Publications

Order by: publication date number of citations

• Global Symmetries, Counterterms, and Duality in Chern-Simons Matter Theories with Orthogonal Gauge Groups

  Clay Cordova, Po-Shen Hsin, Nathan Seiberg

  SciPost Phys. 4, 021 (2018) · published 29 April 2018 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We study three-dimensional gauge theories based on orthogonal groups. Depending on the global form of the group these theories admit discrete $\theta$-parameters, which control the weights in the sum over topologically distinct gauge bundles. We derive level-rank duality for these topological field theories. Our results may also be viewed as level-rank duality for $SO(N)_{K}$ Chern-Simons theory in the presence of background fields for discrete global symmetries. In particular, we include the required counterterms and analysis of the anomalies. We couple our theories to charged matter and determine how these counterterms are shifted by integrating out massive fermions. By gauging discrete global symmetries we derive new boson-fermion dualities for vector matter, and present the phase diagram of theories with two-index tensor fermions, thus extending previous results for $SO(N)$ to other global forms of the gauge group.

  78 citations

• Phases Of Adjoint QCD$_3$ And Dualities

  Jaume Gomis, Zohar Komargodski, Nathan Seiberg

  SciPost Phys. 5, 007 (2018) · published 23 July 2018 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We study 2+1 dimensional gauge theories with a Chern-Simons term and a fermion in the adjoint representation. We apply general considerations of symmetries, anomalies, and renormalization group flows to determine the possible phases of the theory as a function of the gauge group, the Chern-Simons level $k$, and the fermion mass. We propose an inherently quantum mechanical phase of adjoint QCD with small enough $k$, where the infrared is described by a certain Topological Quantum Field Theory (TQFT). For a special choice of the mass, the theory has ${\cal N}=1$ supersymmetry. There this TQFT is accompanied by a massless Majorana fermion - a Goldstino signaling spontaneous supersymmetry breaking. Our analysis leads us to conjecture a number of new infrared fermion-fermion dualities involving $SU$, $SO$, and $Sp$ gauge theories. It also leads us to suggest a phase diagram of $SO/Sp$ gauge theories with a fermion in the traceless symmetric/antisymmetric tensor representation of the gauge group.

  75 citations

• Five-dimensional SCFTs and gauge theory phases: an M-theory/type IIA perspective

  Cyril Closset, Michele Del Zotto, Vivek Saxena

  SciPost Phys. 6, 052 (2019) · published 1 May 2019 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We revisit the correspondence between Calabi-Yau (CY) threefold isolated singularities $\mathbf{X}$ and five-dimensional superconformal field theories (SCFTs), which arise at low energy in M-theory on the space-time transverse to $\mathbf{X}$. Focussing on the case of toric CY singularities, we analyze the "gauge-theory phases" of the SCFT by exploiting fiberwise M-theory/type IIA duality. In this setup, the low-energy gauge group simply arises on stacks of coincident D6-branes wrapping 2-cycles in some ALE space of type $A_{M-1}$ fibered over a real line, and the map between the K\"ahler parameters of $\mathbf{X}$ and the Coulomb branch parameters of the field theory (masses and VEVs) can be read off systematically. Different type IIA "reductions" give rise to different gauge theory phases, whose existence depends on the particular (partial) resolutions of the isolated singularity $\mathbf{X}$. We also comment on the case of non-isolated toric singularities. Incidentally, we propose a slightly modified expression for the Coulomb-branch prepotential of 5d $\mathcal{N}=1$ gauge theories.

  75 citations

• Energy diffusion and the butterfly effect in inhomogeneous Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev chains

  Yingfei Gu, Andrew Lucas, Xiao-Liang Qi

  SciPost Phys. 2, 018 (2017) · published 28 May 2017 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We compute the energy diffusion constant $D$, Lyapunov time $\tau_{\text{L}}$ and butterfly velocity $v_{\text{B}}$ in an inhomogeneous chain of coupled Majorana Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) models in the large $N$ and strong coupling limit. We find $D\le v_{\text{B}}^2 \tau_{\text{L}}$ from a combination of analytical and numerical approaches. Our example necessitates the sharpening of postulated transport bounds based on quantum chaos.

  74 citations

• Hydrodynamics of the interacting Bose gas in the Quantum Newton Cradle setup

  Jean-Sébastien Caux, Benjamin Doyon, Jérôme Dubail, Robert Konik, Takato Yoshimura

  SciPost Phys. 6, 070 (2019) · published 20 June 2019 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Describing and understanding the motion of quantum gases out of equilibrium is one of the most important modern challenges for theorists. In the groundbreaking Quantum Newton Cradle experiment [Kinoshita, Wenger and Weiss, Nature 440, 900, 2006], quasi-one-dimensional cold atom gases were observed with unprecedented accuracy, providing impetus for many developments on the effects of low dimensionality in out-of-equilibrium physics. But it is only recently that the theory of generalized hydrodynamics has provided the adequate tools for a numerically efficient description. Using it, we give a complete numerical study of the time evolution of an ultracold atomic gas in this setup, in an interacting parameter regime close to that of the original experiment. We evaluate the full evolving phase-space distribution of particles. We simulate oscillations due to the harmonic trap, the collision of clouds without thermalization, and observe a small elongation of the actual oscillation period and cloud deformations due to many-body dephasing. We also analyze the effects of weak anharmonicity. In the experiment, measurements are made after release from the one-dimensional trap. We evaluate the gas density curves after such a release, characterizing the actual time necessary for reaching the asymptotic state where the integrable quasi-particle momentum distribution function emerges.

  73 citations

• The Gauge-Higgs legacy of the LHC run II

  Anke Biekoetter, Tyler Corbett, Tilman Plehn

  SciPost Phys. 6, 064 (2019) · published 5 June 2019 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We present a global analysis of the Higgs and electroweak sector based on LHC Run II and electroweak precision observables. We show which measurements provide the leading constraints on Higgs-related operators, and how the achieved LHC precision makes it necessary to combine rate measurements with electroweak precision observables. The SFitter framework allows us to include kinematic distributions beyond pre-defined ATLAS and CMS observables, independently study correlations, and avoid Gaussian assumptions for theory uncertainties. These Run II results are a step towards a precision physics program at the LHC, interpreted in terms of effective operators.

  72 citations

• Integrable Floquet dynamics

  Vladimir Gritsev, Anatoli Polkovnikov

  SciPost Phys. 2, 021 (2017) · published 16 June 2017 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We discuss several classes of integrable Floquet systems, i.e. systems which do not exhibit chaotic behavior even under a time dependent perturbation. The first class is associated with finite-dimensional Lie groups and infinite-dimensional generalization thereof. The second class is related to the row transfer matrices of the 2D statistical mechanics models. The third class of models, called here "boost models", is constructed as a periodic interchange of two Hamiltonians - one is the integrable lattice model Hamiltonian, while the second is the boost operator. The latter for known cases coincides with the entanglement Hamiltonian and is closely related to the corner transfer matrix of the corresponding 2D statistical models. We present several explicit examples. As an interesting application of the boost models we discuss a possibility of generating periodically oscillating states with the period different from that of the driving field. In particular, one can realize an oscillating state by performing a static quench to a boost operator. We term this state a "Quantum Boost Clock". All analyzed setups can be readily realized experimentally, for example in cold atoms.

  71 citations

• Fractal Symmetric Phases of Matter

  Trithep Devakul, Yizhi You, F. J. Burnell, S. L. Sondhi

  SciPost Phys. 6, 007 (2019) · published 16 January 2019 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We study spin systems which exhibit symmetries that act on a fractal subset of sites, with fractal structures generated by linear cellular automata. In addition to the trivial symmetric paramagnet and spontaneously symmetry broken phases, we construct additional fractal symmetry protected topological (FSPT) phases via a decorated defect approach. Such phases have edges along which fractal symmetries are realized projectively, leading to a symmetry protected degeneracy along the edge. Isolated excitations above the ground state are symmetry protected fractons, which cannot be moved without breaking the symmetry. In 3D, our construction leads additionally to FSPT phases protected by higher form fractal symmetries and fracton topologically ordered phases enriched by the additional fractal symmetries.

  71 citations

• Foliated field theory and string-membrane-net condensation picture of fracton order

  Kevin Slagle, David Aasen, Dominic Williamson

  SciPost Phys. 6, 043 (2019) · published 12 April 2019 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Foliated fracton order is a qualitatively new kind of phase of matter. It is similar to topological order, but with the fundamental difference that a layered structure, referred to as a foliation, plays an essential role and determines the mobility restrictions of the topological excitations. In this work, we introduce a new kind of field theory to describe these phases: a foliated field theory. We also introduce a new lattice model and string-membrane-net condensation picture of these phases, which is analogous to the string-net condensation picture of topological order.

  71 citations

• Symmetry resolved entanglement in gapped integrable systems: a corner transfer matrix approach

  Sara Murciano, Giuseppe Di Giulio, Pasquale Calabrese

  SciPost Phys. 8, 046 (2020) · published 26 March 2020 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We study the symmetry resolved entanglement entropies in gapped integrable lattice models. We use the corner transfer matrix to investigate two prototypical gapped systems with a U(1) symmetry: the complex harmonic chain and the XXZ spin-chain. While the former is a free bosonic system, the latter is genuinely interacting. We focus on a subsystem being half of an infinitely long chain. In both models, we obtain exact expressions for the charged moments and for the symmetry resolved entropies. While for the spin chain we found exact equipartition of entanglement (i.e. all the symmetry resolved entropies are the same), this is not the case for the harmonic system where equipartition is effectively recovered only in some limits. Exploiting the gaussianity of the harmonic chain, we also develop an exact correlation matrix approach to the symmetry resolved entanglement that allows us to test numerically our analytic results.

  71 citations