Publications

Order by: publication date number of citations

• Fractons in curved space

  Akash Jain, Kristan Jensen

  SciPost Phys. 12, 142 (2022) · published 29 April 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We consistently couple simple continuum field theories with fracton excitations to curved spacetime backgrounds. We consider homogeneous and isotropic fracton field theories, with a conserved $U(1)$ charge and dipole moment. Coupling to background fields allows us to consistently define a stress-energy tensor for these theories and obtain the respective Ward identities. Along the way, we find evidence for a mixed gauge-gravitational anomaly in the symmetric tensor gauge theory which naturally couples to conserved dipoles. Our results generalise to systems with arbitrarily higher conserved moments, in particular, a conserved quadrupole moment.

  36 citations

• Boundary criticality of the O(N) model in d = 3 critically revisited

  Max A. Metlitski

  SciPost Phys. 12, 131 (2022) · published 19 April 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  It is known that the classical O(N) model in dimension d > 3 at its bulk critical point admits three boundary universality classes: the ordinary, the extra-ordinary and the special. For the ordinary transition the bulk and the boundary order simultaneously; the extra-ordinary fixed point corresponds to the bulk transition occurring in the presence of an ordered boundary, while the special fixed point corresponds to a boundary phase transition between the ordinary and the extra-ordinary classes. While the ordinary fixed point survives in d = 3, it is less clear what happens to the extra- ordinary and special fixed points when d = 3 and N ≥ 2. Here we show that formally treating N as a continuous parameter, there exists a critical value Nc > 2 separating two distinct regimes. For 2 ≤ N < Nc the extra-ordinary fixed point survives in d = 3, albeit in a modified form: the long-range boundary order is lost, instead, the order parameter correlation function decays as a power of log r. For N > Nc there is no fixed point with order parameter correlations decaying slower than power law. We discuss several scenarios for the evolution of the phase diagram past N = Nc. Our findings appear to be consistent with recent Monte Carlo studies of classical models with N = 2 and N = 3. We also compare our results to numerical studies of boundary criticality in 2+1D quantum spin models.

  27 citations

• 5D and 6D SCFTs from $\mathbb{C}^3$ orbifolds

  Jiahua Tian, Yi-Nan Wang

  SciPost Phys. 12, 127 (2022) · published 12 April 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We study the orbifold singularities $X=\mathbb{C}^3/\Gamma$ where $\Gamma$ is a finite subgroup of $SU(3)$. M-theory on this orbifold singularity gives rise to a 5d SCFT, which is investigated with two methods. The first approach is via 3d McKay correspondence which relates the group theoretic data of $\Gamma$ to the physical properties of the 5d SCFT. In particular, the 1-form symmetry of the 5d SCFT is read off from the McKay quiver of $\Gamma$ in an elegant way. The second method is to explicitly resolve the singularity $X$ and study the Coulomb branch information of the 5d SCFT, which is applied to toric, non-toric hypersurface and complete intersection cases. Many new theories are constructed, either with or without an IR quiver gauge theory description. We find that many resolved Calabi-Yau threefolds, $\widetilde{X}$, contain compact exceptional divisors that are singular by themselves. Moreover, for certain cases of $\Gamma$, the orbifold singularity $\mathbb{C}^3/\Gamma$ can be embedded in an elliptic model and gives rise to a 6d (1,0) SCFT in the F-theory construction. Such 6d theory is naturally related to the 5d SCFT defined on the same singularity. We find examples of rank-1 6d SCFTs without a gauge group, which are potentially different from the rank-1 E-string theory.

  21 citations

• Topological lattice models with constant Berry curvature

  Daniel Varjas, Ahmed Abouelkomsan, Kang Yang, Emil J. Bergholtz

  SciPost Phys. 12, 118 (2022) · published 6 April 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Band geometry plays a substantial role in topological lattice models. The Berry curvature, which resembles the effect of magnetic field in reciprocal space, usually fluctuates throughout the Brillouin zone. Motivated by the analogy with Landau levels, constant Berry curvature has been suggested as an ideal condition for realizing fractional Chern insulators. Here we show that while the Berry curvature cannot be made constant in a topological two-band model, lattice models with three or more degrees of freedom per unit cell can support exactly constant Berry curvature. However, contrary to the intuitive expectation, we find that making the Berry curvature constant does not always improve the properties of fractional Chern insulator states. In fact, we show that an "ideal flatband" cannot have constant Berry curvature, equivalently, we show that the density algebra of Landau levels cannot be realised in any tight-binding lattice system.

  16 citations

• Targeting multi-loop integrals with neural networks

  Ramon Winterhalder, Vitaly Magerya, Emilio Villa, Stephen P. Jones, Matthias Kerner, Anja Butter, Gudrun Heinrich, Tilman Plehn

  SciPost Phys. 12, 129 (2022) · published 13 April 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Numerical evaluations of Feynman integrals often proceed via a deformation of the integration contour into the complex plane. While valid contours are easy to construct, the numerical precision for a multi-loop integral can depend critically on the chosen contour. We present methods to optimize this contour using a combination of optimized, global complex shifts and a normalizing flow. They can lead to a significant gain in precision.

  15 citations

• Universal Deformations

  Aleksey Cherman, Theodore Jacobson, Maria Neuzil

  SciPost Phys. 12, 116 (2022) · published 1 April 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  QFTs with local topological operators feature unusual sectors called "universes," which are separated by infinite-tension domain walls. We show that such systems have relevant deformations with exactly-calculable effects. These deformations allow one to dial the vacuum energy densities of the universes. We describe applications of these deformations to confinement in 2d gauge theories, as well as a curious violation of the effective field theory naturalness principle.

  15 citations

• Balanced partial entanglement and mixed state correlations

  Hugo A. Camargo, Pratik Nandy, Qiang Wen, Haocheng Zhong

  SciPost Phys. 12, 137 (2022) · published 21 April 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Recently in Ref. [1], one of the authors introduced the balanced partial entanglement (BPE), which has been proposed to be dual to the entanglement wedge cross-section (EWCS). In this paper, we explicitly demonstrate that the BPE could be considered as a proper measure of the total intrinsic correlation between two subsystems in a mixed state. The total correlation includes certain crossing correlations, which are minimized by particular balance conditions. By constructing a class of purifications from Euclidean path-integrals, we find that the balanced crossing correlations show universality and can be considered as the generalization of the Markov gap for the canonical purification. We also test the relation between the BPE and the EWCS in three-dimensional asymptotically flat holography. We find that the balanced crossing correlation vanishes for the field theory invariant under BMS$_3$ symmetry (BMSFT) and dual to the Einstein gravity, indicating the possibility of a perfect Markov recovery. We further elucidate these crossing correlations as a signature of tripartite entanglement and explain their interpretation in both AdS and non-AdS holography.

  14 citations

• Half-wormholes in nearly AdS$_2$ holography

  Antonio M. García-García, Victor Godet

  SciPost Phys. 12, 135 (2022) · published 20 April 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We find half-wormhole solutions in Jackiw-Teitelboim gravity by allowing the geometry to end on a spacetime D-brane with specific boundary conditions. This theory also contains a Euclidean wormhole which leads to a factorization problem. We propose that half-wormholes provide a gravitational picture for how factorization is restored and show that the Euclidean wormhole emerges from averaging over the boundary conditions. The wormhole is known to be dual to a Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model with random complex couplings. We find that the free energy of the half-wormhole is strikingly similar to that of a single realization of this SYK model. These results suggest that the gravitational path integral computes an average over spacetime D-brane boundary conditions.

  12 citations

• Quantum bounds and fluctuation-dissipation relations

  Silvia Pappalardi, Laura Foini, Jorge Kurchan

  SciPost Phys. 12, 130 (2022) · published 14 April 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  In recent years, there has been intense attention on the constraints posed by quantum mechanics on the dynamics of the correlation at low temperatures, triggered by the postulation and derivation of quantum bounds on the transport coefficients or on the chaos rate. However, the physical meaning and the mechanism enforcing such bounds is still an open question. Here, we discuss the quantum fluctuation-dissipation theorem (the KMS conditions) as the principle underlying bounds on correlation time scales. By restating the problem in a replicated space, we show that the quantum bound to chaos is a direct consequence of the KMS condition, as applied to a particular pair of two-time correlation and response functions. Encouraged by this, we describe how quantum fluctuation-dissipation relations act in general as a blurring of the time-dependence of correlations, which can imply bounds on their decay rates. Thinking in terms of fluctuation-dissipation opens a direct connection between bounds and other thermodynamic properties.

  11 citations

• Thermalization and hydrodynamics of two-dimensional quantum field theories

  Luca V. Delacretaz, A. Liam Fitzpatrick, Emanuel Katz, Matthew T. Walters

  SciPost Phys. 12, 119 (2022) · published 7 April 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We consider 2d QFTs as relevant deformations of CFTs in the thermodynamic limit. Using causality and KPZ universality, we place a lower bound on the timescale characterizing the onset of hydrodynamics. The bound is determined parametrically in terms of the temperature and the scale associated with the relevant deformation. This bound is typically much stronger than $\frac{1}{T}$, the expected quantum equilibration time. Subluminality of sound further allows us to define a thermodynamic $C$-function, and constrain the sign of the $\mathcal T\bar{\mathcal T}$ term in EFTs.

  10 citations