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 $$f_+(0)$$f+(0) arising in the semileptonic $$K \rightarrow \pi $$K→π transition at zero momentum transfer, as well as the decay constant ratio $$f_K/f_\pi $$fK/fπ and its consequences for the CKM matrix elements $$V_{us}$$Vus and $$V_{ud}$$Vud. Furthermore, we describe the results obtained on the lattice for some of the low-energy constants of $$SU(2)_L\times SU(2)_R$$SU(2)L×SU(2)R and $$SU(3)_L\times SU(3)_R$$SU(3)L×SU(3)R Chiral Perturbation Theory. We review the determination of the $$B_K$$BK 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 $$m_c$$mc and $$m_b$$mb as well as those for D- and B-meson decay constants, form factors, and mixing parameters. 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 $$\alpha _s$$αs. Finally, in this review we have added a new section reviewing results for nucleon matrix elements of the axial, scalar and tensor bilinears, both isovector and flavor diagonal.

We calculate-for the first time in three-flavor lattice QCD-the hadronic matrix elements of all five local operators that contribute to neutral B 0 -and B s -meson mixing in and beyond the Standard Model. We present a complete error budget for each matrix element and also provide the full set of correlations among the matrix elements. We also present the corresponding bag parameters and their correlations, as well as specific combinations of the mixing matrix elements that enter the expression for the neutral B-meson width difference. We obtain the most precise determination to date of the SU(3)-breaking ratio ξ = 1.206(18)(6), where the second error stems from the omission of charm sea quarks, while the first encompasses all other uncertainties. The threefold reduction in total uncertainty, relative to the 2013 Flavor Lattice Averaging Group results, tightens the constraint from B mixing on the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) unitarity triangle. Our calculation employs gauge-field ensembles generated by the MILC Collaboration with four lattice spacings and pion masses close to the physical value. We use the asqtad-improved staggered action for the light valence quarks, and the Fermilab method for the bottom quark. We use heavy-light meson chiral perturbation theory modified to include lattice-spacing effects to extrapolate the five matrix elements to the physical point. We combine our results with experimental measurements of the neutral B-meson oscillation frequencies to determine the CKM matrix elements |V td | = 8.00(34)(8) × 10 −3 , |V ts | = 39.0(1.2)(0.4) × 10 −3 , and |V td /V ts | = 0.2052(31)(10), which differ from CKM-unitarity expectations by about 2σ. These results and others from flavor-changing-neutral currents point towards an emerging tension between weak processes that are mediated at the loop and tree levels.

We compute the zero-recoil form factor for the semileptonic decayB 0 → D Ãþ l −ν (and modes related by isospin and charge conjugation) using lattice QCD with three flavors of sea quarks. We use an improved staggered action for the light valence and sea quarks (the MILC asqtad configurations), and the Fermilab action for the heavy quarks. Our calculations incorporate higher statistics, finer lattice spacings, and lighter quark masses than our 2008 work. As a byproduct of tuning the new data set, we obtain the D s and B s hyperfine splittings with few-MeV accuracy. For the zero-recoil form factor, we obtain F ð1Þ ¼ 0.906ð4Þð12Þ, where the first error is statistical and the second is the sum in quadrature of all systematic errors. With the latest Heavy Flavor Averaging Group average of experimental results and a cautious treatment of QED effects, we find jV cb j ¼ ð39.04 AE 0.49 expt AE 0.53 QCD AE 0.19 QED Þ × 10 −3 . The QCD error is now commensurate with the experimental error.

The recently developed Symanzik-improved staggered-quark discretization allows unquenched lattice-QCD simulations with much smaller (and more realistic) quark masses than previously possible. To test this formalism, we compare experiment with a variety of nonperturbative calculations in QCD drawn from a restricted set of "gold-plated" quantities. We find agreement to within statistical and systematic errors of 3% or less. We discuss the implications for phenomenology and, in particular, for heavy-quark physics.

We calculate the leptonic decay constants of B (s) and D (s) mesons in lattice QCD using staggered light quarks and Fermilab bottom and charm quarks. We compute the heavy-light meson correlation functions on the MILC asqtad-improved staggered gauge configurations which include the effects of three light dynamical sea quarks. We simulate with several values of the light valence-and seaquark masses (down to ∼ ms/10) and at three lattice spacings (a ≈ 0.15, 0.12, and 0.09 fm) and extrapolate to the physical up and down quark masses and the continuum using expressions derived in heavy-light meson staggered chiral perturbation theory. We renormalize the heavy-light axial current using a mostly nonperturbative method such that only a small correction to unity must be computed in lattice perturbation theory and higher-order terms are expected to be small. We use the two finer lattice spacings for our central analysis and use the third to help estimate discretization errors. We obtain f B + = 196.9(9.1) MeV, fB s = 242.0(10.0) MeV, f D + = 218.9(11.3) MeV, fD s = 260.1(10.8) MeV, and the SU(3) flavor-breaking ratios fB s /fB = 1.229(26) and fD s /fD = 1.188(25), where the numbers in parentheses are the total statistical and systematic uncertainties added in quadrature.