Publications

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Three dimensional topological field theories and Nahm sum formulas

Dongmin Gang, Heeyeon Kim, Byoungyoon Park, Spencer Stubbs

SciPost Phys. 19, 128 (2025) · published 12 November 2025 | · pdf

It is known that a large class of characters of 2d conformal field theories (CFTs) can be written in the form of a Nahm sum. In [D. Zagier, in Frontiers in number theory, physics, and geometry II, Springer, Berlin (2007)], D. Zagier identified a list of Nahm sum expressions that are modular functions under a congruence subgroup of $SL(2,\mathbb{Z})$, which can be thought of as candidates for characters of rational CFTs. Motivated by the observation that the same formulas appear as the half-indices of certain 3d $\mathcal{N}=2$ supersymmetric gauge theories, we perform a general search over low-rank 3d $\mathcal{N}=2$ Abelian Chern-Simons matter theories which either flow to unitary TFTs or $\mathcal{N}=4$ rank-zero SCFTs in the infrared. These are exceptional classes of 3d theories, which are expected to support rational and $C_2$-cofinite chiral algebras on their boundary. We compare and contrast our results with Zagier's and comment on a possible generalization of Nahm's conjecture.
Quantum adiabaticity in many-body systems and almost-orthogonality in complementary subspace

Jyong-Hao Chen, Vadim Cheianov

SciPost Phys. Core 8, 084 (2025) · published 12 November 2025 | · pdf

We investigate why, in quantum many-body systems, the adiabatic fidelity and the overlap between the initial state and instantaneous ground states often yield nearly identical values. Our analysis suggests that this phenomenon results from an interplay between two intrinsic limits of many-body systems: the limit of small evolution parameters and the limit of large system sizes. In the former case, conventional perturbation theory provides a straightforward explanation. In the latter case, a key insight is that pairs of vectors in the Hilbert space orthogonal to the initial state tend to become nearly orthogonal as the system size increases. We illustrate these general findings with two representative models of driven many-body systems: the driven Rice-Mele model and the driven interacting Kitaev chain model.
Exact solution for two $\delta$-interacting bosons on a ring in the presence of a $\delta$-barrier: Asymmetric Bethe Ansatz for spatially odd states

Maxim Olshanii, Mathias Albert, Gianni Aupetit-Diallo, Patrizia Vignolo, Steven G. Jackson

SciPost Phys. Core 8, 083 (2025) · published 12 November 2025 | · pdf

In this article, we apply the recently proposed Asymmetric Bethe Ansatz method to the problem of two one-dimensional, short-range-interacting bosons on a ring in the presence of a $\delta$-function barrier. Only half of the Hilbert space—namely, the two-body states that are odd under point inversion about the position of the barrier—is accessible to this method. The other half is presumably non-integrable. We consider benchmarking the recently proposed $1/g$ expansion about the hard-core boson point [D. Sen, Int. J. Mod. Phys. A 14, 1789 (1999); A. G. Volosniev et al., Nat. Commun. 5, 5300 (2014)] as one application of our results. Additionally, we find that when the $\delta$-barrier is converted to a $\delta$-well with strength equal to that of the particle-particle interaction, the system exhibits the spectrum of its non-interacting counterpart while its eigenstates display features of a strongly interacting system. We discuss this phenomenon in the "Summary and Future Research" section of our paper.
Spin-orbit photonics in a fixed cavity: Harnessing Bogoliubov modes of a Bose-Einstein condensate

Ghaisud Din, Muqaddar Abbas, Pei Zhang

SciPost Phys. Core 8, 082 (2025) · published 12 November 2025 | · pdf

We present a theoretical investigation of spin-orbit photonics within a fixed mirror cavity system containing a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC), in which the Bogoliubov excitation modes of the condensate are treated as effective mechanical oscillators. By embedding the condensate in a single-mode optical cavity, we explore the emergence and modulation of the photonic spin Hall effect (PSHE) through the spin-dependent transverse shifts of a weak probe field. The optical response —encoded in the real and imaginary components of the output field susceptibility— is systematically analyzed as a function of the condensate-cavity coupling strength, revealing a controllable enhancement or suppression of the spin-orbit interaction. Our model captures how the interplay between collective BEC excitations and cavity photon dynamics induces nontrivial modifications in spin-dependent light propagation. Notably, we uncover that the Bogoliubov mode coupling acts as a tunable channel for mediating spin angular momentum transfer within the cavity, offering a novel route for engineering compact, quantum-coherent spin-orbit photonic devices.
Testing Kubo formula on a nonlinear quantum conductor driven far from equilibrium, via power exchanges

Zubair Iftikhar, Jonas Müller, Yuri Mukharsky, Philippe Joyez, Patrice Roche, Carles Altimiras

SciPost Phys. 19, 127 (2025) · published 11 November 2025 | · pdf

We present an experimental test of Kubo formula performed on a nonlinear quantum conductor, a Superconductor-Insulator-Superconductor tunnel junction, driven far from equilibrium by a DC voltage bias. We implement the proposal of Lesovik & Loosen [G. B. Lesovik and R. Loosen, J. Exp. Theor. Phys. Lett. 65, 295 (1997)] and demonstrate experimentally that it is possible to extract both the emission and absorption noise of the conductor by measuring the power it exchanges with a linear detection circuit whose occupation is tuned close to vacuum levels. We then compare their difference to the real part of the admittance which is independently measured by coherent reflectometry, finding that Kubo formula holds within experimental accuracy. Last, we show theoretically that the spectral density of power exchanged between a quantum conductor and its linear detection circuit follows a Lesovik & Loosen like formula, even in the presence of strong detection back-action. This result applies as long as the conductor acts as a current source for the detection circuit and the detection circuit is not singular.
Non-invertible symmetries of two-dimensional non-linear sigma models

Guillermo Arias-Tamargo, Chris Hull, Maxwell L. Velásquez Cotini Hutt

SciPost Phys. 19, 126 (2025) · published 11 November 2025 | · pdf

Global symmetries can be generalised to transformations generated by topological operators, including cases in which the topological operator does not have an inverse. A family of such topological operators are intimately related to dualities via the procedure of half-space gauging. In this work we discuss the construction of non-invertible defects based on T-duality in two dimensions, generalising the well-known case of the free compact boson to any Non-Linear Sigma Model with Wess-Zumino term which is T-dualisable. This requires that the target space has an isometry with compact orbits that acts without fixed points. Our approach allows us to include target spaces without non-trivial 1-cycles, does not require the NLSM to be conformal, and when it is conformal it does not need to be rational; moreover, it highlights the microscopic origin of the topological terms that are responsible for the non-invertibility of the defect. An interesting class of examples are Wess-Zumino-Witten models, which are self-dual under a discrete gauging of a subgroup of the isometry symmetry and so host a topological defect line with Tambara-Yamagami fusion. Along the way, we discuss how the usual 0-form symmetries match across T-dual models in target spaces without 1-cycles, and how global obstructions can prevent locally conserved currents from giving rise to topological operators.
Characterizing the hadronization of parton showers using the HOMER method

Benoît Assi, Christian Bierlich, Philip Ilten, Tony Menzo, Stephen Mrenna, Manuel Szewc, Michael K. Wilkinson, Ahmed Youssef, Jure Zupan

SciPost Phys. 19, 125 (2025) · published 11 November 2025 | · pdf

We update the HOMER method, a technique to solve a restricted version of the inverse problem of hadronization – extracting the Lund string fragmentation function $f(z)$ from data using only observable information. Here, we demonstrate its utility by extracting $f(z)$ from synthetic Pythia simulations using high-level observables constructed on an event-by-event basis, such as multiplicities and shape variables. Four cases of increasing complexity are considered, corresponding to $e^+e^-$ collisions at a center-of-mass energy of $90≥v$ producing either a string stretched between a $q$ and $\bar{q}$ containing no gluons; the same string containing one gluon $g$ with fixed kinematics; the same but the gluon has varying kinematics; and the most realistic case, strings with an unrestricted number of gluons that is the end-result of a parton shower. We demonstrate the extraction of $f(z)$ in each case, with the result of only a relatively modest degradation in performance of the HOMER method with the increased complexity of the string system.
Bootstrapping nonequilibrium stochastic processes

Minjae Cho

SciPost Phys. 19, 124 (2025) · published 10 November 2025 | · pdf

We show that bootstrap methods based on the positivity of probability measures provide a systematic framework for studying both synchronous and asynchronous nonequilibrium stochastic processes on infinite lattices. First, we formulate linear programming problems that use positivity and invariance property of invariant measures to derive rigorous bounds on their expectation values. Second, for time evolution in asynchronous processes, we exploit the master equation along with positivity and initial conditions to construct linear and semidefinite programming problems that yield bounds on expectation values at both short and late times. We illustrate both approaches using two canonical examples: the contact process in 1+1 and 2+1 dimensions, and the Domany-Kinzel model in both synchronous and asynchronous forms in 1+1 dimensions. Our bounds on invariant measures yield rigorous lower bounds on critical rates, while those on time evolutions provide two-sided bounds on the half-life of the infection density and the temporal correlation length in the subcritical phase.
Interpolating amplitudes

Víctor Bresó-Pla, Gudrun Heinrich, Vitaly Magerya, Anton Olsson

SciPost Phys. 19, 123 (2025) · published 10 November 2025 | · pdf

The calculation of scattering amplitudes at higher orders in perturbation theory has reached a high degree of maturity. However, their usage to produce physical predictions within Monte Carlo programs is often precluded by the slow evaluation of two- and higher-loop virtual amplitudes, particularly those calculated numerically. As a remedy, interpolation frameworks have been successfully used for amplitudes depending on up to two kinematic invariants. For amplitude interpolation with more variables, such as the five dimensions of a $2\to 3$ phase space, efficient and reliable solutions are sparse. This work aims to pave the way for using amplitude interpolation in higher-dimensional phase spaces by reviewing state-of-the-art interpolation methods, and assessing their performance on a selection of $2\to 3$ scattering amplitudes. Specifically, we investigate interpolation methods based on polynomials, splines, spatially adaptive sparse grids, and neural networks (multilayer perceptron and Lorentz-Equivariant Geometric Algebra Transformer), all under the constraint of limited obtainable data. Our additional aim is to motivate further studies of the interpolation of scattering amplitudes among both physicists and mathematicians.
A graph-theoretic approach to chaos and complexity in quantum systems

Maxwell West, Neil Dowling, Angus Southwell, Martin Sevior, Muhammad Usman, Kavan Modi, Thomas Quella

SciPost Phys. Core 8, 081 (2025) · published 10 November 2025 | · pdf

There has recently been considerable interest in studying quantum systems via dynamical Lie algebras (DLAs) – Lie algebras generated by the terms which appear in the Hamiltonian of the system. However, there are some important properties that are revealed only at a finer level of granularity than the DLA. In this work we explore, via the commutator graph, average notions of scrambling, chaos and complexity over ensembles of systems with DLAs that possess a basis consisting of Pauli strings. Unlike DLAs, commutator graphs are sensitive to short-time dynamics, and therefore constitute a finer probe to various characteristics of the corresponding ensemble. We link graph-theoretic properties of the commutator graph to the out-of-time-order correlator (OTOC), the frame potential, the frustration graph of the Hamiltonian of the system, and the Krylov complexity of operators evolving under the dynamics. For example, we reduce the calculation of average OTOCs to a counting problem on the graph; separately, we connect the Krylov complexity of an operator to the module structure of the adjoint action of the DLA on the space of operators in which it resides, and prove that its average over the ensemble is lower bounded by the average shortest path length between the initial operator and the other operators in the commutator graph.

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