Publications

Order by: publication date number of citations

• Multipole theory of optical spatial dispersion in crystals

  Óscar Pozo Ocaña, Ivo Souza

  SciPost Phys. 14, 118 (2023) · published 17 May 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Natural optical activity is the paradigmatic example of an effect originating in the weak spatial inhomogeneity of the electromagnetic field on the atomic scale. In molecules, such effects are well described by the multipole theory of electromagnetism, where the coupling to light is treated semiclassically beyond the electric-dipole approximation. That theory has two shortcomings: it is limited to bounded systems, and its building blocks -the multipole transition moments- are origin dependent. In this work, we recast the multipole theory in a translationally-invariant form that remains valid for crystals. Working in the independent-particle approximation, we introduce "intrinsic" multipole transition moments that are origin independent and transform covariantly under gauge transformations of the Bloch eigenstates. Electric-dipole transitions are given by the interband Berry connection, while magnetic-dipole and electric-quadrupole transitions are described by matrix generalizations of the intrinsic magnetic moment and quantum metric. In addition to multipole-like terms, the response of crystals at first order in the wavevector of light contains band-dispersion terms that have no counterpart in molecular theories. The full response is broken down into magnetoelectric and quadrupolar parts, which can be isolated in the static limit where electric and magnetic fields become decoupled. The rotatory-strength sum rule for crystals is found to be equivalent to the topological constraint for a vanishing chiral magnetic effect in equilibrium, and the formalism is validated by numerical tight-binding calculations.

  5 citations

• BFKL phenomenology: resummation of high-energy logs in inclusive processes

  Francesco Giovanni Celiberto, Michael Fucilla, Dmitry Yu. Ivanov, Mohammed M. A. Mohammed, Alessandro Papa

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 10, 002 (2022) · published 10 August 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We present recent phenomenological studies, tailored on kinematic configurations typical of current and forthcoming analyses at the LHC, for two novel probe channels of the BFKL resummation of energy logarithms. Particular attention is drawn to the behavior of distributions differential in azimuthal angle and rapidity, where significant high-energy effects are expected.

  5 citations

• Exact multi-instantons in topological string theory

  Jie Gu, Marcos Mariño

  SciPost Phys. 15, 179 (2023) · published 26 October 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Topological string theory has multi-instanton sectors which lead to non-perturbative effects in the string coupling constant and control the large order behavior of the perturbative genus expansion. As proposed by Couso, Edelstein, Schiappa and Vonk, these sectors can be described by a trans-series extension of the BCOV holomorphic anomaly equations. In this paper we find exact, closed form solutions for these multi-instanton trans-series in the case of local Calabi-Yau manifolds. The resulting multi-instanton amplitudes turn out to be very similar to the eigenvalue tunneling amplitudes of matrix models. Their form suggests that the flat coordinates of the Calabi-Yau manifold are naturally quantized in units of the string coupling constant, as postulated in large $N$ dualities. Based on our results we obtain a general picture for the resurgent structure of the topological string in the local case, which we illustrate with explicit calculations for local $\mathbb{P}^2$.

  5 citations

• Quantum coherence from commensurate driving with laser pulses and decay

  Goetz S. Uhrig

  SciPost Phys. 8, 040 (2020) · published 12 March 2020 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Non-equilibrium physics is a particularly fascinating field of current research. Generically, driven systems are gradually heated up so that quantum effects die out. In contrast, we show that a driven central spin model including controlled dissipation in a highly excited state allows us to distill quantum coherent states, indicated by a substantial reduction of entropy. The model is experimentally accessible in quantum dots or molecules with unpaired electrons. The potential of preparing and manipulating coherent states by designed driving potentials is pointed out.

  5 citations

• Simulating thermal density operators with cluster expansions and tensor networks

  Bram Vanhecke, David Devoogdt, Frank Verstraete, Laurens Vanderstraeten

  SciPost Phys. 14, 085 (2023) · published 26 April 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We provide an efficient approximation for the exponential of a local operator in quantum spin systems using tensor-network representations of a cluster expansion. We benchmark this cluster tensor network operator (cluster TNO) for one-dimensional systems, and show that the approximation works well for large real- or imaginary-time steps. We use this formalism for representing the thermal density operator of a two-dimensional quantum spin system at a certain temperature as a single cluster TNO, which we can then contract by standard contraction methods for two-dimensional tensor networks. We apply this approach to the thermal phase transition of the transverse-field Ising model on the square lattice, and we find through a scaling analysis that the cluster-TNO approximation gives rise to a continuous phase transition in the correct universality class; by increasing the order of the cluster expansion we find good values of the critical point up to surprisingly low temperatures.

  5 citations

• Parity effects and universal terms of $\mathcal{O}(1)$ in the entanglement near a boundary

  Henning Schlömer, Chunyu Tan, Stephan Haas, Hubert Saleur

  SciPost Phys. 13, 110 (2022) · published 17 November 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  In the presence of boundaries, the entanglement entropy in lattice models is known to exhibit oscillations with the (parity of the) length of the subsystem, which however decay to zero with increasing distance from the edge. We point out in this article that, when the subsystem starts at the boundary and ends at an impurity, oscillations of the entanglement (as well as of charge fluctuations) appear which do not decay with distance, and which exhibit universal features. We study these oscillations in detail for the case of the XX chain with one modified link (a conformal defect) or two successive modified links (a relevant defect), both numerically and analytically. We then generalize our analysis to the case of extended (conformal) impurities, which we interpret as SSH models coupled to metallic leads. In this context, the parity effects can be interpreted in terms of the existence of non-trivial topological phases.

  5 citations

• Plasmons in holographic graphene

  Ulf Gran, Marcus Tornsö, Tobias Zingg

  SciPost Phys. 8, 093 (2020) · published 25 June 2020 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We demonstrate how self-sourced collective modes - of which the plasmon is a prominent example due to its relevance in modern technological applications - are identified in strongly correlated systems described by holographic Maxwell theories. The characteristic $\omega \propto \sqrt{k}$ plasmon dispersion for 2D materials, such as graphene, naturally emerges from this formalism. We also demonstrate this by constructing the first holographic model containing this feature. This provides new insight into modeling such systems from a holographic point of view, bottom-up and top-down alike. Beyond that, this method provides a general framework to compute the dynamical charge response of strange metals, which has recently become experimentally accessible due to the novel technique of momentum-resolved electron energy-loss spectroscopy (M-EELS). This framework therefore opens up the exciting possibility of testing holographic models for strange metals against actual experimental data.

  5 citations

• M$_k$ models: the field theory connection

  T. Fokkema, K. Schoutens

  SciPost Phys. 3, 004 (2017) · published 13 July 2017 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The M$_k$ models for 1D lattice fermions are characterised by ${\cal N}=2$ supersymmetry and by an order-$k$ clustering property. This paper highlights connections with quantum field theories (QFTs) in various regimes. At criticality the QFTs are minimal models of ${\cal N}=2$ supersymmetric conformal field theory (CFT) - we analyse finite size spectra on open chains with a variety of supersymmetry preserving boundary conditions. Specific staggering perturbations lead to a gapped regime corresponding to massive ${\cal N}=2$ supersymmetric QFT with Chebyshev superpotentials. At `extreme staggering' we uncover a simple physical picture with degenerate supersymmetric vacua and mobile kinks. We connect this kink-picture to the Chebyshev QFTs and use it to derive novel CFT character formulas. For clarity the focus in this paper is on the simplest models, M$_1$, M$_2$ and M$_3$.

  5 citations

• Sterile neutrinos as dark matter candidates

  Joachim Kopp

  SciPost Phys. Lect. Notes 36 (2022) · published 19 January 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  In these brief lecture notes, we introduce sterile neutrinos as dark matter candidates. We discuss in particular their production via oscillations, their radiative decay, as well as possible observational signatures and constraints.

  5 citations

• Devil's staircase of topological Peierls insulators and Peierls supersolids

  Titas Chanda, Daniel González-Cuadra, Maciej Lewenstein, Luca Tagliacozzo, Jakub Zakrzewski

  SciPost Phys. 12, 076 (2022) · published 25 February 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We consider a mixture of ultracold bosonic atoms on a one-dimensional lattice described by the XXZ-Bose-Hubbard model, where the tunneling of one species depends on the spin state of a second deeply trapped species. We show how the inclusion of antiferromagnetic interactions among the spin degrees of freedom generates a Devil's staircase of symmetry-protected topological phases for a wide parameter regime via a bosonic analog of the Peierls mechanism in electron-phonon systems. These topological Peierls insulators are examples of symmetry-breaking topological phases, where long-range order due to spontaneous symmetry breaking coexists with topological properties such as fractionalized edge states. Moreover, we identify a region of supersolid phases that do not require long-range interactions. They appear instead due to a Peierls incommensurability mechanism, where competing orders modify the underlying crystalline structure of Peierls insulators, becoming superfluid. Our work show the possibilities that ultracold atomic systems offer to investigate strongly-correlated topological phenomena beyond those found in natural materials.

  5 citations