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We convey an idea of the significant recent progress, which opens up good perspectives for high-precision ab-initio computations in heavy flavour physics based on lattice QCD. Rather than surveying the latest results, this contribution focuses on the concept and the challenges of fully non-perturbative computations in the B-meson sector, where the b-quark is treated within an effective theory. We outline its use to determine the b-quark mass and report on the results obtained in the quenched approximation and on the status in the two dynamical flavour theory., Comment: Contribution to the NIC-Symposium 2010, 24-25 February 2010, Juelich, Germany; 8 pages including figures, latex2e, uses nic-series.cls

I outline the basic strategies for the computation of charm and bottom quark masses by means of lattice QCD, where particular emphasis is placed on the non-perturbative renormalization of the effective theory for the b-quark in heavy-light systems. A few selected results in the quenched approximation are reviewed, and the current status of extending these calculations to QCD with dynamical quarks is summarized., Comment: Invited talk at the International Workshop on e^+e^- Collisions from Phi to Psi, PHIPSI08, 7-10 April 2008, INFN Frascati, Italy; 5 pages including figures, latex2e, uses espcrc2.sty

In view of the recent excitement about a tension between determinations of f_Ds from experiment and from simulations of lattice QCD with dynamical quarks, we try to clear up the picture of lattice determinations in the continuum limit of the quenched approximation. For O(a) improved Wilson quarks we see linear scaling in the squared lattice spacing a^2 only for a<~0.08fm. For coarser lattices we observe significant contaminations from higher order cutoff effects. As an aside we also study the scaling of the charm quark mass and the ratio of the vector to the pseudo-scalar decay constant and the spin-splitting., Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures, Table 2 and table 4 (revised analysis for mass-splitting) corrected

We present preliminary results of the non-perturbative heavy quark mass dependence of heavy-light meson observables in the continuum limit of finite-volume two-flavour lattice QCD. These observables, which are derived from heavy-light Schroedinger functional correlation functions and computed over a range of renormalization group invariant heavy quark masses from the charm to beyond the bottom region, allow for a quantitative comparison with the predictions of HQET and are of practical relevance for solving renormalization problems in HQET non-perturbatively by a matching to QCD in finite volume., Comment: 7 pages, pdflatex; talk presented at Lattice 2008, XXVI International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, July 14-19, 2008, Williamsburg, Virginia, USA

We present a preliminary analysis of the charm quark mass and the mass and decay constant $f_{D_s}$ of the $D_s$ meson obtained from dynamical simulations of $N_f = 2$ Wilson QCD on the large and fine lattices simulated by the CLS effort., Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures; talk presented at Lattice 2008, XXVI International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, July 14-19, 2008, Williamsburg, Virginia, USA

We improve a previous quenched result for heavy-light pseudoscalar meson decay constants with the light quark taken to be the strange quark. A finer lattice resolution (a ~ 0.05 fm) in the continuum limit extrapolation of the data computed in the static approximation is included. We also give further details concerning the techniques used in order to keep the statistical and systematic errors at large lattice sizes L/a under control. Our final result, obtained by combining these data with determinations of the decay constant for pseudoscalar mesons around the D_s, follows nicely the qualitative expectation of the 1/m-expansion with a (relative) 1/m-term of about -0.5 GeV/m_PS. At the physical b-quark mass we obtain F_{B_s} = 193(7) MeV, where all errors apart from the quenched approximation are included., Comment: 20 pages including figures and tables, latex2e, uses JHEP3.cls; version published in JHEP, discussion of the continuum limit extended and references added, final results only minimally affected

We explain how the strategy of solving renormalization problems in HQET non-perturbatively by a matching to QCD in finite volume can be implemented to include dynamical fermions. As a primary application, some elements of an HQET computation of the mass of the b-quark beyond the leading order with N_f=2 are outlined. In particular, the matching of HQET and QCD requires relativistic QCD simulations in a volume with L ~ 0.5 fm, which will serve to quantitatively determine the heavy quark mass dependence of heavy-light meson observables in the continuum limit of finite-volume two-flavour lattice QCD. As a preparation for the latter, we report on our determination of the renormalization constants and improvement coefficients relating the renormalized current and subtracted bare quark mass in the relevant weak coupling region. The calculation of these coefficients employs a constant physics condition in the Schroedinger functional scheme, where the box size L is fixed by working at a prescribed value of the renormalized coupling., Comment: 14 pages including figures and tables, latex2e, uses PoS.cls; presented at the XXV International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, July 30 - August 4 2007, Regensburg, Germany; typo corrected, results unchanged

We perform the non-perturbative renormalization of matrix elements of the static-light axial current by a computation of its scale dependence in lattice QCD with two flavours of massless O(a) improved Wilson quarks. The regularization independent factor that relates any running renormalized matrix element of the axial current in the static effective theory to the renormalization group invariant one is evaluated in the Schroedinger functional scheme, where in this case we find a significant deviation of the non-perturbative running from the perturbative prediction. An important technical ingredient to improve the precision of the results consists in the use of modified discretizations of the static quark action introduced earlier by our collaboration. As an illustration how to apply the renormalization of the static axial current presented here, we connect the bare matrix element of the current to the B_s-meson decay constant in the static approximation for one value of the lattice spacing, a ~ 0.08 fm, employing large-volume N_f=2 data at beta=5.3., Comment: 33 pages including figures and tables, latex2e, uses JHEP3.cls; version published in JHEP, small additions, results unchanged

We present a non-perturbative computation of the running of the coupling alpha_s in QCD with two flavours of dynamical fermions in the Schroedinger functional scheme. We improve our previous results by a reliable continuum extrapolation. The Lambda-parameter characterizing the high-energy running is related to the value of the coupling at low energy in the continuum limit. An estimate of Lambda*r_0 is given using large-volume data with lattice spacings a from 0.07 fm to 0.1 fm. It translates into Lambda_{MSbar}^{(2)}=245(16)(16) MeV [assuming r_0=0.5 fm]. The last step still has to be improved to reduce the uncertainty., Comment: 34 pages including figures and tables, latex2e

We quantitatively investigate the quark mass dependence of current matrix elements and energies, calculated over a wide range of quark masses in the continuum limit of small-volume quenched lattice QCD. By a precise comparison of these observables as functions of the heavy quark mass with the predictions of HQET we are able to verify that their large quark mass behaviour is described by the effective theory., Comment: Lattice2004(heavy), 3 pages, latex2e, uses espcrc2

We consider QCD with one massless quark and one heavy quark in a finite volume of linear extent L_0 ~ 0.2 fm. In this situation, HQET represents an expansion in terms of 1/z=1/(m L_0), which we test by a non-perturbative computation of quenched current matrix elements and energies, taking the continuum limit of lattice results. These are seen to approach the corresponding renormalization group invariant matrix elements of the static effective theory as the quark mass becomes large. We are able to obtain estimates of the size of the 1/m-corrections to the static theory, which are also of practical relevance in our recent strategy to implement HQET non-perturbatively by matching to QCD in a finite volume., Comment: 28 pages including figures and tables, latex2e, uses JHEP3.cls; version published in JHEP, small additions and typos corrected, results unchanged

We study effective energies of heavy-light meson correlation functions in lattice QCD and a small volume of (0.2 fm)^4 to non-perturbatively calculate their dependence on the heavy quark mass in the continuum limit. Our quenched results obtained here constitute an essential intermediate step of a first fully non-perturbative computation of the b-quark's mass in the static approximation that has recently been presented as an application of a new proposal to non-perturbatively renormalize the Heavy Quark Effective Theory. The renormalization constant and the improvement coefficients relating the renormalized current and subtracted quark mass are determined in the relevant parameter region at weak couplings, which allows to perform the numerical simulations at several, precisely fixed values of the renormalization group invariant heavy quark mass in a range from 3 GeV to 15 GeV., Comment: 24 pages including figures and tables, latex2e; version published in JHEP, small additions, results unchanged

A lattice computation of the B-meson decay constant and the mass of the b-quark to leading order in the heavy quark effective theory is presented. The involved renormalization problems are solved non-perturbatively, and the continuum limit is taken. In the quenched approximation the results reported here already offer an interesting numerical precision, which will be further improved in the near future., Comment: Invited talk at International Europhysics Conference on High Energy Physics, EPS-HEP2003, 17-23 July 2003, Aachen, Germany, 5 pages, 7 figures, latex2e, uses epsfig, svjour and svepj

We explain how to perform non-perturbative computations in HQET on the lattice. In particular the problem of the subtraction of power-law divergences is solved by a non-perturbative matching of HQET and QCD. As examples, we present a full calculation of the mass of the b-quark in the combined static and quenched approximation and outline an alternative way to obtain the B-meson decay constant at lowest order. Since no excessively large lattices are required, our strategy can also be applied including dynamical fermions., Comment: 27 pages including figures and tables, latex2e; version published in JHEP, typos corrected and 1 reference added

We non-perturbatively calculate the scale dependence of the static axial current in the Schroedinger functional scheme by means of a recursive finite-size scaling technique, taking the continuum limit in each step. The bare current in the O(a) improved theory as well as in the original Wilson regularization is thus connected to the renormalization group invariant one. The latter may then be related to the current at the B-scale defined such that its matrix elements differ from the physical (QCD) ones by O(1/M). At present, a (probably small) perturbative uncertainty enters in this step. As an application, we renormalize existing unimproved data on F_B^{bare} and extrapolate to the continuum limit. We also study an interesting function h(d/L,u) derived from the Schroedinger functional amplitude describing the propagation of a static quark-antiquark pair., Comment: 34 pages, 12 postscript figures, 9 tables, latex2e; version published in Nucl. Phys. B, only 1 reference added

We non-perturbatively calculate the renormalization factor of the static axial vector current in O(a) improved quenched lattice QCD. Its scale dependence is mapped out in the Schroedinger functional scheme by means of a recursive finite-size scaling technique, taking the continuum limit in each step. We also obtain Z_A^{stat} for Wilson fermions in order to renormalize existing unimproved data on F_B^{bare} non-perturbatively., Comment: Lattice2002(heavyquark), 3 pages, latex2e, 5 Postscript figures, uses epsfig, amssymb and espcrc2

Non-perturbative lattice studies of QCD in the chiral thermodynamic regime, where chiral symmetry is spontaneously broken, require to deal with almost quark zero modes in a theoretically clean and computationally efficient way. We discuss the basic features and some realistic tests of a formulation, known as lattice tmQCD, that fulfills these requirements. Based on a talk given by R. Frezzotti at the conference HEP2001 (Budapest, July 2001), Comment: Contribution to the Proceedings of the conference HEP2001 (Budapest, July 2001), to appear on JHEP-Proceedings: 11 pages, 4 figures, 1 table

Existing non-perturbative computations of the running coupling of quenched QCD in the Schroedinger functional scheme are extended to scales mu lying much deeper in the low-energy regime. We are able to reach 1/mu ~ 0.9 fm, where a significant deviation from its perturbative evolution is observed., Comment: Lattice2001(improvement), 3 pages, latex2e, 5 Postscript figures, uses epsfig, amssymb and espcrc2

We describe a strategy for a non-perturbative computation of the b-quark mass to leading order in 1/m in the Heavy Quark Effective Theory (HQET). The approach avoids the perturbative subtraction of power law divergencies, and the continuum limit may be taken. First numerical results in the quenched approximation demonstrate the potential of the method with a preliminary result m_b(4GeV)=4.56(2)(7) GeV. In principle, the idea may also be applied to the matching of composite operators or the computation of 1/m corrections in HQET., Comment: Lattice2001(heavyquark) ; 3 pages

We report on the non-perturbative computation of the running coupling of two-flavour QCD in the Schr"odinger functional scheme. The corresponding Lambda-parameter, which describes the coupling strength at high energy, is related to a low energy scale which still remains to be connected to a hadronic ``experimentally'' observable quantity. We find the non-perturbative evolution of the coupling indispensable to avoid untolerable errors in the estimated Lambda-parameter., Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures, 3 tables, some changes in the data analysis after discovery and correction of an error in Nucl. Phys. B 525, 387 (1998) by C. Christou et al. (hep-lat/9801007v2, Erratum to appear)

A short survey of the renormalization problem in QCD and its non-perturbative solution by means of numerical simulations on the lattice is given. Most emphasis is on scale dependent renormalizations, which can be reliably addressed via a recursive finite-size scaling procedure employing a suitable intermediate renormalization scheme. To illustrate these concepts we discuss some - partly recent - computations of phenomenologically relevant quantities: the running QCD gauge coupling, renormalization group invariant quark masses and the renormalization of the static-light axial current., Comment: Talk at ICHEP00 (Lattice Field Theory session), 6 pages, latex2e, 3 Postscript figures, uses package epsfig

We report performance benchmarks for several algorithms that we have used to simulate the Schr"odinger functional with two flavors of dynamical quarks. They include hybrid and polynomial hybrid Monte Carlo with preconditioning. An appendix describes a method to deal with autocorrelations for nonlinear functions of primary observables as they are met here due to reweighting., Comment: 24 pages, 3 figures, some added discussion, version submitted to Comput. Phys. Commun

We propose a general method to obtain accurate estimates for some of the "low-energy constants" in the one-loop effective chiral Lagrangian by means of simulating lattice QCD. In particular, the method is sensitive to those constants whose values are required to test the hypothesis of a massless up-quark. Initial tests performed in the quenched approximation confirm that good statistical precision can be achieved. As a byproduct we obtain an accurate estimate for the ratio of pseudoscalar decay constants, F_K/F_pi, in the quenched approximation, which lies 10% below the experimental result. The quantities that serve to extract the low-energy constants also allow a test of the scaling behaviour of different discretizations of QCD and a search for the effects of dynamical quarks., Comment: 27 pages, 9 postscript files, LaTeX; Corrections in Appendix A and Table 1; numerical results and conclusions unchanged; version to be published in Nucl. Phys. B

We report on a parallelized implementation of SSOR preconditioning for O(a) improved lattice QCD with Schr\"odinger functional boundary conditions. Numerical simulations in the quenched approximation at parameters in the light quark mass region demonstrate that a performance gain of a factor $\sim$ 1.5 over even-odd preconditioning can be achieved., Comment: 15 pages, latex2e, 4 Postscript figures, uses packages elsart and epsfig

We review recent work by the ALPHA and UKQCD Collaborations where masses and matrix elements were computed in lattice QCD using Schr\"odinger functional boundary conditions and where the strange quark mass was determined in the quenched approximation. We emphasize the general concepts and our strategy for the computation of quark masses., Comment: Talks at LATTICE99 (QCD Spectrum and Quark Masses), 5 pages, latex2e, 5 Postscript figures, uses epsfig, amssymb and espcrc2

We determine the renormalization group invariant quark mass corresponding to the sum of the strange and the average light quark mass in the quenched approximation of QCD, using as essential input the mass of the K-mesons. In the continuum limit we find $(M_s + M_{light})/F_K=0.874(29)$, which includes systematic errors. Translating this non-perturbative result into the running quark masses in the $\msbar$-scheme at $\mu=2 GeV$ and using the quark mass ratios from chiral perturbation theory, we obtain $\mbar_s(2 GeV)=97(4) MeV$. With the help of recent results by the CP-PACS Collaboration, we estimate that a 10% higher value would be obtained if one replaced $F_K$ by the nucleon mass to set the scale. This is a typical ambiguity in the quenched approximation., Comment: 23 pages, latex

We explain how masses and matrix elements can be computed in lattice QCD using Schr"odinger functional boundary conditions. Numerical results in the quenched approximation demonstrate that good precision can be achieved. For a statistical sample of the same size, our hadron masses have a precision similar to what is achieved with standard methods, but for the computation of matrix elements such as the pseudoscalar decay constant the Schr"odinger functional technique turns out to be much more efficient than the known alternatives., Comment: 18 pages, latex

We present a scaling investigation of some correlation functions in $\Or(a)$ improved quenched lattice QCD. In particular, as one observable the renormalized PCAC quark mass is considered. Others are constructed such that they become the vector meson mass and the pseudoscalar meson decay constant when the volume is large. For the present discussion we remain in intermediate volume, $(0.75^3\times1.5) {fm}^4$ with Schr\"odinger functional boundary conditions. By fixing the `pion mass' and the spatial lattice size in units of the hadronic scale $r_0$, we simulated four lattices with resolutions ranging from 0.1 fm to 0.05 fm and performed the extrapolation to the continuum limit. The maximal scaling violation found in the improved theory is a $\sim$ 6 % effect at $a\simeq 0.1 fm$., Comment: 20 pages, latex2e, 6 Postscript figures, uses packages epsfig and amssymb

We present a scaling investigation of renormalized correlation functions in $\Or(a)$--improved quenched lattice QCD. As one observable the renormalized PCAC quark mass is considered, others are constructed such that they become the vector meson mass, and the pseudoscalar and vector meson decay constants in large volume. Presently, we remain in intermediate volume, $(0.75^3\times1.5) {fm}^4$, and study the approach to the continuum limit., Comment: LATTICE98(improvement), 3 pages, latex2e, 4 Postscript figures, uses packages epsfig and espcrc2

We study the finite-temperature electroweak phase transition by numerical simulations of the four-dimensional SU(2)-Higgs model on anisotropic lattices with temporal extension $L_t=2$. The physically interesting parameter region of Higgs masses near 80 GeV is reached, and recent results on some thermodynamic quantities are presented., Comment: Poster presented by J. Heitger at LATTICE97, 3 pages, latex2e, 4 Postscript figures, uses packages epsfig and espcrc2

We study the continuum limit of the $2D$ U(1)--Higgs model with variable scalar field length, which is qualitatively different from the fixed length case. Our simulations concentrate on the scaling behaviour of the topological susceptibility, and an instanton-induced confinement mechanism of fractional charges is numerically confirmed., Comment: Talk presented at LATTICE96(topology), 3 pages, latex2e, 2 Postscript figures, uses packages epsfig and espcrc2

We determine the interface tension of the finite-temperature electroweak phase transition in a numerical investigation of the SU(2)--Higgs model on a four-dimensional lattice with temporal extension $L_t=3$. In this simulation the chosen parameters correspond to a Higgs boson mass of about 16 GeV. As a result the interface tension shows only small scaling violations in comparison with previous studies for $L_t=2$ lattices. We also report on some experiences with autocorrelations in the applied Monte Carlo simulations of two-phase systems., Comment: 10 pages, latex2e, 7 Postscript figures, uses packages epsfig and amssymb

In three-dimensional systems of the Ising universality class the ratio of correlation length amplitudes for the high- and low-temperature phases is a universal quantity. Its field theoretic determination apart from the $\epsilon$-expansion represents a gap in the existing literature. In this article we present a method, which allows to calculate this ratio by renormalized perturbation theory in the phases with unbroken and broken symmetry of a one-component $\phi^4$-theory in fixed dimensions $D=3$. The results can be expressed as power series in the renormalized coupling constant of either of the two phases, and with the knowledge of their fixed point values numerical estimates are obtainable. These are given for the case of a two-loop calculation., Comment: 14 pages, MS-TPI-94-01