Search

The present Report concerns the current status of the Italian Tau/Charm accelerator project and in particular discusses the issues related to the lattice design, to the accelerators systems and to the associated conventional facilities. The project aims at realizing a variable energy Flavor Factory between 1 and 4.6 GeV in the center of mass, and succeeds to the SuperB project from which it inherits most of the solutions proposed in this document. The work comes from a cooperation involving the INFN Frascati National Laboratories accelerator experts, the young newcomers, mostly engineers, of the Cabibbo Lab consortium and key collaborators from external laboratories., Comment: 150 pages

We present a method to evaluate on the lattice the leading isospin breaking effects due to both the small mass difference between the up and down quarks and the QED interaction. Our proposal is applicable in principle to any QCD+QED gauge invariant hadronic observable which can be computed on the lattice. It is based on the expansion of the path-integral in powers of the small parameters (m_d - m_u)/Lambda_{QCD} and alpha_{em}, where m_f is the renormalized quark mass and alpha_{em} the renormalized fine structure constant. In this paper we discuss in detail the general strategy of the method and the conventional, although arbitrary, separation of QCD from QED isospin breaking corrections. We obtain results for the pion mass splitting, M_{pi+}^2-M_{pi0}^2= 1.44(13)(16) x 10^3 MeV^2, for the Dashen's theorem breaking parameter epsilon_{gamma}= 0.79(18)(18), for the light quark masses, [m_d - m_u](MSbar,2 GeV)= 2.39(8)(17) MeV, [m_u / m_d](MSbar,2 GeV)= 0.50(2)(3) and for the flavour symmetry breaking parameters R and Q. We also update our previous results for the QCD isospin breaking corrections to the Kl2 decay rate and for the QCD contribution to the neutron-proton mass splitting., Comment: 39 pages, 17 figures

We propose a method to expand correlation functions with respect to the spatial components of external momenta. From the coefficients of the expansion it is possible to extract Lorentz-invariant form factors at zero spatial momentum transfer avoiding model dependent extrapolations. These objects can be profitably calculated on the lattice. We have explicitly checked the validity of the proposed procedure by considering two-point correlators with insertions of the axial current, the form factors of the semileptonic decay of pseudoscalar mesons, and the hadronic vacuum polarization tensor entering, for example, the lattice calculation of the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon., Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, published version

We present a new method to evaluate with high precision the isospin breaking effects due to the mass difference between the up and down quarks using lattice QCD. Our proposal is applicable in principle to any hadronic observable which can be computed on the lattice. It is based on the expansion of the path-integral in powers of the small parameter $m_d - m_u$. In this talk we discuss how to apply this method to compute the leading isospin breaking effects for several physical quantities of interest: the kaon masses, the kaon decay constants and the neutron-proton mass splitting., Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures. Talk presented at the XXIX International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory - Lattice 2011, July 10-16, 2011, Squaw Valley, Lake Tahoe, California. Typo corrections, accepted version

We present a new method to evaluate with high precision isospin breaking effects due to the small mass difference between the up and down quarks using lattice QCD. Our proposal is applicable in principle to any hadronic observable which can be computed on the lattice. It is based on the expansion of the path-integral in powers of the small parameter md-mu. In this paper, we apply this method to compute the leading isospin breaking effects for several physical quantities of interest: the kaon meson masses, the kaon decay constant, the form factors of semileptonic Kl3 decays and the neutron-proton mass splitting., Comment: 30 pages, 17 plots, version accepted for publication in JHEP, added few references and some comment, results unchanged

We propose a preconditioning of the Dirac operator based on the factorisation of a predefined function related to the decay of the propagator with the distance. We show that it can improve the accuracy of correlators involving heavy quarks at large distances and accelerate the computation of light quark propagators., Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures

High precision electroweak tests, such as deviations from the Standard Model expectations of the Lepton Flavor Universality breaking in K->lnu (with l= e or mu), represent a powerful tool to test the Standard Model and, hence, to constrain or obtain indirect hints of New Physics beyond it. We explore such a possibility within Supersymmetric theories. Interestingly enough, a process that in itself does not need lepton flavor violation to occur, i.e. the violation of mu-e non-universality in K_l2, proves to be quite effective in constraining not only relevant regions of SUSY models where lepton flavor is conserved, but even those where specific lepton flavor violating contributions arise. Indeed, a comparison with analogous bounds coming from tau lepton flavor violating decays shows the relevance of the measurement of R_K to probe Lepton Flavor Violation in SUSY. We outline the role and the interplay of the direct New Physics searches at the LHC with the indirect searches performed by LFU tests., Comment: 26 pages, 8 figures

We calculate, in the continuum limit of quenched lattice QCD, the form factor that enters the decay rate of the semileptonic decay B --> D* l nu. By using the step scaling method (SSM), previously introduced to handle two scale problems in lattice QCD, and by adopting flavor twisted boundary conditions we extract F(w) at finite momentum transfer and at the physical values of the heavy quark masses. Our results can be used in order to extract the CKM matrix element Vcb by the experimental decay rate without model dependent extrapolations. The value of Vcb agrees with the one obtained from the B --> D l nu channel and makes us confident that the quenched approximation well applies to these transitions., Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures

We calculate, in the continuum limit of quenched lattice QCD, the matrix elements of the heavy-heavy vector current between heavy-light pseudoscalar meson states. We present the form factors for different values of the initial and final meson masses at finite momentum transfer. In particular, we calculate the non-perturbative correction to the differential decay rate of the process B --> D l nu including the case of a non-vanishing lepton mass., Comment: 16 pages, 10 figures, version accepted for publication on JHEP

We calculate, in the continuum limit of quenched lattice QCD, the form factor that enters in the decay rate of the semileptonic decay B --> D l nu. Making use of the step scaling method (SSM), previously introduced to handle two scale problems in lattice QCD, and of flavour twisted boundary conditions we extract G(w) at finite momentum transfer and at the physical values of the heavy quark masses. Our results can be used in order to extract the CKM matrix element Vcb by the experimental decay rate without model dependent extrapolations., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication on Phys. Lett. B, corrected one typo

In this second report on our recent numerical simulations of two-flavour QCD, we provide further technical details on the simulations and describe the methods we used to extract the meson masses and decay constants from the generated ensembles of gauge fields. Among the topics covered are the choice of the DD-HMC parameters, the issue of stability, autocorrelations and the statistical error analysis. Extensive data tables are included as well as a short discussion of the quark-mass dependence in partially quenched QCD, supplementing the physics analysis that was presented in the first paper in this series., Comment: TeX source, 35 pages, figures included

Recent conceptual, algorithmic and technical advances allow numerical simulations of lattice QCD with Wilson quarks to be performed at significantly smaller quark masses than was possible before. Here we report on simulations of two-flavour QCD at sea-quark masses from slightly above to approximately 1/4 of the strange-quark mass, on lattices with up to 64x32^3 points and spacings from 0.05 to 0.08 fm. Physical sea-quark effects are clearly seen on these lattices, while the lattice effects appear to be quite small, even without O(a) improvement. A striking result is that the dependence of the pion mass on the sea-quark mass is accurately described by leading-order chiral perturbation theory up to meson masses of about 500 MeV., Comment: TeX source, 17 pages, figures included

We study the spectral gap of the Wilson--Dirac operator in two-flavour lattice QCD as a function of the lattice spacing $a$, the space-time volume $V$ and the current-quark mass $m$. It turns out that the median of the probability distribution of the gap scales proportionally to $m$ and that its width is practically equal to $a/\sqrt{V}$. In particular, numerical simulations are safe from accidental zero modes in the large-volume regime of QCD., Comment: Plain TeX source, 23 pages, 8 figures

The recent NA48/2 improvement on R_K=Gamma(K->e nu_e)/Gamma(K->mu nu_mu) emphasizes the role of K_l2 decays in probing the mu-e universality. Supersymmetric (SUSY) extensions of the Standard Model can exhibit mu-e non-universal contributions. Their origin is twofold: those deriving from lepton flavor conserving couplings are subdominant with respect to those arising from lepton flavor violating (LFV) sources. We show that mu-e non-universality in K_l2 is quite effective in constraining relevant regions of SUSY models with LFV (for instance, supergravities with a see-saw mechanism for neutrino masses). A comparison with analogous bounds coming from tau LFV decays proves the relevance of the measurement of R_K to probe LFV in SUSY., Comment: v2: 5 pages, 1 figure. Comments and 2 references added

We present the current status of APENet, our custom 3-dimensional interconnect architecture for PC clusters environment. We report some micro-benchmarks on our recent large installation as well as new developments on the software and hardware side. The low level device driver has been reworked by following a custom hardware RDMA architecture, and MPICH-VMI, an implementation of the MPI library, has been ported to APENet., Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, poster presented at Lattice 2005 (Algorithms and Machines), Dublin, July 25-30

Developed by the APE group, APENet is a new high speed, low latency, 3-dimensional interconnect architecture optimized for PC clusters running LQCD-like numerical applications. The hardware implementation is based on a single PCI-X 133MHz network interface card hosting six indipendent bi-directional channels with a peak bandwidth of 676 MB/s each direction. We discuss preliminary benchmark results showing exciting performances similar or better than those found in high-end commercial network systems., Comment: Lattice2004(machines), 3 pages, 4 figures

We give a continuum limit value of the lowest moment of a twist-2 operator in pion states from non-perturbative lattice calculations. We find that the non-perturbatively obtained renormalization group invariant matrix element is _{RGI} = 0.179(11), which corresponds to ^{MSbar}(2 GeV) = 0.246(15). In obtaining the renormalization group invariant matrix element, we have controlled important systematic errors that appear in typical lattice simulations, such as non-perturbative renormalization, finite size effects and effects of a non-vanishing lattice spacing. The crucial limitation of our calculation is the use of the quenched approximation. Another question that remains not fully clarified is the chiral extrapolation of the numerical data., Comment: 26 pages, 10 figures, v2: final version, accepted for publication in EPJC

The adoption of two distinct boundary conditions for two fermions species on a finite lattice allows to deal with arbitrary relative momentum between the two particle species, in spite of the momentum quantization rule due to a limited physical box size. We test the physical significance of this topological momentum by checking in the continuum limit the validity of the expected energy-momentum dispersion relations., Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures; references added; no changes in text or results; version accepted for pubblication in Phys. Lett. B

We investigate finite size effects of the pion matrix element of the non-singlet, twist-2 operator corresponding to the average momentum of non-singlet quark densities. Using the quenched approximation, they come out to be surprisingly large when compared to the finite size effects of the pion mass. As a consequence, simulations of corresponding nucleon matrix elements could be affected by finite size effects even stronger which could lead to serious systematic uncertainties in their evaluation., Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures; v2: version accepted for publication in Physics Letters B, minor changes, references updated

Recent data on the Nachtmann moments of the unpolarized proton structure function F2p, obtained at low momentum transfer with the CLAS detector at Jefferson Lab, are interpreted in terms of the dominance of the elastic coupling of the virtual photon with extended substructures inside the proton. The CLAS data exhibit a new type of scaling behavior and the resulting scaling function can be interpreted as a constituent form factor consistent with the elastic nucleon data. A constituent size of ~ 0.2 - 0.3 fm is obtained., Comment: o appear in Nucl. Phys. A as Proc. of the XVII Int'l IUPAP Conf. on Few-Body Problems in Physics, Durham (North Carolina, USA), June 5-10, 2003

We compute non-perturbatively the evolution of the twist-2 operators corresponding to the average momentum of non-singlet quark densities. The calculation is based on a finite-size technique, using the Schr\"odinger Functional, in quenched QCD. We find that a careful choice of the boundary conditions, is essential, for such operators, to render possible the computation. As a by-product we apply the non-perturbatively computed renormalization constants to available data of bare matrix elements between nucleon states., Comment: Lattice2003(Matrix); 3 pages, 3 figures. Talk by A.S

We report on recent results for the pion matrix element of the twist-2 operator corresponding to the average momentum of non-singlet quark densities. For the first time finite volume effects of this matrix element are investigated and come out to be surprisingly large. We use standard Wilson and non-perturbatively improved clover actions in order to control better the extrapolation to the continuum limit. Moreover, we compute, fully non-perturbatively, the renormalization group invariant matrix element, which allows a comparison with experimental results in a broad range of energy scales. Finally, we discuss the remaining uncertainties, the extrapolation to the chiral limit and the quenched approximation., Comment: Lattice2003(matrix), 3 pages, 4 figures

We compute the decay constants for the heavy--light pseudoscalar mesons in the quenched approximation and continuum limit of lattice QCD. Within the Schrodinger Functional framework, we make use of the step scaling method, which has been previously introduced in order to deal with the two scale problem represented by the coexistence of a light and a heavy quark. The continuum extrapolation gives us a value $f_{B_s} = 192(6)(4)$ MeV for the $B_s$ meson decay constant and $f_{D_s} = 240(5)(5)$ MeV for the $D_s$ meson., Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures, revised version accepted for pubblication in Nucl. Phys. B

We compute charm and bottom quark masses in the quenched approximation and in the continuum limit of lattice QCD. We make use of a step scaling method, previously introduced to deal with two scale problems, that allows to take the continuum limit of the lattice data. We determine the RGI quark masses and make the connection to the MSbar scheme. The continuum extrapolation gives us a value m_b^{RGI} = 6.73(16) GeV for the b-quark and m_c^{RGI} = 1.681(36) GeV for the c-quark, corresponding respectively to m_b^{MSbar}(m_b^{MSbar}) = 4.33(10) GeV and m_c^{MSbar}(m_c^{MSbar}) = 1.319(28) GeV. The latter result, in agreement with current estimates, is for us a check of the method. Using our results on the heavy quark masses we compute the mass of the Bc meson, M_{Bc} = 6.46(15) GeV., Comment: 29 pages, 9 figures, version accepted for publication in Nucl. Phys. B

We discuss the usage of continuous external momenta for computing renormalization factors as needed to renormalize operator matrix elements. These kind of external momenta are encoded in special boundary conditions for the fermion fields. The method allows to compute certain renormalization factors on the lattice that would have been very difficult, if not impossible, to compute with standard methods. As a result we give the renormalization group invariant step scaling function for a twist-2 operator corresponding to the average momentum of non-singlet quark densities., Comment: 28 pages, 10 figures

We present the current status of the apeNEXT project. Aim of this project is the development of the next generation of APE machines which will provide multi-teraflop computing power. Like previous machines, apeNEXT is based on a custom designed processor, which is specifically optimized for simulating QCD. We discuss the machine design, report on benchmarks, and give an overview on the status of the software development., Comment: 3 pages, Lattice2002(machines). Replaced for adding forgotten author

We discuss a novel method to calculate fB on the lattice based on the study of the dependence of finite size effects upon the heavy quark mass of flavoured mesons and on a non--perturbative recursive finite size technique. This method avoids the systematic errors related to extrapolations from the static limit or to the tuning of the coefficients of effective Lagrangian and the results admit an extrapolation to the continuum limit. We show the results of a first estimate at finite lattice spacing, but close to the continuum limit, giving fB = 170(11)(5)(22)MeV. We also obtain fBs = 192(9)(5)(24)MeV. The first error is statistical, the second is our estimate of the systematic error from the method and the third the systematic error from the specific approximations adopted in this first exploratory calculation. The method can be generalized to two--scale problems in lattice QCD., Comment: 3 pages, 2 figures, Lattice2002(heavyquark)

In this paper we extend the estimate of the value of the lattice spacing a in units of the r0 scale at values of the bare coupling larger than those available. By using results from the computation of the renormalised coupling in the Schroedinger functional formalism we find that from beta \simeq 7 onward the behaviour predicted by asymptotic freedom at tree loop describes very well the data if a value of (r0 Lambda) slightly lower then the latest available is used. We also show that, by sticking to the current value, an effective four loop term can describe as well the data. The systematic relative error on the lattice spacing induced by the choice of the procedure is between 1% and 3% for 6.92 < beta < 8.5., Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure

A novel method to calculate f_B on the lattice is introduced, based on the study of the dependence of finite size effects upon the heavy quark mass of flavoured mesons and on a non-perturbative recursive finite size technique. We avoid the systematic errors related to extrapolations from the static limit or to the tuning of the coefficients of effective Lagrangian and the results admit an extrapolation to the continuum limit. We perform a first estimate at finite lattice spacing, but close to the continuum limit, giving f_B = 170(11)(5)(22) MeV. We also obtain f_{B_s} = 192(9)(5)(24) MeV. The first error is statistical, the second is our estimate of the systematic error from the method and the third the systematic error from the specific approximations adopted in this first exploratory calculation. The method can be generalized to two--scale problems in lattice QCD., Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures. Accepted for publication by Phys.Lett.B. Revised version, discussion on systematic errors added, results unchanged

A non perturbative computation of the evolution of singlet parton densities without gauge--fixing requires a gauge invariant gluon source operator. Within the Schr\"odinger Functional scheme (SF), such a source can be defined in terms of path ordered products of gauge links, connected to the time boundaries. In this paper we adopt this definition and perform a one loop lattice computation of the renormalization constants of the twist--2 operators that correspond to the second moment of singlet parton densities. This calculation fixes the connection between the lattice SF scheme where a non perturbative evaluation of the absolute normalization of singlet parton densities can be made at low energy and the $\bar{MS}$ scheme where one can extract the experimental values., Comment: 38 pages, 16 figures

APENEXT is a new generation APE processor, optimized for LGT simulations. The project follows the basic ideas of previous APE machines and develops simple and cheap parallel systems with multi T-Flops processing power. This paper describes the main features of this new development., Comment: Lattice2001(plenary/machinestatus), 4 pages, 1 eps figure

This paper presents the status of the APEmille project, which is essentially completed, as far as machine development and construction is concerned. Several large installations of APEmille are in use for physics production runs leading to many new results presented at this conference. This paper briefly summarizes the APEmille architecture, reviews the status of the installations and presents some performance figures for physics codes., Comment: Lattice2001(algorithms), 3 pages, 1 eps figure

A renormalization group transformation suitable for spin glass models and, more generally, for disordered models, is presented. The procedure is non-standard in both the nature of the additional interactions and the coarse graining transformation, that is performed on the overlap probability measure (which is clearly non-Gibbsian). Universality classes are thus naturally defined on a large set of models, going from $\Z_2$ and Gaussian spin glasses to Ising and fully frustrated models, and others., Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures

We present the results of a non-perturbative determination of the pion matrix element of the twist-2 operator corresponding to the average momentum of non-singlet quark densities. The calculation is made within the Schroedinger functional scheme. We report the results of simulations done with the standard Wilson action and with the non-perturbatively improved clover action and we show that their ratio correctly extrapolates, in the continuum limit, to a value compatible with the residual correction factor expected from perturbation theory., Comment: LaTeX, 10 pages, 5 figures

We compute, within the Schr\"odinger functional scheme, a renormalization group invariant renormalization constant for the first moment of the non-singlet parton distribution function. The matching of the results of our non-perturbative calculation with the ones from hadronic matrix elements allows us to obtain eventually a renormalization group invariant average momentum of non-singlet parton densities, which can be translated into a preferred scheme at a specific scale., Comment: Latex2e file, 4 figures, 12 pages

We present evidence for the universality of the continuum limit of the scale dependence of the renormalization constant associated with the operator corresponding to the average momentum of non-singlet parton densities. The evidence is provided by a non-perturbative computation in quenched lattice QCD using the Schr\"odinger Functional scheme. In particular, we show that the continuum limit is independent of the form of the fermion action used, i.e. the Wilson action and the non-perturbatively improved clover action., Comment: Latex2e file, 2 figures, 9 pages

We determine non-perturbatively the anomalous dimensions of the second moment of non-singlet parton densities from a continuum extrapolation of results computed in quenched lattice simulations at different lattice spacings. We use a Schr\"odinger functional scheme for the definition of the renormalization constant of the relevant twist-2 operator. In the region of renormalized couplings explored, we obtain a good description of our data in terms of a three-loop expression for the anomalous dimensions. The calculation can be used for exploring values of the coupling where a perturbative expansion of the anomalous dimensions is not valid a priori. Moreover, our results provide the non-perturbative renormalization constant that connects hadron matrix elements on the lattice, renormalized at a low scale, with the experimental results, renormalized at much higher energy scales., Comment: Latex2e file, 6 figures, 25 pages, Corrected errors on linear fit in table 2 and discussion on anomalous dimension of f_1

We define, within the Schroedinger functional scheme (SF), the matrix elements of the twist-2 operators corresponding to the first two moments of non-singlet parton densities. We perform a lattice one-loop calculation that fixes the relation between the SF scheme and other common schemes and shows the main source of lattice artefacts. This calculation sets the basis for a numerical evaluation of the non-perturbative running of parton densities., Comment: Latex file, 4 figures, 15 pages

We make a comparison between our quenched-hadron-spectroscopy results for the non-perturbatively-improved Wilson action and the corresponding unimproved case, at beta=6.2 on the same set of gauge configurations. Within our statistics, we find a sizeable improvement for the baryon spectrum and for the determination of the strange-quark mass., Comment: 8 pages, including 3 postscript figures; CERN-TH/98-110 preprint

We make a quenched lattice simulation of hadron spectroscopy at beta=6.2 with the Wilson action non-perturbatively improved. With respect to the unimproved case, the estimate of the lattice spacing is less influenced by the choice of input hadron masses. We study also the effects of using an improved quark mass in the fits to the dependence of hadron masses upon quark masses., Comment: 12 pages, including 5 postscript figures

By imposing axial and vector Ward identities for flavour-non-singlet currents, we estimate in the quenched approximation the non-perturbative values of combinations of improvement coefficients, which appear in the expansion around the massless case of the renormalization constants of axial, pseudoscalar, vector, scalar non-singlet currents and of the renormalized mass. These coefficients are relevant for the completion of the improvement programme to O(a) of such operators. The simulations are performed with a clover Wilson action non-perturbatively improved., Comment: 9 pages, latex file + 4 eps files of figures

Flavour changing top decays $t \to c Z^0, t \to c g$ and $t \to c \gamma$ are predicted with invisible rates within the standard model and may represent a window on new physics. We consider these processes in supersymmetric extensions of the standard model and we show that observable rates can be obtained only if the SUSY breaking is non universal and flavour dependent., Comment: 18 pages, latex files, text + 8 eps files of figures

We study dynamical fermion effects in lattice QCD at finite temperature. The method adopted is basically the extrapolation from negative flavour numbers already tested at zero temperature and based on the simulation of local bosonic theories, with an essential difference. With an appropriate choice of the boundary conditions on the bosonic fields, called ``bermions'', it is possible to separate the $Z_3$ breaking contribution of fermion loops to the effective action from the one conserving $Z_3$: the former is simulated exactly at a fixed positive and even flavour number, while the extrapolation from negative flavour numbers is made only on the $Z_3$ invariant part of the action. We test this approach by comparing our results on a $16^3\times 2$ lattice with those from a hopping parameter expansion and our results on a $16^3\times 4$ lattice with those of direct Monte Carlo simulations including the fermion determinant., Comment: 14 pages, latex, 5 figures

We perform an extrapolation from negative to positive flavour numbers of full QCD lattice estimates of the $\eta'$ mass. The extrapolations are carried out by keeping $\rho$ and $\pi$ masses at fixed values. We find an $\eta'$ -- $\pi$ splitting which shows a flavour dependence consistent with the Witten Veneziano formula based on the $U(1)$ anomaly. The quantitative splitting is consistent with the estimates made in the quenched approximation., Comment: 22 pages, uuencoded latex files, text + 8 figures

We study the dynamical flavour dependence of the lattice estimates of the heavy meson decay constant in the static limit. We perform the analysis by considering negative flavour numbers and by extrapolating the results to positive values. We observe a sizeable flavour dependence which increases the quenched estimates., Comment: 11 pages, uuencoded latex files, text + 2 figures

A method based on the Monte Carlo inversion of the Dirac operator on the lattice provides low noise results for the correlations entering the definition of the heavy meson decay constant in the static limit. The method is complementary to the usual method of smeared sources, avoids the systematic error arising from optimizing the size of the smearing volume and is more efficient for the values of lattice parameters that we have explored., Comment: 11 pages, uuencoded ps file, 2 figures included

We calculate the effects of including dynamical fermion loops in the lattice QCD estimates of meson decay constants, by extrapolating the results from negative flavour numbers after a suitable matching of the pion and rho mass. For moderately light quarks, the values of the decay constants not corrected for the renormalization constants increase with respect to their quenched values., Comment: 9 pages, uuencoded PS file, 2 figures included

We estimate the effects of dynamical fermions by extrapolating to positive flavour numbers the results from negative values obtained by adding to the pure gauge sector a fermion action where the fields obey a Bose statistics: the bermions., Comment: 21 pages, uuencoded PS file, 11 figures included

We propose to replace ordinary propagators in lattice operator correlations entering the determination of hadron masses with space-time smeared propagators. These are defined as the inverse of the quadratic operator in the fermion action times its hermitian conjugate. We obtain a cleaner determination of hadron masses, comparable to the effect of using smeared operators., Comment: PS file replaced with uuencoded PS file, 9 pages with 5 figures included

The universality of the continuum limit and the applicability of renormalized perturbation theory are tested in the SU(2) lattice gauge theory by computing two different non-perturbatively defined running couplings over a large range of energies. The lattice data (which were generated on the powerful APE computers at Rome II and DESY) are extrapolated to the continuum limit by simulating sequences of lattices with decreasing spacings. Our results confirm the expected universality at all energies to a precision of a few percent. We find, however, that perturbation theory must be used with care when matching different renormalized couplings at high energies., Comment: 33 pages, 172 kB uu-tar-compressed ps-file