Kaon physics: a lattice perspective

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent lattice QCD results and methods for kaon phenomenology, focusing on calculations with different sea quark flavors, and discusses how to reliably extract physical quantities related to kaon decays and mixing.

Contribution

It provides a critical overview of lattice QCD techniques and their application to kaon physics, highlighting methodological improvements and current results.

Findings

Enhanced understanding of kaon decay processes

Improved lattice methods for physical extrapolation

Quantitative results on kaon mixing and CP violation

Abstract

I critically review recent lattice QCD results relevant for kaon phenomenology, as well as the methods that are used to obtain them. The focus is on calculations with N_f=2 and N_f=2+1 flavors of sea quarks. Concerning methodology, the subjects covered include a discussion of how best to extrapolate and/or interpolate results to the physical quark-mass point, a scheme for assessing the extent to which a lattice QCD calculation includes the various effects required to compute a given quantity reliably and a procedure for averaging lattice results. The phenomenological topics that I review comprise leptonic and semileptonic kaon decays, as well as neutral kaon mixing and CP violation in K->\pi\pi decays.