Publications

Order by: publication date number of citations

• Lectures in quantum gravity

  Ivano Basile, Luca Buoninfante, Francesco Di Filippo, Benjamin Knorr, Alessia Platania, Anna Tokareva

  SciPost Phys. Lect. Notes 98 (2025) · published 7 August 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Formulating a quantum theory of gravity lies at the heart of fundamental theoretical physics. This collection of lecture notes encompasses a selection of topics that were covered in six mini-courses at the Nordita PhD school "Towards Quantum Gravity". The scope was to provide a coherent picture, from its foundation to forefront research, emphasizing connections between different areas. The lectures begin with perturbative quantum gravity and effective field theory. Subsequently, two ultraviolet-complete approaches are presented: Asymptotically safe gravity and string theory. Finally, elements of quantum effects in black hole spacetimes are discussed.

  2 citations

• Electric and magnetic tau dipole moments revisited

  G. A. González-Sprinberg

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 17, 004 (2025) · published 23 July 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Precise measurements of magnetic and electric dipole moments are important tests of the Standard Model and beyond Standard Model physics, particularly for the electron and the muon. However, the situation presents distinctive challenges when dealing with the tau lepton due to its very short lifetime and relatively high mass. Here, we review the theoretical predictions and experimental measurements of both the anomalous magnetic and electric dipole moments of the tau lepton.

• Skyrmion-vortex hybrid and spin wave solutions in ferromagnetic superconductors

  Shantonu Mukherjee, Amitabha Lahiri

  SciPost Phys. 19, 022 (2025) · published 18 July 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The coexistence of Ferromagnetism and superconductivity in so called ferromagnetic superconductors (FMSC) is an intriguing phenomenon which may lead to novel physical effects as well as applications. Here in this work we have explored the interplay of topological excitations, namely vortices and Skyrmions, in ferromagnetic superconductors using a field theoretic description of such systems. In particular, numerical solutions for the continuous spin field compatible to a given vortex profile are determined in absence and presence of a Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) term. The solutions show that the spin configuration is like a Skyrmion but intertwined with the vortex structure — the radius of the the Skyrmion-like solution depends on the penetration depth and also the polarity of the Skyrmion depends on the sign of the winding number. Thus our solution describes a Skyrmion-vortex composite — but as a topological object in a bulk ferromagnetic superconductor, rather than on the interface of a ferromagnet-superconductor heterostructure. We have also determined the spin wave solutions in such systems in presence and absence of a vortex. In absence of a vortex, the frequency and the wave vector satisfy a cubic equation which leads to various interesting features. In particular, we have shown that in the low frequency regime the minimum in dispersion relation shifts from $k=0$ to a non-zero $k$ value depending on the parameters. We also discuss the nature of spin wave dispersion when the frequency $\omega$ is close to the photon mass $\tilde{m}$\,, for which we find multiple local minima in the dispersion curve. The group velocity of the spin wave would change its sign across such a minimum which is unique to FMSC. Also, the spin wave modes around the local minimum looks like roton mode in superfluid and hence called a magnetic roton. In presence of a vortex, the spin wave amplitude is shown to vary spatially such that the profile looks like that of a Néel Skyrmion. Possible experimental signature of both solutions are also discussed.

• Fourier-transformed gauge theory models of three-dimensional topological orders with gapped boundaries

  Siyuan Wang, Yanyan Chen, Hongyu Wang, Yuting Hu, Yidun Wan

  SciPost Phys. 19, 018 (2025) · published 17 July 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  In this paper, we apply the method of Fourier transform and basis rewriting developed in [H. Wang et al., J. High Energy Phys. 02, 030 (2020)] for the two-dimensional quantum double model of topological orders to the three-dimensional gauge theory model (with a gauge group $G$) of three-dimensional topological orders. We find that the gapped boundary condition of the gauge theory model is characterized by a Frobenius algebra in the representation category $Rep(G)$ of $G$, which also describes charge splitting and condensation on the boundary. We also show that our Fourier transform maps the three-dimensional gauge theory model with input data $G$ to the Walker-Wang model with input data $Rep(G)$ on a trivalent lattice with dangling edges, after truncating the Hilbert space by projecting all dangling edges to the trivial representation of $G$. This Fourier transform also provides a systematic construction of the gapped boundary theory of the Walker-Wang model. This establishes a correspondence between two types of topological field theories: the extended Dijkgraaf-Witten and extended Crane-Yetter theories.

• Cancelling mod-2 anomalies by Green-Schwarz mechanism with $B_{\mu\nu}$

  Shota Saito, Yuji Tachikawa

  SciPost Phys. 19, 017 (2025) · published 16 July 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We study if and when mod-2 anomalies can be canceled by the Green-Schwarz mechanism with the introduction of an antisymmetric tensor field $B_{\mu\nu}$. As explicit examples, we examine $SU(2)$ and more general $Sp(n)$ gauge theories in four and eight dimensions. We find that the mod-2 anomalies of 8d $\mathcal{N}=1$ $Sp(n)$ gauge theory can be canceled, as expected from it having a string theory realization, while the mod-2 Witten anomaly of 4d $SU(2)$ and $Sp(n)$ gauge theory cannot be canceled in this manner.

  2 citations

• Implications of new physics in $\Lambda_b \to \Lambda_c \ell \nu_{\ell}$ decay processes

  Aishwarya Bhatta, Rukmani Mohanta

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 16, 012 (2025) · published 14 July 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Several indications of lepton non universality ratios, $R{(D^*)}$, $R{(J/\Psi)}$ and the measurements on hadronic and $\tau$ longitudinal polarizations in $b \to c \ell \bar{\nu_{\tau}}$ processes have attracted a lot of attentions. By considering the most general effective Lagrangian, we carry out a model independent analysis of the semileptonic $\Lambda_b$ decays, to inspect the nature of new physics. We constraint the new physics parameter space by using the chi square fitting. We study the implications of constrained new couplings on the observable such as branching fractions, forward-backward asymmetries, lepton non universality parameter and $\Lambda_c$ and lepton longitudinal polarization fractions of the decay modes.

• On the use of the operator product expansion in finite-energy sum rules for light-quark correlators

  Diogo Boito, Maarten Golterman, Kim Maltman, Santiago Peris

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 16, 006 (2025) · published 14 July 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Tau-based finite-energy sum-rule (FESR) analyses often assume that scales $s_0\sim m_\tau^2$ are large enough that (i) integrated duality violations (DVs) can be neglected, and (ii) contributions from non-perturbative OPE condensates of dimension $D$ scale as $(\Lambda_{QCD}/m_\tau )^D$, allowing the OPE series to be truncated at low dimension. The latter assumption is not necessarily valid since the OPE series is not convergent, while the former is open to question given experimental results for the electromagnetic, $I=1$ vector ($V$), $I=1$ axial vector ($A$) and $I=1$ $V+A$ current spectral functions, which show DV oscillations with amplitudes comparable in size to the corresponding $\alpha_s$-dependent perturbative contributions at $s\sim2-3$ GeV$^2$. Here, we discuss recently introduced new tools for assessing the numerical relevance of omitted higher-$D$ OPE contributions. Applying these to the "truncated OPE" strategy used in Refs. [M. Davier et al., Eur. Phys. J. C 74, 2803 (2014); A. Pich and A. Rodríguez-Sánchez, Phys. Rev. D 94, 034027 (2016)] and earlier work by the same authors, we find that this strategy fails to yield reliable results for the strong coupling from hadronic $\tau$ decays.

• Monte Carlo Event Generator updates, for tau pair events at Belle II energies

  Sw. Banerjee, D. Biswas, T. Przedzinski, Z. Was

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 16, 003 (2025) · published 14 July 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The Monte Carlo for lepton pair production and $\tau$ decays consist of KKMC for lepton pair production, tauola for $\tau$ lepton decays and photos for radiative corrections in decays. An effort for adaptation of the system for precision data to be collected at Belle II experiment lead to extension of phase space generation modules both in photos and tauola to enable decays and/or radiative corrections of additional light lepton pairs. The phase-space and matrix element parts of the programs are separated, that is why extension to processes where lepton pair is produced through narrow resonances, like dark photon, was straight forward. In the present version of tauola, the list of $\tau$ decay channels is enriched with multitude of exotic ones, useful for searches of new physics. The hadronic currents parametrization of main decay channels is prepared for basic simulation in the experiment. The basis for future work on precise fits of hadronic currents including Machine Learning is retained, but development of necessary software solutions is left for the forthcoming years. Presented programs versions are available in stand-alone format from GitLab or through the basf2 system of Belle II software. Official distribution web pages, documenting programs tests, are retained but not necessarily up to date.

• On the complex structure of Yang-Mills theory

  Jan Horak, Jan M. Pawlowski, Nicolas Wink

  SciPost Phys. Core 8, 048 (2025) · published 7 July 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We consider the coupled set of spectral Dyson-Schwinger equations in Yang-Mills theory for ghost and gluon propagators. Within this set-up, we perform a systematic analytic evaluation of the constraints on generalised spectral representations in Yang-Mills theory that are most relevant for informed spectral reconstructions. Furthermore, we provide numerical results for the coupled set of ghost and gluon spectral functions for a range of potential mass gaps of the gluon, while allowing for small violations of the spectral representation. The analyses are accompanied by thorough discussion of the limitations and extensions of the present work.

  3 citations

• Strings and membranes from $\mathcal{A}$-theory five brane

  Machiko Hatsuda, Ondřej Hulík, William D. Linch, Warren D. Siegel, Di Wang, Yu-Ping Wang

  SciPost Phys. 19, 009 (2025) · published 7 July 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The $\mathcal{A}$-theory takes U-duality symmetry as a guiding principle, with the SL(5) U-duality symmetry being described as the world-volume theory of a 5-brane. Furthermore, by unifying the 6-dimensional world-volume Lorentz symmetry with the SL(5) spacetime symmetry, it extends to SL(6) U-duality symmetry. The SL(5) spacetime vielbein fields and the 5-brane world-volume vielbein fields are mixed under the SL(6) U-duality transformation. We demonstrate that consistent sectionings of the SL(6) $\mathcal{A}$5-brane world-volume Lagrangian yield Lagrangians of the $\mathcal{T}$-string with O(D,D) T-duality symmetry, the conventional string, the $\mathcal{M}$5-brane with GL(4) duality symmetry, and the non-perturbative M2-brane in supergravity theory. The GL(4) covariant Lagrangian of the $\mathcal{M}$5-brane derived in this manner is a new, perturbatively quantizable theory.