Abstract: 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. Crown Copyright & nbsp;(c) 2021 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Abstract: Recent constrains on the sum of neutrino masses inferred by analyzing cosmological data, show that detecting a non-zero neutrino mass is within reach of forthcoming cosmological surveys. Such a measurement will imply a direct determination of the absolute neutrino mass scale. Physically, the measurement relies on constraining the shape of the matter power spectrum below the neutrino free streaming scale: massive neutrinos erase power at these scales. However, detection of a lack of small-scale power from cosmological data could also be due to a host of other effects. It is therefore of paramount importance to validate neutrinos as the source of power suppression at small scales. We show that, independent on hierarchy, neutrinos always show a footprint on large, linear scales; the exact location and properties are fully specified by the measured power suppression (an astrophysical measurement) and atmospheric neutrinos mass splitting (a neutrino oscillation experiment measurement). This feature cannot be easily mimicked by systematic uncertainties in the cosmological data analysis or modifications in the cosmological model. Therefore the measurement of such a feature, up to 1% relative change in the power spectrum for extreme differences in the mass eigenstates mass ratios, is a smoking gun for confirming the determination of the absolute neutrino mass scale from cosmological observations. It also demonstrates the synergy between astrophysics and particle physics experiments.

Abstract: We extend an alternative, phenomenological approach to inflation by means of an equation of state and a sound speed, both of them functions of the number of e-folds and four phenomenological parameters. This approach captures a number of possible inflationary models, including those with non-canonical kinetic terms or scale-dependent non-gaussianities. We perform Markov Chain Monte Carlo analyses using the latest cosmological publicly available measurements, which include Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) data from the Planck satellite. Within this parameterization, we discard scale invariance with a significance of about 10 sigma, and the running of the spectral index is constrained as alpha(s) = -0.60(-0.10)(+0.08) x 10(-3) (68% CL errors). The limit on the tensor-to-scalar ratio is r < 0.005 at 95% CL from CMB data alone. We find no significant evidence for this alternative parameterization with present cosmological observations. The maximum amplitude of the equilateral non-gaussianity that we obtain, vertical bar f(NL)(equil)vertical bar < 1, is much smaller than the current Planck mission errors, strengthening the case for future high-redshift, all-sky surveys, which could reach the required accuracy on equilateral non-gaussianities.