Publications

Order by: publication date number of 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

• Interaction-driven phase transition in one dimensional mirror-symmetry protected topological insulator

  Devendra Singh Bhakuni, Amrita Ghosh, Eytan Grosfeld

  SciPost Phys. Core 5, 048 (2022) · published 10 October 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Topological crystalline insulators are phases of matter where the crystalline symmetries solely protect the topology. In this work, we explore the effect of many-body interactions in a subclass of topological crystalline insulators, namely the mirror-symmetry protected topological crystalline insulator. Employing a prototypical mirror-symmetric quasi-one-dimensional model, we demonstrate the emergence of a mirror-symmetry protected topological phase and its robustness in the presence of short-range interactions. When longer-range interactions are introduced, we find an interaction-induced topological phase transition between the mirror-symmetry protected topological order and a trivial charge density wave. The results are obtained using density-matrix renormalization group and quantum Monte-Carlo simulations in applicable limits.

  2 citations

• Transport and magnetic properties in the Nd diluted system Y$_{1-x}$Nd$_{x}$Co$_{2}$Zn$_{20}$

  Rikako Yamamoto, Yasuyuki Shimura, Kazunori Umeo, Toshiro Takabatake, Takahiro Onimaru

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 11, 010 (2023) · published 5 June 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We report the electrical resistivity, specific heat, and magnetization measurements of Y$_{1-x}$Nd$_{x}$Co$_{2}$Zn$_{20}$ for $0.017 \leq x \leq 0.95$. The Schottky-type specific heat peak at around 13 K for all the samples is reproduced by the crystalline electric field model with the $\Gamma_{6}$ doublet ground state of a Nd$^{3+}$ ion. The magnetization and magnetic susceptibility data of the samples for $x \leq 0.06$ are well reproduced by the calculation without intersite magnetic interactions among Nd moments. Therefore, the dilute Nd system Y$_{1-x}$Nd$_{x}$Co$_{2}$Zn$_{20}$ for $x \leq 0.06$ is a good candidate to study on-site interaction of the $\Gamma_{6}$ doublet ground state of 4$f$ electrons with conduction electrons.

  2 citations

• Correlation between antiferromagnetic and charge-density-wave order in UPt$_{2}$Si$_{2}$ studied by resonant X-Ray scattering

  Fusako Kon, Chihiro Tabata, Kodai Miura, Ruo Hibino, Hiroyuki Hidaka, Tatsuya Yanagisawa, Hironori Nakao, Hiroshi Amitsuka

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 11, 011 (2023) · published 5 June 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Relationship between antiferromagnetic order with Néel temperature of 35 K and charge-density-wave (CDW) order below 320 K of UPt$_2$Si$_2$ has been investigated by resonant X-ray scattering measurements. We have found that a resonant scattering signal develops below the Néel temperature at the ${ M}_{ 4}$ absorption edge of uranium with a propagation vector of the CDW order ${ q}_{ CDW} \sim$ (0.42, 0, 0). The experimental results reveal that the magnetic structure of UPt$_2$Si$_2$ is modulated by the CDW ordering.

  2 citations

• General features and contact modeling of $N$-body isolated resonances near threshold

  Ludovic Pricoupenko

  SciPost Phys. 17, 108 (2024) · published 8 October 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  $N$-body non efimovian bound or quasi-bound states for particles with short range interactions are considered in arbitrary dimensions. The different resonance regimes near the threshold are depicted by using a generalization of the effective range approximation. This two-parameter description can be used in various contexts from ultracold to hadronic physics. The universal character of these states makes it possible a formulation in terms of a contact model. The singularity at the contact imposes the introduction of a modified scalar product to solve the normalization catastrophe and to restore the self-adjoint character of the model. An equivalence with the standard scalar product used for realistic finite range models is derived.

  2 citations

• Higher spin partition functions via the quasinormal mode method in de Sitter quantum gravity

  Victoria L. Martin, Andrew Svesko

  SciPost Phys. 9, 039 (2020) · published 14 September 2020 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  In this note we compute the 1-loop partition function of spin-$s$ fields on Euclidean de Sitter space $S^{2n+1}$ using the quasinormal mode method. Instead of computing the quasinormal mode frequencies from scratch, we use the analytic continuation prescription $L_{\text{AdS}}\to iL_{\text{dS}}$, appearing in the dS/CFT correspondence, and Wick rotate the normal mode frequencies of fields on thermal $\text{AdS}_{2n+1}$ into the quasinormal mode frequencies of fields on de Sitter space. We compare the quasinormal mode and heat kernel methods of calculating 1-loop determinants, finding exact agreement, and furthermore explicitly relate these methods via a sum over the conformal dimension. We discuss how the Wick rotation of normal modes on thermal $\text{AdS}_{2n+1}$ can be generalized to calculating 1-loop partition functions on the thermal spherical quotients $S^{2n+1}/\mathbb{Z}_{p}$. We further show that the quasinormal mode frequencies encode the group theoretic structure of the spherical spacetimes in question, analogous to the recent analysis made for thermal AdS in (1910.07607) and (1910.11913).

  2 citations

• Intermittency in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}=$ 0.9, 7 and 8 TeV from the CMS collaboration

  Z. Ong, P. Agarwal, H. W. Ang, A. H. Chan, C. H. Oh

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 10, 032 (2022) · published 11 August 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The intermittency-type fluctuations as outlined by Bialas and Peschanski in the 1980s is analysed in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=$ 0.9, 7 and 8 TeV from the CMS collaboration at CERN. Our preliminary analysis shows that the intermittency exponents in the bin-averaged scaled factorial moments decrease in magnitude with increasing collision energy at the TeV scale, which suggests that the cascading nature of multiparticle production described by the $\alpha$-model is weakening. We outline possible areas planned for future studies.

  2 citations

• An introduction to large deviations with applications in physics

  Ivan N. Burenev, Daniël W. H. Cloete, Vansh Kharbanda, Hugo Touchette

  SciPost Phys. Lect. Notes 104 (2025) · published 23 October 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  These notes are based on the lectures that one of us (HT) gave at the Summer School on the "Theory of Large Deviations and Applications," held in July 2024 at Les Houches in France. They present the basic definitions and mathematical results that form the theory of large deviations, as well as many simple motivating examples of applications in statistical physics, which serve as a basis for the many other lectures given at the school that covered more specific applications in biophysics, random matrix theory, nonequilibrium systems, geophysics, and the simulation of rare events, among other topics. These notes extend the lectures, which can be accessed online, by presenting exercises and pointer references for further reading.

  2 citations

• Light Nuclei Production in Au+Au Collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}$ = 3 GeV from the STAR experiment

  Hui Liu

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 10, 040 (2022) · published 11 August 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Light nuclei production is expected to be sensitive to baryon density fluctuations and can be used to probe the signatures of QCD critical point and/or a first-order phase transition in heavy-ion collisions. In this proceedings, we present the spectra and yields of protons ($p$) and light nuclei ($d$, $t$, $^{3}\mathrm{He}$, $^{4}\mathrm{He}$) in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}$ = 3 GeV by the STAR experiment. Finally, it is found that the kinetic freeze-out dynamics (temperature $T_{kin}$ $vs.$ average radial flow velocity $\langle\beta_{T}\rangle$) at 3 GeV extracted with the blast-wave model deviate from the trends at high energies ($\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}$ = 7.7 - 200 GeV), indicating a different medium equation of state.

  2 citations

• Ambitions for theory in the physics of life

  William Bialek

  SciPost Phys. Lect. Notes 84 (2024) · published 15 August 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Theoretical physicists have been fascinated by the phenomena of life for more than a century. As we engage with more realistic descriptions of living systems, however, things get complicated. After reviewing different reactions to this complexity, I explore the optimization of information flow as a potentially general theoretical principle. The primary example is a genetic network guiding development of the fly embryo, but each idea also is illustrated by examples from neural systems. In each case, optimization makes detailed, largely parameter-free predictions that connect quantitatively with experiment.

  2 citations