A novel method for evaluating correlation functions in lattice hadron spectroscopy
We describe a new approach for evaluating hadronic correlation functions which combines Laplacian-Heaviside quark smearing with a stochastic estimator of quark propagators. This method utilizes noise dilution in a new way to reduce the variance in correlators. The efficacy of the new algorithm is demonstrated on a number of systems, including disconnected diagrams and multi-hadron correlators, on a small lattice where comparisons with the results obtained with exactly determined quark propagators are possible. On larger lattice volumes, the use of exact propagators becomes prohibitively expensive, while the stochastic method is still computationally feasible.

title: The ﬁnite volume spectrum of excited states from lattice QCD simulations
abstract: We present results for the spectrum of excited mesons obtained from temporal correlations of spatially-extended single-hadron and multi-hadron operators computed in lattice QCD. The stochastic LapH algorithm is implemented on anisotropic, dynamical lattices for isovectors for pions of mass 390 MeV. A large correlation matrix with single-particle and two-particle probe operators is diagonalized to identify resonances. The masses of excited states in the I = 1,S = 0,T 1u channel as well as the mixing of single and multi-particle probe operators are presented.

title: Can the nearly conformal sextet gauge model hide the Higgs impostor
abstract: New results are reported from large scale lattice simulations of a frequently discussed strongly interacting gauge theory with a fermion flavor doublet in the two-index symmetric (sextet) representation of the SU(3) color gauge group. We find that the chiral condensate and the mass spectrum of the sextet model are consistent with chiral symmetry breaking in the limit of vanishing fermion mass. In contrast, sextet fermion mass deformations of spectral properties are not consistent with leading conformal scaling behavior near the critical surface of a conformal theory. A recent paper could not resolve the conformal fixed point of the gauge coupling from the slowly walking scenario of a very small nearly vanishing β -function (DeGrand et al.  ). It is argued that overall consistency with our new results is resolved if the sextet model is close to the conformal window, staying outside with a very small non-vanishing β -function. The model would exhibit then the simplest composite Higgs mechanism leaving open the possibility of a light scalar state with quantum numbers of the Higgs impostor. It would emerge as the pseudo-Goldstone dilaton state from spontaneous symmetry breaking of scale invariance. We will argue that even without association with the dilaton, the scalar Higgs-like state can be light very close to the conformal window. A new Higgs project of sextet lattice simulations is outlined to resolve these important questions.

title: Baryon spectrum in the composite sextet model
abstract: The strongly coupled near-conformal gauge theory with two fermion flavors in the two-index symmetric (sextet) representation of SU(3) is potentially a minimal realization of the composite Higgs mechanism. We discuss the staggered fermion construction of baryonic states, present our first numerical results and comment on implications for dark matter.

title: Pion-pion scattering phase shifts with the stochastic LapH method
abstract: Progress in calculating scattering phase shifts on $N_f=2+1$ anisotropic clover Wilson lattices is described. The stochastic LapH method facilitates computations in large volumes and for light pion masses. Results for pion masses down to 240 MeV, keeping $m_\pi L > 4$, are presented.

title: Twelve fundamental and two sextet fermion flavors
abstract: We report extended simulation results and their new analysis in two important gauge theories with twelve fermion flavors in the fundamental SU(3) color representation and two fermions in the sextet representation. We probe the $N_f=12$ model with respect to the conformal window using mass deformed finite size scaling (FSS) theory driven by the fermion mass anomalous dimension. Our results at fixed gauge coupling show problems with the conformal scenario of the $N_f=12$ model. In the sextet model with two flavors, under the conformal hypothesis, we determine large values for the anomalous fermion mass dimension with $\gamma\geq 1$. Since our sextet analysis favors the chiral symmetry breaking hypothesis without conformality, the large exponent $\gamma$ could play an important role in understanding the composite Higgs mechanism. The new results discussed here include our extended data sets and exceed what was presented at the conference.

title: Quarkonia and quark drip lines in a quark-gluon plasma
abstract: We extract the Q-Q potential by using the thermodynamic quantities obtained in lattice gauge calculations. The potential is tested and found to give spontaneous dissociation temperatures that agree well with those from lattice gauge spectral function analysis. Using such a Q-Q potential, we examine the quarkonium states in a quark-gluon plasma and determine the "quark drip lines" which separate the region of bound color-singlet Q Q states from the unbound region. The characteristics of the quark drip lines severely limit the region of possible bound Q Q states with light quarks to temperatures close to the phase transition temperature. Bound quarkonia with light quarks may exist very near the phase transition temperature if their effective quark mass is of the order of 300-400 MeV and higher.

title: Wigner function of produced particles in string fragmentation
abstract: I show that quantum chromodynamics in four dimensions (QCD4) with transverse confinement can be approximately compactified into QCD2 with a transverse quark mass m{sub T} that is obtained by solving a set of coupled transverse eigenvalue equations. In the limits of a strong coupling and a large number of flavors, QCD2 further admits Schwinger QED2-type bosonized solutions. I therefore examine phenomenologically the space-time dynamics of particles produced in string fragmentation by studying the Wigner function of bosons produced in Schwinger QED2, which mimics many features of string fragmentation in quantum chromodynamics. I find that particles with momenta in different regions of the rapidity plateau are produced at the initial moment of string fragmentation as a quark pulls away from an antiquark at high energies, in contrast to classical depictions of string fragmentation with longitudinal space-momentum-time ordering.

title: Molecular states of heavy quark mesons
abstract: We explore molecular states of two open heavy-quark mesons (Q qbar)-(qbar Q) in a quark-based model in terms of a four-body non-relativistic Hamiltonian with pairwise effective interactions. Molecular states are found in the combinations of {D, D*, B, B*} with {Dbar, Dbar*, Bbar, Bbar*}, including a weakly-bound D-Dbar* state near the threshold which may be qualitatively identified as the 3872 state observed recently by the Belle Collaboration.

title: A Model for Neutrino Masses and Dark Matter with the Discrete Gauge Symmetry
abstract: A simple renormalizable U(1) gauge model is constructed to explain the smallness of the active neutrino masses and provide the stable cold dark matter candidate simultaneously. The local U(1) symmetry is assumed to be spontaneously broken by a scalar field around the TeV scale. The active neutrino masses are then generated at one-loop level. This model contains several cold dark matter candidates whose stability is guaranteed by a residue discrete gauge $Z_2$ symmetry a la the Krauss-Wilczek mechanism. Unlike the other dark matter models, no further global discrete or continuous symmetry is introduced. Moreover, all the new degrees of freedom beyond the Standard Model acquire their masses only after the spontaneous breaking of U(1) thus they could be probed at or below the TeV scale. The possible cosmological and phenomenological consequences are briefly discussed.

title: Potential Models and Lattice Gauge Current-Current Correlators
abstract: We compare current-current correlators in lattice gauge calculations with correlators in different potential models for a pseudoscalar charmonium in the quark-gluon plasma. An important ingredient in the evaluation of the current-current correlator in the potential model is the basic principle that, out of the set of continuum states, only resonance states and Gamow states with lifetimes of sufficient magnitudes can propagate as composite objects and can contribute to the current-current correlator. When the contributions from the bound states and continuum states are properly treated, the potential model current-current correlators obtained with the potential proposed by Wong [ (2005)] are consistent with the lattice gauge correlators. The proposed potential model thus gains support to be a useful tool to complement lattice gauge calculations for the study of QQ{bar} states at high temperatures.