Publications

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• Exact results for duality-covariant integrated correlators in $\mathcal{N}=4$ SYM with general classical gauge groups

  Daniele Dorigoni, Michael B. Green, Congkao Wen

  SciPost Phys. 13, 092 (2022) · published 11 October 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We present exact expressions for certain integrated correlators of four superconformal primary operators in the stress tensor multiplet of $\cN=4$ supersymmetric Yang--Mills (SYM) theory with classical gauge group, $G_N$ $= SO(2N)$, $SO(2N+1)$, $USp(2N)$. These integrated correlators are expressed as two-dimensional lattice sums by considering derivatives of the localised partition functions, generalising the expression obtained for $SU(N)$ \mbg{gauge group} in our previous works. These expressions are manifestly covariant under Goddard-Nuyts-Olive duality. The integrated correlators can also be formally written as infinite sums of non-holomorphic Eisenstein series with integer indices and rational coefficients. Furthermore, the action of the hyperbolic Laplace operator with respect to the complex coupling $\tau=\theta/(2\pi) + 4\pi i /g^2_{_{YM}}$ on any integrated correlator for gauge group $G_N$ relates it to a linear combination of correlators with gauge groups $G_{N+1}$, $G_N$ and $G_{N-1}$. These ``Laplace-difference equations'' determine the expressions of integrated correlators for all classical gauge groups for any value of $N$ in terms of the correlator for the gauge group $SU(2)$. The perturbation expansions of these integrated correlators for any finite value of $N$ agree with properties obtained from perturbative Yang--Mills quantum field theory, together with various multi-instanton calculations which are also shown to agree with those determined by supersymmetric localisation. The coefficients of terms in the large-$N$ expansion are sums of non-holomorphic Eisenstein series with half-integer indices, which extend recent results and make contact with low order terms in the low energy expansion of type IIB superstring theory in an $AdS_5\times S^5/\mathbb{Z}_2$ background.

  31 citations

• The Asymptotically Safe Standard Model: From quantum gravity to dynamical chiral symmetry breaking

  Álvaro Pastor-Gutiérrez, Jan M. Pawlowski, Manuel Reichert

  SciPost Phys. 15, 105 (2023) · published 20 September 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We present a comprehensive non-perturbative study of the phase structure of the asymptotically safe Standard Model. The physics scales included range from the asymptotically safe trans-Planckian regime in the ultraviolet, the intermediate high-energy regime with electroweak symmetry breaking to strongly correlated QCD in the infrared. All flows are computed with a self-consistent functional renormalisation group approach, using a vertex expansion in the fluctuation fields. In particular, this approach takes care of all physical threshold effects and the respective decoupling of ultraviolet degrees of freedom. Standard Model and gravity couplings and masses are fixed by their experimental low energy values. Importantly, we accommodate for the difference between the top pole mass and its Euclidean analogue. Both, the correct mass determination and the threshold effects have a significant impact on the qualitative properties, and in particular on the stability properties of the specific ultraviolet-infrared trajectory with experimental Standard Model physics in the infrared. We show that in the present rather advanced approximation the matter part of the asymptotically safe Standard Model has the same number of relevant parameters as the Standard Model, and is asymptotically free. This result is based on the novel UV fixed point found in the present work: the fixed point Higgs potential is flat but has two relevant directions. These results and their analysis are accompanied by a thorough discussion of the systematic error of the present truncation, also important for systematic improvements.

  31 citations

• $T\bar{T}$ in JT Gravity and BF Gauge Theory

  Stephen Ebert, Christian Ferko, Hao-Yu Sun, Zhengdi Sun

  SciPost Phys. 13, 096 (2022) · published 13 October 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  JT gravity has a first-order formulation as a two-dimensional BF theory, which can be viewed as the dimensional reduction of the Chern-Simons description of $3d$ gravity. We consider $T\bar{T}$-type deformations of the $(0+1)$-dimensional dual to this $2d$ BF theory and interpret the deformation as a modification of the BF theory boundary conditions. The fundamental observables in this deformed BF theory, and in its $3d$ Chern-Simons lift, are Wilson lines and loops. In the $3d$ Chern-Simons setting, we study modifications to correlators involving boundary-anchored Wilson lines which are induced by a $T\bar{T}$ deformation on the $2d$ boundary; results are presented at both the classical level (using modified boundary conditions) and the quantum-mechanical level (using conformal perturbation theory). Finally, we calculate the analogous deformed Wilson line correlators in $2d$ BF theory below the Hagedorn temperature where the principal series dominates over the discrete series.

  31 citations

• Entanglement Entropy in Lifshitz Theories

  Temple He, Javier M. Magan, Stefan Vandoren

  SciPost Phys. 3, 034 (2017) · published 16 November 2017 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We discuss and compute entanglement entropy (EE) in (1+1)-dimensional free Lifshitz scalar field theories with arbitrary dynamical exponents. We consider both the subinterval and periodic sublattices in the discretized theory as subsystems. In both cases, we are able to analytically demonstrate that the EE grows linearly as a function of the dynamical exponent. Furthermore, for the subinterval case, we determine that as the dynamical exponent increases, there is a crossover from an area law to a volume law. Lastly, we deform Lifshitz field theories with certain relevant operators and show that the EE decreases from the ultraviolet to the infrared fixed point, giving evidence for a possible $c$-theorem for deformed Lifshitz theories.

  31 citations

• Gravitational Regge bounds

  Kelian Häring, Alexander Zhiboedov

  SciPost Phys. 16, 034 (2024) · published 26 January 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We review the basic assumptions and spell out the detailed arguments that lead to the bound on the Regge growth of gravitational scattering amplitudes. The minimal extra ingredient compared to the gapped case - in addition to unitarity, analyticity, subexponentiality, and crossing - is the assumption that scattering at large impact parameters is controlled by known semi-classical physics. We bound the Regge growth of amplitudes both with the fixed transferred momentum and smeared over it. Our basic conclusion is that gravitational scattering amplitudes admit dispersion relations with two subtractions. For a sub-class of smeared amplitudes, black hole formation reduces the number of subtractions to one. Finally, using dispersion relations with two subtractions we derive bounds on the local growth of relativistic scattering amplitudes. Schematically, the local bound states that the amplitude cannot grow faster than $s^2$. The results obtained in the paper are valid for $d> 4$ for which the $2\to2$ scattering amplitude is well-defined.

  31 citations

• Volume-preserving diffeomorphism as nonabelian higher-rank gauge symmetry

  Yi-Hsien Du, Umang Mehta, Dung Xuan Nguyen, Dam Thanh Son

  SciPost Phys. 12, 050 (2022) · published 2 February 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We propose nonabelian higher-rank gauge theories in 2+1D and 3+1D. The gauge group is constructed from the volume-preserving diffeomorphisms of space. We show that the intriguing physics of the lowest Landau level (LLL) limit can be interpreted as the consequences of the symmetry. We derive the renowned Girvin-MacDonald-Platzman (GMP) algebra as well as the topological Wen-Zee term within our formalism. Using the gauge symmetry in 2+1D, we derive the LLL effective action of vortex crystal in rotating Bose gas as well as Wigner crystal of electron in an applied magnetic field. We show that the non-linear sigma models of ferromagnet in 2+1D and 3+1D exhibit the higher-rank gauge symmetries that we introduce in this paper. We interpret the fractonic behavior of the excitations on the lowest Landau level and of skyrmions in ferromagnets as the consequence of the higher-rank gauge symmetry.

  31 citations

• The negativity contour: a quasi-local measure of entanglement for mixed states

  Jonah Kudler-Flam, Hassan Shapourian, Shinsei Ryu

  SciPost Phys. 8, 063 (2020) · published 20 April 2020 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  In this paper, we study the entanglement structure of mixed states in quantum many-body systems using the $\textit{negativity contour}$, a local measure of entanglement that determines which real-space degrees of freedom in a subregion are contributing to the logarithmic negativity and with what magnitude. We construct an explicit contour function for Gaussian states using the fermionic partial-transpose. We generalize this contour function to generic many-body systems using a natural combination of derivatives of the logarithmic negativity. Though the latter negativity contour function is not strictly positive for all quantum systems, it is simple to compute and produces reasonable and interesting results. In particular, it rigorously satisfies the positivity condition for all holographic states and those obeying the quasi-particle picture. We apply this formalism to quantum field theories with a Fermi surface, contrasting the entanglement structure of Fermi liquids and holographic (hyperscale violating) non-Fermi liquids. The analysis of non-Fermi liquids show anomalous temperature dependence of the negativity depending on the dynamical critical exponent. We further compute the negativity contour following a quantum quench and discuss how this may clarify certain aspects of thermalization.

  30 citations

• Topological characterization of Lieb-Schultz-Mattis constraints and applications to symmetry-enriched quantum criticality

  Weicheng Ye, Meng Guo, Yin-Chen He, Chong Wang, Liujun Zou

  SciPost Phys. 13, 066 (2022) · published 26 September 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Lieb-Schultz-Mattis (LSM) theorems provide powerful constraints on the emergibility problem, i.e. whether a quantum phase or phase transition can emerge in a many-body system. We derive the topological partition functions that characterize the LSM constraints in spin systems with $G_s\times G_{int}$ symmetry, where $G_s$ is an arbitrary space group in one or two spatial dimensions, and $G_{int}$ is any internal symmetry whose projective representations are classified by $\mathbb{Z}_2^k$ with $k$ an integer. We then apply these results to study the emergibility of a class of exotic quantum critical states, including the well-known deconfined quantum critical point (DQCP), $U(1)$ Dirac spin liquid (DSL), and the recently proposed non-Lagrangian Stiefel liquid. These states can emerge as a consequence of the competition between a magnetic state and a non-magnetic state. We identify all possible realizations of these states on systems with $SO(3)\times \mathbb{Z}_2^T$ internal symmetry and either $p6m$ or $p4m$ lattice symmetry. Many interesting examples are discovered, including a DQCP adjacent to a ferromagnet, stable DSLs on square and honeycomb lattices, and a class of quantum critical spin-quadrupolar liquids of which the most relevant spinful fluctuations carry spin-$2$. In particular, there is a realization of spin-quadrupolar DSL that is beyond the usual parton construction. We further use our formalism to analyze the stability of these states under symmetry-breaking perturbations, such as spin-orbit coupling. As a concrete example, we find that a DSL can be stable in a recently proposed candidate material, NaYbO$_2$.

  30 citations

• Topological superconductors on superstring worldsheets

  Justin Kaidi, Julio Parra-Martinez, Yuji Tachikawa, with a mathematical appendix by Arun Debray

  SciPost Phys. 9, 010 (2020) · published 21 July 2020 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We point out that different choices of Gliozzi-Scherk-Olive (GSO) projections in superstring theory can be conveniently understood by the inclusion of fermionic invertible phases, or equivalently topological superconductors, on the worldsheet. This allows us to find that the unoriented Type $\rm 0$ string theory with $\Omega^2=(-1)^{\sf f}$ admits different GSO projections parameterized by $n$ mod 8, depending on the number of Kitaev chains on the worldsheet. The presence of $n$ boundary Majorana fermions then leads to the classification of D-branes by $KO^n(X)\oplus KO^{-n}(X)$ in these theories, which we also confirm by the study of the D-brane boundary states. Finally, we show that there is no essentially new GSO projection for the Type $\rm I$ worldsheet theory by studying the relevant bordism group, which classifies corresponding invertible phases. This paper provides the details for the results announced in the letter \cite{Kaidi:2019pzj}.

  30 citations

• Logarithmic CFT at generic central charge: from Liouville theory to the $Q$-state Potts model

  Rongvoram Nivesvivat, Sylvain Ribault

  SciPost Phys. 10, 021 (2021) · published 29 January 2021 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Using derivatives of primary fields (null or not) with respect to the conformal dimension, we build infinite families of non-trivial logarithmic representations of the conformal algebra at generic central charge, with Jordan blocks of dimension $2$ or $3$. Each representation comes with one free parameter, which takes fixed values under assumptions on the existence of degenerate fields. This parameter can be viewed as a simpler, normalization-independent redefinition of the logarithmic coupling. We compute the corresponding non-chiral conformal blocks, and show that they appear in limits of Liouville theory four-point functions. As an application, we describe the logarithmic structures of the critical two-dimensional $O(n)$ and $Q$-state Potts models at generic central charge. The validity of our description is demonstrated by semi-analytically bootstrapping four-point connectivities in the $Q$-state Potts model to arbitrary precision. Moreover, we provide numerical evidence for the Delfino--Viti conjecture for the three-point connectivity. Our results hold for generic values of $Q$ in the complex plane and beyond.

  30 citations