Recent lattice QCD calculations have reported evidence for the existence of a bound state with strangeness $-2$ and baryon number 2 at quark masses somewhat higher than the physical values. By developing a description of the dependence of this binding energy on the up, down and strange quark masses that allows a controlled chiral extrapolation, we explore the hypothesis that this state is to be identified with the $H$ dibaryon. Taking as input the recent results of the HAL and NPLQCD Collaborations, we show that the $H$ dibaryon is likely to be unbound by $13\pm 14\mathrm{MeV}$ at the physical point.

• Received 15 June 2011

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.107.092004