Precision Tests of the Standard Model and the Role of Lattice QCD

While the Standard Model of particle physics provides a quantitative description of the properties of the known constituents of visible matter, it fails to explain the existence of dark matter or the baryon asymmetry in the uninverse. An increasingly important strategy to search for "new physics" is based on confronting highly precise experimental data with theoretical predictions. The sensitivity of such precision tests of the Standard Model is often limited by the effects of the strong interaction. In this talk I will discuss recent calculations of hadronic contributions to precision observables in lattice QCD. Quantities include the anomalous magnetic moment, as well as the electromagnetic and electroweak couplings. Particular attention will be given to comparisons with traditional "data-driven" evaluations of these quantities and the consistency with constraints from global electroweak fits.

pie de foto: