| The strong force binds protons and neutrons within nuclei and quarks within mesons and baryons. Calculations of the masses of the light-quark baryons from the theory of the strong force, quantum chromodynamics (QCD), require numerical methods in which continuous Minkowski spacetime is replaced by a discrete Euclidean spacetime lattice. Finite computational resources and theoretical constraints impose significant limitations on lattice calculations. The price of perhaps the fastest formulation of lattice QCD, rooted staggered QCD, includes quark degrees of freedom called tastes, associated discretization effects called taste violations, and the rooting conjecture for eliminating the tastes in the continuum limit. Empirically successful rooted staggered QCD calculations of the baryon spectrum would constitute numerical evidence for the rooting conjecture and further vindication of QCD as the theory of the strong force. With such calculations as the goal, I discuss expected features of the staggered baryon spectrum, examine the spectra of interpolating operators transforming irreducibly under the staggered lattice symmetry group, construct such a set of baryon operators, and show how they could allow for particularly clean calculations of the masses of the nucleon, Delta, Sigma*, &Xgr;*, and O-. To quantify taste violations in baryonic quantities, I develop staggered chiral perturbation theory for light-quark baryons by mapping the Symanzik action into heavy baryon chiral perturbation theory, calculate the masses of flavor-symmetric nucleons to third order in partially quenched and fully dynamical staggered chiral perturbation theory, and discuss in detail the pattern of taste symmetry breaking and the resulting baryon degeneracies and mixings. The resulting chiral forms could be used with interpolating operators already in use to study the restoration of taste symmetry in the continuum limit. |
