Publications

Order by: publication date number of citations

• Pairing instabilities of the Yukawa-SYK models with controlled fermion incoherence

  Wonjune Choi, Omid Tavakol, Yong Baek Kim

  SciPost Phys. 12, 151 (2022) · published 9 May 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The interplay of non-Fermi liquid and superconductivity born out of strong dynamical interactions is at the heart of the physics of unconventional superconductivity. As a solvable platform of the strongly correlated superconductors, we study the pairing instabilities of the Yukawa-Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (Yukawa-SYK) model, which describes spin-1/2 fermions coupled to bosons by the random, all-to-all, spin-independent and dependent Yukawa interactions. In contrast to the previously studied models, the random Yukawa couplings are sampled from a collection of Gaussian ensembles whose variances follow a continuous distribution rather than being fixed to a constant. By tuning the analytic behaviour of the distribution, we could control the fermion incoherence to systematically examine various normal states ranging from the Fermi liquid to non-Fermi liquids that are different from the conformal solution of the SYK model with a constant variance. Using the linearised Eliashberg theory, we show that the onset of the unconventional spin-triplet pairing is preferred with the spin-dependent interactions while all pairing channels show instabilities with the spin-independent interactions. Although the interactions shorten the lifetime of the fermions in the non-Fermi liquid, the same interactions also dress the bosons to strengthen the tendency to pair the incoherent fermions. As a consequence, the onset temperature $T_c$ of the pairing is enhanced in the non-Fermi liquid compared to the case of the Fermi liquid.

  6 citations

• Probing the particle spectrum of nature with evaporating black holes

  Michael J. Baker, Andrea Thamm

  SciPost Phys. 12, 150 (2022) · published 9 May 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Photons radiated from an evaporating black hole in principle provide complete information on the particle spectrum of nature up to the Planck scale. If an evaporating black hole were to be observed, it would open a unique window onto models beyond the Standard Model of particle physics. To demonstrate this, we compute the limits that could be placed on the size of a dark sector. We find that observation of an evaporating black hole at a distance of 0.01 parsecs could probe dark sector models containing one or more copies of the Standard Model particles, with any mass scale up to 100 TeV.

  17 citations

• Holographic S-fold theories at one loop

  Connor Behan

  SciPost Phys. 12, 149 (2022) · published 6 May 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  A common feature of tree-level holography is that a correlator in one theory can serve as a generating function for correlators in another theory with less continuous symmetry. This is the case for a family of 4d CFTs with eight supercharges which have protected operators dual to gluons in the bulk. The most recent additions to this family were defined using S-folds which combine a spatial identification with an action of the S-duality group in type IIB string theory. Differences between these CFTs which have a dynamical origin first become manifest at one loop. To explore this phenomenon at the level of anomalous dimensions, we use the AdS unitarity method to bootstrap a one-loop double discontinuity. Compared to previous studies, the subsequent analysis is performed without any assumption about which special functions are allowed. Instead, the Casimir singular and Casimir regular terms are extracted iteratively in order to move from one Regge trajectory to the next. Our results show that anomalous dimensions in the presence of an S-fold are no longer rational functions of the spin.

  7 citations

• Scars from protected zero modes and beyond in $U(1)$ quantum link and quantum dimer models

  Saptarshi Biswas, Debasish Banerjee, Arnab Sen

  SciPost Phys. 12, 148 (2022) · published 6 May 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We demonstrate the presence of anomalous high-energy eigenstates, or many-body scars, in $U(1)$ quantum link and quantum dimer models on square and rectangular lattices. In particular, we consider the paradigmatic Rokhsar-Kivelson Hamiltonian $H=\mathcal{O}_{\mathrm{kin}} + \lambda \mathcal{O}_{\mathrm{pot}}$ where $\mathcal{O}_{\mathrm{pot}}$ ($\mathcal{O}_{\mathrm{kin}}$) is defined as a sum of terms on elementary plaquettes that are diagonal (off-diagonal) in the computational basis. Both these interacting models possess an exponentially large number of mid-spectrum zero modes in system size at $\lambda=0$ that are protected by an index theorem preventing any mixing with the nonzero modes at this coupling. We classify different types of scars for $|\lambda| \lesssim \mathcal{O}(1)$ both at zero and finite winding number sectors complementing and significantly generalizing our previous work [Banerjee and Sen, Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 220601 (2021)]. The scars at finite $\lambda$ show a rich variety with those that are composed solely from the zero modes of $\mathcal{O}_{\mathrm{kin}}$, those that contain an admixture of both the zero and the nonzero modes of $\mathcal{O}_{\mathrm{kin}}$, and finally those composed solely from the nonzero modes of $\mathcal{O}_{\mathrm{kin}}$. We give analytic expressions for certain "lego scars" for the quantum dimer model on rectangular lattices where one of the linear dimensions can be made arbitrarily large, with the building blocks (legos) being composed of emergent singlets and other more complicated entangled structures.

  23 citations

• Global symmetry and conformal bootstrap in the two-dimensional $O(n)$ model

  Linnea Grans-Samuelsson, Rongvoram Nivesvivat, Jesper Lykke Jacobsen, Sylvain Ribault, Hubert Saleur

  SciPost Phys. 12, 147 (2022) · published 6 May 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We define the two-dimensional $O(n)$ conformal field theory as a theory that includes the critical dilute and dense $O(n)$ models as special cases, and depends analytically on the central charge. For generic values of $n\in\mathbb{C}$, we write a conjecture for the decomposition of the spectrum into irreducible representations of $O(n)$. We then explain how to numerically bootstrap arbitrary four-point functions of primary fields in the presence of the global $O(n)$ symmetry. We determine the needed conformal blocks, including logarithmic blocks, including in singular cases. We argue that $O(n)$ representation theory provides upper bounds on the number of solutions of crossing symmetry for any given four-point function. We study some of the simplest correlation functions in detail, and determine a few fusion rules. We count the solutions of crossing symmetry for the $30$ simplest four-point functions. The number of solutions varies from $2$ to $6$, and saturates the bound from $O(n)$ representation theory in $21$ out of $30$ cases.

  10 citations

• On the R-matrix realization of quantum loop algebras

  A. Liashyk, S. Z. Pakuliak

  SciPost Phys. 12, 146 (2022) · published 4 May 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We consider $\rm R$-matrix realization of the quantum deformations of the loop algebras $\tilde{\mathfrak{g}}$ corresponding to non-exceptional affine Lie algebras of type $\widehat{\mathfrak{g}}=A^{(1)}_{N-1}$, $B^{(1)}_n$, $C^{(1)}_n$, $D^{(1)}_n$, $A^{(2)}_{N-1}$. For each $U_q(\tilde{\mathfrak{g}})$ we investigate the commutation relations between Gauss coordinates of the fundamental $\mathbb{L}$-operators using embedding of the smaller algebra into bigger one. The new realization of these algebras in terms of the currents is given. The relations between all off-diagonal Gauss coordinates and certain projections from the ordered products of the currents are presented. These relations are important in applications to the quantum integrable models.

  1 citation

• Excitons under strain: light absorption and emission in strained hexagonal boron nitride

  Pierre Lechifflart, Fulvio Paleari, Claudio Attaccalite

  SciPost Phys. 12, 145 (2022) · published 4 May 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Hexagonal boron nitride is an indirect band gap material with a strong luminescence in the ultraviolet. This luminescence originates from bound excitons recombination assisted by different phonon modes. The coupling between excitons and phonons is so strong that the resulting light emission is as efficient as the one of direct band gap materials. In this manuscript we investigate how uniaxial strain modifies the electronic and optical properties of this material, and in particular how it affects the exciton-phonon coupling. Using a formulation of this coupling based on finite-difference displacements, recently developed by some of us, we investigate how phonon-assisted transitions change under strain. Our results open the way to the study of phonon-assisted luminescence in strained materials from first principles. Our findings are important both for experiments that directly probe \hbn under strain or for those in which it is used as substrate for other 2D material with a lattice mismatch.

  4 citations

• Inhomogeneous quantum quenches in the sine-Gordon theory

  Dávid X. Horváth, Spyros Sotiriadis, Márton Kormos, Gábor Takács

  SciPost Phys. 12, 144 (2022) · published 3 May 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We study inhomogeneous quantum quenches in the attractive regime of the sine-Gordon model. In our protocol, the system is prepared in an inhomogeneous initial state in finite volume by coupling the topological charge density operator to a Gaussian external field. After switching off the external field, the subsequent time evolution is governed by the homogeneous sine-Gordon Hamiltonian. Varying either the interaction strength of the sine-Gordon model or the amplitude of the external source field, an interesting transition is observed in the expectation value of the soliton density. This affects both the initial profile of the density and its time evolution and can be summarised as a steep transition between behaviours reminiscent of the Klein-Gordon, and the free massive Dirac fermion theory with initial external fields of high enough magnitude. The transition in the initial state is also displayed by the classical sine-Gordon theory and hence can be understood by semi-classical considerations in terms of the presence of small amplitude field configurations and the appearance of soliton excitations, which are naturally associated with bosonic and fermionic excitations on the quantum level, respectively. Features of the quantum dynamics are also consistent with this correspondence and comparing them to the classical evolution of the density profile reveals that quantum effects become markedly pronounced during the time evolution. These results suggest a crossover between the dominance of bosonic and fermionic degrees of freedom whose precise identification in terms of the fundamental particle excitations can be rather non-trivial. Nevertheless, their interplay is expected to influence the sine-Gordon dynamics in arbitrary inhomogeneous settings.

  18 citations

• Magnetic properties of a capped kagome molecule with 60 quantum spins

  Roman Rausch, Matthias Peschke, Cassian Plorin, Christoph Karrasch

  SciPost Phys. 12, 143 (2022) · published 2 May 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We compute ground-state properties of the isotropic, antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model on the sodalite cage geometry. This is a 60-spin spherical molecule with 24 vertex-sharing tetrahedra which can be regarded as a molecular analogue of a capped kagome lattice and which has been synthesized with high-spin rare-earth atoms. Here, we focus on the $S=1/2$ case where quantum effects are strongest. We employ the SU(2)-symmetric density-matrix renormalization group (DMRG). We find a threefold degenerate ground state that breaks the spatial symmetry and that splits up the molecule into three large parts which are almost decoupled from each other. This stands in sharp contrast to the behaviour of most known spherical molecules. On a methodological level, the disconnection leads to ``glassy dynamics'' within the DMRG that cannot be targeted via standard techniques. In the presence of finite magnetic fields, we find broad magnetization plateaus at 4/5, 3/5, and 1/5 of the saturation, which one can understand in terms of localized magnons, singlets, and doublets which are again nearly decoupled from each other. At the saturation field, the zero-point entropy is $S=\ln(182)\approx 5.2$ in units of the Boltzmann constant.

  3 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.

  42 citations