The Decay Constants Fb And Fd From Three Flavor Lattice Qcd PDF Download

Recent calculations of the decay constants in lattice QCD are reviewed and compared to experiment. The decay constants are tabulated in Table 2 and plotted in Figure 2. The most precise f{sub Ds} value is from HPQCD. It is about 2[sigma] higher than their previous result. The change is due to a more precise determination of the lattice spacing and better tuning of the quark masses. They have updated f{sub D+} using the new f{sub Ds} and their older f{sub Ds}/f{sub D+} ratio which is expected to be less sensitive to mistuning of the lattice spacing and masses. The preliminary FNAL/MILC f{sub Ds} value is about 1.4[sigma] higher than the HPQCD result but with a larger error. The f{sub D+} values, however, are in better agreement. FNAL/MILC expect to finalize their results once the charm quark mass tuning is complete. The two flavor ETM f{sub D+} value is about 1.6[sigma] lower than the HPQCD value while f{sub Ds} is in better agreement. It is not clear how much of the difference is from neglecting the strange sea quark, given the errors. Lattice and experiment differ most significantly for f{sub Ds}. Figure 3 shows Kronfeld's (updated) history of f{sub Ds}. The yellow bands depict the evolution of the experimental average while the three-flavor lattice average is shown in grey. The right-hand scale and green lines show the differences in sigmas. The 3.8[sigma] discrepancy around t ≈ 2 provoked the 'f{sub Ds} puzzle'. That discrepancy has now shrunk to 1.6[sigma]. Future lattice and experiment will be decisive.