the trace of the energy momentum tensor vanishes on all physical states as a result of the fixed point. This implies the vanishing of the gluon condensate and suggests that the scale breaking is driven by the quark condensate which has implications for the cosmological constant. In addition form factors obey an exact constraint for every hadron and are thus suitable probes to identify this phase in the context of lattice Monte Carlo studies. For this purpose we examine how the system behaves under explicit symmetry breaking, via quark-mass and finite-volume deformations. The dilaton mass shows hyperscaling under mass deformation, viz.   <math> <msub> <mi>m</mi> <mi>D</mi> </msub> <mo>=</mo> <mi>O</mi> <mfenced> <msubsup> <mi>m</mi> <mi>q</mi> <mrow> <mn>1</mn> <mo>/</mo> <mfenced> <mrow> <mn>1</mn> <mo>+</mo> <msup> <mi>γ</mi> <mo>∗</mo> </msup> </mrow> </mfenced> </mrow> </msubsup> </mfenced> </math>  $$ {m}_D=\mathcal{O}\left({m}_q^{1/\left(1+{\gamma}^{\ast}\right)}\right) $$ . This provides another clean search pattern.

Roman Zwicky

Dilaton and massive hadrons in a conformal phase

We discuss the Bayesian approach to the solution of inverse problems and apply the formalism to analyse the closure tests performed by the NNPDF collaboration. Starting from a comparison with the approach that is currently used for the determination of parton distributions (PDFs), we discuss some analytical results that can be obtained for linear problems and use these results as a guidance for more complicated non-linear problems. We show that, in the case of Gaussian distributions, the posterior probability density of the parametrized PDFs is fully determined by the results of the NNPDF fitting procedure. Building on the insight that we obtain from the analytical results, we introduce new estimators to assess the statistical faithfulness of the fit results in closure tests. These estimators are defined in data space, and can be studied analytically using the Bayesian formalism in a linear model in order to clarify their meaning. Finally we present results from a number of closure tests performed with current NNPDF methodologies. These further tests allow us to validate the NNPDF4.0 methodology and provide a quantitative comparison of the NNPDF4.0 and NNPDF3.1 methodologies. As PDFs determinations move into precision territory, the need for a careful validation of the methodology becomes increasingly important: the error bar has become the focal point of contemporary PDFs determinations. In this perspective, theoretical assumptions and other sources of error are best formulated and analysed in the Bayesian framework, which provides an ideal language to address the precision and the accuracy of current fits.

Michael Wilson

Bayesian approach to inverse problems: an application to NNPDF closure testing

We extract two nonsinglet nucleon Parton Distribution Functions from lattice QCD data for reduced Ioffe-time pseudodistributions. We perform such analysis within the NNPDF framework, considering data coming from different lattice ensembles and dis- cussing in detail the treatment of the different source of systematics involved in the fit. We introduce a recipe for taking care of systematics and use it to perform our extraction of light-cone PDFs.

Joseph Karpie

Anatoly Radyushkin

Savvas Zafeiropoulos

Neural-network analysis of Parton Distribution Functions from Ioffe-time pseudodistributions

We review recent theoretical developments concerning the definition and the renormalization of equal-time correlators that can be computed on the lattice and related to Parton Distribution Functions (PDFs) through a factorization formula. We show how these objects can be studied and analyzed within the framework of a nongauge theory, gaining insight through a one-loop computation. We use scalar field theory as a playground to revise, analyze and present the main features of these ideas, to explore their potential, and to understand their limitations for extracting PDFs. We then propose a framework that would allow to include the available lattice QCD data in a global analysis to extract PDFs.

Christopher Monahan

Notes on lattice observables for parton distributions: nongauge theories

We revise the relation between Parton Distribution Functions (PDFs) and matrix elements computable from lattice QCD, focusing on the quasi-Parton Distribution Functions (qPDFs) approach. We exploit the relation between PDFs and qPDFs in the case of the unpolarized isovector parton distribution to obtain a factorization formula relating the real and imaginary part of qPDFs matrix elements to specific nonsinglet distributions, and we propose a general framework to extract PDFs from the available lattice data, treating them on the same footing as experimental data. We implement the proposed approach within the NNPDF framework, and we study the potentiality of such lattice data in constraining PDFs, assuming some plausible scenarios to assess the unknown systematic uncertainties. We finally extract the two nonsinglet distributions involved in our analysis from a selection of the available lattice data.

Poland

Krzysztof Cichy

Parton distributions from lattice data: the nonsinglet case

We present a non-perturbative lattice study of $$\mathrm {SU}(4)$$ <math><mrow><mi>SU</mi><mo>(</mo><mn>4</mn><mo>)</mo></mrow></math>  gauge theory with two flavors of fermions in the fundamental representation and two in the two-index antisymmetric representation: a theory closely related to a minimal partial-compositeness model for physics beyond the Standard Model, that was proposed by Ferretti. We discuss the phase structure of the lattice theory and report results for various observables of interest, including the masses of states obtained from different combinations of valence fermions and the spectrum of the Dirac operator. Finally, we comment on the extension of this type of studies to other partial-compositeness models (including, in particular, one that was recently suggested by Gertov et al.), which could admit lighter top-quark partners, highlighting some key features of our lattice simulation algorithm, that make it suitable for such generalizations.

Guido Cossu

David Preti

Strong dynamics with matter in multiple representations: $$\mathrm {SU}(4)$$ <math><mrow><mi>SU</mi><mo>(</mo><mn>4</mn><mo>)</mo></mrow></math>  gauge theory with fundamental and sextet fermions

The use of QCD calculations that include the resummation of soft-collinear logarithms via parton-shower algorithms is currently not possible in PDF fits due to the high computational cost of evaluating observables for each variation of the PDFs. Unfortunately the interpolation methods that are otherwise applied to overcome this issue are not readily generalised to all-order parton-shower contributions. Instead, we propose an approximation based on training a neural network to predict the effect of varying the input parameters of a parton shower on the cross section in a given observable bin, interpolating between the variations of a training data set. This first publication focuses on providing a proof-of-principle for the method, by varying the shower dependence on αS for both a simplified shower model and a complete shower implementation for three different observables, the leading emission scale, the number of emissions and the Thrust event shape. The extension to the PDF dependence of the initial-state shower evolution that is needed for the application to PDF fits is left to a forthcoming publication.

Enrico Bothmann

Reweighting a parton shower using a neural network: the final-state case