IFIC SPECIAL Seminar: Computing the Strength of the Strong Force: Lattice Methods for Precision

por Alberto Ramos (IFIC CSIC-UV)

jueves 23 abr. 2026 12:00 → 13:00 Europe/Madrid

Salón de Actos - Edificio Cabecera (PCUV)

The strong nuclear force binds quarks into protons and neutrons, and binds these nucleons into atomic nuclei. Despite its fundamental importance, precisely determining its strength has remained challenging because quarks are confined within hadrons and cannot be isolated for direct measurement.

In this talk I will review the efforts of the ALPHA collaboration to compute the strong coupling using lattice quantum chromodynamics, a first-principles numerical approach that requires no model assumptions about hadron structure. Rather than focusing on computational details, I will emphasize the key theoretical ideas that have enabled record precision with controlled uncertainties.
 
This result bridges two regimes: the low-energy domain where quarks are confined into hadrons, and the high-energy regime where perturbative expansions apply. The improved precision eliminates a significant source of theoretical uncertainty in collider physics analyses, enabling more stringent tests of the Standard Model.

Link to the publication in Nature: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10339-4