Dr James Zannotti
University of Edinburgh, UK
Thursday, July 12th
Seminar Room, First Floor, Physics, University of Adelaide
Determination of the CKM matrix element |V_us| in lattice QCD
Physicists have been beating away at it for decades but still it stands its ground. However despite all of its successes, it it commonly believed that the SM is incomplete, i.e. that there exists physics beyond the standard model (BSM). One area where BSM physics is hoped to be seen is in precision calculations of the elements of the CKM quark mixing matrix. While the SM predicts that the matrix should be unitary, it is unable to predict the numerical values of the individual elements. This talk will focus on the progress being made by the UKQCD and RBC collaborations in calculating the semi-leptonic (Kl3) K --> pi form factor which allows for an accurate determination of the CKM matrix element |V_us|, and hence is an important ingredient for testing the unitarity of the CKM matrix.