We present high-accuracy calculations of the density of states using multicanonical methods for lattice gauge theory with a compact gauge group U (1) on 4 4 , 6 4 and 8 4 lattices. We show that the results are consistent with weak and strong coupling expansions. We present methods based on Chebyshev interpolations and Cauchy theorem to find the (Fisher's) zeros of the partition function in the complex β = 1/g 2 plane. The results are consistent with reweighting methods whenever the latter are accurate. We discuss the volume dependence of the imaginary part of the Fisher's zeros, the width and depth of the plaquette distribution at the value of β where the two peaks have equal height. We discuss strategies to discriminate between first and second order transitions and explore them with data at larger volume but lower statistics. Higher statistics and even larger lattices are necessary to draw strong conclusions regarding the order of the transition.

We present the first unquenched lattice-QCD calculation of the hadronic form factors for the exclusive decay B → D ν at nonzero recoil. We carry out numerical simulations on fourteen ensembles of gauge-field configurations generated with 2+1 flavors of asqtad-improved staggered sea quarks. The ensembles encompass a wide range of lattice spacings (approximately 0.045 to 0.12 fm) and ratios of light (up and down) to strange sea-quark masses ranging from 0.05 to 0.4.For the b and c valence quarks we use improved Wilson fermions with the Fermilab interpretation, while for the light valence quarks we use asqtad-improved staggered fermions. We extrapolate our results to the physical point using rooted staggered heavy-light meson chiral perturbation theory.We then parameterize the form factors and extend them to the full kinematic range using modelindependent functions based on analyticity and unitarity. We present our final results for f + (q 2 ) and f 0 (q 2 ), including statistical and systematic errors, as coefficients of a series in the variable z and the covariance matrix between these coefficients. We then fit the lattice form-factor data jointly with the experimentally measured differential decay rate from BaBar to determine the CKM matrix element, |V cb | = (39.6 ± 1.7 QCD+exp ± 0.2 QED ) × 10 −3 . As a byproduct of the joint fit we obtain the form factors with improved precision at large recoil. Finally, we use them to update our calculation of the ratio R(D) in the Standard Model, which yields R(D) = 0.299(11).