Publications

Order by: publication date number of citations

• Exceptional Chern-Simons-Matter dualities

  Clay Córdova, Po-Shen Hsin, Kantaro Ohmori

  SciPost Phys. 7, 056 (2019) · published 28 October 2019 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We use conformal embeddings involving exceptional affine Kac-Moody algebras to derive new dualities of three-dimensional topological field theories. These generalize the familiar level-rank duality of Chern-Simons theories based on classical gauge groups to the setting of exceptional gauge groups. For instance, one duality sequence we discuss is $(E_{N})_{1}\leftrightarrow SU(9-N)_{-1}$. Others such as $SO(3)_{8}\leftrightarrow PSU(3)_{-6},$ are dualities among theories with classical gauge groups that arise due to their embedding into an exceptional chiral algebra. We apply these equivalences between topological field theories to conjecture new boson-boson Chern-Simons matter dualities. We also use them to determine candidate phase diagrams of time-reversal invariant $G_{2}$ gauge theory coupled to either an adjoint fermion, or two fundamental fermions.

  22 citations

• Topological holography, quantum criticality, and boundary states

  Sheng-Jie Huang, Meng Cheng

  SciPost Phys. 18, 213 (2025) · published 30 June 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Topological holography is a holographic principle that describes the generalized global symmetry of a local quantum system in terms of a topological order in one higher dimension. This framework separates the topological data from the local dynamics of a theory and provides a unified description of the symmetry and duality in gapped and gapless phases of matter. In this work, we develop the topological holographic picture for (1+1)$d$ quantum phases, including both gapped phases as well as a wide range of quantum critical points, including phase transitions between symmetry protected topological (SPT) phases, symmetry enriched quantum critical points, deconfined quantum critical points, and intrinsically gapless SPT phases. Topological holography puts a strong constraint on the emergent symmetry and the anomaly for these critical theories. We show how the partition functions of these critical points can be obtained from dualizing (orbifolding) more familiar critical theories. The topological responses of the defect operators are also discussed in this framework. We further develop a topological holographic picture for conformal boundary states of (1+1)$d$ rational conformal field theories. This framework provides a simple physical picture to understand conformal boundary states and also uncovers the nature of the gapped phases corresponding to the boundary states.

  22 citations

• Quasiparticles of widely tuneable inertial mass: The dispersion relation of atomic Josephson vortices and related solitary waves

  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.

  22 citations

• Entanglement, non-hermiticity, and duality

  Li-Mei Chen, Shuai A. Chen, Peng Ye

  SciPost Phys. 11, 003 (2021) · published 9 July 2021 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Usually duality process keeps energy spectrum invariant. In this paper, we provide a duality, which keeps entanglement spectrum invariant, in order to diagnose quantum entanglement of non-Hermitian non-interacting fermionic systems. We limit our attention to non-Hermitian systems with a complete set of biorthonormal eigenvectors and an entirely real energy spectrum. The original system has a reduced density matrix $\rho_\mathrm{o}$ and the real space is partitioned via a projecting operator $\mathcal{R}_{\mathrm o}$. After dualization, we obtain a new reduced density matrix $\rho_{\mathrm{d}}$ and a new real space projector $\mathcal{R}_{\mathrm d}$. Remarkably, entanglement spectrum and entanglement entropy keep invariant. Inspired by the duality, we defined two types of non-Hermitian models, upon $\mathcal R_{\mathrm{o}}$ is given. In type-I exemplified by the ``non-reciprocal model'', there exists at least one duality such that $\rho_{\mathrm{d}}$ is Hermitian. In other words, entanglement information of type-I non-Hermitian models with a given $\mathcal{R}_{\mathrm{o}}$ is entirely controlled by Hermitian models with $\mathcal{R}_{\mathrm{d}}$. As a result, we are allowed to apply known results of Hermitian systems to efficiently obtain entanglement properties of type-I models. On the other hand, the duals of type-II models, exemplified by ``non-Hermitian Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model'', are always non-Hermitian. For the practical purpose, the duality provides a potentially \textit{efficient} computation route to entanglement of non-Hermitian systems. Via connecting different models, the duality also sheds lights on either trivial or nontrivial role of non-Hermiticity played in quantum entanglement, paving the way to potentially systematic classification and characterization of non-Hermitian systems from the entanglement perspective.

  22 citations

• Full counting statistics for interacting trapped fermions

  Naftali R. Smith, Pierre Le Doussal, Satya N. Majumdar, Grégory Schehr

  SciPost Phys. 11, 110 (2021) · published 22 December 2021 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We study $N$ spinless fermions in their ground state confined by an external potential in one dimension with long range interactions of the general Calogero-Sutherland type. For some choices of the potential this system maps to standard random matrix ensembles for general values of the Dyson index $\beta$. In the fermion model $\beta$ controls the strength of the interaction, $\beta=2$ corresponding to the noninteracting case. We study the quantum fluctuations of the number of fermions ${\cal N}_{\cal D}$ in a domain $\cal{D}$ of macroscopic size in the bulk of the Fermi gas. We predict that for general $\beta$ the variance of ${\cal N}_{\cal D}$ grows as $A_{\beta} \log N + B_{\beta}$ for $N \gg 1$ and we obtain a formula for $A_\beta$ and $B_\beta$. This is based on an explicit calculation for $\beta\in\left\{ 1,2,4\right\} $ and on a conjecture that we formulate for general $\beta$. This conjecture further allows us to obtain a universal formula for the higher cumulants of ${\cal N}_{\cal D}$. Our results for the variance in the microscopic regime are found to be consistent with the predictions of the Luttinger liquid theory with parameter $K = 2/\beta$, and allow to go beyond. In addition we present families of interacting fermion models in one dimension which, in their ground states, can be mapped onto random matrix models. We obtain the mean fermion density for these models for general interaction parameter $\beta$. In some cases the fermion density exhibits interesting transitions, for example we obtain a noninteracting fermion formulation of the Gross-Witten-Wadia model.

  22 citations

• Exact out-of-equilibrium steady states in the semiclassical limit of the interacting Bose gas

  Giuseppe Del Vecchio Del Vecchio, Alvise Bastianello, Andrea De Luca, Giuseppe Mussardo

  SciPost Phys. 9, 002 (2020) · published 6 July 2020 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We study the out-of-equilibrium properties of a classical integrable non-relativistic theory, with a time evolution initially prepared with a finite energy density in the thermodynamic limit. The theory considered here is the Non-Linear Schrodinger equation which describes the dynamics of the one-dimensional interacting Bose gas in the regime of high occupation numbers. The main emphasis is on the determination of the late-time Generalised Gibbs Ensemble (GGE), which can be efficiently semi-numerically computed on arbitrary initial states, completely solving the famous quench problem in the classical regime. We take advantage of known results in the quantum model and the semiclassical limit to achieve new exact results for the momenta of the density operator on arbitrary GGEs, which we successfully compare with ab-initio numerical simulations. Furthermore, we determine the whole probability distribution of the density operator (full counting statistics), whose exact expression is still out of reach in the quantum model.

  22 citations

• From the XXZ chain to the integrable Rydberg-blockade ladder via non-invertible duality defects

  Luisa Eck, Paul Fendley

  SciPost Phys. 16, 127 (2024) · published 21 May 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Strongly interacting models often possess "dualities" subtler than a one-to-one mapping of energy levels. The maps can be non-invertible, as apparent in the canonical example of Kramers and Wannier. We analyse an algebraic structure common to the XXZ spin chain and three other models: Rydberg-blockade bosons with one particle per square of a ladder, a three-state antiferromagnet, and two Ising chains coupled in a zigzag fashion. The structure yields non-invertible maps between the four models while also guaranteeing all are integrable. We construct these maps explicitly utilising topological defects coming from fusion categories and the lattice version of the orbifold construction, and use them to give explicit conformal-field-theory partition functions describing their critical regions. The Rydberg and Ising ladders also possess interesting non-invertible symmetries, with the spontaneous breaking of one in the former resulting in an unusual ground-state degeneracy.

  22 citations

• Elastic photon-initiated production at the LHC: the role of hadron-hadron interactions

  Lucian A. Harland-Lang, Valery A. Khoze, Mikhail G. Ryskin

  SciPost Phys. 11, 064 (2021) · published 21 September 2021 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We analyse in detail the role of additional hadron-hadron interactions in elastic photon-initiated (PI) production at the LHC, both in $pp$ and heavy ion collisions. We first demonstrate that the source of difference between our predictions and other results in the literature for PI muon pair production is dominantly due to an unphysical cut that is imposed in these latter results on the dimuon-hadron impact parameter. We in addition show that this is experimentally disfavoured by the shape of the muon kinematic distributions measured by ATLAS in ultraperipheral PbPb collisions. We then consider the theoretical uncertainty due to the survival probability for no additional hadron-hadron interactions, and in particular the role this may play in the tendency for the predicted cross sections to lie somewhat above ATLAS data on PI muon pair production, in both $pp$ and PbPb collisions. This difference is relatively mild, at the $\sim 10\%$ level, and hence a very good control over the theory is clearly required. We show that this uncertainty is very small, and it is only by taking very extreme and rather unphysical variations in the modelling of the survival factor that this tension can be removed. This underlines the basic, rather model independent, point that a significant fraction of elastic PI scattering occurs for hadron-hadron impact parameters that are simply outside the range of QCD interactions, and hence this sets a lower bound on the survival factor in any physically reasonable approach. Finally, other possible origins for this discrepancy are discussed.

  22 citations

• Field Theory of Interacting Boundary Gravitons

  Stephen Ebert, Eliot Hijano, Per Kraus, Ruben Monten, Richard M. Myers

  SciPost Phys. 13, 038 (2022) · published 29 August 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Pure three-dimensional gravity is a renormalizable theory with two free parameters labelled by $G$ and $\Lambda$. As a consequence, correlation functions of the boundary stress tensor in AdS$_3$ are uniquely fixed in terms of one dimensionless parameter, which is the central charge of the Virasoro algebra. The same argument implies that AdS$_3$ gravity at a finite radial cutoff is a renormalizable theory, but now with one additional parameter corresponding to the cutoff location. This theory is conjecturally dual to a $T\overline{T}$-deformed CFT, assuming that such theories actually exist. To elucidate this, we study the quantum theory of boundary gravitons living on a cutoff planar boundary and the associated correlation functions of the boundary stress tensor. We compute stress tensor correlation functions to two-loop order ($G$ being the loop counting parameter), extending existing tree level results. This is made feasible by the fact that the boundary graviton action simplifies greatly upon making a judicious field redefinition, turning into the Nambu-Goto action. After imposing Lorentz invariance, the correlators at this order are found to be unambiguous up to a single undetermined renormalization parameter.

  22 citations

• The club sandwich: Gapless phases and phase transitions with non-invertible symmetries

  Lakshya Bhardwaj, Lea E. Bottini, Daniel Pajer, Sakura Schäfer-Nameki

  SciPost Phys. 18, 156 (2025) · published 14 May 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We provide a generalization of the Symmetry Topological Field Theory (SymTFT) framework to characterize phase transitions and gapless phases with categorical symmetries. The central tool is the club sandwich, which extends the SymTFT setup to include an interface between two topological orders: there is a symmetry boundary, which is gapped, and a physical boundary that may be gapless, but in addition, there is also a gapped interface in the middle. The club sandwich generalizes so-called Kennedy-Tasaki (KT) transformations. Building on the results in [L. Bhardwaj et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 133, 161601 (2024); L. Bhardwaj et al., SciPost Phys. 18, 032 (2025)] on gapped phases with categorical symmetries, we construct gapless theories describing phase transitions with non-invertible symmetries by applying suitable KT transformations on known phase transitions provided by the critical Ising model and the 3-state Potts model. We also describe in detail the order parameters in these gapless theories characterizing the phase transitions, which are generally mixtures of conventional and string-type order parameters mixed together by the action of categorical symmetries. Additionally, removing the physical boundary from the club sandwiches results in club quiches, which characterize all possible gapped boundary phases with (possibly non-invertible) symmetries that can arise on the boundary of a bulk gapped phase. We also provide a mathematical characterization of gapped boundary phases with symmetries as pivotal tensor functors whose targets are pivotal multi-fusion categories.

  22 citations