Lattice QCD has reached a mature status. State of the art lattice computations include $u,d,s$ (and even the $c$) sea quark effects, together with an estimate of electromagnetic and isospin breaking corrections for hadronic observables. This precise
and first principles description of the standard model at low energies allows the determination of multiple quantities that are essential inputs for phenomenology and not accessible to perturbation theory. One of the fundamental parameters that are determined from simulations of lattice QCD is the strong coupling constant, which plays a central role in the quest for precision at the LHC. Lattice calculations currently provide its best determinations, and will play a central role in future phenomenological studies. For this reason we believe that it is timely to provide a pedagogical introduction to the lattice determinations of the strong coupling. Rather than analysing individual studies, the emphasis will be on the methodologies and the systematic errors that arise in these determinations. We hope that these notes will help lattice practitioners, and QCD phenomenologists at large, by providing a self-contained introduction to the methodology and the possible sources of systematic error. The limiting factors in the determination of the strong coupling turn out to be different from the ones that limit other lattice precision observables. We hope to collect enough information here to allow the reader to appreciate the challenges that arise in order to improve further our knowledge of a quantity that is crucial for LHC phenomenology.
We present a study of the IR behaviour of a three-dimensional super-renormalisable quantum field theory (QFT) consisting of a scalar field in the adjoint of $SU(N)$ with a $varphi^4$ interaction. A bare mass is required for the theory to be massless
at the quantum level. In perturbation theory the critical mass is ambiguous due to infrared (IR) divergences and we indeed find that at two-loops in lattice perturbation theory the critical mass diverges logarithmically. It was conjectured long ago in [Jackiw 1980, Appelquist 1981] that super-renormalisable theories are nonperturbatively IR finite, with the coupling constant playing the role of an IR regulator. Using a combination of Markov-Chain-Monte-Carlo simulations of the lattice-regularised theory, both frequentist and Bayesian data analysis, and considerations of a corresponding effective theory we gather evidence that this is indeed the case.
A nonperturbative determination of the energy-momentum tensor is essential for understanding the physics of strongly coupled systems. The ability of the Wilson flow to eliminate divergent contact terms makes it a practical method for renormalizing th
e energy-momentum tensor on the lattice. In this paper, we utilize the Wilson flow to define a procedure to renormalize the energy-momentum tensor for a three-dimensional massless scalar field in the adjoint of $SU(N)$ with a $varphi^4$ interaction on the lattice. In this theory the energy-momentum tensor can mix with $varphi^2$ and we present numerical results for the mixing coefficient for the $N=2$ theory.
We review recent theoretical developments concerning the definition and the renormalization of equal-time correlators that can be computed on the lattice and related to Parton Distribution Functions (PDFs) through a factorization formula. We show how
these objects can be studied and analyzed within the framework of a nongauge theory, gaining insight through a one-loop computation. We use scalar field theory as a playground to revise, analyze and present the main features of these ideas, to explore their potential, and to understand their limitations for extracting PDFs. We then propose a framework that would allow to include the available lattice QCD data in a global analysis to extract PDFs.
In the holographic approach to cosmology, cosmological observables are described in terms of correlators of a three-dimensional boundary quantum field theory. As a concrete model, we study the 3$d$ massless $SU(N)$ scalar matrix field theory. In this
work, we focus on the renormalisation of the energy-momentum tensor 2-point function, which can be related to the CMB power spectra. Here we present a non-perturbative procedure to remove divergences resulting from the loss of translational invariance on the lattice, by imposing Ward identities. This will allow us to make predictions for the CMB power spectra in the regime where the dual QFT is non-perturbative.
We present results for the $SU(3)$ breaking ratios of decay constants $f_{D_s}/f_D$ and $f_{B_s}/f_B$ and - for the first time with physical pion masses - the ratio of bag parameters $B_{B_s}/B_{B_d}$, as well as the ratio $xi$, forming the ratio of
the nonpeturbative contributions to neutral $B_{(s)}$ meson mixing. Our results are based on Lattice QCD simulations with chirally symmetric 2+1 dynamical flavors of domain wall fermions. Eight ensembles at three different lattice spacing in the range $a = 0.11 - 0.07,mathrm{fm}$ enter the analysis two of which feature physical light quark masses. Multiple heavy quark masses are simulated ranging from below the charm quark mass to half the bottom quark mass. The $SU(3)$ breaking ratios display a very benign heavy mass behaviour allowing for extrapolation to the physical bottom quark mass. The results in the continuum limit including all sources of systematic errors are $f_{D_s}/f_D = 1.1740(51)_mathrm{stat}(^{+68}_{-68})_mathrm{sys}$, $f_{B_s}/f_B = 1.1949(60)_mathrm{stat}(^{+hphantom{0}95}_{-175})_mathrm{sys}$, $B_{B_s}/B_{B_d} = 0.9984(45)_mathrm{stat}(^{+80}_{-63})_mathrm{sys}$ and $xi = 1.1939(67)_mathrm{stat}(^{+hphantom{0}95}_{-177})_mathrm{sys}$. Combining these with experimentally measured values we extract the ratios of CKM matrix elements $|V_{cd}/V_{cs}| = 0.2164(57)_mathrm{exp}(^{+12}_{-12})_mathrm{lat}$ and $|V_{td}/V_{ts}| = 0.20329(41)_mathrm{exp}(^{+162}_{-301})_mathrm{lat}$.
We investigate a recently proposed UV-complete composite Higgs scenario in the light of the first LHC runs. The model is based on a $SU(4)$ gauge group with global flavour symmetry breaking $SU(5) to SO(5)$, giving rise to pseudo Nambu-Goldstone boso
ns in addition to the Higgs doublet. This includes a real and a complex electroweak triplet with exotic electric charges. Including these, as well as constraints on other exotic states, we show that LHC measurements are not yet sensitive enough to significantly constrain the models low energy constants. The Higgs potential is described by two parameters which are on the one hand constrained by the LHC measurement of the Higgs mass and Higgs decay channels and on the other hand can be computed from correlation functions in the UV-complete theory. Hence to exclude the model at least one constant needs to be determined and to validate the Higgs potential both constants need to be reproduced by the UV-theory. Due to its UV-formulation, a certain number of low energy constants can be computed from first principle numerical simulations of the theory formulated on a lattice, which can help in establishing the validity of this model. We assess the potential impact of lattice calculations for phenomenological studies, as a preliminary step towards Monte Carlo simulations.
Several UV complete models of physics beyond the Standard Model are currently under scrutiny, their low-energy dynamics being compared with the experimental data from the LHC. Lattice simulations can play a role in these studies by providing a first
principles computations of the low-energy constants that describe this low-energy dynamics. In this work, we study in detail a specific model recently proposed by Ferretti, and discuss the potential impact of lattice calculations.
We present results for the decay constants of the $D$ and $D_s$ mesons computed in lattice QCD with $N_f=2+1$ dynamical flavours. The simulations are based on RBC/UKQCDs domain wall ensembles with both physical and unphysical light-quark masses and l
attice spacings in the range 0.11--0.07$,$fm. We employ the domain wall discretisation for all valence quarks. The results in the continuum limit are $f_D=208.7(2.8)_mathrm{stat}left(^{+2.1}_{-1.8}right)_mathrm{sys},mathrm{MeV}$ and $f_{D_{s}}=246.4(1.3)_mathrm{stat}left(^{+1.3}_{-1.9}right)_mathrm{sys},mathrm{MeV}$ and $f_{D_s}/f_D=1.1667(77)_mathrm{stat}left(^{+57}_{-43}right)_mathrm{sys}$. Using these results in a Standard Model analysis we compute the predictions $|V_{cd}|=0.2185(50)_mathrm{exp}left(^{+35}_{-37}right)_mathrm{lat}$ and $|V_{cs}|=1.011(16)_mathrm{exp}left(^{+4}_{-9}right)_mathrm{lat}$ for the CKM matrix elements.
The non-perturbative computation of the energy-momentum tensor can be used to study the scaling behaviour of strongly coupled quantum field theories. The Wilson flow is an essential tool to find a meaningful formulation of the energy-momentum tensor
on the lattice. We extend recent studies of the renormalisation of the energy-momentum tensor in four-dimensional gauge theory to the case of a three-dimensional scalar theory to investigate its intrinsic structure and numerical feasibility on a more basic level. In this paper, we discuss translation Ward identities, introduce the Wilson flow for scalar theory, and present our results for the renormalisation constants of the scalar energy-momentum tensor.
