Publications

Order by: publication date number of citations

• Vacuum-field-induced state mixing

  Diego Fernández de la Pradilla, Esteban Moreno, Johannes Feist

  SciPost Phys. 15, 252 (2023) · published 22 December 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  By engineering the electromagnetic vacuum field, the induced Casimir-Polder shift (also known as Lamb shift) and spontaneous emission rates of individual atomic levels can be controlled. When the strength of these effects becomes comparable to the energy difference between two previously uncoupled atomic states, an environment-induced interaction between these states appears after tracing over the environment. This interaction has been previously studied for degenerate levels and simple geometries involving infinite, perfectly conducting half-spaces or free space. Here, we generalize these studies by developing a convenient description that permits the analysis of these non-diagonal perturbations to the atomic Hamiltonian in terms of an accurate non-Hermitian Hamiltonian. Applying this theory to a hydrogen atom close to a dielectric nanoparticle, we show strong vacuum-field-induced state mixing that leads to drastic modifications in both the energies and decay rates compared to conventional diagonal perturbation theory. In particular, contrary to the expected Purcell enhancement, we find a surprising decrease of decay rates within a considerable range of atom-nanoparticle separations. Furthermore, we quantify the large degree of mixing of the unperturbed eigenstates due to the non-diagonal perturbation. Our work opens new quantum state manipulation possibilities in emitters with closely spaced energy levels.

  3 citations

• Practical realization of chiral nonlinearity for strong topological protection

  Xinxin Guo, Lucien Jezequel, Mathieu Padlewski, Hervé Lissek, Pierre Delplace, Romain Fleury

  SciPost Phys. 18, 034 (2025) · published 27 January 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Nonlinear topology has been much less inquired compared to its linear counterpart. Existing advances have focused on nonlinearities of limited magnitudes and fairly homogeneous types. As such, the realizations have rarely been concerned with the requirements for nonlinearity. Here we explore nonlinear topological protection by determining nonlinear rules and demonstrate their relevance in real-world experiments. We take advantage of chiral symmetry and identify the condition for its continuation in general nonlinear environments. Applying it to one-dimensional topological lattices, we show possible evolution paths for zero-energy edge states that preserve topologically nontrivial phases regardless of the specifics of the chiral nonlinearities. Based on an acoustic prototype design with non-local nonlinearities, we theoretically, numerically, and experimentally implement the nonlinear topological edge states that persist in all nonlinear degrees and directions without any frequency shift. Our findings unveil a broad family of nonlinearities compatible with topological non-triviality, establishing a solid ground for future drilling in the emergent field of nonlinear topology.

  3 citations

• On the spin content of the classical massless Rarita-Schwinger system

  Mauricio Valenzuela, Jorge Zanelli

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 14, 047 (2023) · published 24 November 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We analyze the Rarita-Schwinger massless theory in the Lagrangian and Hamiltonian approaches. At the Lagrangian level, the standard gamma-trace gauge fixing constraint leaves a 1/2 and a 3/2 propagating Poincaré group helicities. At the Hamiltonian level, the result depends on whether the Dirac conjecture is assumed or not. In the affirmative case, a secondary first class constraint is added to the total Hamiltonian and a corresponding gauge fixing condition must be imposed, completely removing the 1/2 sector. In the opposite case, the 1/2 field propagates and the Hamilton field equations match the Euler-Lagrange equations.

  3 citations

• Classification of Convergent OPE Channels for Lorentzian CFT Four-Point Functions

  Jiaxin Qiao

  SciPost Phys. 13, 093 (2022) · published 12 October 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We analyze the convergence properties of operator product expansions (OPE) for Lorentzian CFT four-point functions of scalar operators. We give a complete classification of Lorentzian four-point configurations. All configurations in each class have the same OPE convergence properties in s-, t- and u-channels. We give tables including the information of OPE convergence for all classes. Our work justifies that in a subset of the configuration space, Lorentzian CFT four-point functions are genuine analytic functions. Our results are valid for unitary CFTs in $d\geq2$. Our work also provides some Lorentzian regions where one can do bootstrap analysis in the sense of functions.

  3 citations

• Generative invertible quantum neural networks

  Armand Rousselot, Michael Spannowsky

  SciPost Phys. 16, 146 (2024) · published 4 June 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Invertible Neural Networks (INN) have become established tools for the simulation and generation of highly complex data. We propose a quantum-gate algorithm for a Quantum Invertible Neural Network (QINN) and apply it to the LHC data of jet-associated production of a Z-boson that decays into leptons, a standard candle process for particle collider precision measurements. We compare the QINN's performance for different loss functions and training scenarios. For this task, we find that a hybrid QINN matches the performance of a significantly larger purely classical INN in learning and generating complex data.

  3 citations

• QCD axion strings or seeds?

  Simone Blasi, Alberto Mariotti

  SciPost Phys. 18, 016 (2025) · published 15 January 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We study the impact of QCD axion strings on the cosmological history of electroweak (EW) symmetry breaking, focussing on the minimal KSVZ axion model. We consider the case of the pure SM Higgs potential as well as a simple scenario with a first order EW phase transition. We capture the effect of the Peccei-Quinn (PQ) sector within an effective-theory approach for the Higgs field, where the axion string core and the heavy PQ states are integrated out. The relevant parameters in this effective theory are controlled by the size of the portal coupling between the Higgs and the PQ scalar, and the mass of the PQ radial excitation. We determine the range of portal couplings for which the axion strings can strongly affect the dynamics of EW symmetry breaking. In the case of a first order EW phase transition, the strings can act as seeds by either catalyzing the nucleation of (non-spherical) bubbles, or leading to the completion of the phase transition by triggering a classical instability.

  3 citations

• Codebase release 1.0 for Nevanlinna.jl

  Kosuke Nogaki, Jiani Fei, Emanuel Gull, Hiroshi Shinaoka

  SciPost Phys. Codebases 19-r1.0 (2023) · published 13 November 2023 | Toggle abstract · src

  We introduce a Julia implementation of the recently proposed Nevanlinna analytic continuation method. The method is based on Nevanlinna interpolants and inherently preserves the causality of a response function due to its construction. For theoretical calculations without statistical noise, this continuation method is a powerful tool to extract real-frequency information from numerical input data on the Matsubara axis. This method has been applied to first-principles calculations of correlated materials. This paper presents its efficient and full-featured open-source implementation of the method including the Hamburger moment problem and smoothing.

  3 citations

• Bayesian RG flow in neural network field theories

  Jessica N. Howard, Marc S. Klinger, Anindita Maiti, Alexander G. Stapleton

  SciPost Phys. Core 8, 027 (2025) · published 5 March 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The Neural Network Field Theory correspondence (NNFT) is a mapping from neural network (NN) architectures into the space of statistical field theories (SFTs). The Bayesian renormalization group (BRG) is an information-theoretic coarse graining scheme that generalizes the principles of the exact renormalization group (ERG) to arbitrarily parameterized probability distributions, including those of NNs. In BRG, coarse graining is performed in parameter space with respect to an information-theoretic distinguishability scale set by the Fisher information metric. In this paper, we unify NNFT and BRG to form a powerful new framework for exploring the space of NNs and SFTs, which we coin BRG-NNFT. With BRG-NNFT, NN training dynamics can be interpreted as inducing a flow in the space of SFTs from the information-theoretic 'IR' $→$ 'UV'. Conversely, applying an information-shell coarse graining to the trained network's parameters induces a flow in the space of SFTs from the information-theoretic 'UV' $→$ 'IR'. When the information-theoretic cutoff scale coincides with a standard momentum scale, BRG is equivalent to ERG. We demonstrate the BRG-NNFT correspondence on two analytically tractable examples. First, we construct BRG flows for trained, infinite-width NNs, of arbitrary depth, with generic activation functions. As a special case, we then restrict to architectures with a single infinitely-wide layer, scalar outputs, and generalized cos-net activations. In this case, we show that BRG coarse-graining corresponds exactly to the momentum-shell ERG flow of a free scalar SFT. Our analytic results are corroborated by a numerical experiment in which an ensemble of asymptotically wide NNs are trained and subsequently renormalized using an information-shell BRG scheme.

  2 citations

• Description of continuum structures in a discrete basis: Three-body resonances and two-nucleon decays

  Jesús Casal, Manuela Rodríguez-Gallardo, José M. Arias, Joaquín Gómez-Camacho, Lorenzo Fortunato, Andrea Vitturi

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 3, 036 (2020) · published 26 February 2020 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Weakly bound and unbound three-body nuclei are studied by using the pseudostate method within the hyperspherical formalism. After introducing the theoretical framework, the method is applied first to the $\boldsymbol{^9}$Be nucleus, showing a good agreement with the available data for its low-lying dipole response. Then, recent results on the structure and decay of the two-neutron emitters $\boldsymbol{^{26}}$O and $\boldsymbol{^{16}}$Be are presented. In particular, the role of the $\boldsymbol{n}$-$\boldsymbol{n}$ correlation in shaping their properties is discussed.

  2 citations

• Carlo.jl: A general framework for Monte Carlo simulations in Julia

  Lukas Weber

  SciPost Phys. Codebases 49 (2025) · published 7 February 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Carlo.jl is a Monte Carlo simulation framework written in Julia. It provides MPI-parallel scheduling (including parallel tempering), organized storage of input, checkpoint, and output files, as well as statistical postprocessing. With a minimalist design, it aims to aid the development of high-quality Monte Carlo codes, especially for demanding applications in condensed matter and statistical physics. This hands-on user guide shows how to implement a simple code with Carlo.jl, how to run an existing stochastic series expansion code based on Carlo.jl, and provides benchmarks to show its efficacy.

  2 citations