Simulations of non-relativistic quantum chromodynamics at strong and weak coupling

In this thesis heavy quarks are investigated using lattice nonrelativistic quantum chromodynamics (NRQCD). Two major research works are presented.; In the first major work, simulations are done for the three quarkonium systems cc¯, bc¯, and bb¯. The hyperfine splittings are computed at both leading and next-to-leading order in the relativistic expansion, using a large number of lattice spacings. A detailed comparison between mean-link and average plaquette tadpole renormalization schemes is undertaken with a number of features favouring the use of mean-links. These include much better scaling behavior of the hyperfine splittings and smaller relativistic corrections to the spin splittings. Signs of a breakdown in the NRQCD expansion are seen when the bare quark mass, in lattice units, falls below about one.; In the second work, coefficients for the perturbative expansion of the static quark self energy are extracted from Monte Carlo simulations in the perturbative region of lattice quantum chromodynamics (QCD). A very large systematic study resulted in a major extension of existing methods. Twisted boundary conditions are used to eliminate the effects of zero modes and to suppress tunneling between the degenerate Z₃ vacua. The Monte Carlo results are in excellent agreement with analytic perturbation theory, which is known through second order. New results for the third order coefficient are reported. Preliminary work is reported on quark propagators which will be used to measure second order mass renormalizations for NRQCD fermions.