Charmonium and Charmed Mesons With Improved Lattice QCD

Abstract

I present calculations of the properties of charmonium and charmed mesons with lattice QCD. The calculations use improved actions and 2+1 flavors of dynamical quarks. After a review of the relevant phenomenology, I provide an introduction to lattice techniques including the specific actions used in this analysis. Details of the computational techniques used are given, and the reader is guided through the process of extracting physical results from the data. Results include calculations of the charmonium, Ds, and D mass spectra and the decay constants fDs and fD.