Publications

Order by: publication date number of citations

• Charges in the extended BMS algebra: Definitions and applications

  Massimo Porrati

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 4, 005 (2021) · published 13 August 2021 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  This is a review of selected topics from recent work on symmetry charges in asymptotically flat spacetime done by the author in collaboration with U. Kol and R. Javadinezhad. First we reinterpret the reality constraint on the boundary graviton as the gauge fixing of a new local symmetry, called dual supertranslations. This symmetry extends the BMS group and bears many similarities to the dual (magnetic) gauge symmetry of electrodynamics. We use this new gauge symmetry to propose a new description of the TAUB-NUT space that does not contain closed time-like curves. Next we summarize progress towards the definition of Lorentz and super-Lorentz charges that commute with supertranslations and with the soft graviton mode.

  3 citations

• MEG: Muon to Electron and Gamma

  A.M. Baldini, T. Mori

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 5, 019 (2021) · published 6 September 2021 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The possible existence of the muon to electron and gamma decay predicted by many new physics scenarios is investigated by stopping positive muons in a very thin target and measuring emitted photons and positrons with the best possible resolutions. Photons are measured by a 2.7 ton ultra pure liquid xenon detector while positron trajectories are measured in a specially designed gradient magnetic field by low-mass drift chambers and precisely timed by scintillation counters. A first phase of the experiment (MEG) ended in 2016, and excluded the existence of the decay with branching ratios larger than 4.2x10**(-13) (90% C.L.). This provides approximately 30 times stronger constraints on a variety of new physics models than previous experiments. In the second phase (MEG II), most of the detectors have been upgraded by adopting up-to-date technologies to improve the search sensitivity by another order of magnitude down to O(10**(-19) ). MEG II will pursue new physics beyond the Standard Model complementary to high energy collider experiments with a compatible or even higher sensitivity.

  3 citations

• Spin-polarized two-dimensional electron/hole gases on LiCoO$_2$ layers.

  Santosh Kumar Radha, Walter R. L. Lambrecht

  SciPost Phys. 10, 057 (2021) · published 8 March 2021 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  First-principles calculations show the formation of a 2D spin polarized electron (hole) gas on the Li (CoO$_2$) terminated surfaces of finite slabs down to a monolayer, in remarkable contrast with the bulk band structure, which is stabilized by Li donating its electron to the CoO$_2$ layer forming a Co-$d-t_{2g}^6$ insulator. By mapping the first-principles computational results to a minimal tight-binding models corresponding to a non-chiral 3D generalization of the quadripartite Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH4) model and symmetry analysis, we show that these surface states have topological origin.

  3 citations

• Disordered $\mathcal{N} = (2, 2)$ supersymmetric field theories

  Chi-Ming Chang, Xiaoyang Shen

  SciPost Phys. 16, 140 (2024) · published 30 May 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We investigate a large class of $\mathcal{N}=(2,2)$ supersymmetric field theories in two dimensions, which contains the Murugan-Stanford-Witten model, and can be naturally regarded as a disordered generalization of the two-dimensional Landau-Ginzburg models. We analyze the two and four-point functions of chiral superfields, and extract from them the central charge, the operator spectrum, and the chaos exponent in these models. Some of the models exhibit a conformal manifold parameterized by the variances of the random couplings. We compute the Zamolodchikov metrics on the conformal manifold, and demonstrate that the chaos exponent varies nontrivally along the conformal manifolds. Finally, we introduce and perform some preliminary analysis of a disordered generalization of the gauged linear sigma models, and discuss the low energy theories as ensemble averages of Calabi-Yau sigma models over complex structure moduli space.

  3 citations

• Codebase release 0.1 for jVMC

  Markus Schmitt, Moritz Reh

  SciPost Phys. Codebases 2-r0.1 (2022) · published 23 August 2022 | Toggle abstract · src

  The introduction of Neural Quantum States (NQS) has recently given a new twist to variational Monte Carlo (VMC). The ability to systematically reduce the bias of the wave function ansatz renders the approach widely applicable. However, performant implementations are crucial to reach the numerical state of the art. Here, we present a Python codebase that supports arbitrary NQS architectures and model Hamiltonians. Additionally leveraging automatic differentiation, just-in-time compilation to accelerators, and distributed computing, it is designed to facilitate the composition of efficient NQS algorithms.

  3 citations

• Current mean values in the XYZ model

  Levente Pristyák, Balázs Pozsgay

  SciPost Phys. 14, 158 (2023) · published 15 June 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The XYZ model is an integrable spin chain which has an infinite set of conserved charges, but it lacks a global $U(1)$-symmetry. We consider the current operators, which describe the flow of the conserved quantities in this model. We derive an exact result for the current mean values, valid for any eigenstate in a finite volume with periodic boundary conditions. This result can serve as a basis for studying the transport properties of this model within Generalized Hydrodynamics.

  3 citations

• Supersymmetric grey galaxies, dual dressed black holes and the superconformal index

  Sunjin Choi, Diksha Jain, Seok Kim, Vineeth Krishna, Goojin Kwon, Eunwoo Lee, Shiraz Minwalla, Chintan Patel

  SciPost Phys. 19, 072 (2025) · published 25 September 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Motivated by the recent construction of grey galaxy and dual dressed black hole solutions in $AdS_5× S^5$, we present two conjectures relating to the large $N$ entropy of supersymmetric states in $\mathcal{N}=4$ Yang-Mills theory. Our first conjecture asserts the existence of a large number of supersymmetric states which can be thought of as a non interacting mix of supersymmetric black holes and supersymmetric "gravitons". It predicts a microcanonical phase diagram of supersymmetric states with eleven distinct phases, and makes a sharp prediction for the supersymmetric entropy (as a function of 5 charges) in each of these phases. The microcanonical version of the superconformal index involves a sum over states - with alternating signs - over a line in 5 parameter charge space. Our second (and more tentative) conjecture asserts that this sum is dominated by the point on the line that has the largest supersymmetric entropy. This conjecture predicts a large $N$ formula for the superconformal index as a function of indicial charges, and predicts a microcanonical indicial phase diagram with nine distinct phases. It predicts agreement between the superconformal index and black hole entropy in one phase (so over one range of charges), but disagreement in other phases (and so at other values of charges). We compare our predictions against numerically evaluated superconformal index at $N≤10$, and find qualitative agreement.

  3 citations

• Analytic neutrino oscillation probabilities

  Chee Sheng Fong

  SciPost Phys. 15, 013 (2023) · published 18 July 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  In the work, we derive exact analytic expressions for $(3+N)$-flavor neutrino oscillation probabilities in an arbitrary matter potential in term of matrix elements and eigenvalues of the Hamiltonian. With the analytic expressions, we demonstrate that nonunitary and nonstandard neutrino interaction scenarios are physically distinct: they satisfy different identities and can in principle be distinguished experimentally. The analytic expressions are implemented in a public code NuProbe, a tool for probing new physics through neutrino oscillations.

  3 citations

• Engaging with the State. Illegalized migrants, welfare institutions and the law in French-Speaking Belgium

  Sophie Andreetta

  Mig. Pol. 1, 001 (2022) · published 21 March 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  By highlighting informal strategies and solidarities on the one hand, and protests on the other, current studies of citizenship and illegalized migration describe two main forms of political subjectivities among illegalized migrants: ‘without’ the state or ‘against’ it. In contrast, this article unpacks how migrants make use of state laws and institutions, voice expectations, and pursue their claims using official venues – in short, how they act ‘with’ the state. It builds on ethnographic fieldwork on illegalized migrants’ welfare requests in French-speaking Belgium and the various sets of actors involved in assessing or furthering their cases. Migrants’ discourses and expectations of the welfare office provide insights into their understandings of the state, highlight the crucial role of immigration lawyers in brokering cases, and ultimately allow for a more nuanced reading of the idea that welfare dependency leads to deportability. On a theoretical level, this article contributes to ongoing debates both in the study of statehood and in migration studies, showing how procedural fairness can be a central aspect of – in this case – migrants’ relationship to and expectations of the state, and how migrants’ strategies and practices of inclusion can also be formal ones, based on existing state laws and institutions.

  3 citations

• Finiteness and the emergence of dualities

  Matilda Delgado, Damian van de Heisteeg, Sanjay Raman, Ethan Torres, Cumrun Vafa, Kai Xu

  SciPost Phys. 19, 047 (2025) · published 19 August 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We argue that the finiteness of quantum gravity amplitudes in fully compactified theories (at least in supersymmetric cases) leads to a bottom-up prediction for the existence of non-trivial dualities. In particular, finiteness requires the moduli space of massless fields to be compactifiable, meaning that its volume must be finite or at least grow no faster than that of Euclidean space. Moreover, we relate the compactifiability of moduli spaces to the condition that the lattice of charged objects transform in a semisimple representation under the action of the duality group. These ideas are supported by a wide variety of string theory examples.

  3 citations