Recent SciPost Publications

A. Fabbri, N. Pavloff

SciPost Phys. 4, 019 (2018) · published 9 April 2018 | Toggle abstract · pdf

We study the two-body momentum correlation signal in a quasi one dimensional Bose-Einstein condensate in the presence of a sonic horizon. We identify the relevant correlation lines in momentum space and compute the intensity of the corresponding signal. We consider a set of different experimental procedures and identify the specific issues of each measuring process. We show that some inter-channel correlations, in particular the Hawking quantum-partner one, are particularly well adapted for witnessing quantum non-separability, being resilient to the effects of temperature and/or quantum quenches.

Sophie S. Shamailov, Joachim Brand

SciPost Phys. 4, 018 (2018) · published 31 March 2018 | Toggle abstract · pdf

Superconducting Josephson vortices have direct analogues in ultracold-atom physics as solitary-wave excitations of two-component superfluid Bose gases with linear coupling. Here we numerically extend the zero-velocity Josephson vortex solutions of the coupled Gross-Pitaevskii equations to non-zero velocities, thus obtaining the full dispersion relation. The inertial mass of the Josephson vortex obtained from the dispersion relation depends on the strength of linear coupling and has a simple pole divergence at a critical value where it changes sign while assuming large absolute values. Additional low-velocity quasiparticles with negative inertial mass emerge at finite momentum that are reminiscent of a dark soliton in one component with counter-flow in the other. In the limit of small linear coupling we compare the Josephson vortex solutions to sine-Gordon solitons and show that the correspondence between them is asymptotic, but significant differences appear at finite values of the coupling constant. Finally, for unequal and non-zero self- and cross-component nonlinearities, we find a new solitary-wave excitation branch. In its presence, both dark solitons and Josephson vortices are dynamically stable while the new excitations are unstable.

Vincenzo Alba, Pasquale Calabrese

SciPost Phys. 4, 017 (2018) · published 27 March 2018 | Toggle abstract · pdf

The time evolution of the entanglement entropy in non-equilibrium quantum systems provides crucial information about the structure of the time-dependent state. For quantum quench protocols, by combining a quasiparticle picture for the entanglement spreading with the exact knowledge of the stationary state provided by Bethe ansatz, it is possible to obtain an exact and analytic description of the evolution of the entanglement entropy. Here we discuss the application of these ideas to several integrable models. First we show that for non-interacting systems, both bosonic and fermionic, the exact time-dependence of the entanglement entropy can be derived by elementary techniques and without solving the dynamics. We then provide exact results for interacting spin chains that are carefully tested against numerical simulations. Finally, we apply this method to integrable one-dimensional Bose gases (Lieb-Liniger model) both in the attractive and repulsive regimes. We highlight a peculiar behaviour of the entanglement entropy due to the absence of a maximum velocity of excitations.

Axel Cortes Cubero

SciPost Phys. 4, 016 (2018) · published 27 March 2018 | Toggle abstract · pdf

At thermal equilibrium, the concept of effective central charge for massive deformations of two-dimensional conformal field theories (CFT) is well understood, and can be defined by comparing the partition function of the massive model to that of a CFT. This temperature-dependent effective charge interpolates monotonically between the central charge values corresponding to the IR and UV fixed points at low and high temperatures, respectively. We propose a non-equilibrium, time-dependent generalization of the effective central charge for integrable models after a quantum quench, $c_{\rm eff}(t)$, obtained by comparing the return amplitude to that of a CFT quench. We study this proposal for a large mass quench of a free boson, where the charge is seen to interpolate between $c_{\rm eff}=0$ at $t=0$, and $c_{\rm eff}\sim 1$ at $t\to\infty$, as is expected. We use our effective charge to define an "Ising to Tricritical Ising" quench protocol, where the charge evolves from $c_{\rm eff}=1/2$ at $t=0$, to $c_{\rm eff}=7/10$ at $t\to\infty$, the corresponding values of the first two unitary minimal CFT models. We then argue that the inverse "Tricritical Ising to Ising" quench is impossible with our methods. These conclusions can be generalized for quenches between any two adjacent unitary minimal CFT models. We finally study a large mass quench into the "staircase model" (sinh-Gordon with a particular complex coupling). At short times after the quench, the effective central charge increases in a discrete "staircase" structure, where the values of the charge at the steps can be computed in terms of the central charges of unitary minimal CFT models. When the initial state is a pure state, one always finds that $c_{\rm eff}(t\to\infty)\geq c_{\rm eff}(t=0)$, though $c_{\rm eff}(t)$, generally oscillates at finite times. We explore how this constraint may be related to RG flow irreversibility.

Petter Säterskog

SciPost Phys. 4, 015 (2018) · published 27 March 2018 | Toggle abstract · pdf

We study a model in 1+2 dimensions composed of a spherical Fermi surface of $N_f$ flavors of fermions coupled to a massless scalar. We present a framework to non-perturbatively calculate general fermion $n$-point functions of this theory in the limit $N_f\rightarrow0$ followed by $k_F\rightarrow\infty$ where $k_F$ sets both the size and curvature of the Fermi surface. Using this framework we calculate the zero-temperature fermion density-density correlation function in real space and find an exponential decay of Friedel oscillations.

Aurélien Grabsch, Satya N. Majumdar, Grégory Schehr, Christophe Texier

SciPost Phys. 4, 014 (2018) · published 24 March 2018 | Toggle abstract · pdf

We study a system of 1D noninteracting spinless fermions in a confining trap at finite temperature. We first derive a useful and general relation for the fluctuations of the occupation numbers valid for arbitrary confining trap, as well as for both canonical and grand canonical ensembles. Using this relation, we obtain compact expressions, in the case of the harmonic trap, for the variance of certain observables of the form of sums of a function of the fermions' positions, $\mathcal{L}=\sum_n h(x_n)$. Such observables are also called linear statistics of the positions. As anticipated, we demonstrate explicitly that these fluctuations do depend on the ensemble in the thermodynamic limit, as opposed to averaged quantities, which are ensemble independent. We have applied our general formalism to compute the fluctuations of the number of fermions $\mathcal{N}_+$ on the positive axis at finite temperature. Our analytical results are compared to numerical simulations. We discuss the universality of the results with respect to the nature of the confinement.

Markus Schmitt, Markus Heyl

SciPost Phys. 4, 013 (2018) · published 28 February 2018 | Toggle abstract · pdf

The efficient representation of quantum many-body states with classical resources is a key challenge in quantum many-body theory. In this work we analytically construct classical networks for the description of the quantum dynamics in transverse-field Ising models that can be solved efficiently using Monte Carlo techniques. Our perturbative construction encodes time-evolved quantum states of spin-1/2 systems in a network of classical spins with local couplings and can be directly generalized to other spin systems and higher spins. Using this construction we compute the transient dynamics in one, two, and three dimensions including local observables, entanglement production, and Loschmidt amplitudes using Monte Carlo algorithms and demonstrate the accuracy of this approach by comparisons to exact results. We include a mapping to equivalent artificial neural networks, which were recently introduced to provide a universal structure for classical network wave functions.

Daniele Dorigoni, Philip Glass

SciPost Phys. 4, 012 (2018) · published 27 February 2018 | Toggle abstract · pdf

First we compute the $\mbox{S}^2$ partition function of the supersymmetric $\mathbb{CP}^{N-1}$ model via localization and as a check we show that the chiral ring structure can be correctly reproduced. For the $\mathbb{CP}^1$ case we provide a concrete realisation of this ring in terms of Bessel functions. We consider a weak coupling expansion in each topological sector and write it as a finite number of perturbative corrections plus an infinite series of instanton-anti-instanton contributions. To be able to apply resurgent analysis we then consider a non-supersymmetric deformation of the localized model by introducing a small unbalance between the number of bosons and fermions. The perturbative expansion of the deformed model becomes asymptotic and we analyse it within the framework of resurgence theory. Although the perturbative series truncates when we send the deformation parameter to zero we can still reconstruct non-perturbative physics out of the perturbative data in a nice example of Cheshire cat resurgence in quantum field theory. We also show that the same type of resurgence takes place when we consider an analytic continuation in the number of chiral fields from $N$ to $r\in\mathbb{R}$. Although for generic real $r$ supersymmetry is still formally preserved, we find that the perturbative expansion of the supersymmetric partition function becomes asymptotic so that we can use resurgent analysis and only at the end take the limit of integer $r$ to recover the undeformed model.

Jan C. Zill, Tod M. Wright, Karen V. Kheruntsyan, Thomas Gasenzer, Matthew J. Davis

SciPost Phys. 4, 011 (2018) · published 25 February 2018 | Toggle abstract · pdf

We use the coordinate Bethe ansatz to study the Lieb-Liniger model of a one-dimensional gas of bosons on a finite-sized ring interacting via an attractive delta-function potential. We calculate zero-temperature correlation functions for seven particles in the vicinity of the crossover to a localized solitonic state and study the dynamics of a system of four particles quenched to attractive interactions from the ideal-gas ground state. We determine the time evolution of correlation functions, as well as their temporal averages, and discuss the role of bound states in shaping the postquench correlations and relaxation dynamics.

S. V. Ramankutty, J. Henke, A. Schiphorst, R. Nutakki, S. Bron, G. Araizi-Kanoutas, S. K. Mishra, Lei Li, Y. K. Huang, T. K. Kim, M. Hoesch, C. Schlueter, T. -L. Lee, A. de Visser, Zhicheng Zhong, Jasper van Wezel, E. van Heumen, M. S. Golden

SciPost Phys. 4, 010 (2018) · published 21 February 2018 | Toggle abstract · pdf

SrMnSb$_2$ is suggested to be a magnetic topological semimetal. It contains square, 2D Sb planes with non-symmorphic crystal symmetries that could protect band crossings, offering the possibility of a quasi-2D, robust Dirac semi-metal in the form of a stable, bulk (3D) crystal. Here, we report a combined and comprehensive experimental and theoretical investigation of the electronic structure of SrMnSb$_2$, including the first ARPES data on this compound. SrMnSb$_2$ possesses a small Fermi surface originating from highly 2D, sharp and linearly dispersing bands (the Y-states) around the (0,$\pi$/a)-point in $k$-space. The ARPES Fermi surface agrees perfectly with that from bulk-sensitive Shubnikov de Haas data from the same crystals, proving the Y$-$states to be responsible for electrical conductivity in SrMnSb$_2$. DFT and tight binding (TB) methods are used to model the electronic states, and both show good agreement with the ARPES data. Despite the great promise of the latter, both theory approaches show the Y-states to be gapped above E$_F$, suggesting trivial topology. Subsequent analysis within both theory approaches shows the Berry phase to be zero, indicating the non-topological character of the transport in SrMnSb$_2$, a conclusion backed up by the analysis of the quantum oscillation data from our crystals.