Publications

Order by: publication date number of citations

• Hidden conformal symmetries from Killing towers with an application to large-D/CFT

  Cynthia Keeler, Victoria Martin, Alankrita Priya

  SciPost Phys. 12, 170 (2022) · published 23 May 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We generalize the notion of hidden conformal symmetry in Kerr/CFT to Kerr-(A)dS black holes in arbitrary dimensions. We build the SL(2, R) generators directly from the Killing tower, whose Killing tensors and Killing vectors enforce the separability of the equations of motion. Our construction amounts to an explicit relationship between hidden conformal symmetries and Killing tensors: we use the Killing tower to build a novel tensor equation connecting the SL(2,R) Casimir with the radial Klein-Gordon operator. For asymptotically flat black holes in four and five dimensions we recover previously known results that were obtained using the "near-region" limit and the monodromy method. We then perform a monodromy evaluation of the Klein-Gordon scalar wave equation for all Kerr-(A)dS black holes, finding explicit forms for the zero mode symmetry generators. We also extend this analysis to the large-dimensional Schwarzschild black hole as a step towards buliding a Large-D/CFT correspondence.

• New directions in the search for dark matter

  Surjeet Rajendran

  SciPost Phys. Lect. Notes 56 (2022) · published 23 May 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The identification of the nature of dark matter is one of the most important problems confronting particle physics. Current observational constraints permit the mass of the dark matter to range from $\sim 10^{-22}$ eV - $10^{48}$ GeV. Given the weak nature of these bounds and the ease with which dark matter models can be constructed, it is clear that the problem can only be solved experimentally. In these lectures, I discuss methods to experimentally probe a wide range of dark matter candidates.

• Landau levels in curved space realized in strained graphene

  Glenn Wagner, Fernando de Juan, Dung X. Nguyen

  SciPost Phys. Core 5, 029 (2022) · published 23 May 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The quantum Hall effect in curved space has been the subject of many theoretical investigations in the past, but devising a physical system to observe this effect is hard. Many works have indicated that electronic excitations in strained graphene realize Dirac fermions in curved space in the presence of a background pseudo-gauge field, providing an ideal playground for this. However, the absence of a direct matching between a numerical, strained tight-binding calculation of an observable and the corresponding curved space prediction has hindered realistic predictions. In this work, we provide this matching by deriving the low-energy Hamiltonian from the tight-binding model analytically to second order in the strain and mapping it to the curved-space Dirac equation. Using a strain profile that produces a constant pseudo-magnetic field and a constant curvature, we compute the Landau level spectrum with real-space numerical tight-binding calculations and find excellent agreement with the prediction of the quantum Hall effect in curved space. We conclude discussing experimental schemes for measuring this effect.

• Dilaton in scalar QFT: a no-go theorem in 4-epsilon and 3-epsilon dimensions

  Daniel Nogradi, Balint Ozsvath

  SciPost Phys. 12, 169 (2022) · published 20 May 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Spontaneous scale invariance breaking and the associated Goldstone boson, the dilaton, is investigated in renormalizable, unitary, interacting non-supersymmetric scalar field theories in $4-\varepsilon$ dimensions. At leading order it is possible to construct models which give rise to spontaneous scale invariance breaking classically and indeed a massless dilaton can be identified. Beyond leading order, in order to have no anomalous scale symmetry breaking in QFT, the models need to be defined at a Wilson-Fisher fixed point with exact conformal symmetry. It is shown that this requirement on the couplings is incompatible with having the type of flat direction which would be necessary for an exactly massless dilaton. As a result spontaneous scale symmetry breaking and an exactly massless dilaton can not occur in renormalizable, unitary $4-\varepsilon$ dimensional scalar QFT. The arguments apply to $\phi^6$ theory in $3-\varepsilon$ dimensions as well.

• Probabilistically violating the first law of thermodynamics in a quantum heat engine

  Timo Kerremans, Peter Samuelsson, Patrick P. Potts

  SciPost Phys. 12, 168 (2022) · published 20 May 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Fluctuations of thermodynamic observables, such as heat and work, contain relevant information on the underlying physical process. These fluctuations are however not taken into account in the traditional laws of thermodynamics. While the second law is extended to fluctuating systems by the celebrated fluctuation theorems, the first law is generally believed to hold even in the presence of fluctuations. Here we show that in the presence of quantum fluctuations, also the first law of thermodynamics may break down. This happens because quantum mechanics imposes constraints on the knowledge of heat and work. To illustrate our results, we provide a detailed case-study of work and heat fluctuations in a quantum heat engine based on a circuit QED architecture. We find probabilistic violations of the first law and show that they are closely connected to quantum signatures related to negative quasi-probabilities. Our results imply that in the presence of quantum fluctuations, the first law of thermodynamics may not be applicable to individual experimental runs.

• Dark Matter direct detection of classical WIMPs

  Jodi Cooley

  SciPost Phys. Lect. Notes 55 (2022) · published 20 May 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  One of the highest priorities in particle physics today is the identification of the constituents of dark matter. This manuscript is a supplement to pedagogical lectures given at the 2021 Les Houches Summer School on Dark Matter. The lectures cover topics related to the direct detection of WIMP dark matter, including the distribution of dark matter, nuclear scattering, backgrounds, planning and designing of experiments, and a sampling of planned and ongoing experiments.

• Triplet character of 2D-fermion dimers arising from $s$-wave attraction via spin-orbit coupling and Zeeman splitting

  Ulrich Ebling, Ulrich Zülicke, Joachim Brand

  SciPost Phys. 12, 167 (2022) · published 19 May 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We theoretically study spin-$1/2$ fermions confined to two spatial dimensions and experiencing isotropic short-range attraction in the presence of both spin-orbit coupling and Zeeman spin splitting - a prototypical system for developing topological superfluidity in the many-body sector. Exact solutions for two-particle bound states are found to have a triplet contribution that dominates over the singlet part in an extended region of parameter space where the combined Zeeman- and center-of-mass-motion-induced spin-splitting energy is large. The triplet character of dimers is purest in the regime of weak $s$-wave interaction strength. Center-of-mass momentum is one of the parameters determining the existence of bound states, which we map out for both two- and one-dimensional types of spin-orbit coupling. Distinctive features emerging in the orbital part of the bound-state wave function, including but not limited to its $p$-wave character, provide observable signatures of unconventional pairing.

• Accuracy of restricted Boltzmann machines for the one-dimensional $J_1-J_2$ Heisenberg model

  Luciano Loris Viteritti, Francesco Ferrari, Federico Becca

  SciPost Phys. 12, 166 (2022) · published 19 May 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Neural networks have been recently proposed as variational wave functions for quantum many-body systems [G. Carleo and M. Troyer, Science 355, 602 (2017)]. In this work, we focus on a specific architecture, known as Restricted Boltzmann Machine (RBM), and analyse its accuracy for the spin-1/2 $J_1-J_2$ antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model in one spatial dimension. The ground state of this model has a non-trivial sign structure, especially for $J_2/J_1>0.5$, forcing us to work with complex-valued RBMs. Two variational Ans\"atze are discussed: one defined through a fully complex RBM, and one in which two different real-valued networks are used to approximate modulus and phase of the wave function. In both cases, translational invariance is imposed by considering linear combinations of RBMs, giving access also to the lowest-energy excitations at fixed momentum $k$. We perform a systematic study on small clusters to evaluate the accuracy of these wave functions in comparison to exact results, providing evidence for the supremacy of the fully complex RBM. Our calculations show that this kind of Ans\"atze is very flexible and describes both gapless and gapped ground states, also capturing the incommensurate spin-spin correlations and low-energy spectrum for $J_2/J_1>0.5$. The RBM results are also compared to the ones obtained with Gutzwiller-projected fermionic states, often employed to describe quantum spin models [F. Ferrari, A. Parola, S. Sorella and F. Becca, Phys. Rev. B 97, 235103 (2018)]. Contrary to the latter class of variational states, the fully-connected structure of RBMs hampers the transferability of the wave function from small to large clusters, implying an increase of the computational cost with the system size.

• Do Drinfeld twists of $AdS_5 \times S^5$ survive light-cone quantization?

  Stijn J. van Tongeren, Yannik Zimmermann

  SciPost Phys. Core 5, 028 (2022) · published 19 May 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We study how a wide class of Abelian Yang-Baxter deformations of the AdS$_\mathsf{5} \times $S$^\mathsf{5}$ string behave at the quantum level. These deformations are equivalent to TsT transformations and conjectured to be dual to beta, dipole, and noncommutative deformations of SYM. Classically they correspond to Drinfeld twists of the original theory. To verify this expectation at the quantum level we compute and match (1) the bosonic two-body tree-level worldsheet scattering matrix of these deformations in the uniform light-cone gauge, and (2) the Bethe equations of the equivalent model with twisted boundary conditions. We find that for a generalization of gamma deformations of the BMN string the we are able to express the S matrix either through a Drinfeld twist or a shift of momenta. For deformations of the GKP string around the null-cusp solution we encounter calculational obstacles that prevent us from calculating the scattering matrix.

• Role of stochastic noise and generalization error in the time propagation of neural-network quantum states

  Damian Hofmann, Giammarco Fabiani, Johan H. Mentink, Giuseppe Carleo, Michael A. Sentef

  SciPost Phys. 12, 165 (2022) · published 18 May 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Neural-network quantum states (NQS) have been shown to be a suitable variational ansatz to simulate out-of-equilibrium dynamics in two-dimensional systems using time-dependent variational Monte Carlo (t-VMC). In particular, stable and accurate time propagation over long time scales has been observed in the square-lattice Heisenberg model using the Restricted Boltzmann machine architecture. However, achieving similar performance in other systems has proven to be more challenging. In this article, we focus on the two-leg Heisenberg ladder driven out of equilibrium by a pulsed excitation as a benchmark system. We demonstrate that unmitigated noise is strongly amplified by the nonlinear equations of motion for the network parameters, which causes numerical instabilities in the time evolution. As a consequence, the achievable accuracy of the simulated dynamics is a result of the interplay between network expressiveness and measures required to remedy these instabilities. We show that stability can be greatly improved by appropriate choice of regularization. This is particularly useful as tuning of the regularization typically imposes no additional computational cost. Inspired by machine learning practice, we propose a validation-set based diagnostic tool to help determining optimal regularization hyperparameters for t-VMC based propagation schemes. For our benchmark, we show that stable and accurate time propagation can be achieved in regimes of sufficiently regularized variational dynamics.