Publications

Order by: publication date number of citations

• Decay channels for double extremal black holes in four dimensions

  Johannes Aspman, Jan Manschot

  SciPost Phys. 16, 021 (2024) · published 22 January 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We explore decay channels for charged black holes with vanishing temperature in $\mathcal{N}=2$ supersymmetric compactifications of string theory. If not protected by supersymmetry, such extremal black holes are expected to decay as a consequence of the weak gravity conjecture. We concentrate on double extremal, non-supersymmetric black holes for which the values of the scalar fields are constant throughout space-time, and explore decay channels for which decay into BPS and anti-BPS constituents is energetically favorable. We demonstrate the existence of decay channels at tree level for large families of double extremal black holes. For specific charges, we also find stable non-supersymmetric black holes, suggesting recombination of (anti)-supersymmetric constituents to a non-supersymmetric object.

  1 citation

• Higher-form symmetry and chiral transport in real-time Abelian lattice gauge theory

  Arpit Das, Adrien Florio, Nabil Iqbal, Napat Poovuttikul

  SciPost Phys. 17, 085 (2024) · published 19 September 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We study classical lattice simulations of theories of electrodynamics coupled to charged matter at finite temperature, interpreting them using the higher-form symmetry formulation of magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). We compute transport coefficients using classical Kubo formulas on the lattice and show that the properties of the simulated plasma are in complete agreement with the predictions from effective field theories. In particular, the higher-form formulation allows us to understand from hydrodynamic considerations the relaxation rate of axial charge in the chiral plasma observed in previous simulations. A key point is that the resistivity of the plasma – defined in terms of Kubo formulas for the electric field in the 1-form formulation of MHD – remains a well-defined and predictive quantity at strong electromagnetic coupling. However, the Kubo formulas used to define the conventional conductivity vanish at low frequencies due to electrodynamic fluctuations, and thus the concept of the conductivity of a gauged electric current must be interpreted with care.

  1 citation

• Adiabatic gauge potential and integrability breaking with free fermions

  Balázs Pozsgay, Rustem Sharipov, Anastasiia Tiutiakina, István Vona

  SciPost Phys. 17, 075 (2024) · published 9 September 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We revisit the problem of integrability breaking in free fermionic quantum spin chains. We investigate the so-called adiabatic gauge potential (AGP), which was recently proposed as an accurate probe of quantum chaos. We also study the so-called weak integrability breaking, which occurs if the dynamical effects of the perturbation do not appear at leading order in the perturbing parameter. A recent statement in the literature claimed that integrability breaking should generally lead to an exponential growth of the AGP norm with respect to the volume. However, afterwards it was found that weak integrability breaking is a counter-example, leading to a cross-over between polynomial and exponential growth. Here we show that in free fermionic systems the AGP norm always grows polynomially, if the perturbation is local with respect to the fermions, even if the perturbation strongly breaks integrability. As a by-product of our computations we also find, that in free fermionic spin chains there are operators which weakly break integrability, but which are not associated with known long range deformations.

  1 citation

• Probabilistic deconstruction of a theory of gravity, part I: Flat space

  Sunok Josephine Suh

  SciPost Phys. 15, 174 (2023) · published 19 October 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We define and analyze a stochastic process in anti-de Sitter Jackiw-Teitelboim gravity, induced by the quantum dynamics of the boundary and whose random variable takes values in $AdS_2$. With the boundary in a thermal state and for appropriate parameters, we take the asymptotic limit of the quantum process at short time scales and flat space, and show associated classical joint distributions have the Markov property. We find that Einstein's equations of the theory, sans the cosmological constant term, arise in the semi-classical limit of the quantum evolution of probability under the asymptotic process. In particular, in flat Jackiw-Teitelboim gravity, the area of compactified space solved for by Einstein's equations can be identified as a probability density evolving under the Markovian process.

  1 citation

• Visualizing near-coexistence of massless Dirac electrons and ultra-massive saddle point electrons

  Abhay Kumar Nayak, Jonathan Reiner, Hengxin Tan, Huixia Fu, Henry Ling, Chandra Shekhar, Claudia Felser, Tamar (Tami) Pereg-Barnea, Binghai Yan, Haim Beidenkopf, Nurit Avraham

  SciPost Phys. 15, 178 (2023) · published 25 October 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Strong singularities in the electronic density of states amplify correlation effects and play a key role in determining the ordering instabilities in various materials. Recently high order van Hove singularities (VHSs) with diverging power-law scaling have been classified in single-band electron models. We show that the 110 surface of Bismuth exhibits high order VHS with an usually high density of states divergence $\sim (E)^{-0.7}$. Detailed mapping of the surface band structure using scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy combined with first-principles calculations show that this singularity occurs in close proximity to Dirac bands located at the center of the surface Brillouin zone. The enhanced power-law divergence is shown to originate from the anisotropic flattening of the Dirac band just above the Dirac node. Such near-coexistence of massless Dirac electrons and ultra-massive saddle points enables to study the interplay of high order VHS and Dirac fermions.

  1 citation

• Entanglement in the full state vector of boson sampling

  Yulong Qiao, Joonsuk Huh, Frank Grossmann

  SciPost Phys. 15, 007 (2023) · published 12 July 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The full state vector of boson sampling is generated by passing $S$ single photons through beam splitters of $M$ modes. We express the initial Fock state in terms of 2$^{S-1}$ generalized coherent states, making possible the exact application of the unitary evolution. Due to the favorable polynomial scaling of numerical effort in $M$, we can investigate Rényi entanglement entropies for moderate particle and huge mode numbers. We find symmetric Page curves with a maximum entropy at equal partition, which is almost independent on Rényi index. Furthermore, the maximum entropy as a function of mode index saturates for $M\geq S^2$ in the collision-free subspace case. The asymptotic value of the entropy increases linearly with $S$. In addition, we show that the build-up of the entanglement leads to a cusp in the asymmetric entanglement curve. Maximum entanglement is reached well before the mode population is distributed over the whole system.

  1 citation

• Probing black hole microstate evolution with networks and random walks

  Anthony M. Charles, Daniel R. Mayerson

  SciPost Phys. 8, 077 (2020) · published 14 May 2020 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We model black hole microstates and quantum tunneling transitions between them with networks and simulate their time evolution using well-established tools in network theory. In particular, we consider two models based on Bena-Warner three-charge multi-centered microstates and one model based on the D1-D5 system; we use network theory methods to determine how many centers (or D1-D5 string strands) we expect to see in a typical late-time state. We find three distinct possible phases in parameter space for the late-time behaviour of these networks, which we call ergodic, trapped, and amplified, depending on the relative importance and connectedness of microstates. We analyze in detail how these different phases of late-time behavior are related to the underlying physics of the black hole microstates. Our results indicate that the expected properties of microstates at late times cannot always be determined simply by entropic arguments; typicality is instead a highly non-trivial, emergent property of the full Hilbert space of microstates.

  1 citation

• Scale invariant distribution functions in quantum systems with few degrees of freedom

  Emanuele G. Dalla Torre

  SciPost Phys. 5, 023 (2018) · published 14 September 2018 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Scale invariance usually occurs in extended systems where correlation functions decay algebraically in space and/or time. Here we introduce a new type of scale invariance, occurring in the distribution functions of physical observables. At equilibrium these functions decay over a typical scale set by the temperature, but they can become scale invariant in a sudden quantum quench. We exemplify this effect through the analysis of linear and non-linear quantum oscillators. We find that their distribution functions generically diverge logarithmically close to the stable points of the classical dynamics. Our study opens the possibility to address integrability and its breaking in distribution functions, with immediate applications to matter-wave interferometers.

  1 citation

• Topological states between inversion symmetric atomic insulators

  Ana Silva, Jasper van Wezel

  SciPost Phys. 10, 137 (2021) · published 8 June 2021 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  One of the hallmarks of topological insulators is the correspondence between the value of its bulk topological invariant and the number of topologically protected edge modes observed in a finite-sized sample. This bulk-boundary correspondence has been well-tested for strong topological invariants, and forms the basis for all proposed technological applications of topology. Here, we report that a group of weak topological invariants, which depend only on the symmetries of the atomic lattice, also induces a particular type of bulk-boundary correspondence. It predicts the presence or absence of states localised at the interface between two inversion-symmetric band insulators with trivial values for their strong invariants, based on the space group representation of the bands on either side of the junction. We show that this corresponds with symmetry-based classifications of topological materials. The interface modes are protected by the combination of band topology and symmetry of the interface, and may be used for topological transport and signal manipulation in heterojunction-based devices.

  1 citation

• On perturbation around closed exclusion processes

  Masataka Watanabe

  SciPost Phys. 17, 092 (2024) · published 25 September 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We derive the formula for the stationary states of particle-number conserving exclusion processes infinitesimally perturbed by inhomogeneous adsorption and desorption. The formula not only proves but also generalises the conjecture proposed in [Phys. Rev. E 97, 032135] to account for inhomogeneous adsorption and desorption. As an application of the formula, we draw part of the phase diagrams of the open asymmetric simple exclusion process with and without Langmuir kinetics, correctly reproducing known results.

  1 citation