Publications

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• Probing black hole microstate evolution with networks and random walks

  Anthony M. Charles, Daniel R. Mayerson

  SciPost Phys. 8, 077 (2020) · published 14 May 2020 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We model black hole microstates and quantum tunneling transitions between them with networks and simulate their time evolution using well-established tools in network theory. In particular, we consider two models based on Bena-Warner three-charge multi-centered microstates and one model based on the D1-D5 system; we use network theory methods to determine how many centers (or D1-D5 string strands) we expect to see in a typical late-time state. We find three distinct possible phases in parameter space for the late-time behaviour of these networks, which we call ergodic, trapped, and amplified, depending on the relative importance and connectedness of microstates. We analyze in detail how these different phases of late-time behavior are related to the underlying physics of the black hole microstates. Our results indicate that the expected properties of microstates at late times cannot always be determined simply by entropic arguments; typicality is instead a highly non-trivial, emergent property of the full Hilbert space of microstates.

  1 citation

• Analytic conformal bootstrap and Virasoro primary fields in the Ashkin-Teller model

  Nikita Nemkov, Sylvain Ribault

  SciPost Phys. 11, 089 (2021) · published 9 November 2021 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We revisit the critical two-dimensional Ashkin-Teller model, i.e. the $\mathbb{Z}_2$ orbifold of the compactified free boson CFT at $c=1$. We solve the model on the plane by computing its three-point structure constants and proving crossing symmetry of four-point correlation functions. We do this not only for affine primary fields, but also for Virasoro primary fields, i.e. higher twist fields and degenerate fields. This leads us to clarify the analytic properties of Virasoro conformal blocks and fusion kernels at $c=1$. We show that blocks with a degenerate channel field should be computed by taking limits in the central charge, rather than in the conformal dimension. In particular, Al. Zamolodchikov's simple explicit expression for the blocks that appear in four-twist correlation functions is only valid in the non-degenerate case: degenerate blocks, starting with the identity block, are more complicated generalized theta functions.

  1 citation

• Looking forward to forward physics at the CERN's LHC

  Luis A. Anchordoqui

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 13, 042 (2023) · published 19 October 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  For decades, new physics searches in collider experiments have focused on the high-$p_T$ region. However, it has recently become evident that the LHC physics potential has not been fully exploited. To be specific, forward collisions, which produce particles along the beamline with enormous rates, have been almost completely ignored. For all practical purposes, these collisions are a treasure trove of physics, containing the highest-energy neutrinos ever produced by humans, as well as possible evidence for dark matter, light and weakly-coupled particles, and new forces. In the upcoming LHC Run 3 the ForwArd Search ExpeRiment (FASER) and its cousin FASER$\nu$ will extend the LHC's physics potential. A continuation of this forward physics program for the HL-LHC aims at the Forward Physics Facility (FPF), with larger scale experiments. In this report, I give an overview of the physics motivations for FASER, FASER$\nu$, and the FPF experiments, including both Standard Model and beyond Standard Model physics.

  1 citation

• The high-temperature expansion of the thermal sunset

  Andreas Ekstedt, Johan Löfgren

  SciPost Phys. Core 3, 008 (2020) · published 22 October 2020 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We give a prescription for calculating the high-temperature expansion of the thermal sunset integral to arbitrary order. We derive all terms odd in $T$, and rederive previous results up to $\mathcal{O}(T^0) $ for both bosonic and fermionic thermal sunsets in dimensional regularisation. We perform analytical and numerical cross-checks. Intermediate steps involve integrals over three Bessel functions.

  1 citation

• Codebase release 0.2 for Pychastic

  Radost Waszkiewicz, Maciej Bartczak, Kamil Kolasa, Maciej Lisicki

  SciPost Phys. Codebases 11-r0.2 (2023) · published 3 April 2023 | Toggle abstract · src

  In the last decade, Python-powered physics simulations ecosystem has been growing steadily, allowing greater interoperability, and becoming an important tool in numerical exploration of physical phenomena, particularly in soft matter systems. Driven by the need for fast and precise numerical integration in colloidal dynamics, here we formulate the problem of Brownian Dynamics (BD) in a mathematically consistent formalism of the Itō calculus, and develop a Python package to assist numerical computations. We show that, thanks to the automatic differentiation packages, the classical truncated Taylor-Itō integrators can be implemented without the burden of computing the derivatives of the coefficient functions beforehand. Furthermore, we show how to circumvent the difficulties of BD simulations such as calculations of the divergence of the mobility tensor in the diffusion equation and discontinuous trajectories encountered when working with dynamics on $S^2$ and $SO(3)$. The resulting Python package, Pychastic, is capable of performing BD simulations including hydrodynamic interactions at speeds comparable to dedicated implementations in lower-level programming languages, but with a much simpler end-user interface.

  1 citation

• Electric polarization and magnetization in metals

  Perry T. Mahon, John E. Sipe

  SciPost Phys. 14, 058 (2023) · published 3 April 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  A feature of the "modern theory" is that electric polarization is not well-defined in a metallic ground state. A different approach invokes the general existence of a complete set of exponentially localized Wannier functions, with respect to which general definitions of microscopic electronic polarization and magnetization fields, and free charge and current densities are always admitted. These definitions assume no particular initial electronic state of the crystal, and the set of microscopic fields satisfy the usual relations of classical electrodynamics. Notably, when applied to a trivial insulator initially occupying its $T=0$ ground state, the expressions for the unperturbed polarization and orbital magnetization, and for the orbital magnetoelectric polarizability tensor obtained from these different approaches can agree. However, the "modern theory of magnetization" has been extended via thermodynamic arguments to include metals and Chern insulators. We here compare with that generalization and find disagreement; the manner in which the expressions differ elucidates the distinct philosophies of these approaches. Our approach leads to the usual electrical conductivity tensor in the long-wavelength limit; in the absence of any scattering mechanisms, the dc divergence of that tensor is due to the free current density and the finite-frequency generalization of the anomalous Hall contribution arises from a combination of bound and free current densities. As well, in the limit that the electronic ground state is that of a trivial insulator, our expressions reduce to those expected for the unperturbed polarization and magnetization, and the electric susceptibility.

  1 citation

• Particle dynamics on torsional galilean spacetimes

  José Figueroa-O'Farrill, Can Görmez, Dieter Van den Bleeken

  SciPost Phys. 14, 059 (2023) · published 4 April 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We study free particle motion on homogeneous kinematical spacetimes of galilean type. The three well-known cases of Galilei and (A)dS-Galilei spacetimes are included in our analysis, but our focus will be on the previously unexplored torsional galilean spacetimes. We show how in well-chosen coordinates free particle motion becomes equivalent to the dynamics of a damped harmonic oscillator, with the damping set by the torsion. The realization of the kinematical symmetry algebra in terms of conserved charges is subtle and comes with some interesting surprises, such as a homothetic version of hamiltonian vector fields and a corresponding generalization of the Poisson bracket. We show that the Bargmann extension is universal to all galilean kinematical symmetries, but also that it is no longer central for nonzero torsion. We also present a geometric interpretation of this fact through the Eisenhart lift of the dynamics.

  1 citation

• Codebase release 2.0 for UFOManager

  Mark S. Neubauer, Avik Roy, Zijun Wang

  SciPost Phys. Codebases 13-r2.0 (2023) · published 9 June 2023 | Toggle abstract · src

  Research in the data-intensive discipline of high energy physics (HEP) often relies on domain-specific digital contents. Reproducibility of research relies on proper preservation of these digital objects. This paper reflects on the interpretation of principles of Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reusability (FAIR) in such context and demonstrates its implementation by describing the development of an end-to-end support infrastructure for preserving and accessing Universal FeynRules Output (UFO) models guided by the FAIR principles. UFO models are custom-made python libraries used by the HEP community for Monte Carlo simulation of collider physics events. Our framework provides simple but robust tools to preserve and access the UFO models and corresponding metadata in accordance with the FAIR principles.

  1 citation

• NISQ algorithm for the matrix elements of a generic observable

  Rebecca Erbanni, Kishor Bharti, Leong-Chuan Kwek, Dario Poletti

  SciPost Phys. 15, 180 (2023) · published 30 October 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The calculation of off-diagonal matrix elements has various applications in fields such as nuclear physics and quantum chemistry. In this paper, we present a noisy intermediate scale quantum algorithm for estimating the diagonal and off-diagonal matrix elements of a generic observable in the energy eigenbasis of a given Hamiltonian without explicitly preparing its eigenstates. By means of numerical simulations we show that this approach finds many of the matrix elements for the one and two qubits cases. Specifically, while in the first case, one can initialize the ansatz parameters over a broad interval, in the latter the optimization landscape can significantly slow down the speed of convergence and one should therefore be careful to restrict the initialization to a smaller range of parameters.

  1 citation

• Relative cluster entropy for power-law correlated sequences

  Anna Carbone, Linda Ponta

  SciPost Phys. 13, 076 (2022) · published 30 September 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We propose an information-theoretical measure, the \textit{relative cluster entropy} $\mathcal{D_{C}}[P \| Q] $, to discriminate among cluster partitions characterised by probability distribution functions $P$ and $Q$. The measure is illustrated with the clusters generated by pairs of fractional Brownian motions with Hurst exponents $H_1$ and $H_2$ respectively. For subdiffusive, normal and superdiffusive sequences, the relative entropy sensibly depends on the difference between $H_1$ and $H_2$. By using the \textit{minimum relative entropy} principle, cluster sequences characterized by different correlation degrees are distinguished and the optimal Hurst exponent is selected. As a case study, real-world cluster partitions of market price series are compared to those obtained from fully uncorrelated sequences (simple Browniam motions) assumed as a model. The \textit{minimum relative cluster entropy} yields optimal Hurst exponents $H_1=0.55$, $H_1=0.57$, and $H_1=0.63$ respectively for the prices of DJIA, S\&P500, NASDAQ: a clear indication of non-markovianity. Finally, we derive the analytical expression of the relative cluster entropy and the outcomes are discussed for arbitrary pairs of power-laws probability distribution functions of continuous random variables.

  1 citation