Particles, Astrophysics, and Nuclear Physics Seminar

Precision measurements on nucleons provide constraints on the Standard Model and can discern the signatures predicted for particles beyond the Standard Model. Knowing the Standard Model inputs to nucleon matrix elements will be necessary to constrain the couplings of dark matter candidates such as the neutralino, to relate the neutron electric dipole moment to the CP-violating theta parameter, or to search for new TeV-scale particles though non-V-A interactions in neutron beta decay. However, these matrix elements derive from the properties of quantum chromodynamics at low energies, where perturbative treatments fail. Using lattice gauge theory, we can nonperturbatively calculate the QCD path integral on a supercomputer. In this talk, I will give an introduction to lattice QCD, describe a few representative areas in which LQCD can contribute to the search for BSM physics, with emphasis on disallowed operators in neutron decay, and outline prospects for future development.