Publications

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• Dark matter in astrophysics/cosmology

  Anne M. Green

  SciPost Phys. Lect. Notes 37 (2022) · published 25 January 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  These lecture notes aim to provide an introduction to dark matter from the perspective of astrophysics/cosmology. We start with a rapid overview of cosmology, including the evolution of the Universe, its thermal history and structure formation. Then we look at the observational evidence for dark matter, from observations of galaxies, galaxy clusters, the anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background radiation and large scale structure. To detect dark matter we need to know how it's distributed, in particular in the Milky Way, so next we overview relevant results from numerical simulations and observations. Finally, we conclude by looking at what astrophysical and cosmological observations can tell us about the nature of dark matter, focusing on two particular cases: warm and self-interacting dark matter.

  14 citations

• The WIMP paradigm: Theme and variations

  Jonathan L. Feng

  SciPost Phys. Lect. Notes 71 (2023) · published 13 June 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  WIMPs, ↑ weakly-interacting massive particles, have been leading candidates for particle dark matter for decades, and they remain a viable and highly motivated possibility. In these lectures, I describe the basic motivations for WIMPs, beginning with the WIMP miracle and its under-appreciated cousin, the discrete WIMP miracle. I then give an overview of some of the basic features of WIMPs and how to find them. These lectures conclude with some variations on the WIMP theme that have by now become significant topics in their own right and illustrate the richness of the WIMP paradigm.

  14 citations

• The unitary representations of the Poincar\'e group in any spacetime dimension

  Xavier Bekaert, Nicolas Boulanger

  SciPost Phys. Lect. Notes 30 (2021) · published 14 June 2021 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  An extensive group-theoretical treatment of linear relativistic field equations on Minkowski spacetime of arbitrary dimension $D\geqslant 3$ is presented. An exhaustive treatment is performed of the two most important classes of unitary irreducible representations of the Poincar\'e group, corresponding to massive and massless fundamental particles. Covariant field equations are given for each unitary irreducible representation of the Poincar\'e group with non-negative mass-squared.

  12 citations

• Extreme boundary conditions and random tilings

  Jean-Marie Stéphan

  SciPost Phys. Lect. Notes 26 (2021) · published 12 March 2021 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Standard statistical mechanical or condensed matter arguments tell us that bulk properties of a physical system do not depend too much on boundary conditions. Random tilings of large regions provide counterexamples to such intuition, as illustrated by the famous 'arctic circle theorem' for dimer coverings in two dimensions. In these notes, I discuss such examples in the context of critical phenomena, and their relation to 1+1d quantum particle models. All those turn out to share a common feature: they are inhomogeneous, in the sense that local densities now depend on position in the bulk. I explain how such problems may be understood using variational (or hydrodynamic) arguments, how to treat long range correlations, and how non trivial edge behavior can occur. While all this is done on the example of the dimer model, the results presented here have much greater generality. In that sense the dimer model serves as an opportunity to discuss broader methods and results. [These notes require only a basic knowledge of statistical mechanics.]

  12 citations

• Introduction to the nested algebraic Bethe ansatz

  N. A. Slavnov

  SciPost Phys. Lect. Notes 19 (2020) · published 2 September 2020 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We give a detailed description of the nested algebraic Bethe ansatz. We consider integrable models with a $\mathfrak{gl}_3$-invariant $R$-matrix as the basic example, however, we also describe possible generalizations. We give recursions and explicit formulas for the Bethe vectors. We also give a representation for the Bethe vectors in the form of a trace formula.

  12 citations

• Birdtracks for SU(N)

  Stefan Keppeler

  SciPost Phys. Lect. Notes 3 (2018) · published 27 September 2018 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  I gently introduce the diagrammatic birdtrack notation, first for vector algebra and then for permutations. After moving on to general tensors I review some recent results on Hermitian Young operators, gluon projectors, and multiplet bases for SU(N) colour space.

  12 citations

• Minimal lectures on two-dimensional conformal field theory

  Sylvain Ribault

  SciPost Phys. Lect. Notes 1 (2018) · published 10 June 2018 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We provide a brief but self-contained review of conformal field theory on the Riemann sphere. We first introduce general axioms such as local conformal invariance, and derive Ward identities and BPZ equations. We then define minimal models and Liouville theory by specific axioms on their spectrums and degenerate fields. We solve these theories by computing three- and four-point functions, and discuss their existence and uniqueness.

  11 citations

• Introduction to the theory of open quantum systems

  Piotr Szańkowski

  SciPost Phys. Lect. Notes 68 (2023) · published 18 April 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  This manuscript is an edited and refined version of the lecture script for a one-semester graduate course given originally at the PhD school in the Institute of Physics of Polish Academy of Sciences in the Spring/Summer semester of 2022. The course expects from the student only a basic knowledge on graduate-level quantum mechanics. The script itself is largely self-contained and could be used as a textbook on the topic of open quantum systems. The program of this course is based on a novel approach to the description of the open system dynamics: It is showed how the environmental degrees of freedom coupled to the system can be represented by a multi-component quasi-stochastic process. Using this representation one constructs the super-quasi-cumulant (or super-qumulant) expansion for the system's dynamical map-a parametrization that naturally lends itself for the development of a robust and practical perturbation theory. Thus, even an experienced researcher might find this manuscript of some interest.

  11 citations

• Quantifying the effect of interactions in quantum many-body systems

  Jiannis K. Pachos, Zlatko Papic

  SciPost Phys. Lect. Notes 4 (2018) · published 27 September 2018 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Free fermion systems enjoy a privileged place in physics. With their simple structure they can explain a variety of effects, ranging from insulating and metallic behaviours to superconductivity and the integer quantum Hall effect. Interactions, e.g. in the form of Coulomb repulsion, can dramatically alter this picture by giving rise to emerging physics that may not resemble free fermions. Examples of such phenomena include high-temperature superconductivity, fractional quantum Hall effect, Kondo effect and quantum spin liquids. The non-perturbative behaviour of such systems remains a major obstacle to their theoretical understanding that could unlock further technological applications. Here, we present a pedagogical review of "interaction distance" [Nat. Commun. 8, 14926 (2017)] -- a systematic method that quantifies the effect interactions can have on the energy spectrum and on the quantum correlations of generic many-body systems. In particular, the interaction distance is a diagnostic tool that identifies the emergent physics of interacting systems. We illustrate this method on the simple example of a one-dimensional Fermi-Hubbard dimer.

  11 citations

• An introduction to infinite projected entangled-pair state methods for variational ground state simulations using automatic differentiation

  Jan Naumann, Erik Lennart Weerda, Matteo Rizzi, Jens Eisert, Philipp Schmoll

  SciPost Phys. Lect. Notes 86 (2024) · published 10 September 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Tensor networks capture large classes of ground states of phases of quantum matter faithfully and efficiently. Their manipulation and contraction has remained a challenge over the years, however. For most of the history, ground state simulations of two-dimensional quantum lattice systems using (infinite) projected entangled pair states have relied on what is called a time-evolving block decimation. In recent years, multiple proposals for the variational optimization of the quantum state have been put forward, overcoming accuracy and convergence problems of previously known methods. The incorporation of automatic differentiation in tensor networks algorithms has ultimately enabled a new, flexible way for variational simulation of ground states and excited states. In this work we review the state-of-the-art of the variational iPEPS framework, providing a detailed introduction to automatic differentiation, a description of a general foundation into which various two-dimensional lattices can be conveniently incorporated, and demonstrative benchmarking results.

  11 citations