Effective Field Theory for Baryon Masses

Mass is one of the most fundamental properties of matter. Understanding its origin has long been a central topic in physics. According to modern particle and nuclear physics, the key to this issue is to understand the origin of nucleon (lowest-lying baryon) masses from the nonperturbative strong interaction. With the development of computing technologies, lattice Quantum Chromodynamics simulations provide great opportunities to understand the origin of mass from first principles. However, due to the limit of computational resources, lattice baryon masses have to be extrapolated to the physical point. Chiral perturbation theory, as an effective field theory of low-energy QCD, provides a model independent method to understand nonperturbative strong interactions and to guide the lattice multiple extrapolations. Therefore, we present the interplay between lattice QCD and chiral perturbation theory to systematically study the baryon masses. In the SU(3) sector, we study the lowest-lying octet baryon masses in covariant baryon chiral perturbation theory with the extended-on-mass-shell scheme up to next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order. In order to consider lattice artifacts from finite lattice box sizes, finite-volume corrections to lattice baryon masses are estimated. By constructing chiral perturbation theory for Wilson fermions, we also obtain the discretization effects of finite lattice spacings. We perform a systematic study of all the latest n_f=2+1 lattice data with chiral extrapolation (m_q → m_q^phys.), finite-volume corrections (V→∞), and continuum extrapolation (a→0). We find that finite-volume corrections are important to describe the present lattice baryon masses. On the other hand, the discretization effects of lattice simulations up to O(a²) are of the order 1% when a≈0.1 fm and can be safely ignored. Furthermore, we find that the lattice data from different collaborations are consistent with each other, though their setups are quite different. Using the chiral formulas of octet baryon masses, we accurately predict the octet baryon sigma terms via the Feynman-Hellmann theorem by analyzing the latest high-statistics lattice QCD data. Three key factors --- lattice scale setting effects, chiral expansion truncations and strong-interaction isospin-breaking effects --- are taken into account for the first time. In particular, the predicted pion- and strangeness-nucleon sigma terms, sigma_πN=55(1)(4) MeV and sigma_sN =27(27)(4) MeV, are consistent with the most latest lattice results of nucleon sigma terms. With the success in the study of octet baryon masses, we also present a systematic analysis of the lowest-lying decuplet baryon masses in covariant baryon chiral perturbation theory by simultaneously fitting n_f=2+1 lattice data. A good description for both the lattice and the experimental decuplet baryon masses is achieved. The convergence of covariant baryon chiral perturbation theory in the SU(3) sector is discussed. Furthermore, the pion- and strangeness-sigma terms for decuplet baryons are predicted by the Feynman-Hellmann theorem. In addition, understanding the excitation spectrum of hadrons is still a challenge, especially the first positive-parity nucleon resonance, the Roper(1440). The baryon spectrum shows a very unusual pattern that the Roper state is lower than the negative-parity state N(1535). Most lattice studies suggest that the Roper mass exhibits much larger chiral-log effects than that of the nucleon. Therefore, we calculate the Roper mass in chiral perturbation theory by explicitly including the nucleon/Delta contributions. The mixed contributions between nucleon and Roper to the baryon masses are taken into account for the first time. A first analysis of lattice Roper masses is presented.