This thesis uses a variety of numerical and statistical techniques to perform high precision calculations in high energy physics using quantum field theory. It introduces the experimental motivation for the calculation of B meson form factors and includes a discussion of previous work. It then describes the modern theoretical framework describing these phenomena, outlining quantum chromodynamics and electroweak theory, and then illustrating the procedure of gauge fixing, the quantum effective action and background field gauge which is required for subsequent perturbative work. Details of the basic methodology of lattice quantum field theory are given as well as the specific formulation of the relativistic theory and nonrelativistic approximations used in this work to describe quantum chromodynamics. A comprehensive calculation of the zero recoil B to D* form factor is then presented, using state of the art lattice techniques with relativistic charm sea quarks and light sea quarks with correct physical masses, leading to a discussion of the dominant sources of uncertainty and possible resolutions of experimental tensions. Also included is preliminary work towards the full calculation of nonzero recoil matrix elements, with the aim of outlining possible future work. Finally, this thesis presents the computation of parameters correcting for radiative one loop phenomena and corrections to the kinetic coupling parameters in nonrelativistic quantum chromodynamics in order to achieve a desirable level of precision in future calculations. This is done using Monte-Carlo integration to evaluate integrals from diagrams generated using automated lattice perturbation theory in background field gauge in order to match the coefficients of the effective action between the lattice and the continuum.

Precise predictions of hadronic matrix elements in heavy meson decays are important to constrain the fundamental parameters in the Standard Model of particle physics. The CKM matrix element Vub can be extracted from experimental data on the decay B → πℓν if the hadronic form factor is known. In addition, loop suppressed rare decays of B-mesons, such as B → K∗γ and B → K(∗)ℓℓ, provide valuable insight into new physics models. Hadronic form factors for exclusive meson decays can be calculated in the framework of lattice QCD. As the wavelength of heavy quarks is not resolved on currently available lattices I use an effective nonrelativistic theory to discretise the heavy degrees of freedom. In addition, the discretisation errors in the final state meson are reduced by working in a moving frame. I review the phenomenology of rare B decays and describe how lattice QCD can contribute to calculating the relevant form factors. As the short distance physics in the effective theory is different from that of QCD, the Lagrangian and decay currents need to be renormalised. I show how this can be achieved in the framework of lattice perturbation theory. I calculate the perturbative renormalisation constants of the leading order operators in the heavy quark Lagrangian. Motivated by nonperturbative studies I extend this approach to higher order kinetic terms which break rotational invariance. In combination with simulations in the weak coupling regime of the theory, results from diagrammatic lattice perturbation theory are used to calculate the heavy quark selfenergy corrections and predict the fundamental parameters of QCD. I calculate the one loop correction on a finite lattice with twisted boundary conditions which is used for the extraction of higher order perturbative corrections. I renormalise the heavy-light current to one loop order in lattice mNRQCD and present results from nonperturbative studies. Finally, I discuss how the results are used in the calculation of hadronic form factors.

This thesis presents precision measurements and phenomenological studies of quark and gluon radiation in top-antitop and Z+jets final states. A measurement of top-antitop production with a veto on additional jet activity is performed using 2.1 inverse femtobarn of proton-proton collision data with a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV, collected by the ATLAS detector. Jet veto efficiency measurements are performed in several regions of rapidity and corrected for the effects of finite detector resolution and acceptance. A total experimental uncertainty of less than 5% is achieved in all distributions. Two phenomenological studies are performed on the additional quark and gluon radiation produced in association with boosted top-antitop systems. In the first study it is shown how a measurement of the jet veto efficiency can be used to identify the colour of a TeV-scale resonance decaying to top-antitop. The second follow-up study describes how the performance of several top-tagging algorithms is affected by the colour structure of an event. Measurements of the electroweak production of dijets in association with a Z-boson and distributions sensitive to vector boson fusion are performed using 20.3 inverse femtobarn of proton-ptoron collision data collected by ATLAS at 8 TeV. Detector-corrected differential cross sections, and distributions sensitive to radiation produced in addition to the Zjj system, are measured in five fiducial regions with varying sensitivity to the electroweak component of the Zjj cross section. Data are compared to MC predictions and are in reasonable agreement in the majority of cases. The electroweak Zjj cross section is extracted and found to be in good agreement with theory predictions. Limits are also placed on anomalous triple gauge couplings. The commissioning of an event filter isolated muon trigger is also presented. The trigger became one of the primary muon triggers used during the 2012 data taking.

La Chromodynamique Quantique (QCD) sur réseau permet d'étudier de façon ab-initio et non-perturbative les processus d'interaction forte. Ce formalisme, qui permet une régularisation covariante de la théorie de l'interaction forte, fournit aussi un cadre naturel pour le calcul et la simulation numérique de la Chromodynamique Quantique. Dans cette thèse, après un tour d'horizon des principales propriétés de la QCD et une présentation détaillée de notre discrétisation de cette théorie sur un réseau, nous étudions de façon approfondie deux problèmes de physique hadronique : le phénomène de diffusion résonante et la structure du nucléon. Les calculs sont réalisés avec les configurations de jauge de la Collaboration Budapest-Marseille-Wuppertal, générées avec une action de Wilson améliorée avec 2+1 saveurs de quarks dynamiques. Elles couvrent une large gamme de pas de réseau, de volumes et de masses des quarks différents, permettant ainsi une étude fine de la sensibilité de nos résultats à ces paramètres, et fournissant un bon contrôle sur l'extrapolation au continu. Notre étude de la diffusion de particules sur le réseau est menée grâce à une méthode proposée par M. Lüscher. Nous avons choisi le cas particulier de la diffusion pion-pion dans le canal résonant du méson rho, et analysé nos données avec une méthode variationnelle aux valeurs propres généralisées. Nous présentons les déphasages pion-pion ainsi que les paramètres de la résonance obtenus de façon détaillée, tout en garantissant un bon contrôle de nos erreurs systématiques. Nos résultats apportent une avancée importante dans le panorama des études de diffusion sur le réseau car ce sont les premiers réalisés à la masse physique du pion, pour laquelle la désintégration du rho en deux pions peut effectivement avoir lieu. Les valeurs obtenues pour les paramètres de la résonance du méson rho sont accord avec l'expérience, et confirment la faible dépendance du couplage entre le rho et les deux pions à la masse du pion. L'exploration de la structure du nucléon se fait à travers un calcul complet des facteurs de forme électrofaibles isovectoriels, avec une étude approfondie du rayon de charge électrique et de la charge axiale. Notre analyse présente aussi des données à la masse physique du pion, ce qui s'avère crucial pour maîtriser les extrapolations au point physique, étant données les variations violentes prédites par la perturbation chirale de ces quantités. Notre calcul utilise une projection sur les états du nucléon à la source et au puits, et une méthode de fit combinant les fonctions de corrélation à deux et trois points afin de réduire et de contrôler au maximum les contaminations pouvant venir des états excités. Bien que davantage de données seraient nécessaires pour déterminer très précisément le rayon et la charge axiale au point physique avec une évaluation pertinente des erreurs systématiques, les valeurs que nous obtenons sont en bon accord avec l'expérience, et suggèrent que les effets dus aux états excités sont faibles et sous contrôle. Notre analyse souligne aussi que l'utilisation de configurations de jauge avec des masses de pion proches de la valeur physique et avec des grands volumes semble indispensable à une étude précise de la structure du nucléon sur réseau. / The formalism of Quantum Chromodynamics on the lattice (or Lattice QCD) allows to perform ab-initio non-perturbative studies of strong-interaction driven processes, as it provides both a covariant regularisation of the theory of QCD and a natural framework for numerical computations. In this work, after a review of the main features of QCD and a step-by-step presentation of our discretization of QCD on a lattice, we undertake detailed studies of two problems of hadronic physics: the phenomenon of resonant scattering and the structure of the nucleon. The lattice calculations are performed with the Budapest-Marseille-Wuppertal Collaboration's 2+1-flavour gauge configurations, which give access to a wide range of lattice spacings, volumes and quarks masses, thereby allowing to study the sensibility of our results on these parameters, and to perform a complete continuum extrapolation. These configurations include dynamical quarks, and use a clover-improved Wilson QCD action. To investigate the scattering of particles on the lattice, we set up a Lüscher analysis for the emblematic case of pion-pion scattering in the channel of the rho meson resonance. We analyse our data with a variational generalized eigenvalue method, and give an in-depth calculation of the scattering phase-shifts and the corresponding resonance parameters, with a full control of the systematic errors. Our results provide an important step for lattice studies of scattering states, as they are the first to be performed at the physical pion mass, where one can see the actual decay of the rho into two pions. The obtained rho meson parameters are in good agreement with the experimental values, and consistent with a weak pion mass dependence of the coupling between the rho and two pions. As for our probe of the structure of the nucleon, we present a complete extraction of the electroweak isovector form factors, with a comprehensive study of the electric charge squared radius and of the axial charge. Our analysis also feature data at the physical pion mass, which turns out to be crucial in order to perform safe extrapolations to the physical point, as the chiral perturbation theory predicts violent variations of these quantities near the massless-quarks point. Our calculation includes source and sink projections onto the nucleon state, as well as a combined fit method between the two-point and three-point correlation functions to control the contamination of our data by excited states. Although one would need more data to perform a high-accuracy determination of the nucleon radius and axial charge at the physical point with a relevant estimation of the systematic errors, the results we obtain are in good agreement with the experiment and suggest that the excited-state effects are under control. Our analysis also highlights that gauge configurations ensembles near the physical pion mass and with large volumes must be used in order to extract accurate information about the nucleon structure from lattice calculations.