Publications

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• Dipole symmetry breaking and fractonic Nambu-Goldstone mode

  Evangelos Afxonidis, Alessio Caddeo, Carlos Hoyos, Daniele Musso

  SciPost Phys. Core 6, 082 (2023) · published 28 November 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We introduce a family of quantum field theories for fields carrying monopole and dipole charges. In contrast to previous realizations, fields have quadratic two-derivative kinetic terms. The dipole symmetry algebra is realized in a discretized internal space and connected to the physical space through a background gauge field. We study spontaneous symmetry breaking of dipole symmetry in 1+1 dimensions in a large-$N$ limit. The trivial classical vacuum is lifted by quantum corrections into a vacuum which breaks dipole symmetry while preserving monopole charge. By means of a Hubbard-Stratonovich transformation, heat-kernel and large-$N$ techniques, we compute the effective action for the low-energy modes. We encounter a fractonic immobile Nambu-Goldstone mode whose dispersion characteristics avoid Coleman-Hohenberg-Mermin-Wagner theorem independently of the large-$N$ limit.

  1 citation

• Covariant canonical formulations of classical field theories

  Francois Gieres

  SciPost Phys. Lect. Notes 77 (2023) · published 5 December 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We review in simple terms the covariant approaches to the canonical formulation of classical relativistic field theories (in particular gauge field theories and general relativity) and we discuss the relationships between these approaches as well as the relation with the standard (non-covariant) Hamiltonian formulation. Particular attention is paid to conservation laws (notably related to geometric symmetries) within the different approaches. Moreover, for each of these approaches, the impact of space-time boundaries is also addressed. To make the text accessible to a wider audience, we have included an outline of Poisson and symplectic geometry for both classical mechanics and field theory.

  1 citation

• The inheritance of energy conditions: Revisiting no-go theorems in string compactifications

  Heliudson Bernardo, Suddhasattwa Brahma, Mir Mehedi Faruk

  SciPost Phys. 15, 225 (2023) · published 5 December 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  One of the fundamental challenges in string theory is to derive realistic four-dimensional cosmological backgrounds from it despite strict consistency conditions that constrain its possible low-energy backgrounds. In this work, we focus on energy conditions as covariant and background-independent consistency requirements in order to classify possible backgrounds coming from low-energy string theory in two steps. Firstly, we show how supergravity actions obey many relevant energy conditions under some reasonable assumptions. Remarkably, we find that the energy conditions are satisfied even in the presence of objects which individually violate them due to the tadpole cancellation condition. Thereafter, we list a set of conditions for a higher-dimensional energy condition to imply the corresponding lower-dimensional one, thereby categorizing the allowed low-energy solutions. As for any no-go theorem, our aim is to highlight the assumptions that must be circumvented for deriving four-dimensional spacetimes that necessarily violate these energy conditions, with emphasis on cosmological backgrounds.

  1 citation

• Generalized Carter constant for quadrupolar test bodies in Kerr spacetime

  Geoffrey Compère, Adrien Druart, Justin Vines

  SciPost Phys. 15, 226 (2023) · published 6 December 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We establish the existence of a deformation of the usual Carter constant which is conserved along the motion in a fixed Kerr background of a spinning test body possessing the spin-induced quadrupole coupling of a black hole. The conservation holds perturbatively up to second order in the test body's spin. This constant of motion is obtained through the explicit resolution of the conservation constraint equations, employing covariant algebraic and differential relations amongst covariant building blocks of the Kerr background. For generic spin-induced quadrupole couplings, which describe compact objects such as neutron stars, we obtain a no-go result on the existence of such a conserved quantity.

  1 citation

• Probing black hole microstate evolution with networks and random walks

  Anthony M. Charles, Daniel R. Mayerson

  SciPost Phys. 8, 077 (2020) · published 14 May 2020 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We model black hole microstates and quantum tunneling transitions between them with networks and simulate their time evolution using well-established tools in network theory. In particular, we consider two models based on Bena-Warner three-charge multi-centered microstates and one model based on the D1-D5 system; we use network theory methods to determine how many centers (or D1-D5 string strands) we expect to see in a typical late-time state. We find three distinct possible phases in parameter space for the late-time behaviour of these networks, which we call ergodic, trapped, and amplified, depending on the relative importance and connectedness of microstates. We analyze in detail how these different phases of late-time behavior are related to the underlying physics of the black hole microstates. Our results indicate that the expected properties of microstates at late times cannot always be determined simply by entropic arguments; typicality is instead a highly non-trivial, emergent property of the full Hilbert space of microstates.

  1 citation

• Electric conductivity in non-Hermitian holography

  Zhuo-Yu Xian, David Rodríguez Fernández, Zhaohui Chen, Yang Liu, René Meyer

  SciPost Phys. 16, 004 (2024) · published 5 January 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We study the phase structure and charge transport at finite temperature and chemical potential in the non-Hermitian $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric holographic model of [SciPost Phys. 9, 032 (2020)]. The non-Hermitian $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric deformation is realized by promoting the parameter of a global U(1) symmetry to a complex number. Depending on the strength of the deformation, we find three phases: stable $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric phase, unstable $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric phase, and an unstable $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetry broken phase. In the three phases, the square of the condensate and also the spectral weight of the AC conductivity at zero frequency are, respectively, positive, negative, and complex. We check that the Ferrell-Glover-Tinkham sum rule for the AC conductivity holds in all the three phases. We also investigate a complexified U(1) rotor model with $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric deformation, derive its phase structure and condensation pattern, and find a zero frequency spectral weight analogous to the holographic model.

  1 citation

• States, symmetries and correlators of $T\bar{T}$ and $ J\bar{T} $ symmetric orbifolds

  Soumangsu Chakraborty, Silvia Georgescu, Monica Guica

  SciPost Phys. 16, 011 (2024) · published 10 January 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We derive various properties of symmetric product orbifolds of $T\bar T$ and $J\bar T$ - deformed CFTs from a field-theoretical perspective. First, we generalise the known formula for the torus partition function of a symmetric orbifold theory in terms of the one of the seed to non-conformal two-dimensional QFTs; specialising this to seed $T\bar T$ and $J\bar T$ - deformed CFTs reproduces previous results in the literature. Second, we show that the single-trace $T\bar T$ and $J\bar T$ deformations preserve the Virasoro and Kac-Moody symmetries of the undeformed symmetric product orbifold CFT, including their fractional counterparts, as well as the KdV charges. Finally, we discuss correlation functions in these theories. By extending a previously-proposed basis of operators for $J\bar T$ - deformed CFTs to the single-trace case, we explicitly compute the correlation functions of both untwisted and twisted-sector operators and compare them to an appropriate set of holographic correlators. Our derivations are based mainly on Hilbert space techniques and completely avoid the use of conformal invariance, which is not present in these models.

  1 citation

• Decay channels for double extremal black holes in four dimensions

  Johannes Aspman, Jan Manschot

  SciPost Phys. 16, 021 (2024) · published 22 January 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We explore decay channels for charged black holes with vanishing temperature in $\mathcal{N}=2$ supersymmetric compactifications of string theory. If not protected by supersymmetry, such extremal black holes are expected to decay as a consequence of the weak gravity conjecture. We concentrate on double extremal, non-supersymmetric black holes for which the values of the scalar fields are constant throughout space-time, and explore decay channels for which decay into BPS and anti-BPS constituents is energetically favorable. We demonstrate the existence of decay channels at tree level for large families of double extremal black holes. For specific charges, we also find stable non-supersymmetric black holes, suggesting recombination of (anti)-supersymmetric constituents to a non-supersymmetric object.

  1 citation

• Constraints on physical computers in holographic spacetimes

  Aleksander M. Kubicki, Alex May, David Pérez-Garcia

  SciPost Phys. 16, 024 (2024) · published 23 January 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Within the setting of the AdS/CFT correspondence, we ask about the power of computers in the presence of gravity. We show that there are computations on $n$ qubits which cannot be implemented inside of black holes with entropy less than $O(2^n)$. To establish our claim, we argue computations happening inside the black hole must be implementable in a programmable quantum processor, so long as the inputs and description of the unitary to be run are not too large. We then prove a bound on quantum processors which shows many unitaries cannot be implemented inside the black hole, and further show some of these have short descriptions and act on small systems. These unitaries with short descriptions must be computationally forbidden from happening inside the black hole.

  1 citation

• Aspects of 4d supersymmetric dynamics and geometry

  Shlomo S. Razamat, Evyatar Sabag, Orr Sela, Gabi Zafrir

  SciPost Phys. Lect. Notes 78 (2024) · published 12 February 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  In this set of five Lectures we present a basic toolbox to discuss the dynamics of four dimensional supersymmetric quantum field theories. In particular we overview the program of geometrically engineering the four dimensional supersymmetric models as compactifications of six dimensional SCFTs. We discuss how strong coupling phenomena in four dimensions, such as duality and emergence of symmetry, can be naturally imbedded in the geometric constructions. The Lectures mostly review results which previously appeared in the literature but also contain some unpublished derivations.

  1 citation