Singlets in gauge theories with fundamental matter

Abstract: We provide the first determination of the mass of the lightest flavor-singlet pseudoscalar and scalar bound states (mesons), in the $\rm{Sp}(4)$ Yang-Mills theory coupled to two flavors of fundamental fermions, using lattice methods. This theory has applications both to composite Higgs and strongly-interacting dark matter scenarios. We find the singlets to have masses comparable to those of the light flavored states, which might have important implications for phenomenological models. We focus on regions of parameter space corresponding to a moderately heavy mass regime for the fermions. We compare the spectra we computed to existing and new results for $\rm{SU}(2)$ and $\rm{SU}(3)$ theories, uncovering an intriguing degree of commonality. As a by-product, in order to perform the aforementioned measurements, we implemented and tested, in the context of symplectic lattice gauge theories, several strategies for the treatment of disconnected-diagram contributions to two-point correlation functions. These technical advances set the stage for future studies of the singlet sector in broader portions of parameter space of this and other lattice theories with a symplectic gauge group.