Publications

Order by: publication date number of citations

• Quantum criticality in many-body parafermion chains

  Ville Lahtinen, Teresia Mansson, Eddy Ardonne

  SciPost Phys. Core 4, 014 (2021) · published 28 May 2021 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We construct local generalizations of 3-state Potts models with exotic critical points. We analytically show that these are described by non-diagonal modular invariant partition functions of products of $Z_3$ parafermion or $u(1)_6$ conformal field theories (CFTs). These correspond either to non-trivial permutation invariants or block diagonal invariants, that one can understand in terms of anyon condensation. In terms of lattice parafermion operators, the constructed models correspond to parafermion chains with many-body terms. Our construction is based on how the partition function of a CFT depends on symmetry sectors and boundary conditions. This enables to write the partition function corresponding to one modular invariant as a linear combination of another over different sectors and boundary conditions, which translates to a general recipe how to write down a microscopic model, tuned to criticality. We show that the scheme can also be extended to construct critical generalizations of $k$-state clock type models.

  3 citations

• Dynamics of the order parameter statistics in the long range Ising model

  Nishan Ranabhat, Mario Collura

  SciPost Phys. 12, 126 (2022) · published 11 April 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We study the relaxation of the local ferromagnetic order in the transverse field quantum Ising chain with power-law decaying interactions $1/r^{\alpha}$. We prepare the system in the GHZ state and study the time evolution of the probability distribution function (PDF) of the order parameter within a block of $l$ when quenching the transverse field. The model is known to support long range order at finite temperature for $\alpha \leq 2.0$ . In this regime, quasi-localized topological magnetic defects are expected to strongly affect the equilibration of the full probability distribution. We highlight different dynamical regimes where gaussification mechanism may be slowed down by confinement and eventually breaks. We further study the PDF dynamics induced by changing the effective dimensionality of the system; we mimic this by quenching the range of the interactions. As a matter of fact, the behavior of the system crucially depends on the value of $\alpha$ governing the unitary evolution.

  3 citations

• A Framework for Studying a Quantum Critical Metal in the Limit $N_f\rightarrow0$

  Petter Säterskog

  SciPost Phys. 4, 015 (2018) · published 27 March 2018 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We study a model in 1+2 dimensions composed of a spherical Fermi surface of $N_f$ flavors of fermions coupled to a massless scalar. We present a framework to non-perturbatively calculate general fermion $n$-point functions of this theory in the limit $N_f\rightarrow0$ followed by $k_F\rightarrow\infty$ where $k_F$ sets both the size and curvature of the Fermi surface. Using this framework we calculate the zero-temperature fermion density-density correlation function in real space and find an exponential decay of Friedel oscillations.

  3 citations

• The search for the neutron electric dipole moment at PSI

  Guillaume Pignol, Philipp Schmidt-Wellenburg

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 5, 027 (2021) · published 6 September 2021 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The existence of a nonzero permanent electric dipole moment (EDM) of the neutron would reveal a new source of CP violation and shed light on the origin of the matter--antimatter asymmetry of the Universe. The sensitivity of current experiments using stored ultracold neutrons (UCN) probes new physics beyond the TeV scale. Using the UCN source at the Paul Scherrer Institut, the nEDM collaboration has performed the most sensitive measurement of the neutron EDM to date, still compatible with zero ($|d_n|<1.8\times 10^{-26} \, e {\rm cm}$, C.L.90%). A new experiment designed to improve the sensitivity by an order of magnitude, n2EDM, is currently in construction.

  3 citations

• A tail of eternal inflation

  Timothy Cohen, Daniel Green, Akhil Premkumar

  SciPost Phys. 14, 109 (2023) · published 12 May 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Non-trivial inflaton self-interactions can yield calculable signatures of primordial non-Gaussianity that are measurable in cosmic surveys. We calculate the non-Gaussian corrections to Stochastic Inflation within the framework of Soft de Sitter Effective Theory, from which we derive the associated probability distribution for the scalar fluctuations. As a consequence of this new result, we show that the phase transition to slow-roll eternal inflation is often incalculable in these models. Instead, this transition is sensitive to the non-Gaussian tail of the distribution of scalar fluctuations, which probes physics inside the horizon, potentially beyond the cutoff scale of the Effective Field Theory of Inflation. We delineate the parameter space consistent with current observations and weak coupling at horizon crossing in which the large fluctuations relevant for eternal inflation can only be determined by appealing to a UV completion. We also argue that this breakdown of the perturbative description is required for the de Sitter entropy to reflect the number of de Sitter microstates.

  3 citations

• A standard convention for particle-level Monte Carlo event-variation weights

  Enrico Bothmann, Andy Buckley, Christian Gütschow, Stefan Prestel, Marek Schönherr, Peter Skands, Jeppe R. Andersen, Saptaparna Bhattacharya, Jonathan Butterworth, Gurpreet Singh Chahal, Louie Corpe, Leif Gellersen, Matthew Gignac, Stefan Höche, Deepak Kar, Frank Krauss, Jan Kretzschmar, Leif Lönnblad, Josh McFayden, Andreas Papaefstathiou, Simon Plätzer, Steffen Schumann, Michael H. Seymour, Frank Siegert, Andrzej Siódmok

  SciPost Phys. Core 6, 007 (2023) · published 8 February 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Streams of event weights in particle-level Monte Carlo event generators are a convenient and immensely CPU-efficient approach to express systematic uncertainties in phenomenology calculations, providing systematic variations on the nominal prediction within a single event sample. But the lack of a common standard for labelling these variation streams across different tools has proven to be a major limitation for event-processing tools and analysers alike. Here we propose a well-defined, extensible community standard for the naming, ordering, and interpretation of weight streams that will serve as the basis for semantically correct parsing and combination of such variations in both theoretical and experimental studies.

  3 citations

• Heat and charge transport in interacting nanoconductors driven by time-modulated temperatures

  Rosa López, Pascal Simon, Minchul Lee

  SciPost Phys. 16, 094 (2024) · published 5 April 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We investigate the quantum transport of the heat and the charge through a quantum dot coupled to fermionic contacts under the influence of time modulation of temperatures. We derive, within the nonequilibrium Keldysh Green's function formalism, generic formulas for the charge and heat currents by extending the concept of gravitational field introduced by Luttinger to the dynamically driven system and by identifying the correct form of dynamical contact energy. In linear response regime our formalism is validated from satisfying the Onsager reciprocity relations and demonstrates its utility to reveal nontrivial dynamical effects of the Coulomb interaction on charge and energy relaxations.

  3 citations

• Freezing In with lepton flavored fermions

  G. D'Ambrosio, Shiuli Chatterjee, Ranjan Laha, Sudhir K Vempati

  SciPost Phys. 11, 006 (2021) · published 12 July 2021 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Dark, chiral fermions carrying lepton flavor quantum numbers are natural candidates for freeze-in. Small couplings with the Standard Model fermions of the order of lepton Yukawas are `automatic' in the limit of Minimal Flavor Violation. In the absence of total lepton number violating interactions, particles with certain representations under the flavor group remain absolutely stable. For masses in the GeV-TeV range, the simplest model with three flavors, leads to signals at future direct detection experiments like DARWIN. Interestingly, freeze-in with a smaller flavor group such as $SU(2)$ is already being probed by XENON1T.

  3 citations

• Determining $\alpha_s$ from hadronic $\tau$ decay: the pitfalls of truncating the OPE

  Diogo Boito, Maarten Golterman, Kim Maltman, Santiago Peris

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 1, 053 (2019) · published 22 February 2019 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We discuss sum-rule determinations of $\alpha_s$ from non-strange hadronic $\tau$-decay data. We investigate, in particular, the reliability of the assumptions underlying the ``truncated OPE strategy,'' which specifies a certain treatment of non-perturbative contributions, and which was employed in Refs.~\cite{Pich,Aleph, Opal}. Here, we test this strategy by applying the strategy to the $R$-ratio obtained from $e^+e^-$ data, which extend beyond the $\tau$ mass, and demonstrate that the assumptions underlying this strategy are not, in general, valid. We then present a brief overview of new results on the form of duality-violating non-perturbative contributions, which are conspicuously present in the experimentally determined spectral functions. As we show, with the current precision claimed for the extraction of $\alpha_s$, including a representation of duality violations is unavoidable if one wishes to avoid uncontrolled theoretical errors.

  3 citations

• Gaussian-state Ansatz for the non-equilibrium dynamics of quantum spin lattices

  Raphaël Menu, Tommaso Roscilde

  SciPost Phys. 14, 151 (2023) · published 12 June 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The study of non-equilibrium dynamics is one of the most important challenges of modern quantum many-body physics, in relationship with fundamental questions in quantum statistical mechanics, as well as with the fields of quantum simulation and computing. In this work we propose a Gaussian Ansatz for the study of the nonequilibrium dynamics of quantum spin systems. Within our approach, the quantum spins are mapped onto Holstein-Primakoff bosons, such that a coherent spin state - chosen as the initial state of the dynamics - represents the bosonic vacuum. The state of the system is then postulated to remain a bosonic Gaussian state at all times, an assumption which is exact when the bosonic Hamiltonian is quadratic; and which is justified in the case of a nonlinear Hamiltonian if the boson density remains moderate. We test the accuracy of such an Ansatz in the paradigmatic case of the $S=1/2$ transverse-field Ising model, in one and two dimensions, initialized in a state aligned with the applied field. We show that the Gaussian Ansatz, when applied to the bosonic Hamiltonian with nonlinearities truncated to quartic order, is able to reproduce faithfully the evolution of the state, including its relaxation to the equilibrium regime, for fields larger than the critical field for the paramagnetic-ferromagnetic transition in the ground state. In particular the spatio-temporal pattern of correlations reconstructed via the Gaussian Ansatz reveals the dispersion relation of quasiparticle excitations, exhibiting the softening of the excitation gap upon approaching the critical field. Our results suggest that the Gaussian Ansatz correctly captures the essential effects of nonlinearities in quantum spin dynamics; and that it can be applied to the study of fundamental phenomena such as quantum thermalization and its breakdown.

  3 citations