Publications

Order by: publication date number of citations

• On the generalizability of artificial neural networks in spin models

  Hon Man Yau, Nan Su

  SciPost Phys. Core 5, 032 (2022) · published 8 June 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The applicability of artificial neural networks (ANNs) is typically limited to the models they are trained with and little is known about their generalizability, which is a pressing issue in the practical application of trained ANNs to unseen problems. Here, by using the task of identifying phase transitions in spin models, we establish a systematic generalizability such that simple ANNs trained with the two-dimensional ferromagnetic Ising model can be applied to the ferromagnetic q-state Potts model in different dimensions for q>=2. The same scheme can be applied to the highly nontrivial antiferromagnetic q-state Potts model. We demonstrate that similar results can be obtained by reducing the exponentially large state space spanned by the training data to one that comprises only three representative configurations artificially constructed through symmetry considerations. We expect our findings to simplify and accelerate the development of machine learning-assisted tasks in spin-model related disciplines in physics and materials science.

  7 citations

• Characteristic properties of a composite system of topological phases separated by gapped domain walls via an exactly solvable Hamiltonian model

  Yu Zhao, Shan Huang, Hongyu Wang, Yuting Hu, Yidun Wan

  SciPost Phys. Core 6, 076 (2023) · published 8 November 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  In this paper, we construct an exactly solvable lattice Hamiltonian model to investigate the properties of a composite system consisting of multiple topological orders separated by gapped domain walls. There are interdomain elementary excitations labeled by a pair of anyons in different domains of this system; This system also has elementary excitations with quasiparticles in the gapped domain wall. Each set of elementary excitations corresponds to a basis of the ground states of this composite system on the torus, reflecting that the ground-state degeneracy matches the number of either set of elementary excitations. The characteristic properties of this composite system lie in the basis transformations, represented by the $S$ and $T$ matrices: The $S$ matrix encodes the mutual statistics between interdomain excitations and domain-wall quasiparticles, and the $T$ matrix encapsulates the topological spins of interdomain excitations. Our model realizes a spatial counterpart of a temporal phase transition triggered by anyon condensation, bringing the abstract theory of anyon condensation into manifestable spatial interdomain excitation states.

  7 citations

• Finite temperature effects on Majorana bound states in chiral $p$-wave superconductors

  Henrik Schou Røising, Roni Ilan, Tobias Meng, Steven H. Simon, Felix Flicker

  SciPost Phys. 6, 055 (2019) · published 8 May 2019 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We study Majorana fermions bound to vortex cores in a chiral $p$-wave superconductor at temperatures non-negligible compared to the superconducting gap. Thermal occupation of Caroli de Gennes-Matricon states, below the full gap, causes the free energy difference between the two fermionic parity sectors to decay algebraically with increasing temperature. The power law acquires an additional factor of $T^{-1}$ for each bound state thermally excited. The zero-temperature result is exponentially recovered well below the minigap (lowest-lying CdGM level). Our results suggest that temperatures larger than the minigap may not be disastrous for topological quantum computation. We discuss the prospect of precision measurements of pinning forces on vortices as a readout scheme for Majorana qubits.

  7 citations

• Relaxation and entropy generation after quenching quantum spin chains

  Máté Lencses, Octavio Pomponio, Gabor Takacs

  SciPost Phys. 9, 011 (2020) · published 22 July 2020 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  This work considers entropy generation and relaxation in quantum quenches in the Ising and $3$-state Potts spin chains. In the absence of explicit symmetry breaking we find universal ratios involving R\'enyi entropy growth rates and magnetisation relaxation for small quenches. We also demonstrate that the magnetisation relaxation rate provides an observable signature for the "dynamical Gibbs effect" which is a recently discovered characteristic non-monotonous behaviour of entropy growth linked to changes in the quasi-particle spectrum.

  7 citations

• Stationarization and Multithermalization in spin glasses

  Pierluigi Contucci, Federico Corberi, Jorge Kurchan, Emanuele Mingione

  SciPost Phys. 10, 113 (2021) · published 26 May 2021 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We develop further the study of a system in contact with a multibath having different temperatures at widely separated timescales. We consider those systems that do not thermalize in finite times when in contact with an ordinary bath but may do so in contact with a multibath. Thermodynamic integration is possible, thus allowing one to recover the stationary distribution on the basis of measurements performed in a `multi-reversible' transformation. We show that following such a protocol the system is at each step described by a generalization of the Boltzmann-Gibbs distribution, that has been studied in the past. Guerra's bound interpolation scheme for spin-glasses is closely related to this: by translating it into a dynamical setting, we show how it may actually be implemented in practice. The phase diagram plane of temperature vs "number of replicas", long studied in spin-glasses, in our approach becomes simply that of the two temperatures the system is in contact with. We suggest that this representation may be used to directly compare phenomenological and mean-field inspired models.Finally, we show how an approximate out of equilibrium probability distribution may be inferred experimentally on the basis of measurements along an almost reversible transformation.

  7 citations

• Hypercharge quantisation and Fermat's last theorem

  Nakarin Lohitsiri, David Tong

  SciPost Phys. 8, 009 (2020) · published 23 January 2020 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  What values of the Standard Model hypercharges result in a mathematically consistent quantum field theory? We show that the constraints imposed by the lack of gauge anomalies can be recast as the equation x^3 + y^3 = z^3. If hypercharge is quantised, then x, y and z must be integers. The trivial (and only) solutions, with x=0 or y=0, reproduce the hypercharge assignments seen in Nature. This argument does not rely on the mixed gauge-gravitational anomaly, which is automatically vanishing if hypercharge is quantised and the gauge anomalies vanish.

  7 citations

• Natural boundaries for scattering amplitudes

  Sebastian Mizera

  SciPost Phys. 14, 101 (2023) · published 9 May 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Singularities, such as poles and branch points, play a crucial role in investigating the analytic properties of scattering amplitudes that inform new computational techniques. In this note, we point out that scattering amplitudes can also have another class of singularities called \emph{natural boundaries} of analyticity. They create a barrier beyond which analytic continuation cannot be performed. More concretely, we use unitarity to show that $2 \to 2$ scattering amplitudes in theories with a mass gap can have a natural boundary on the second sheet of the lightest threshold cut. There, an infinite number of ladder-type Landau singularities densely accumulates on the real axis in the center-of-mass energy plane. We argue that natural boundaries are generic features of higher-multiplicity scattering amplitudes in gapped theories.

  7 citations

• On exotic consistent anomalies in (1+1)$d$: A ghost story

  Chi-Ming Chang, Ying-Hsuan Lin

  SciPost Phys. 10, 119 (2021) · published 28 May 2021 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We revisit 't Hooft anomalies in (1+1)$d$ non-spin quantum field theory, starting from the consistency and locality conditions, and find that consistent U(1) and gravitational anomalies cannot always be canceled by properly quantized (2+1)$d$ classical Chern-Simons actions. On the one hand, we prove that certain exotic anomalies can only be realized by non-reflection-positive or non-compact theories; on the other hand, without insisting on reflection-positivity, the exotic anomalies present a caveat to the inflow paradigm. For the mixed U(1) gravitational anomaly, we propose an inflow mechanism involving a mixed U(1)$\times$SO(2) classical Chern-Simons action with a boundary condition that matches the SO(2) gauge field with the (1+1)$d$ spin connection. Furthermore, we show that this mixed anomaly gives rise to an isotopy anomaly of U(1) topological defect lines. The isotopy anomaly can be canceled by an extrinsic curvature improvement term, but at the cost of creating a periodicity anomaly. We survey the holomorphic $bc$ ghost system which realizes all the exotic consistent anomalies, and end with comments on a subtlety regarding the anomalies of finite subgroups of U(1).

  7 citations

• The giant graviton expansion in $AdS_5 \times S^5$

  Giorgos Eleftheriou, Sameer Murthy, Martí Rosselló

  SciPost Phys. 17, 098 (2024) · published 1 October 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The superconformal index of $\frac12$-BPS states of $\mathcal{N}=4$ $U(N)$ super Yang-Mills theory has a known infinite $q$-series expression with successive terms suppressed by $q^N$. We derive a holographic bulk interpretation of this series by evaluating the corresponding functional integral in the dual AdS$_5 × S^5$. The integral localizes to a product of small fluctuations of the vacuum and of the collective modes of an arbitrary number of giant-gravitons wrapping an $S^3$ of maximal size inside the $S^5$. The quantum mechanics of the small fluctuations of one maximal giant is described by a supersymmetric version of the Landau problem. The quadratic fluctuation determinant reduces to a sum over the supersymmetric ground states, and precisely reproduces the first non-trivial term in the infinite series. Further, we show that the terms corresponding to multiple giants are obtained precisely by the matrix versions of the above super-quantum-mechanics.

  7 citations

• Hasse diagrams for gapless SPT and SSB phases with non-invertible symmetries

  Lakshya Bhardwaj, Daniel Pajer, Sakura Schäfer-Nameki, Alison Warman

  SciPost Phys. 19, 113 (2025) · published 28 October 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We discuss (1+1)d gapless phases with non-invertible global symmetries, also referred to as categorical symmetries. This includes gapless phases showing properties analogous to gapped symmetry protected topological (SPT) phases, known as gapless SPT (or gSPT) phases; and gapless phases showing properties analogous to gapped spontaneous symmetry broken (SSB) phases, that we refer to as gapless SSB (or gSSB) phases. We fit these gapless phases, along with gapped SPT and SSB phases, into a phase diagram describing possible deformations connecting them. This phase diagram is partially ordered and defines a so-called Hasse diagram. Based on these deformations, we identify gapless phases exhibiting symmetry protected criticality, that we refer to as intrinsically gapless SPT (igSPT) and intrinsically gapless SSB (igSSB) phases. This includes the first examples of igSPT and igSSB phases with non-invertible symmetries. Central to this analysis is the Symmetry Topological Field Theory (SymTFT), where each phase corresponds to a condensable algebra in the Drinfeld center of the symmetry category. On a mathematical note, gSPT phases are classified by functors between fusion categories, generalizing the fact that gapped SPT phases are classified by fiber functors; and gSSB phases are classified by functors from fusion to multi-fusion categories. Finally, our framework can be applied to understand gauging of trivially acting non-invertible symmetries, including possible patterns of decomposition arising due to such gaugings.

  7 citations