Hadronic vacuum polarization contribution to the muon magnetic moment from lattice QCD

In the early 2000s, the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon, $a_\mu=(g_\mu-2)/2$, was measured with a remarkable precision of 0.54ppm. Since those results were published, a discrepancy of more than 3 standard deviations has persisted between the standard model (SM) prediction and experiment. At present theoretical and experimental uncertainties are close in size. However, a new experiment underway at Fermilab is aiming to reduce the experimental uncertainty on $a_\mu$ by 4. To leverage this future measurement and possibly claim the presence of new fundamental physics, it is imperative to reduce and fully control the uncertainties in the SM prediction. After an introduction to the role that anomalous magnetic moments play in testing the SM and a discussion of the current experimental and theoretical status of $a_\mu$, I will present a lattice QCD calculation of the contribution to this quantity that most limits the precision of its SM prediction.