Non-perturbative studies of Parton Distribution Functions

Parton distribution functions (PDFs) encode the non-perturbative structure of hadrons and their knowledge is essential for our ability to predict experimentally measured cross sections. They play an important role in discovering new physics at high energy collider experiments as well as in our understanding of the internal structure of hadrons. However, up until recently, PDFs could only be determined from experimental data while first principles theoretical computations were not possible. Novel ideas that came along have opened new avenues for ab initio parton distribution function computations. In this talk, I am presenting the basic ideas that are underlying these computations and review recent numerical results. Furthermore, I am discussing the future of such computations and their potential impact to phenomenology.