Publications

Order by: publication date number of citations

• Background independent tensor networks

  Chris Akers, Annie Y. Wei

  SciPost Phys. 17, 090 (2024) · published 25 September 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Conventional holographic tensor networks can be described as toy holographic maps constructed from many small linear maps acting in a spatially local way, all connected together with "background entanglement", i.e. links of a fixed state, often the maximally entangled state. However, these constructions fall short of modeling real holographic maps. One reason is that their "areas" are trivial, taking the same value for all states, unlike in gravity where the geometry is dynamical. Recently, new constructions have ameliorated this issue by adding degrees of freedom that "live on the links". This makes areas non-trivial, equal to the background entanglement piece plus a new positive piece that depends on the state of the link degrees of freedom. Nevertheless, this still has the downside that there is background entanglement, and hence it only models relatively limited code subspaces in which every area has a definite minimum value. In this note, we simply point out that a version of these constructions goes one step further: they can be background independent, with no background entanglement in the holographic map. This is advantageous because it allows tensor networks to model holographic maps for larger code subspaces. In addition to pointing this out, we address some subtleties involved in making it work.

  2 citations

• Boundary description of microstates of the two-dimensional black hole

  Amr Ahmadain, Alexander Frenkel, Krishnendu Ray, Ronak M. Soni

  SciPost Phys. 16, 020 (2024) · published 22 January 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We identify the microstates of the non-supersymmetric, asymptotically flat 2d black hole in the dual c=1 matrix quantum mechanics (MQM). We calculate the partition function of the theory using Hamiltonian methods and reproduce one of two conflicting results found by Kazakov and Tseytlin. We find the entropy by counting states and the energy by approximately solving the Schrödinger equation. The dominant contribution to the partition function in the double-scaling limit is a novel bound state that can be considered an explicit dual of the black hole microstates. This bound state is long-lived and evaporates slowly, exactly like a black hole in asymptotically flat space.

  2 citations

• Positivity, low twist dominance and CSDR for CFTs

  Agnese Bissi, Aninda Sinha

  SciPost Phys. 14, 083 (2023) · published 25 April 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We consider a crossing symmetric dispersion relation (CSDR) for CFT four point correlation with identical scalar operators, which is manifestly symmetric under the cross-ratios $u,v$ interchange. This representation has several features in common with the CSDR for quantum field theories. It enables a study of the expansion of the correlation function around $u=v=1/4$, which is used in the numerical conformal bootstrap program. We elucidate several remarkable features of the dispersive representation using the four point correlation function of $\Phi_{1,2}$ operators in 2d minimal models as a test-bed. When the dimension of the external scalar operator ($\Delta_\sigma$) is less than $\frac{1}{2}$, the CSDR gets contribution from only a single tower of global primary operators with the second tower being projected out. We find that there is a notion of low twist dominance (LTD) which, as a function of $\Delta_\sigma$, is maximized near the 2d Ising model as well as the non-unitary Yang-Lee model. The CSDR and LTD further explain positivity of the Taylor expansion coefficients of the correlation function around the crossing symmetric point and lead to universal predictions for specific ratios of these coefficients. These results carry over to the epsilon expansion in $4-\epsilon$ dimensions. We also conduct a preliminary investigation of geometric function theory ideas, namely the Bieberbach-Rogosinski bounds.

  2 citations

• 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.

  2 citations

• Microwave response of type-II superconductors at weak pinning

  B. V. Pashinsky, Mikhail V. Feigel'man, Anton V. Andreev

  SciPost Phys. 14, 096 (2023) · published 4 May 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Theory of linear microwave response of thin films of type-II superconductors in the mixed state is developed taking into account random spatial fluctuations of the parameters of the system, such as the order parameter, diffusion coefficient, or film thickness. In the regime of collective pinning the microwave response of the system exhibits strong frequency dispersion, arising from nonequilibrium vortex core quasiparticles. The corresponding contribution to the ac conductivity is controlled by the inelastic relaxation time, and may exceed the usual Bardeen-Stephen conductivity. It is caused by the Debye-type inelastic relaxation. Debye mechanism of microwave losses may be responsible for strong effects of electromagnetic noise upon dc conductivity in the mixed state at low temperatures.

  2 citations

• Quantum chaos in perturbative super-Yang-Mills Theory

  Tristan McLoughlin, Raul Pereira, Anne Spiering

  SciPost Phys. 14, 049 (2023) · published 27 March 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We provide numerical evidence that the perturbative spectrum of anomalous dimensions in maximally supersymmetric $SU(N)$ Yang-Mills theory is chaotic at finite values of $N$. We calculate the probability distribution of one-loop level spacings for subsectors of the theory and show that for large $N$ it is given by the Poisson distribution of integrable models, while at finite values it is the Wigner-Dyson distribution of the Gaussian orthogonal ensemble random matrix theory. We extend these results to two-loop order and to a one-parameter family of deformations. We further study the spectral rigidity for these models and show that it is also well described by random matrix theory. Finally we demonstrate that the finite-$N$ eigenvectors possess properties of chaotic states.

  2 citations

• 5d SCFTs and their non-supersymmetric cousins

  Mohammad Akhond, Masazumi Honda, Francesco Mignosa

  SciPost Phys. 16, 036 (2024) · published 29 January 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We consider generalisations of the recently proposed supersymmetry breaking deformation of the 5d rank-1 $E_1$ superconformal field theory to higher rank. We generalise the arguments to theories which admit a mass deformation leading to gauge theories coupled to matter hypermultiplets at low energies. These theories have a richer space of non-supersymmetric deformations, due to the existence of a larger global symmetry. We show that there is a one-to-one correspondence between the non-SUSY deformations of the gauge theory and their $(p,q)$ 5-brane web. We comment on the (in)stability of these deformations both from the gauge theory and the 5-brane web point of view. UV duality plays a key role in our analysis, fixing the effective Chern-Simons level for the background vector multiplets, together with their complete prepotential. We partially classify super-Yang-Mills theories known to enjoy UV dualities which show a phase transition where different phases are separated by a jump of Chern-Simons levels of both a perturbative and an instantonic global symmetry. When this transition can be reached by turning on a non-supersymmetric deformation of the UV superconformal field theory, it can be a good candidate to host a 5d non-supersymmetric CFT. We also discuss consistency of the proposed phase diagram with the 't Hooft anomalies of the models that we analyse.

  2 citations

• Anisotropic scaling of the two-dimensional Ising model II: surfaces and boundary fields

  Hendrik Hobrecht, Alfred Hucht

  SciPost Phys. 8, 032 (2020) · published 2 March 2020 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Based on the results published recently [SciPost Phys. 7, 026 (2019)], the influence of surfaces and boundary fields are calculated for the ferromagnetic anisotropic square lattice Ising model on finite lattices as well as in the finite-size scaling limit. Starting with the open cylinder, we independently apply boundary fields on both sides which can be either homogeneous or staggered, representing different combinations of boundary conditions. We confirm several predictions from scaling theory, conformal field theory and renormalisation group theory: we explicitly show that anisotropic couplings enter the scaling functions through a generalised aspect ratio, and demonstrate that open and staggered boundary conditions are asymptotically equal in the scaling regime. Furthermore, we examine the emergence of the surface tension due to one antiperiodic boundary in the system in the presence of symmetry breaking boundary fields, again for finite systems as well as in the scaling limit. Finally, we extend our results to the antiferromagnetic Ising model.

  2 citations

• Dipole symmetries from the topology of the phase space and the constraints on the low-energy spectrum

  Tomáš Brauner, Naoki Yamamoto, Ryo Yokokura

  SciPost Phys. 16, 051 (2024) · published 20 February 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We demonstrate the general existence of a local dipole conservation law in bosonic field theory. The scalar charge density arises from the symplectic form of the system, whereas the tensor current descends from its stress tensor. The algebra of spatial translations becomes centrally extended in presence of field configurations with a finite nonzero charge. Furthermore, when the symplectic form is closed but not exact, the system may, surprisingly, lack a well-defined momentum density. This leads to a theorem for the presence of additional light modes in the system whenever the short-distance physics is governed by a translationally invariant local field theory. We also illustrate this mechanism for axion electrodynamics as an example of a system with Nambu-Goldstone modes of higher-form symmetries.

  2 citations

• Polaron spectroscopy of interacting Fermi systems: Insights from exact diagonalization

  Ivan Amelio, Nathan Goldman

  SciPost Phys. 16, 056 (2024) · published 26 February 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Immersing a mobile impurity into a many-body quantum system represents a theoretically intriguing and experimentally effective way of probing its properties. In this work, we study the polaron spectral function in various environments, within the framework of Fermi-Hubbard models. Inspired by possible realizations in cold atoms and semiconductor heterostructures, we consider different configurations for the background Fermi gas, including charge density waves, multiple Fermi seas and pair superfluids. While our calculations are performed using an exact-diagonalization approach, hence limiting our analysis to systems of few interacting Fermi particles, we identify robust spectral features supported by theoretical results. Our work provides a benchmark for computations based on mean-field approaches and reveal surprising features of polaron spectra, inspiring new theoretical investigations.

  2 citations