Effect of tree-level and mean-field improvement on the light-hadron spectrum in quenched QCD

We compute the light-hadron mass spectrum at beta=5.7 using the O(a)-improved Sheikholeslami-Wohlert fermion action with two choices of the clover coefficient: the classical value c=1 and a mean-field or tadpole-improved estimate c=1.57. We compare our results with those of the GF11 Collaboration who use the Wilson fermion action (c=0). We find that changing c from zero to 1 and 1.57 leads to significant differences in the masses of the chirally extrapolated and strange pseudoscalar and vector mesons, the nucleon, the Delta, and also in the Edinburgh plot. A number of other quantities, for example, m(V)(2)-m(P)(2), J, am(K)/am(rho), and am(K*)/am(rho) do not appear to change significantly. We also investigate the effect of changing the lattice volume from approximately (2 fm)(3) to (2.6 fm)(3). We find that the meson masses are consistent to within one standard deviation and baryon masses are consistent to within two standard deviations.