Publications

Order by: publication date number of citations

• Quantum to classical mapping of the two-dimensional toric code in an external field

  Sydney R. Timmerman, Zvonimir Z. Bandic, Roger G. Melko

  SciPost Phys. Lect. Notes 57 (2022) · published 20 July 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Kitaev's toric code Hamiltonian in dimension D=2 has been extensively studied for its topological properties, including its quantum error correction capabilities. While the Hamiltonian is quantum, it lies within the class of models that admits a D+1 dimensional classical representation. In these notes, we provide details of a Suzuki-Trotter expansion of the partition function of the toric code Hamiltonian in the presence of an external magnetic field. By coupling additional degrees of freedom in the form of a matter field that can subsequently be gauged away, we explicitly derive a classical Hamiltonian on a cubic lattice which takes the form of a non-isotropic 3D Ising gauge theory.

  2 citations

• First-order transition in a model of prestige bias

  Brian Skinner

  SciPost Phys. 8, 030 (2020) · published 19 February 2020 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  One of the major benefits of belonging to a prestigious group is that it affects the way you are viewed by others. Here I use a simple mathematical model to explore the implications of this "prestige bias" when candidates undergo repeated rounds of evaluation. In the model, candidates who are evaluated most highly are admitted to a "prestige class", and their membership biases future rounds of evaluation in their favor. I use the language of Bayesian inference to describe this bias, and show that it can lead to a runaway effect in which the weight given to the prior expectation associated with a candidate's class becomes stronger with each round. Most dramatically, the strength of the prestige bias after many rounds undergoes a first-order transition as a function of the precision of the examination on which the evaluation is based.

  2 citations

• Plea for the use of the exact Stirling formula in statistical mechanics

  Didier Lairez

  SciPost Phys. Lect. Notes 76 (2023) · published 30 October 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  In statistical mechanics, the generally called Stirling approximation is actually an approximation of Stirling's formula. In this article, it is shown that the term that is dropped is in fact the one that takes fluctuations into account. The use of the Stirling's exact formula forces us to reintroduce them into the already proposed solutions of well-know puzzles such as the extensivity paradox or the Gibbs' paradox of joining two volumes of identical gas. This amendment clearly results in a gain in consistency and rigor of these solutions.

  2 citations

• TASEPy: A Python-based package to iteratively solve the inhomogeneous exclusion process

  Luca Ciandrini, Richmond L. Crisostomo, Juraj Szavits-Nossan

  SciPost Phys. Codebases 22 (2023) · published 13 December 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The totally asymmetric simple exclusion process (TASEP) is a paradigmatic lattice model for one-dimensional particle transport subject to excluded-volume interactions. Solving the inhomogeneous TASEP in which particles' hopping rate vary across the lattice is a long-standing problem. In recent years, a power series approximation (PSA) has been developed to tackle this problem, however no computer algorithm currently exists that implements this approximation. This paper addresses this issue by providing a Python-based package TASEPy that finds the steady state solution of the inhomogeneous TASEP for any set of hopping rates using the PSA truncated at a user-defined order.

  2 citations

• Kinetics of quantum reaction-diffusion systems

  Federico Gerbino, Igor Lesanovsky, Gabriele Perfetto

  SciPost Phys. Core 8, 014 (2025) · published 4 February 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We discuss many-body fermionic and bosonic systems subject to dissipative particle losses in arbitrary spatial dimensions $d$, within the Keldysh path-integral formulation of the quantum master equation. This open quantum dynamics represents a generalisation of classical reaction-diffusion dynamics to the quantum realm. We first show how initial conditions can be introduced in the Keldysh path integral via boundary terms. We then study binary annihilation reactions $A+A\to \emptyset$, for which we derive a Boltzmann-like kinetic equation. The ensuing algebraic decay in time for the particle density depends on the particle statistics. In order to model possible experimental implementations with cold atoms, for fermions in $d=1$ we further discuss inhomogeneous cases involving the presence of a trapping potential. In this context, we quantify the irreversibility of the dynamics studying the time evolution of the system entropy for different quenches of the trapping potential. We find that the system entropy features algebraic decay for confining quenches, while it saturates in deconfined scenarios.

  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

• Population dynamics of Schrödinger cats

  Foster Thompson, Alex Kamenev

  SciPost Phys. 18, 046 (2025) · published 6 February 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We demonstrate an exact equivalence between classical population dynamics and Lindbladian evolution admitting a dark state and obeying a set of certain local symmetries. We then introduce quantum population dynamics as models in which this local symmetry condition is relaxed. This allows for non-classical processes in which animals behave like Schrödinger's cat and enter superpositions of live and dead states, thus resulting in coherent superpositions of different population numbers. We develop a field theory treatment of quantum population models as a synthesis of Keldysh and third quantization techniques and draw comparisons to the stochastic Doi-Peliti field theory description of classical population models. We apply this formalism to study a prototypical "Schrödinger cat" population model on a $d$-dimensional lattice, which exhibits a phase transition between a dark extinct phase and an active phase that supports a stable quantum population. Using a perturbative renormalization group approach, we find a critical scaling of the Schrödinger cat population distinct from that observed in both classical population dynamics and usual quantum phase transitions.

  2 citations

• On the logarithmic bipartite fidelity of the open XXZ spin chain at $Δ=-1/2$

  Christian Hagendorf, Gilles Parez

  SciPost Phys. 12, 199 (2022) · published 24 June 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The open XXZ spin chain with the anisotropy $\Delta=-\frac12$ and a one-parameter family of diagonal boundary fields is studied at finite length. A determinant formula for an overlap involving the spin chain's ground-state vectors for different lengths is found. The overlap allows one to obtain an exact finite-size formula for the ground state's logarithmic bipartite fidelity. The leading terms of its asymptotic series for large chain lengths are evaluated. Their expressions confirm the predictions of conformal field theory for the fidelity.

  2 citations

• Entropy-driven phase behavior of associative polymer networks

  Lorenzo Rovigatti, Francesco Sciortino

  SciPost Phys. 15, 163 (2023) · published 16 October 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Polymer chains decorated with a fraction of monomers capable of forming reversible bonds form transient polymer networks that are important in soft and biological systems. If chains are flexible and the attractive monomers are all of the same species, the network formation occurs continuously as density increases. By contrast, it has been recently shown [Phys. Rev. Lett. 129, 047801 (2022)] that, if the attractive monomers are of two different and alternating types, the entropic gain of swapping intra-molecular bonds for inter-molecular connections induces a first order phase transition in the fully-bonded (i.e. low-temperature or, equivalently, large monomer-monomer attraction strength) limit and the network forms abruptly on increasing density. Here we use simulations to show that this phenomenon is robust with respect to thermal fluctuations, disorder and change in the polymer architecture, demonstrating its generality and likely relevance for the wide class of materials that can be modelled as associative (transient) polymer networks.

  2 citations

• A brief tutorial on information theory

  Tarek Tohme, William Bialek

  SciPost Phys. Lect. Notes 87 (2024) · published 23 September 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  At the 2023 Les Houches Summer School on Theoretical Biological Physics, several students asked for some background on information theory, and so we added a tutorial to the scheduled lectures. This is largely a transcript of that tutorial, lightly edited. It covers basic definitions and context rather than detailed calculations. We hope to have maintained the informality of the presentation, including exchanges with the students, while still being useful.

  1 citation