Why QCD lattice theory is important to spin physicists

The lattice formulation of a quantum field theory allows calculations in the regime of strong coupling, by expansion techniques, and for intermediate coupling, by Monte Carlo simulations. These computations are especially valuable in the case of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), where several of the most important problems are not amenable to a perturbative analysis. Monte carlo simulations, in particular, have recently emerged as a very powerful tool and have been used to evaluate a variety of important physical quantities, such as the string tension, the deconfinement temperature, the scale of the interquark potential, glueball masses and masses in the quark model spectrum. If we consider those problems of strong interactions where spin plays an important role, it is unlikely, for the moment at least, that the lattice formulation may be of relevance where the phenomena being investigated involve propagations over extended domains of space-time; thus, for instance, it is impossible to perform a meaningful simulation of a scattering experiment on the lattice. But we are at the stage where Monte Carlo calculations begin to provide relevant information on spectroscopic properties related to spin. These are briefly discussed