Lattice QCD, Flavor Physics and the Unitarity Triangle Analysis

Abstract

Lattice QCD has always played a relevant role in the studies of flavor physics and, in particular, in the Unitarity Triangle (UT) analysis. Before the starting of the B factories, this analysis relied on the results of lattice QCD simulations to relate the experimental determinations of semileptonic B decays, K-Kbar and B_{d,s}-B_{d,s}bar mixing to the CKM parameters. In the last years much more information has been obtained from the direct determination of the UT angles from non-leptonic B decays. In this talk, after a presentation of recent averages of lattice QCD results, we compare the outcome of the "classical" UT analysis (UTlattice) with the analysis based on the angles determinations (UTangles). We discuss the role of the different determinations of Vub, and show that current data do not favour the value measured in inclusive decays. Finally we show that the recent measurement of Delta ms, combined with Delta md and epsilonK, allows a quite accurate extraction of the values of the hadronic parameters, BK, fBs*sqrt(B_Bs) and xi. These values, obtained "experimentally" by assuming the validity of the Standard Model, are compared with the theoretical predictions from lattice QCD.