Lattice quantum chromodynamics and high-precision atomic spectroscopy
Abstract
Lattice quantum chromodynamics (lattice QCD) provides a well-established approach to studying strong nonperturbative interactions. It plays an indispensable role in the frontiers of high-energy and nuclear physics. With the improvement in the precision of lattice QCD calculations and the development of theoretical methods, the frontier of lattice QCD has been greatly expanded, and some new interdisciplinary fields have emerged. An important field is atomic spectroscopy. With the increasing accuracy of the observables in atomic spectroscopy, the hadronic effects related to the nucleon structure must be considered, among which the two-photon exchange corrections are particularly important and have recently received much theoretical and experimental attention. This paper briefly introduces the lattice QCD approach and two important observables in atomic spectroscopy: the Lamb shift and hyperfine splitting, as well as their two-photon exchange corrections. We then report the recent progress of the lattice QCD study in this field and discuss the important impact it may have.
