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New high-precision b, c, and s masses from pseudoscalar-pseudoscalar correlators in nf=4 lattice QCD

Brian Colquhoun, Christine T. H. Davies*, and Daniel Hatton

G. Peter Lepage†

  • Laboratory for Elementary-Particle Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA

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Phys. Rev. D 113, 074522 – Published 29 April, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/hvsx-nk6m

Abstract

We extend an earlier lattice QCD analysis of heavy-quark current-current correlators to obtain new values for the MS¯ masses of the b, c, and s quarks. The analysis uses gluon configurations from the MILC Collaboration with vacuum polarization contributions from u, d, s, and c quarks (nf=4), and lattice spacings down to 0.032 fm. We find that m¯b(m¯b,nf=5)=4.1923(63)  GeV, m¯c(3  GeV,nf=4)=0.9813(34)  GeV, and m¯s(3  GeV,nf=4)=83.39(26)  MeV. These results are corrected for QED by including (quenched) QED in the simulations. They are among the most accurate values by any method to date. We give a detailed analysis of finite-lattice-spacing errors that shows why the highly improved staggered quark discretization of the quark action is particularly useful for b-quark simulations even for lattices where amb≈1. We also calculate QED and isospin corrections to the (fictitious) ηs-meson mass, which is used to tune s-quark masses in lattice simulations.

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Phys. Rev. D 113, 074522– Published 29 April, 2026
  • Received 2 September 2025
  • Accepted 31 March 2026
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by SCOAP3.

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