In the past ten years, the inclusion of the sea quarks in numerical simulations of lattice QCD has become increasingly feasible. Still, many quantities of interest remain inaccessible or can only be calculated with large errors. In the case of the more accessible quantities, the principal challenge currently is to control all systematic uncertainties in a reliable manner.

QCD-like field theories close to or in the conformal window is another important subfield of research in lattice gauge theory. Here the main goal is to understand the qualitative behaviour of these theories at different length scales and to come up with viable computational strategies that allow their basic dynamical parameters to be determined.

The proposed Theory Institute is intended to bring together researchers interested in addressing the conceptual issues and technical obstacles (such as the infamous sign problem) that lie in the way of present-day lattice QCD and QCD-like theories.

Topics

* Applications of the gradient flow in lattice QCD.
* Complex Langevin simulation of theories with complex action.
* Signal-to-noise problem in baryon correlation functions.
* Energy-momentum tensor on the lattice.
* Scaling behaviour of QCD-like theories from short to long distances.
* Conformal/dilation symmetry in continuum theories.