Abstract: We propose a modification of the Hybrid Monte Carlo (HMC) algorithm that overcomes the topological freezing of a two-dimensional U(1) gauge theory with and without fermion content. This algorithm includes reversible jumps between topological sectors – winding steps – combined with standard HMC steps. The full algorithm is referred to as winding HMC (wHMC), and it shows an improved behaviour of the autocorrelation time towards the continuum limit. We find excellent agreement between the wHMC estimates of the plaquette and topological susceptibility and the analytical predictions in the U(1) pure gauge theory, which are known even at finite beta. We also study the expectation values in fixed topological sectors using both HMC and wHMC, with and without fermions. Even when topology is frozen in HMC – leading to significant deviations in topological as well as non-topological quantities – the two algorithms agree on the fixed-topology averages. Finally, we briefly compare the wHMC algorithm results to those obtained with master-field simulations of size L similar to 8 x 10(3).

Abstract: We review lattice results related to pion, kaon, D-meson, B-meson, and nucleon physics with the aim of making them easily accessible to the nuclear and particle physics communities. More specifically, we report on the determination of the light-quark masses, the form factor f(+) (0) arising in the semileptonic K -> pi transition at zero momentum transfer, as well as the decay constant ratio Alf, and its consequences for the CKM matrix elements V-us and V-ud. Furthermore, we describe the results obtained on the lattice for some of the low-energy constants of SU(2)(L) x SU(2)(R) and SU(3)(L) x SU(3)(R) Chiral Perturbation Theory. We review the determination of the B-K parameter of neutral kaon mixing as well as the additional four B parameters that arise in theories of physics beyond the Standard Model. For the heavy-quark sector, we provide results for m(c) and m(b) as well as those for the decay constants, form factors, and mixing parameters of charmed and bottom mesons and baryons. These are the heavy-quark quantities most relevant for the determination of CKM matrix elements and the global CKM unitarity-triangle fit. We review the status of lattice determinations of the strong coupling constant alpha(s). We consider nucleon matrix elements, and review the determinations of the axial, scalar and tensor bilinears, both isovector and flavor diagonal. Finally, in this review we have added a new section reviewing determinations of scale-setting quantities.

Abstract: We review recent progress in the study of the large N-c limit of gauge theories from lattice simulations. The focus is not only the planar limit but also the size of O(N-c(-1)) corrections for values of N-c greater than or similar to 3. Some concrete examples of the topics we include are tests of large- Nc factorization, the topological susceptibility, the glueball, meson and baryon spectra, the chiral dependence of masses and decay constants, and weak matrix elements related to the Delta I = 1/2 rule in kaon decays.

Abstract: We study the constraints imposed by neutrino oscillation experiments on the minimal extensions of the Standard Model (SM) with n(R) gauge singlet fermions (“right-handed neutrinos”), that can account for neutrino masses. We consider the most general coupling of the new fields to the SM fields, in particular those that break lepton number and we do not assume any a priori hierarchy in the mass parameters. We proceed to analyze these models starting from the lowest level of complexity, defined by the number of extra fermionic degrees of freedom. The simplest choice that has enough free parameters in principle (i.e. two mass differences and two angles) to explain the confirmed solar and atmospheric oscillations corresponds to n(R) = 1. This minimal choice is shown to be excluded by data. The next-to-minimal choice corresponds to n(R) = 2. We perform a systematic study of the full parameter space in the limit of degenerate Majorana masses by requiring that at least two neutrino mass differences correspond to those established by solar and atmospheric oscillations. We identify several types of spectra that can fit long-baseline reactor and accelerator neutrino oscillation data, but fail in explaining solar and/or atmospheric data. The only two solutions that survive are the expected seesaw and quasi-Dirac regions, for which we set lower and upper bounds respectively on the Majorana mass scale. Solar data from neutral current measurements provide essential information to constrain the quasi-Dirac region. The possibility to accommodate the LSND/MiniBoone and reactor anomalies, and the implications for neutrinoless double-beta decay and tritium beta decay are briefly discussed.

Abstract: We study the constraints imposed by neutrino oscillation experiments on the minimal extension of the Standard Model that can explain neutrino masses, which requires the addition of just two singlet Weyl fermions. The most general renormalizable couplings of this model imply generically four massive neutrino mass eigenstates while one remains massless: it is therefore a minimal 3+2 model. The possibility to account for the confirmed solar, atmospheric and long-baseline oscillations, together with the LSND/MiniBooNE and reactor anomalies is addressed. We find that the minimal model can fit oscillation data including the anomalies better than the standard 3 nu model and similarly to the 3 + 2 phenomenological models, even though the number of free parameters is much smaller than in the latter. Accounting for the anomalies in the minimal model favours a normal hierarchy of the light states and requires a large reactor angle, in agreement with recent measurements. Our analysis of the model employs a new parametrization of seesaw models that extends the Casas-Ibarra one to regimes where higher order corrections in the light-heavy mixings are significant.