Publications

Order by: publication date number of citations

• Dark matter from the centre of SU(N)

  Michele Frigerio, Nicolas Grimbaum-Yamamoto, Thomas Hambye

  SciPost Phys. 15, 177 (2023) · published 25 October 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  A dark sector with non-abelian gauge symmetry provides a sound framework to justify stable dark matter (DM) candidates. We consider scalar fields charged under a $SU(N)$ gauge group, and show that the centre of $SU(N)$, the discrete subgroup $Z_N$ also known as $N$-ality, can ensure the stability of scalar DM particles. We analyse in some details two minimal DM models of this class, based on $SU(2)$ and $SU(3)$, respectively. These models have non-trivial patterns of spontaneous symmetry breaking, leading to distinctive phenomenological implications. For the $SU(2)$ model these include a specific interplay of two DM states, with the same interactions but different masses, and several complementary DM annihilation regimes, either within the dark sector or through the Higgs portal. The $SU(3)$ model predicts dark radiation made of a pair of dark photons with a unique gauge coupling, as well as regimes where DM semi-annihilations become dominant and testable.

  4 citations

• Transient Features in Charge Fractionalization, Local Equilibration and Non-equilibrium Bosonization

  Alexander Schneider, Mirco Milletari, Bernd Rosenow

  SciPost Phys. 2, 007 (2017) · published 25 February 2017 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  In quantum Hall edge states and in other one-dimensional interacting systems, charge fractionalization can occur due to the fact that an injected charge pulse decomposes into eigenmodes propagating at different velocities. If the original charge pulse has some spatial width due to injection with a given source-drain voltage, a finite time is needed until the separation between the fractionalized pulses is larger than their width. In the formalism of non-equilibrium bosonization, the above physics is reflected in the separation of initially overlapping square pulses in the effective scattering phase. When expressing the single particle Green's function as a functional determinant of counting operators containing the scattering phase, the time evolution of charge fractionalization is mathematically described by functional determinants with overlapping pulses. We develop a framework for the evaluation of such determinants, describe the system's equilibration dynamics, and compare our theoretical results with recent experimental findings.

  4 citations

• Dynamic decay and superadiabatic forces in the van Hove dynamics of bulk hard sphere fluids

  Lucas L. Treffenstädt, Thomas Schindler, Matthias Schmidt

  SciPost Phys. 12, 133 (2022) · published 20 April 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We study the dynamical decay of the van Hove function of Brownian hard spheres using event-driven Brownian dynamics simulations and dynamic test particle theory. Relevant decays mechanisms include deconfinement of the self particle, decay of correlation shells, and shell drift. Comparison to results for the Lennard-Jones system indicates the generality of these mechanisms for dense overdamped liquids. We use dynamical density functional theory on the basis of the Rosenfeld functional with self interaction correction. Superadiabatic forces are analysed using a recent power functional approximation. The power functional yields a modified Einstein long-time self diffusion coefficient in good agreement with simulation data.

  4 citations

• Four lectures on Euler integrals

  Saiei-Jaeyeong Matsubara-Heo, Sebastian Mizera, Simon Telen

  SciPost Phys. Lect. Notes 75 (2023) · published 26 October 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  These lecture notes provide a self-contained introduction to Euler integrals, which are frequently encountered in applications. In particle physics, they arise as Feynman integrals or string amplitudes. Our four selected topics demonstrate the diverse mathematical techniques involved in the study of Euler integrals, including polyhedral geometry, very affine varieties, differential equations, and computational algebra.

  4 citations

• Critical properties of a comb lattice

  Natalia Chepiga, Steven R. White

  SciPost Phys. 9, 013 (2020) · published 27 July 2020 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  In this paper we study the critical properties of the Heisenberg spin-1/2 model on a comb lattice -- a 1D backbone decorated with finite 1D chains -- the teeth. We address the problem numerically by a comb tensor network that duplicates the geometry of a lattice. We observe a fundamental difference between the states on a comb with even and odd number of sites per tooth, which resembles an even-odd effect in spin-1/2 ladders. The comb with odd teeth is always critical, not only along the teeth, but also along the backbone, which leads to a competition between two critical regimes in orthogonal directions. In addition, we show that in a weak-backbone limit the excitation energy scales as $1/(NL)$, and not as $1/N$ or $1/L$ typical for 1D systems. For even teeth in the weak backbone limit the system corresponds to a collection of decoupled critical chains of length $L$, while in the strong backbone limit, one spin from each tooth forms the backbone, so the effective length of a critical tooth is one site shorter, $L-1$. Surprisingly, these two regimes are connected via a state where a critical chain spans over two nearest neighbor teeth, with an effective length $2L$.

  4 citations

• Real-time discrimination of photon pairs using machine learning at the LHC

  Sean Benson, Adrián Casais Vidal, Xabier Cid Vidal, Albert Puig Navarro

  SciPost Phys. 7, 062 (2019) · published 13 November 2019 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  ALP-mediated decays and other as-yet unobserved $B$ decays to di-photon final states are a challenge to select in hadron collider environments due to the large backgrounds that come directly from the $pp$ collision. We present the strategy implemented by the LHCb experiment in 2018 to efficiently select such photon pairs. A fast neural network topology, implemented in the LHCb real-time selection framework achieves high efficiency across a mass range of $4-20$ GeV$/c^{2}$. We discuss implications and future prospects for the LHCb experiment.

  4 citations

• Generative unfolding with distribution mapping

  Anja Butter, Sascha Diefenbacher, Nathan Huetsch, Vinicius Mikuni, Benjamin Nachman, Sofia Palacios Schweitzer, Tilman Plehn

  SciPost Phys. 18, 200 (2025) · published 20 June 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Machine learning enables unbinned, highly-differential cross section measurements. A recent idea uses generative models to morph a starting simulation into the unfolded data. We show how to extend two morphing techniques, Schrödinger Bridges and Direct Diffusion, in order to ensure that the models learn the correct conditional probabilities. This brings distribution mapping (DM) to a similar level of accuracy as the state-of-the-art conditional generative unfolding methods. Numerical results are presented with a standard benchmark dataset of single jet substructure as well as for a new dataset describing a 22-dimensional phase space of $Z+2$-jets.

  4 citations

• Wilson loops and spherical branes

  Davide Astesiano, Pieter Bomans, Fridrik Freyr Gautason, Valentina Giangreco M. Puletti, Alexia Nix

  SciPost Phys. 18, 050 (2025) · published 12 February 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We study $\frac{1}{2}$-BPS Wilson loop operators in maximally supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory on $d$-dimensional spheres. Their vacuum expectation values can be computed at large $N$ through supersymmetric localisation. The holographic duals are given by back-reacted spherical D-branes. For $d≠ 4$, the resulting theories are non-conformal and correspondingly, the dual geometries do not possess an asymptotic AdS region. The main aim of this work is to compute the holographic Wilson loops by evaluating the partition function of a probe fundamental string and M2-brane in the dual geometry, focusing on the next-to-leading order. Along the way, we highlight a variety of issues related to the presence of a non-constant dilaton. In particular, the structure of the divergences of the one-loop partition functions takes a non-universal form in contrast to examples available in the literature. We devise a general framework to treat the divergences, successfully match the sub-leading scaling with $\lambda$ and $N$, and provide a first step towards obtaining the numerical prefactor.

  4 citations

• Detection of Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition via Generative Adversarial Networks

  Daniele Contessi, Elisa Ricci, Alessio Recati, Matteo Rizzi

  SciPost Phys. 12, 107 (2022) · published 25 March 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The detection of phase transitions in quantum many-body systems with lowest possible prior knowledge of their details is among the most rousing goals of the flourishing application of machine-learning techniques to physical questions. Here, we train a Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) with the Entanglement Spectrum of a system bipartition, as extracted by means of Matrix Product States ans\"atze. We are able to identify gapless-to-gapped phase transitions in different one-dimensional models by looking at the machine inability to reconstruct outsider data with respect to the training set. We foresee that GAN-based methods will become instrumental in anomaly detection schemes applied to the determination of phase-diagrams.

  4 citations

• Yukawa-Lorentz symmetry of interacting non-Hermitian birefringent Dirac fermions

  Sk Asrap Murshed, Bitan Roy

  SciPost Phys. 18, 073 (2025) · published 27 February 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The energy spectra of linearly dispersing gapless spin-3/2 Dirac fermions display birefringence, featuring two effective Fermi velocities, thus breaking the space-time Lorentz symmetry. Here, we consider a non-Hermitian (NH) generalization of this scenario by introducing a masslike anti-Hermitian birefringent Dirac operator to its Hermitian counterpart. The resulting NH operator shows real eigenvalue spectra over an extended NH parameter regime, and a combination of non-spatial and discrete rotational symmetries protects the gapless nature of such quasiparticles. However, at the brink of dynamic mass generation, triggered by Hubbardlike local interactions, the birefringent parameter always vanishes under coarse grain due to the Yukawa-type interactions with scalar bosonic order-parameter fluctuations. The resulting quantum critical state is, therefore, described by two decoupled copies of spin-1/2 Dirac fermions with a unique terminal Fermi velocity, which is equal to the bosonic order-parameter velocity, thereby fostering an emergent space-time Lorentz symmetry. Furthermore, depending on the internal algebra between the anti-Hermitian birefringent Dirac operator and the candidate mass order, the system achieves the emergent Yukawa-Lorentz symmetry either by maintaining its non-Hermiticity or by recovering a full Hermiticity. We discuss the resulting quantum critical phenomena and possible microscopic realizations of the proposed scenarios.

  4 citations