Publications

Order by: publication date number of citations

• Quantifying the effect of interactions in quantum many-body systems

  Jiannis K. Pachos, Zlatko Papic

  SciPost Phys. Lect. Notes 4 (2018) · published 27 September 2018 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Free fermion systems enjoy a privileged place in physics. With their simple structure they can explain a variety of effects, ranging from insulating and metallic behaviours to superconductivity and the integer quantum Hall effect. Interactions, e.g. in the form of Coulomb repulsion, can dramatically alter this picture by giving rise to emerging physics that may not resemble free fermions. Examples of such phenomena include high-temperature superconductivity, fractional quantum Hall effect, Kondo effect and quantum spin liquids. The non-perturbative behaviour of such systems remains a major obstacle to their theoretical understanding that could unlock further technological applications. Here, we present a pedagogical review of "interaction distance" [Nat. Commun. 8, 14926 (2017)] -- a systematic method that quantifies the effect interactions can have on the energy spectrum and on the quantum correlations of generic many-body systems. In particular, the interaction distance is a diagnostic tool that identifies the emergent physics of interacting systems. We illustrate this method on the simple example of a one-dimensional Fermi-Hubbard dimer.

  9 citations

• Birdtracks for SU(N)

  Stefan Keppeler

  SciPost Phys. Lect. Notes 3 (2018) · published 27 September 2018 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  I gently introduce the diagrammatic birdtrack notation, first for vector algebra and then for permutations. After moving on to general tensors I review some recent results on Hermitian Young operators, gluon projectors, and multiplet bases for SU(N) colour space.

  7 citations

• Deep-learned Top Tagging with a Lorentz Layer

  Anja Butter, Gregor Kasieczka, Tilman Plehn, Michael Russell

  SciPost Phys. 5, 028 (2018) · published 26 September 2018 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We introduce a new and highly efficient tagger for hadronically decaying top quarks, based on a deep neural network working with Lorentz vectors and the Minkowski metric. With its novel machine learning setup and architecture it allows us to identify boosted top quarks not only from calorimeter towers, but also including tracking information. We show how the performance of our tagger compares with QCD-inspired and image-recognition approaches and find that it significantly increases the performance for strongly boosted top quarks.

  122 citations

• Quench dynamics of the Ising field theory in a magnetic field

  Kristóf Hódsági, Márton Kormos, Gábor Takács

  SciPost Phys. 5, 027 (2018) · published 25 September 2018 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We numerically simulate the time evolution of the Ising field theory after quenches starting from the $E_8$ integrable model using the Truncated Conformal Space Approach. The results are compared with two different analytic predictions based on form factor expansions in the pre-quench and post-quench basis, respectively. Our results clarify the domain of validity of these expansions and suggest directions for further improvement. We show for quenches in the $E_8$ model that the initial state is not of the integrable pair state form. We also construct quench overlap functions and show that their high-energy asymptotics are markedly different from those constructed before in the sinh/sine-Gordon theory, and argue that this is related to properties of the ultraviolet fixed point.

  33 citations

• Transfer matrix spectrum for cyclic representations of the 6-vertex reflection algebra II

  J. M. Maillet, G. Niccoli, B. Pezelier

  SciPost Phys. 5, 026 (2018) · published 24 September 2018 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  This article is a direct continuation of [1] where we begun the study of the transfer matrix spectral problem for the cyclic representations of the trigonometric 6-vertex reflection algebra associated to the Bazhanov-Stroganov Lax operator. There we addressed this problem for the case where one of the K-matrices describing the boundary conditions is triangular. In the present article we consider the most general integrable boundary conditions, namely the most general boundary K-matrices satisfying the reflection equation. The spectral analysis is developed by implementing the method of Separation of Variables (SoV). We first design a suitable gauge transformation that enable us to put into correspondence the spectral problem for the most general boundary conditions with another one having one boundary K-matrix in a triangular form. In these settings the SoV resolution can be obtained along an extension of the method described in [1]. The transfer matrix spectrum is then completely characterized in terms of the set of solutions to a discrete system of polynomial equations in a given class of functions and equivalently as the set of solutions to an analogue of Baxter's T-Q functional equation. We further describe scalar product properties of the separate states including eigenstates of the transfer matrix.

  6 citations

• Integrable Floquet QFT: Elasticity and factorization under periodic driving

  Axel Cortes Cubero

  SciPost Phys. 5, 025 (2018) · published 21 September 2018 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  In (1+1)-dimensional quantum field theory, integrability is typically defined as the existence of an infinite number of local charges of different Lorentz spin, which commute with the Hamiltonian. A well known consequence of integrability is that scattering of particles is elastic and factorizable. These properties are the basis for the bootstrap program, which leads to the exact computation of S-matrices and form factors. We consider periodically-driven field theories, whose stroboscopic time-evolution is described by a Floquet Hamiltonian. It was recently proposed by Gritsev and Polkovnikov that it is possible for some form of integrability to be preserved even in driven systems. If a driving protocol exists such that the Floquet Hamiltonian is integrable (such that there is an infinite number of local and independent charges, a subset of which are parity-even, that commute with it), we show that there are strong conditions on the stroboscopic time evolution of particle trajectories, analogous to S-matrix elasticity and factorization. We propose a new set of axioms for the time evolution of particles which outline a new bootstrap program, which can be used to identify and classify integrable Floquet protocols. We present some simple examples of driving protocols where Floquet integrability is manifest; in particular, we also show that under certain conditions, some integrable protocols proposed by Gritsev and Polkovnikov are solutions of our new bootstrap equations.

  2 citations

• Bulk entanglement entropy in perturbative excited states

  Alexandre Belin, Nabil Iqbal, Sagar F. Lokhande

  SciPost Phys. 5, 024 (2018) · published 20 September 2018 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We compute the bulk entanglement entropy across the Ryu-Takayanagi surface for a one-particle state in a scalar field theory in AdS$_3$. We work directly within the bulk Hilbert space and include the spatial spread of the scalar wavefunction. We give closed form expressions in the limit of small interval sizes and compare the result to a CFT computation of entanglement entropy in an excited primary state at large $c$. Including the contribution from the backreacted minimal area, we find agreement between the CFT result and the FLM and JLMS formulas for quantum corrections to holographic entanglement entropy. This provides a non-trivial check in a state where the answer is not dictated by symmetry. Along the way, we provide closed-form expressions for the scalar field Bogoliubov coefficients that relate the global and Rindler slicings of AdS$_3$.

  29 citations

• Scale invariant distribution functions in quantum systems with few degrees of freedom

  Emanuele G. Dalla Torre

  SciPost Phys. 5, 023 (2018) · published 14 September 2018 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Scale invariance usually occurs in extended systems where correlation functions decay algebraically in space and/or time. Here we introduce a new type of scale invariance, occurring in the distribution functions of physical observables. At equilibrium these functions decay over a typical scale set by the temperature, but they can become scale invariant in a sudden quantum quench. We exemplify this effect through the analysis of linear and non-linear quantum oscillators. We find that their distribution functions generically diverge logarithmically close to the stable points of the classical dynamics. Our study opens the possibility to address integrability and its breaking in distribution functions, with immediate applications to matter-wave interferometers.

  1 citation

• Parity and the modular bootstrap

  Tarek Anous, Raghu Mahajan, Edgar Shaghoulian

  SciPost Phys. 5, 022 (2018) · published 11 September 2018 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We consider unitary, modular invariant, two-dimensional CFTs which are invariant under the parity transformation $P$. Combining $P$ with modular inversion $S$ leads to a continuous family of fixed points of the $SP$ transformation. A particular subset of this locus of fixed points exists along the line of positive left- and right-moving temperatures satisfying $\beta_L \beta_R = 4\pi^2$. We use this fixed locus to prove a conjecture of Hartman, Keller, and Stoica that the free energy of a large-$c$ CFT$_2$ with a suitably sparse low-lying spectrum matches that of AdS$_3$ gravity at all temperatures and all angular potentials. We also use the fixed locus to generalize the modular bootstrap equations, obtaining novel constraints on the operator spectrum and providing a new proof of the statement that the twist gap is smaller than $(c-1)/12$ when $c>1$. At large $c$ we show that the operator dimension of the first excited primary lies in a region in the $(h,\overline{h})$-plane that is significantly smaller than $h+\overline{h}<c/6$. Our results for the free energy and constraints on the operator spectrum extend to theories without parity symmetry through the construction of an auxiliary parity-invariant partition function.

  26 citations

• Boron-doping of cubic SiC for intermediate band solar cells: a scanning transmission electron microscopy study

  Patricia Almeida Carvalho, Annett Thørgesen, Quanbao Ma, Daniel Nielsen Wright, Spyros Diplas, Augustinas Galeckas, Alexander Azarov, Valdas Jokubavicius, Jianwu Sun, Mikael Syväjärvi, Bengt Gunnar Svensson, Ole Martin Løvvik

  SciPost Phys. 5, 021 (2018) · published 6 September 2018 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Boron (B) has the potential for generating an intermediate band in cubic silicon carbide (3C-SiC), turning this material into a highly efficient absorber for single-junction solar cells. The formation of a delocalized band demands high concentration of the foreign element, but the precipitation behavior of B in the 3C polymorph of SiC is not well known. Here, probe-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy and secondary-ion mass spectrometry are used to investigate precipitation mechanisms in B-implanted 3C-SiC as a function of temperature. Point-defect clustering was detected after annealing at 1273 K, while stacking faults, B-rich precipitates and dislocation networks developed in the 1573 - 1773 K range. The precipitates adopted the rhombohedral B13C2 structure and trapped B up to 1773 K. Above this temperature, higher solubility reduced precipitation and free B diffused out of the implantation layer. Dopant concentrations E19 at.cm-3 were achieved at 1873 K.

  3 citations