Publications

Order by: publication date number of citations

• Unitarity cuts of the worldsheet

  Lorenz Eberhardt, Sebastian Mizera

  SciPost Phys. 14, 015 (2023) · published 7 February 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We compute the imaginary parts of genus-one string scattering amplitudes. Following Witten's $i\varepsilon$ prescription for the integration contour on the moduli space of worldsheets, we give a general algorithm for computing unitarity cuts of the annulus, Möbius strip, and torus topologies exactly in $\alpha'$. With the help of tropical analysis, we show how the intricate pattern of thresholds (normal and anomalous) opening up arises from the worldsheet computation. The result is a manifestly-convergent representation of the imaginary parts of amplitudes, which has the analytic form expected from Cutkosky rules in field theory, but bypasses the need for performing laborious sums over the intermediate states. We use this representation to study various physical aspects of string amplitudes, including their behavior in the $(s,t)$ plane, exponential suppression, decay widths of massive strings, total cross section, and low-energy expansions. We find that planar annulus amplitudes exhibit a version of low-spin dominance: at any finite energy, only a finite number of low partial-wave spins give an appreciable contribution to the imaginary part.

  15 citations

• Late-time correlators and complex geodesics in de Sitter space

  Lars Aalsma, Mir Mehedi Faruk, Jan Pieter van der Schaar, Manus Visser, Job de Witte

  SciPost Phys. 15, 031 (2023) · published 26 July 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We study two-point correlation functions of a massive free scalar field in de Sitter space using the heat kernel formalism. Focusing on two operators in conjugate static patches we derive a geodesic approximation to the two-point correlator valid for large mass and at late times. This expression involves a sum over two complex conjugate geodesics that correctly reproduces the large-mass, late-time limit of the exact two-point function in the Bunch-Davies vacuum. The exponential decay of the late-time correlator is associated to the timelike part of the complex geodesics. We emphasize that the late-time exponential decay is in tension with the finite maximal entropy of empty de Sitter space, and we briefly discuss how non-perturbative corrections might resolve this paradox.

  15 citations

• Constraining the gauge-fixed Lagrangian in minimal Landau gauge

  Axel Maas

  SciPost Phys. 8, 071 (2020) · published 1 May 2020 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  A continuum formulation of gauge-fixing resolving the Gribov-Singer ambiguity remains a challenge. Finding a Lagrangian formulation of operational resolutions in numerical lattice calculations, like minimal Landau gauge, would be one possibility. Such a formulation will here be constrained by reconstructing the Dyson-Schwinger equation for which the lattice minimal-Landau-gauge ghost propagator is a solution. It is found that this requires an additional term. As a by-product new, high precision lattice results for the ghost-gluon vertex in three and four dimensions are obtained.

  14 citations

• Anomalies of generalized symmetries from solitonic defects

  Lakshya Bhardwaj, Mathew Bullimore, Andrea E. V. Ferrari, Sakura Schäfer-Nameki

  SciPost Phys. 16, 087 (2024) · published 26 March 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We propose the general idea that 't Hooft anomalies of generalized global symmetries can be understood in terms of the properties of solitonic defects, which generically are non-topological defects. The defining property of such defects is that they act as sources for background fields of generalized symmetries. 't Hooft anomalies arise when solitonic defects are charged under these generalized symmetries. We illustrate this idea for several kinds of anomalies in various spacetime dimensions. A systematic exploration is performed in 3d for 0-form, 1-form, and 2-group symmetries, whose 't Hooft anomalies are related to two special types of solitonic defects, namely vortex line defects and monopole operators. This analysis is supplemented with detailed computations of such anomalies in a large class of 3d gauge theories. Central to this computation is the determination of the gauge and 0-form charges of a variety of monopole operators: these involve standard gauge monopole operators, but also fractional gauge monopole operators, as well as monopole operators for 0-form symmetries. The charges of these monopole operators mainly receive contributions from Chern-Simons terms and fermions in the matter content. Along the way, we interpret the vanishing of the global gauge and ABJ anomalies, which are anomalies not captured by local anomaly polynomials, as the requirement that gauge monopole operators and mixed monopole operators for 0-form and gauge symmetries have non-fractional integer charges.

  14 citations

• Superspin chains from superstring theory

  Nafiz Ishtiaque, Seyed Faroogh Moosavian, Surya Raghavendran, Junya Yagi

  SciPost Phys. 13, 083 (2022) · published 5 October 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We present a correspondence between two-dimensional N=(2,2) supersymmetric gauge theories and rational integrable gl(m|n) spin chains with spin variables taking values in Verma modules. To explain this correspondence, we realize the gauge theories as configurations of branes in string theory and map them by dualities to brane configurations that realize line defects in four-dimensional Chern-Simons theory with gauge group GL(m|n). The latter configurations embed the superspin chains into superstring theory. We also provide a string theory derivation of a similar correspondence, proposed by Nekrasov, for rational gl(m|n) spin chains with spins valued in finite-dimensional representations.

  14 citations

• Similarity between the kinematic viscosity of quark-gluon plasma and liquids at the viscosity minimum

  Kostya Trachenko, Vadim Brazhkin, Matteo Baggioli

  SciPost Phys. 10, 118 (2021) · published 27 May 2021 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Recently, it has been found that the kinematic viscosity of liquids at the minimum, $\nu_m$, can be expressed in terms of fundamental physical constants, giving $\nu_m$ on the order of $10^{-7}~{\rm m^2/s}$. Here, we show that the kinematic viscosity of quark-gluon plasma (QGP) has a similar value and support this finding by experimental data and theoretical estimations. The similarity is striking, given that the dynamic viscosity and the density of QGP are about 16 orders of magnitude larger than in liquids and that the two systems have disparate interactions and fundamental theories. We discuss the implications of this result for understanding the QGP including the similarity of flow and particle dynamics at the viscosity minimum, the associated dynamical crossover and universality of shear diffusivity.

  14 citations

• The Space of Integrable Systems from Generalised $T\bar{T}$-Deformations

  Benjamin Doyon, Joseph Durnin, Takato Yoshimura

  SciPost Phys. 13, 072 (2022) · published 28 September 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We introduce an extension of the generalised $T\bar{T}$-deformation described by Smirnov-Zamolodchikov, to include the complete set of extensive charges. We show that this gives deformations of S-matrices beyond CDD factors, generating arbitrary functional dependence on momenta. We further derive from basic principles of statistical mechanics the flow equations for the free energy and all free energy fluxes. From this follows, without invoking the microscopic Bethe ansatz or other methods from integrability, that the thermodynamics of the deformed models are described by the integral equations of the thermodynamic Bethe-Ansatz, and that the exact average currents take the form expected from generalised hydrodynamics, both in the classical and quantum realms.

  14 citations

• Feynman diagrams and $Ω$-deformed M-theory

  Jihwan Oh, Yehao Zhou

  SciPost Phys. 10, 029 (2021) · published 5 February 2021 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We derive the simplest commutation relations of operator algebras associated to M2 branes and an M5 brane in the $\Omega$-deformed M-theory, which is a natural set-up for Twisted holography. Feynman diagram 1-loop computations in the twisted-holographic dual side reproduce the same algebraic relations.

  14 citations

• CFTs with $\mathbf{U(m)\times U(n)}$ global symmetry in 3D and the chiral phase transition of QCD

  Stefanos R. Kousvos, Andreas Stergiou

  SciPost Phys. 15, 075 (2023) · published 31 August 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Conformal field theories (CFTs) with $U(m)\times U(n)$ global symmetry in $d=3$ dimensions have been studied for years due to their potential relevance to the chiral phase transition of quantum chromodynamics (QCD). In this work such CFTs are analyzed in $d=4-\varepsilon$ and $d=3$. This includes perturbative computations in the $\varepsilon$ and large-$n$ expansions as well as non-perturbative ones with the numerical conformal bootstrap. New perturbative results are presented and a variety of non-perturbative bootstrap bounds are obtained in $d=3$. Various features of the bounds obtained for large values of $n$ disappear for low values of $n$ (keeping $m<n$ fixed), a phenomenon which is attributed to a transition of the corresponding fixed points to the non-unitary regime. Numerous bootstrap bounds are found that are saturated by large-$n$ results, even in the absence of any features in the bounds. A double scaling limit is also observed, for $m$ and $n$ large with $m/n$ fixed, both in perturbation theory as well as in the numerical bootstrap. For the case of two-flavor massless QCD existing bootstrap evidence is reproduced that the chiral phase transition may be second order, albeit associated to a universality class unrelated to the one usually discussed in the $\varepsilon$ expansion. Similar evidence is found for the case of three-flavor massless QCD, where we observe a pronounced kink.

  14 citations

• Entanglement Negativity in Flat Holography

  Debarshi Basu, Ashish Chandra, Himanshu Parihar, Gautam Sengupta

  SciPost Phys. 12, 074 (2022) · published 23 February 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We advance holographic constructions for the entanglement negativity of bipartite states in a class of $(1+1)-$dimensional Galilean conformal field theories dual to asymptotically flat three dimensional bulk geometries described by Einstein Gravity and Topologically Massive Gravity. The construction involves specific algebraic sums of the lengths of bulk extremal curves homologous to certain combinations of the intervals appropriate to such bipartite states. Our analysis exactly reproduces the corresponding replica technique results in the large central charge limit. We substantiate our construction through a semi classical analysis involving the geometric monodromy technique for the case of two disjoint intervals in such holographic Galilean conformal field theories.

  14 citations