We present a lattice QCD calculation of the up, down, strange and charm quark masses performed using the gauge configurations produced by the European Twisted Mass Collaboration with Nf=2+1+1 dynamical quarks, which include in the sea, besides two light mass degenerate quarks, also the strange and charm quarks with masses close to their physical values. The simulations are based on a unitary setup for the two light quarks and on a mixed action approach for the strange and charm quarks. The analysis uses data at three values of the lattice spacing and pion masses in the range 210–450 MeV, allowing for accurate continuum limit and controlled chiral extrapolation. The quark mass renormalization is carried out non-perturbatively using the RI′-MOM method. The results for the quark masses converted to the MS¯ scheme are: mud(2 GeV)=3.70(17) MeV, ms(2 GeV)=99.6(4.3) MeV and mc(mc)=1.348(46) GeV. We obtain also the quark mass ratios ms/mud=26.66(32) and mc/ms=11.62(16). By studying the mass splitting between the neutral and charged kaons and using available lattice results for the electromagnetic contributions, we evaluate mu/md=0.470(56), leading to mu=2.36(24) MeV and md=5.03(26) MeV.

We present an overview of recent developments in the tmLQCD software suite. We summarise the features of the code, including actions and operators implemented. In particular, we discuss the optimisation efforts for modern architectures using the Blue Gene/Q system as an example.

We study the SU(3) gauge theory with Nf=12 flavors in the fundamental representation by use of lattice simulations with staggered fermions. With a non-improved action we observe a chiral zero-temperature (bulk) transition separating a region at weak coupling, where chiral symmetry is realized, from a region at strong coupling where chiral symmetry is broken. With improved actions, a more complicated pattern emerges, and in particular two first order transitions in the chiral limit appear. We observe that at sufficiently strong coupling the next-to-nearest neighbor terms of the improved lattice action are no longer irrelevant and can indeed modify the pattern observed without improvement. Baryon number conservation can be realized in an unusual way, allowing for an otherwise prohibited oscillating term in the pseudoscalar channel. We discuss the phenomenon by means of explicit examples borrowed from statistical mechanics. Finally, these observations can also be useful when simulating other strongly coupled systems on the lattice, such as graphene.

In this contribution, a first look at simulations using maximally twisted mass Wilson fermions at the physical point is presented. A lattice action including clover and twisted mass terms is presented and the Monte Carlo histories of one run with two mass-degenerate flavours at a single lattice spacing are shown. Measurements from the light and heavy-light pseudoscalar sectors are compared to previous $N_f = 2$ results and their phenomenological values. Finally, the strategy for extending simulations to $N_f = 2 + 1 + 1$ is outlined.

An overview is given of the lessons learned from the introduction of multi-threading using OpenMP in tmLQCD. In particular, programming style, performance measurements, cache misses, scaling, thread distribution for hybrid codes, race conditions, the overlapping of communication and computation and the measurement and reduction of certain overheads are discussed. Performance measurements and sampling profiles are given for different implementations of the hopping matrix computational kernel.

This note is based on our recent results on QCD with varying number of flavors of fundamental fermions. Topics include unusual, strong dynamics in the preconformal, confining phase, the physics of the conformal window and the role of ab-initio lattice simulations in establishing our current knowledge of the phases of many flavor QCD.

We present an update on our ongoing study on the nature of the bulk transition observed at strong coupling in the SU(3) gauge theory with N_f = 12 flavors in the fundamental representation. We show evidence that there is a first order chiral symmetry breaking bulk transition separating a region at weak coupling where chiral symmetry is restored from a region at strong coupling where chiral symmetry is broken. We also discuss hints of a separate partial restoration of U_A(1) at weaker coupling. The results are in agreement with restoration of conformality in non abelian gauge theories as the number of flavors is increased.

The recently introduced gradient flow suggests a way to obtain normalized gauge field quantities from lattice QCD. It is not only useful to calculate quantities like the renormalized topological susceptibility, but also allows for a very precise scale setting using the renormalized energy density. We will use this approach to investigate these quantities in detail on gauge field ensembles produced with dynamical Wilson twisted mass fermions. Attention will be paid to the impact of lattice artifacts, quark mass and finite volume effects on the determination of the scale.

Here we report a photochemical and kinetic study of the thermal relaxation reaction of a double azobenzene system, in which two azobenzene photochromic units are connected via a phenyl ring. Upon UV irradiation, three thermally unstable isomers are formed. Kinetic studies using arrayed 1H-NMR spectroscopy revealed four distinct barriers for the thermal reversion to the stable isomer. The double isomerised Z,Z-2 can revert thermally to the E,E-2 isomer via either of two isomerisation pathways. The thermal Z to E isomerisations are not significantly affected by the state of the neighbouring azo-switching unit in the meta position. These findings are supported by quantum chemical calculations on the thermal Z to E isomerisation.

We report on the spectrum of the SU(3) gauge theory with twelve flavours in the fundamental representation of the gauge group. We isolate distinctive features of the hadronic phase - the one proper of QCD at zero temperature - and the so called conformal phase. The latter should emerge at sufficiently large Nf and before the loss of asymptotic freedom. In particular, we analyse available lattice data for the spectrum of Nf=12 and include a comparison with results with Nf=16; the latter theory, predicted by the perturbative beta-function to develop an IRFP and therefore be in the conformal phase, can serve as a paradigm for the study of theories in the conformal window. Our analysis suggests that the theory with twelve flavours is in the conformal window, possibly close to its lower boundary.

We introduce Lemon, an MPI parallel I/O library that is intended to allow for efficient parallel I/O of both binary and metadata on massively parallel architectures. Motivated by the demands of the Lattice Quantum Chromodynamics community, the data is stored in the SciDAC Lattice QCD Interchange Message Encapsulation format. This format allows for storing large blocks of binary data and corresponding metadata in the same file. Even if designed for LQCD needs, this format might be useful for any application with this type of data profile. The design, implementation and application of Lemon are described. We conclude with presenting the excellent scaling properties of Lemon on state of the art high performance computers.

We study QCD with twelve light flavors at intermediate values of the bare lattice coupling. We contrast the results for the order parameter with different theoretical models motivated by the physics of the Goldstone phase and of the symmetric phase, and we perform a model independent analysis of the meson spectrum inspired by universal properties of chiral symmetry. Our analysis favors chiral symmetry restoration.

We present results of lattice QCD simulations with mass-degenerate up and down and mass-split strange and charm (Nf=2+1+1) dynamical quarks using Wilson twisted mass fermions at maximal twist. The tuning of the strange and charm quark masses is performed at three values of the lattice spacing a~0.06 fm, a~0.08 fm and a~0.09 fm with lattice sizes ranging from L~1.9 fm to L~3.9 fm. We perform a preliminary study of SU(2) chiral perturbation theory by combining our lattice data from these three values of the lattice spacing.

We explore the nature of the bulk transition observed at strong coupling in the SU(3) gauge theory with N f = 12 fermions in the fundamental representation. The transition separates a weak coupling chirally symmetric phase from a strong coupling chirally broken phase and is compatible with the scenario where conformality is restored by increasing the flavour content of a non abelian gauge theory. We explore the intriguing possibility that the observed bulk transition is associated with the occurrence of an ultraviolet fixed point (UVFP) at strong coupling, where a new theory emerges in the continuum.

We study the spectrum of the hermitian Wilson Dirac operator in the epsilon-regime of QCD in the quenched approximation and compare it to predictions from Wilson Random Matrix Theory. Using the distributions of single eigenvalues in the microscopic limit and for specific topological charge sectors, we examine the possibility of extracting estimates of the low energy constants which parametrise the lattice artefacts in Wilson chiral perturbation theory. The topological charge of the field configurations is obtained from a field theoretical definition as well as from the flow of eigenvalues of the hermitian Wilson Dirac operator, and we determine the extent to which the two are correlated.