Electromagnetic pion mass splitting using a Pauli-Villars-regulated photon propagator
Abstract
We present a lattice QCD calculation of the charged-neutral pion mass splitting at using a recently proposed framework based on a Pauli-Villars (PV) regulated photon propagator defined in the continuum and infinite-volume limit, with acting as an additional UV cutoff scale. The use of this propagator avoids power-law finite-volume effects, allowing for a straightforward treatment of the infinite-volume limit. We perform the calculation using CLS ensembles, studying finite-volume effects, the continuum limit and the extrapolation to the physical point for several values of the scale . By means of the Cottingham formula, we further decompose the result into elastic and inelastic contributions at fixed . Our final result, after removing the cutoff scale , is MeV, in good agreement with the experimental measurement. This calculation serves as a validation of the formalism in a well-controlled setting and offers useful insights into the application of electromagnetic corrections to other observables.
Comments: 30 pages, 13 figures, 5 tables
Cite
@article{arxiv.2605.29902,
title = {Electromagnetic pion mass splitting using a Pauli-Villars-regulated photon propagator},
author = {Alessandro De Santis and Dominik Erb and Harvey B. Meyer},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2605.29902},
year = {2026}
}