Nuclear reactions from lattice QCD

One of the overarching goals of nuclear physics is to rigorously compute properties of hadronic systems directly from the fundamental theory of strong interactions, quantum chromodynamics (QCD). In particular, the hope is to perform reliable calculations of nuclear reactions which will impact our understanding of environments that occur during big bang nucleosynthesis, the evolution of stars and supernovae, and within nuclear reactors and high energy/density facilities. Such calculations, being truly ab initio, would include all two-nucleon and three-nucleon (and higher) interactions in a consistent manner. Currently, lattice quantum chromodynamics (LQCD) provides the only reliable option for performing calculations of some of the low-energy hadronic observables. With the aim of bridging the gap between LQCD and nuclear many-body physics, the Institute for Nuclear Theory held a workshop on Nuclear Reactions from LQCD on March 2013. In this review article, we report on the topics discussed in this workshop and the path planned to move forward in the upcoming years.