Publications

Order by: publication date number of citations

• Twisted holography of defect fusions

  Jihwan Oh, Yehao Zhou

  SciPost Phys. 10, 105 (2021) · published 14 May 2021 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  In the twisted M-theory setting, various types of fusion of M2 and M5 branes induce coproducts between the algebra of operators on M2 branes and the algebra of operators on M5 branes. By doing a perturbative computation in the gravity side, which is captured by the 5d topological holomorphic $U(1)$ Chern-Simons theory, we reproduce the non-perturbative coproducts.

  4 citations

• EFT asymptotics: the growth of operator degeneracy

  Tom Melia, Sridip Pal

  SciPost Phys. 10, 104 (2021) · published 14 May 2021 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We establish formulae for the asymptotic growth (with respect to the scaling dimension) of the number of operators in effective field theory, or equivalently the number of $S$-matrix elements, in arbitrary spacetime dimensions and with generic field content. This we achieve by generalising a theorem due to Meinardus and applying it to Hilbert series -- partition functions for the degeneracy of (subsets of) operators. Although our formulae are asymptotic, numerical experiments reveal remarkable agreement with exact results at very low orders in the EFT expansion, including for complicated phenomenological theories such as the standard model EFT. Our methods also reveal phase transition-like behaviour in Hilbert series. We discuss prospects for tightening the bounds and providing rigorous errors to the growth of operator degeneracy, and of extending the analytic study and utility of Hilbert series to EFT.

  16 citations

• Information transfer with a gravitating bath

  Hao Geng, Andreas Karch, Carlos Perez-Pardavila, Suvrat Raju, Lisa Randall, Marcos Riojas, Sanjit Shashi

  SciPost Phys. 10, 103 (2021) · published 14 May 2021 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Late-time dominance of entanglement islands plays a critical role in addressing the information paradox for black holes in AdS coupled to an asymptotic non-gravitational bath. A natural question is how this observation can be extended to gravitational systems. To gain insight into this question, we explore how this story is modified within the context of Karch-Randall braneworlds when we allow the asymptotic bath to couple to dynamical gravity. We find that because of the inability to separate degrees of freedom by spatial location when defining the radiation region, the entanglement entropy of radiation emitted into the bath is a time-independent constant, consistent with recent work on black hole information in asymptotically flat space. If we instead consider an entanglement entropy between two sectors of a specific division of the Hilbert space, we then find non-trivial time-dependence, with the Page time a monotonically decreasing function of the brane angle---provided both branes are below a particular angle. However, the properties of the entropy depend discontinuously on this angle, which is the first example of such discontinuous behavior for an AdS brane in AdS space.

  157 citations

• Electric manipulation of domain walls in magnetic Weyl semimetals via the axial anomaly

  Julia D. Hannukainen, Alberto Cortijo, Jens H. Bardarson, Yago Ferreiros

  SciPost Phys. 10, 102 (2021) · published 11 May 2021 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We show how the axial (chiral) anomaly induces a spin torque on the magnetization in magnetic Weyl semimetals. The anomaly produces an imbalance in left- and right-handed chirality carriers when non-orthogonal electric and magnetic fields are applied. Such imbalance generates a spin density which exerts a torque on the magnetization, the strength of which can be controlled by the intensity of the applied electric field. We show how this results in an electric control of the chirality of domain walls, as well as in an improvement of the domain wall dynamics, by delaying the onset of the Walker breakdown. The measurement of the electric field mediated changes in the domain wall chirality would constitute a direct proof of the axial anomaly. Additionally, we show how quantum fluctuations of electronic Fermi arc states bound to the domain wall naturally induce an effective magnetic anisotropy, allowing for high domain wall velocities even if the intrinsic anisotropy of the magnetic Weyl semimetal is small.

  12 citations

• Lattice Clifford fractons and their Chern-Simons-like theory

  Weslei B. Fontana, Pedro R. S. Gomes, Claudio Chamon

  SciPost Phys. Core 4, 012 (2021) · published 11 May 2021 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We use Dirac matrix representations of the Clifford algebra to build fracton models on the lattice and their effective Chern-Simons-like theory. As an example we build lattice fractons in odd $D$ spatial dimensions and their $(D+1)$ effective theory. The model possesses an anti-symmetric $K$ matrix resembling that of hierarchical quantum Hall states. The gauge charges are conserved in sub-dimensional manifolds which ensures the fractonic behavior. The construction extends to any lattice fracton model built from commuting projectors and with tensor products of spin-$1/2$ degrees of freedom at the sites.

  14 citations

• On-shell effective theory for higher-spin dark matter

  Adam Falkowski, Giulia Isabella, Camila S. Machado

  SciPost Phys. 10, 101 (2021) · published 6 May 2021 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We apply the on-shell amplitude techniques in the domain of dark matter. Without evoking fields and Lagrangians, an effective theory for a massive spin-$S$ particle is defined in terms of on-shell amplitudes, which are written down using the massive spinor formalism. This procedure greatly simplifies the study of theories with a higher-spin dark matter particle. In particular, it provides an efficient way to calculate the rates of processes controlling dark matter production, and offers better physical insight into how different processes depend on the relevant scales in the theory. We demonstrate the applicability of these methods by exploring two scenarios where higher-spin DM is produced via the freeze-in mechanism. One scenario is minimal, involving only universal gravitational interactions, and is compatible with dark matter masses in a very broad range from sub-TeV to the GUT scale. The other scenario involves direct coupling of higher-spin DM to the Standard Model via the Higgs intermediary, and leads to a rich phenomenology, including dark matter decay signatures.

  25 citations

• The Loschmidt Index

  Diego Liska, Vladimir Gritsev

  SciPost Phys. 10, 100 (2021) · published 4 May 2021 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We study the nodes of the wavefunction overlap between ground states of a parameter-dependent Hamiltonian. These nodes are topological, and we can use them to analyze in a unifying way both equilibrium and dynamical quantum phase transitions in multi-band systems. We define the Loschmidt index as the number of nodes in this overlap and discuss the relationship between this index and the wrapping number of a closed auxiliary hypersurface. This relationship allows us to compute this index systematically, using an integral representation of the wrapping number. We comment on the relationship between the Loschmidt index and other well-established topological numbers. As an example, we classify the equilibrium and dynamical quantum phase transitions of the XY model by counting the nodes in the wavefunction overlaps.

  5 citations

• Classical Casimir free energy for two Drude spheres of arbitrary radii: A plane-wave approach

  Tanja Schoger, Gert-Ludwig Ingold

  SciPost Phys. Core 4, 011 (2021) · published 4 May 2021 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We derive an exact analytic expression for the high-temperature limit of the Casimir interaction between two Drude spheres of arbitrary radii. Specifically, we determine the Casimir free energy by using the scattering approach in the plane-wave basis. Within a round-trip expansion, we are led to consider the combinatorics of certain partitions of the round trips. The relation between the Casimir free energy and the capacitance matrix of two spheres is discussed. Previously known results for the special cases of a sphere-plane geometry as well as two spheres of equal radii are recovered. An asymptotic expansion for small distances between the two spheres is determined and analytical expressions for the coefficients are given.

  9 citations

• Technical comment on the paper of Dessert et al. "The dark matter interpretation of the 3.5 keV line is inconsistent with blank-sky observations"

  Alexey Boyarsky, Denys Malyshev, Oleg Ruchayskiy, Denys Savchenko

  SciPost Astro. Core 1, 001 (2021) · published 4 May 2021 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  An unidentified line at energy around 3.5 keV was detected in the spectra of dark matter-dominated objects. Recent work of Dessert et al. [1812.06976] used 30 Msec of XMM-Newton blank-sky observations to constrain the admissible line flux, challenging its dark matter decay origin. We demonstrate that these bounds are overestimated by more than an order of magnitude due to improper background modeling. Therefore the dark matter interpretation of the 3.5 keV signal remains viable.

  2 citations

• The folded spin-1/2 XXZ model: II. Thermodynamics and hydrodynamics with a minimal set of charges

  Lenart Zadnik, Kemal Bidzhiev, Maurizio Fagotti

  SciPost Phys. 10, 099 (2021) · published 3 May 2021 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We study the (dual) folded spin-1/2 XXZ model in the thermodynamic limit. We focus, in particular, on a class of local macrostates that includes Gibbs ensembles. We develop a thermodynamic Bethe Ansatz description and work out generalised hydrodynamics at the leading order. Remarkably, in the ballistic scaling limit the junction of two local macrostates results in a discontinuity in the profile of essentially any local observable.

  39 citations