Towards hadronic D decays from lattice QCD: Methodology and strong phase determination

by Matthew Black

Tuesday Oct 6, 2026, 4:00 PM → 6:00 PM Europe/Zurich

4/2-037 - TH meeting room (CERN)

CP violation in hadronic $D$-meson decays provides a complementary probe of physics within and beyond the Standard Model to the better-established kaon and $B$-meson systems. Following the discovery of charm CP violation by LHCb in 2019, we are still at an early stage in understanding its origin, while significant tensions remain between experimental results and theoretical predictions. A major obstacle is the poor control of the hadronic matrix elements governing these decays, which calls for precise, first-principles calculations using lattice QCD.

In this talk, I will present the status of an ongoing SU(3)-flavour-symmetric lattice QCD calculation of the amplitude for a $D$ meson decaying to a $K\pi$ final state. This calculation constitutes the first step towards a fully non-perturbative description of hadronic $D$ decays.

The calculation is performed at three lattice spacings, and we investigate two approaches to the continuum limit: taking the limit after extracting the scattering parameters, and taking it directly at fixed physical volume before extracting those parameters.

Finally, I will outline how the same operator basis can be used to compute three-point correlation functions and determine the finite-volume matrix element $\langle (K\pi)_{\mathbf{27}}|H_W|D\rangle$ for the tree-level effective weak Hamiltonian $H_W$, providing a path towards a first-principles calculation of hadronic $D$-decay amplitudes.