Passing object by reference to std::thread in C++11

Explicitly initialize the thread with a reference_wrapper by using std::ref:

auto thread1 = std::thread(SimpleThread, std::ref(a));

(or std::cref instead of std::ref, as appropriate). Per notes from cppreference on std:thread:

The arguments to the thread function are moved or copied by value. If a reference argument needs to be passed to the thread function, it has to be wrapped (e.g. with std::ref or std::cref).

Based on this comment, this answer elaborates on the reason why the arguments are not passed by reference to the thread function by default.

Consider the following function SimpleThread():

void SimpleThread(int& i) {
    std::this_thread::sleep_for(std::chrono::seconds{1});
    i = 0;
}

Now, imagine what would happen if the following code compiled (it does not compile):

int main()
{
    {
        int a;
        std::thread th(SimpleThread, a);
        th.detach();
    }
    // "a" is out of scope
    // at this point the thread may be still running
    // ...
}

The argument a would be passed by reference to SimpleThread(). The thread may still be sleeping in the function SimpleThread() after the variable a has already gone out of scope and its lifetime has ended. If so, i in SimpleThread() would actually be a dangling reference, and the assignment i = 0 would result in undefined behaviour.

By wrapping reference arguments with the class template std::reference_wrapper (using the function templates std::ref and std::cref) you explicitly express your intentions.