Publications

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• One-form symmetries and the 3d $\mathcal{N}=2$ $A$-model: Topologically twisted indices and CS theories

  Cyril Closset, Elias Furrer, Osama Khlaif

  SciPost Phys. 18, 066 (2025) · published 24 February 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We study three-dimensional $\mathcal{N}=2$ supersymmetric Chern–Simons-matter gauge theories with a one-form symmetry in the $A$-model formalism on $\Sigma_g× S^1$. We explicitly compute expectation values of topological line operators that implement the one-form symmetry. This allows us to compute the topologically twisted index on the closed Riemann surface $\Sigma_g$ for any real compact gauge group $G$ as long as the ground states are all bosonic. All computations are carried out in the effective $A$-model on $\Sigma_g$, whose $S^1$ ground states are the so-called Bethe vacua. We discuss how the 3d one-form symmetry acts on the Bethe vacua, and also how its 't Hooft anomaly constrains the vacuum structure. In the special case of the $SU(N)_K$ $\mathcal{N}=2$ Chern–Simons theory, we obtain results for the $(SU(N)/\mathbb{Z}_r)^{\theta}_K$ $\mathcal{N}=2$ Chern–Simons theories, for all non-anomalous $\mathbb{Z}_r \subseteq \mathbb{Z}_N$ subgroups of the centre of the gauge group, and with a $\mathbb{Z}_r$ $\theta$-angle turned on. In the special cases with $N$ even, ${N\over r}$ odd and ${K\over r}$ even, we find a mixed 't Hooft anomaly between gravity and the $\mathbb{Z}_r^{(1)}$ one-form symmetry of the $SU(N)_K$ theory, and the infrared 3d TQFT after gauging is spin. In all cases, we count the Bethe states and the higher-genus states in terms of refinements of Jordan's totient function. This counting gives us the twisted indices if and only if the infrared 3d TQFT is bosonic. Our results lead to precise conjectures about integrality of indices, which appear to have a strong number-theoretic flavour. Note: this paper directly builds upon unpublished notes by Brian Willett from 2020.

  2 citations

• 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.

  2 citations

• Scattering from an external field in quantum chromodynamics at high energies: From foundations to interdisciplinary connections

  Athanasia-Konstantina Angelopoulou, Anh Dung Le, Stéphane Munier

  SciPost Phys. Lect. Notes 92 (2025) · published 12 March 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We review the factorization of the $S$-matrix elements in the context of particle scattering off an external field, which can serve as a model for the field of a large nucleus. The factorization takes the form of a convolution of light cone wave functions describing the physical incoming and outgoing states in terms of bare partons, and products of Wilson lines. The latter represent the interaction between the bare partons and the external field. Specializing to elastic scattering amplitudes of onia at very high energies, we introduce the color dipole model, which formulates the calculation of the modulus-squared of the wave functions in quantum chromodynamics with the help of a branching random walk, and the scattering amplitudes as observables on this classical stochastic process. Methods developed for general branching processes produce analytical formulas for the asymptotics of such observables, and thus enable one to derive exact large-rapidity expressions for onium-nucleus cross sections, from which electron-nucleus cross sections may be inferred.

  2 citations

• Nonlocality of deep thermalization

  Harshank Shrotriya, Wen Wei Ho

  SciPost Phys. 18, 107 (2025) · published 21 March 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We study the role of global system topology in governing deep thermalization, the relaxation of a local subsystem towards a maximally-entropic, uniform distribution of post-measurement states, upon observing the complementary subsystem in a local basis. Concretely, we focus on a class of (1+1)d systems exhibiting 'maximally-chaotic' dynamics, and consider how the rate of the formation of such a universal wavefunction distribution depends on boundary conditions of the system. We find that deep thermalization is achieved exponentially quickly in the presence of either periodic or open boundary conditions; however, the rate at which this occurs is twice as fast for the former than for the latter. These results are attained analytically using the calculus of integration over unitary groups, and supported by extensive numerical simulations. Our findings highlight the nonlocal nature of deep thermalization, and clearly illustrates that the physics underlying this phenomenon goes beyond that of standard quantum thermalization, which only depends on the net build-up of entanglement between a subsystem and its complement.

  2 citations

• Out-of-equilibrium eigenstate thermalization hypothesis

  Laura Foini, Anatoly Dymarsky, Silvia Pappalardi

  SciPost Phys. 18, 136 (2025) · published 24 April 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Understanding how out-of-equilibrium states thermalize under quantum unitary dynamics is an important problem in many-body physics. In this work, we propose a statistical Ansatz for the matrix elements of non-equilibrium initial states in the energy eigenbasis, in order to describe such evolution. The approach is inspired by the Eigenstate Thermalisation Hypothesis (ETH) but the proposed Ansatz exhibits different scaling. Importantly, we point out the exponentially small cross-correlations between the observable and the initial state matrix elements that determine relaxation dynamics toward equilibrium. We numerically verify scaling and cross-correlation, point out the emergent universality of the high-frequency behavior, and outline possible generalizations.

  2 citations

• Fluctuation based interpretable analysis scheme for quantum many-body snapshots

  Henning Schlömer, Annabelle Bohrdt

  SciPost Phys. 15, 099 (2023) · published 18 September 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Microscopically understanding and classifying phases of matter is at the heart of strongly-correlated quantum physics. With quantum simulations, genuine projective measurements (snapshots) of the many-body state can be taken, which include the full information of correlations in the system. The rise of deep neural networks has made it possible to routinely solve abstract processing and classification tasks of large datasets, which can act as a guiding hand for quantum data analysis. However, though proven to be successful in differentiating between different phases of matter, conventional neural networks mostly lack interpretability on a physical footing. Here, we combine confusion learning [Nat. Phys. 13, 435 (2017)] with correlation convolutional neural networks [Nat. Commun. 12, 3905 (2021)], which yields fully interpretable phase detection in terms of correlation functions. In particular, we study thermodynamic properties of the 2D Heisenberg model, whereby the trained network is shown to pick up qualitative changes in the snapshots above and below a characteristic temperature where magnetic correlations become significantly long-range. We identify the full counting statistics of nearest neighbor spin correlations as the most important quantity for the decision process of the neural network, which go beyond averages of local observables. With access to the fluctuations of second-order correlations — which indirectly include contributions from higher order, long-range correlations — the network is able to detect changes of the specific heat and spin susceptibility, the latter being in analogy to magnetic properties of the pseudogap phase in high-temperature superconductors [Phys. Rev. Lett. 62, 957 (1989)]. By combining the confusion learning scheme with transformer neural networks, our work opens new directions in interpretable quantum image processing being sensible to long-range order.

  2 citations

• The SINDRUM-I Experiment

  Ralph Eichler, Christoph Grab

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 5, 007 (2021) · published 6 September 2021 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  SINDRUM-I was the first nearly 4 spectrometer at SIN. It was initially designed to 9 search for the forbidden decay + ! e+e􀀀e+ , but also successfully studied various 10 other processes with high precision. The upper limit obtained for the branching ratio of B!3e = 􀀀 (+ ! e+e􀀀e+ )=􀀀 (+ ! e+e¯ 11  ) < 1.0  10􀀀12(90% CL) from 1988 is still the best. The first statistically significant observation of the rare decay + ! e+e􀀀e+e¯ 12  , achieved in 1985, yielded a branching ratio of B13 !3e2 = (3.40.20.2)10􀀀5. Several 14 othermeasurements of rare decays were undertaken: the first observation of the -decay 15 + !e+ee􀀀e+ resulted in 􀀀 (+ !e+ee􀀀e+ )=􀀀 (+ !+ ) = (3.2  0.5  0.2)  10􀀀9, 16 also still the best measurement; and a determination of the ratio of the weak axial- to 17 vector-form factor FA=FV = (0.7  0.5), resolving an ambiguity. In addition, upper limits 18 for + ! e+ and + ! e+e with subsequent decay ! e+e􀀀 (search for "massless" Goldstone bosons) and 0 !e+e􀀀 19 < 1.3  10􀀀7 were obtained.

  2 citations

• Coarse-grained curvature tensor on polygonal surfaces

  Charlie Duclut, Aboutaleb Amiri, Joris Paijmans, Frank Jülicher

  SciPost Phys. Core 5, 011 (2022) · published 11 March 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Using concepts from integral geometry, we propose a definition for a local coarse-grained curvature tensor that is well-defined on polygonal surfaces. This coarse-grained curvature tensor shows fast convergence to the curvature tensor of smooth surfaces, capturing with accuracy not only the principal curvatures but also the principal directions of curvature. Thanks to the additivity of the integrated curvature tensor, coarse-graining procedures can be implemented to compute it over arbitrary patches of polygons. When computed for a closed surface, the integrated curvature tensor is identical to a rank-2 Minkowski tensor. We also provide an algorithm to extend an existing C++ package, that can be used to compute efficiently local curvature tensors on triangulated surfaces.

  2 citations

• A quantum register using collective excitations in a Bose-Einstein condensate

  Elisha Haber, Zekai Chen, Nicholas P. Bigelow

  SciPost Phys. 15, 188 (2023) · published 8 November 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  A qubit made up of an ensemble of atoms is attractive due to its resistance to atom losses. In this work, we consider an experimentally feasible protocol to coherently load a spin-dependent optical lattice from a spatially overlapping Bose-Einstein condensate. Identifying each lattice site as a qubit, with an empty or filled site as the qubit basis, we discuss how high-fidelity single-qubit operations, two-qubit gates between arbitrary pairs of qubits, and nondestructive measurements could be performed. In this setup, the effect of atom losses has been mitigated, the atoms never need to be removed from the ground state manifold, and separate storage and computational bases for the qubits are not required, all of which can be significant sources of decoherence in many other types of atomic qubits.

  2 citations

• Variation along liquid isomorphs of the driving force for crystallization

  Ulf R. Pedersen, Karolina Adrjanowicz, Kristine Niss, Nicholas P. Bailey

  SciPost Phys. 2, 022 (2017) · published 21 June 2017 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We investigate the variation of the driving force for crystallization of a supercooled liquid along isomorphs, curves along which structure and dynamics are invariant. The variation is weak, and can be predicted accurately for the Lennard-Jones fluid using a recently developed formalism and data at a reference temperature. More general analysis allows interpretation of experimental data for molecular liquids such as dimethyl phthalate and indomethacin, and suggests that the isomorph scaling exponent $\gamma$ in these cases is an increasing function of density, although this cannot be seen in measurements of viscosity or relaxation time.

  2 citations