Publications

Order by: publication date number of citations

• Laser spectroscopy of light muonic atoms and the nuclear charge radii

  Aldo Antognini, Franz Kottmann, Randolf Pohl

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 5, 021 (2021) · published 6 September 2021 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The energy levels of hydrogen-like atomic systems are shifted slightly by the complex structure of the nucleus, in particular by the finite size of the nucleus. These energy shifts are vastly magnified in muonic atoms and ions, i.e. the hydrogen-like systems formed by a negative muon and a nucleus. By measuring the 2S-2P energy splitting in muonic hydrogen, muonic deuterium and muonic helium, we have been able to deduce the p, d, 3He and 4He nuclear charge radii to an unprecedented accuracy. These radii provide benchmarks for hadron and nuclear theories, lead to precision tests of bound- state QED in regular atoms and to a better determination of the Rydberg constant.

  9 citations

• Squashing and supersymmetry enhancement in three dimensions

  Joseph Minahan, Usman Naseer, Charles Thull

  SciPost Phys. 12, 025 (2022) · published 17 January 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We consider mass-deformed theories with ${\cal N}\geq2$ supersymmetry on round and squashed three-spheres. By embedding the supersymmetric backgrounds in extended supergravity we show that at special values of mass deformations the supersymmetry is enhanced on the squashed spheres. When the $3d$ partition function can be obtained by a limit of a $4d$ index we also show that for these special mass deformations only the states annihilated by extra supercharges contribute to the index. By using an equivalence between partition functions on squashed spheres and ellipsoids, we explain the recently observed squashing independence of the partition function of mass-deformed ABJ(M) theory on the ellipsoid. We provide further examples of such simplification for various $3d$ supersymmetric theories.

  9 citations

• Gate-induced decoupling of surface and bulk state properties in selectively-deposited Bi$_2$Te$_3$ nanoribbons

  Daniel Rosenbach, Kristof Moors, Abdur R. Jalil, Jonas Kölzer, Erik Zimmermann, Jürgen Schubert, Soraya Karimzadah, Gregor Mussler, Peter Schüffelgen, Detlev Grützmacher, Hans Lüth, Thomas Schäpers

  SciPost Phys. Core 5, 017 (2022) · published 30 March 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Three-dimensional topological insulators (TIs) host helical Dirac surface states at the interface with a trivial insulator. In quasi-one-dimensional TI nanoribbon structures the wave function of surface charges extends phase-coherently along the perimeter of the nanoribbon, resulting in a quantization of transverse surface modes. Furthermore, as the inherent spin-momentum locking results in a Berry phase offset of $\pi$ of self-interfering charge carriers an energy gap within the surface state dispersion appears and all states become spin-degenerate. We investigate and compare the magnetic field dependent surface state dispersion in selectively deposited Bi$_2$Te$_3$ TI micro- and nanoribbon structures by analysing the gate voltage dependent magnetoconductance at cryogenic temperatures. While in wide microribbon devices the field effect mainly changes the amount of bulk charges close to the top surface we identify coherent transverse surface states along the perimeter of the nanoribbon devices responding to a change in top gate potential. We quantify the energetic spacing in between these quantized transverse subbands by using an electrostatic model that treats an initial difference in charge carrier densities on the top and bottom surface as well as remaining bulk charges. In the gate voltage dependent transconductance we find oscillations that change their relative phase by $\pi$ at half-integer values of the magnetic flux quantum applied coaxial to the nanoribbon, which is a signature for a magnetic flux dependent topological phase transition in narrow, selectively deposited TI nanoribbon devices.

  9 citations

• Ruling out light axions: The writing is on the wall

  Konstantin A. Beyer, Subir Sarkar

  SciPost Phys. 15, 003 (2023) · published 10 July 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We revisit the domain wall problem for QCD axion models with more than one quark charged under the Peccei-Quinn symmetry. Symmetry breaking during or after inflation results in the formation of a domain wall network which would cause cosmic catastrophe if it comes to dominate the Universe. The network may be made unstable by invoking a "tilt" in the axion potential due to Planck scale suppressed non-renormalisable operators. Alternatively the random walk of the axion field during inflation can generate a "bias" favouring one of the degenerate vacua, but we find that this mechanism is in practice irrelevant. Consideration of the axion abundance generated by the decay of the wall network then requires the Peccei-Quinn scale to be rather low - thus e.g. ruling out the DFSZ axion with mass below $\sim$ 11 meV, where most experimental searches are in fact focused.

  9 citations

• Relativistic reduced density matrix functional theory.

  Mauricio Rodríguez-Mayorga, Klaas J.H. Giesbertz, Lucas Visscher

  SciPost Chem. 1, 004 (2022) · published 10 June 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  As a new approach to efficiently describe correlation effects in the relativistic quantum world we propose to consider reduced density matrix functional theory, where the key quantity is the first-order reduced density matrix (1-RDM). In this work, we first introduce the theoretical foundations to extend the applicability of this theory to the relativistic domain. Then, using the so-called no-pair (np) approximation, we arrive at an approximate treatment of the relativistic effects by focusing on electronic wavefunctions and neglecting explicit contributions from positrons. Within the np approximation the theory becomes similar to the nonrelativistic case, with as unknown only the functional that describes the electron-electron interactions in terms of the 1-RDM. This requires the construction of functional approximations, and we therefore also present the relativistic versions of some common RDMFT approximations that are used in the nonrelativistic context and discuss their properties.

  9 citations

• A degeneracy bound for homogeneous topological order

  Jeongwan Haah

  SciPost Phys. 10, 011 (2021) · published 20 January 2021 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We introduce a notion of homogeneous topological order, which is obeyed by most, if not all, known examples of topological order including fracton phases on quantum spins (qudits). The notion is a condition on the ground state subspace, rather than on the Hamiltonian, and demands that given a collection of ball-like regions, any linear transformation on the ground space be realized by an operator that avoids the ball-like regions. We derive a bound on the ground state degeneracy $\mathcal D$ for systems with homogeneous topological order on an arbitrary closed Riemannian manifold of dimension $d$, which reads \[ \log \mathcal D \le c \mu (L/a)^{d-2}.\] Here, $L$ is the diameter of the system, $a$ is the lattice spacing, and $c$ is a constant that only depends on the isometry class of the manifold, and $\mu$ is a constant that only depends on the density of degrees of freedom. If $d=2$, the constant $c$ is the (demi)genus of the space manifold. This bound is saturated up to constants by known examples.

  9 citations

• Development of a cold atomic muonium beam for next generation atomic physics and gravity experiments

  Anna Soter, Andreas Knecht

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 5, 031 (2021) · published 6 September 2021 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  A high-intensity, low-emittance atomic muonium (M) beam is being developed, which would enable improving the precision of M spectroscopy measurements, and may allow a direct observation of the M gravitational interaction. Measuring the free fall of M atoms would be the first test of the weak equivalence principle using elementary antimatter ($\mu^+$) and a purely leptonic system. Such an experiment relies on the high intensity, continuous muon beams available at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI, Switzerland), and a proposed novel M source. In this paper, the theoretical motivation and principles of this experiment are described.

  9 citations

• Lack of symmetry restoration after a quantum quench: An entanglement asymmetry study

  Filiberto Ares, Sara Murciano, Eric Vernier, Pasquale Calabrese

  SciPost Phys. 15, 089 (2023) · published 12 September 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We consider the quantum quench in the XX spin chain starting from a tilted Néel state which explicitly breaks the $U(1)$ symmetry of the post-quench Hamiltonian. Very surprisingly, the $U(1)$ symmetry is not restored at large time because of the activation of a non-Abelian set of charges which all break it. The breaking of the symmetry can be effectively and quantitatively characterised by the recently introduced entanglement asymmetry. By a combination of exact calculations and quasi-particle picture arguments, we are able to exactly describe the behaviour of the asymmetry at any time after the quench. Furthermore we show that the stationary behaviour is completely captured by a non-Abelian generalised Gibbs ensemble. While our computations have been performed for a non-interacting spin chain, we expect similar results to hold for the integrable interacting case as well because of the presence of non-Abelian charges also in that case.

  9 citations

• Minimal $(D,D)$ conformal matter and generalizations of the van Diejen model

  Belal Nazzal, Anton Nedelin, Shlomo S. Razamat

  SciPost Phys. 12, 140 (2022) · published 26 April 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We consider supersymmetric surface defects in compactifications of the $6d$ minimal $(D_{N+3},D_{N+3})$ conformal matter theories on a punctured Riemann surface. For the case of $N=1$ such defects are introduced into the supersymmetric index computations by an action of the $BC_1\,(\sim A_1\sim C_1)$ van Diejen model. We (re)derive this fact using three different field theoretic descriptions of the four dimensional models. The three field theoretic descriptions are naturally associated with algebras $A_{N=1}$, $C_{N=1}$, and $(A_1)^{N=1}$. The indices of these $4d$ theories give rise to three different Kernel functions for the $BC_1$ van Diejen model. We then consider the generalizations with $N>1$. The operators introducing defects into the index computations are certain $A_{N}$, $C_N$, and $(A_1)^{N}$ generalizations of the van Diejen model. The three different generalizations are directly related to three different effective gauge theory descriptions one can obtain by compactifying the minimal $(D_{N+3},D_{N+3})$ conformal matter theories on a circle to five dimensions. We explicitly compute the operators for the $A_N$ case, and derive various properties these operators have to satisfy as a consequence of $4d$ dualities following from the geometric setup. In some cases we are able to verify these properties which in turn serve as checks of said dualities. As a by-product of our constructions we also discuss a simple Lagrangian description of a theory corresponding to compactification on a sphere with three maximal punctures of the minimal $(D_5,D_5)$ conformal matter and as consequence give explicit Lagrangian constructions of compactifications of this 6d SCFT on arbitrary Riemann surfaces.

  9 citations

• Finite-temperature photoemission in the extended Falicov-Kimball model: a case study for Ta$_2$NiSe$_5$

  Satoshi Ejima, Florian Lange, Holger Fehske

  SciPost Phys. 10, 077 (2021) · published 26 March 2021 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Utilizing the unbiased time-dependent density-matrix renormalization group technique, we examine the photoemission spectra in the extended Falicov-Kimball model at zero and finite temperatures, particularly with regard to the excitonic insulator state most likely observed in the quasi-one-dimensional material Ta$_2$NiSe$_5$. Working with infinite boundary conditions, we are able to simulate all dynamical correlation functions directly in the thermodynamic limit. For model parameters best suited for Ta$_2$NiSe$_5$ the photoemission spectra show a weak but clearly visible two-peak structure, around the Fermi momenta $k\simeq\pm k_{\rm F}$, which suggests that Ta$_2$NiSe$_5$ develops an excitonic insulator of BCS-like type. At higher temperatures, the leakage of the conduction-electron band beyond the Fermi energy becomes distinct, which provides a possible explanation for the bare non-interacting band structure seen in time- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy experiments.

  9 citations