Speaker
Description
The electromagnetic coupling at the $Z$ pole, $\alpha_{\text{em}}(M_Z^2)$, is a key input for electroweak precision tests and searches for physics beyond the Standard Model. Fully exploiting the potential of future collider experiments will require a significant reduction of the theoretical uncertainties on this quantity. The dominant source of uncertainty stems from the hadronic running of the electromagnetic coupling, which can be addressed through a hybrid approach combining lattice QCD results at low energies with perturbative QCD at high energies. In this contribution, I present preliminary results for the comparison between the perturbative running of the hadronic contribution to $\alpha_{\text{em}}$ and lattice QCD results from the BMW collaboration.