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).