Lattice methods for students at a formal TASI

Abstract

These lectures about lattice field theory were written for, and given at, TASI 2019, ``The many dimensions of quantum field theory.'' The students at this TASI were mostly interested in formal things, and so these are slightly unusual lattice lectures: I wanted to give the physical motivation behind lattice calculations rather than describe all the technical details. A quick outline: (1) The really big picture: lattice basics, lattice confinement, getting rid of the lattice. (2) A walk through the parts of a lattice calculation -- an overview, to show what's involved. (3) Chiral fermions on the lattice. (This part might be interesting to lattice people.) (4) Case studies: the three dimensional Ising model, and QCD.