Contributor info: Mr Xiaoyang Huang

Xiaoyang Huang

SciPost Phys. 15, 153 (2023) · published 11 October 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

We present effective field theories for dipole symmetric topological matters that can be described by the Chern-Simons theory. Unlike most studies using higher-rank gauge theory, we develop a framework with both $U(1)$ and dipole gauge fields. As a result, only the highest multipole symmetry can support the 't Hooft anomaly. We show that with appropriate point group symmetries, the dipolar Chern-Simons theory can exist in any dimension and, moreover, the bulk-edge correspondence can depend on the boundary. As two applications, we draw an analogy between the dipole anomaly and the torsional anomaly and generalize particle-vortex duality to dipole phase transitions. All of the above are in the flat spacetime limit, but our framework is able to systematically couple dipole symmetry to curved spacetime. Based on that, we give a proposal about anomalous dipole hydrodynamics. Moreover, we show that the fracton-elasticity duality arises naturally from a non-abelian Chern-Simons theory in 3D.

Xiaoyang Huang, Andrew Lucas

SciPost Phys. 13, 004 (2022) · published 21 July 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

Understanding electrical transport in strange metals, including the seeming universality of Planckian $T$-linear resistivity, remains a longstanding challenge in condensed matter physics. We propose that local imaging techniques, such as nitrogen vacancy center magnetometry, can locally identify signatures of quantum critical response which are invisible in measurements of a bulk electrical resistivity. As an illustrative example, we use a minimal holographic model for a strange metal in two spatial dimensions to predict how electrical current will flow in regimes dominated by quantum critical dynamics on the Planckian length scale. We describe the crossover between quantum critical transport and hydrodynamic transport (including Ohmic regimes), both in charge neutral and finite density systems. We compare our holographic predictions to experiments on charge neutral graphene, finding quantitative agreement with available data; we suggest further experiments which may determine the relevance of our framework to transport on Planckian scales in this material. More broadly, we propose that locally imaged transport be used to test the universality (or lack thereof) of microscopic dynamics in the diverse set of quantum materials exhibiting $T$-linear resistivity.