Publications

Order by: publication date number of citations

• Cover your bases: asymptotic distributions of the profile likelihood ratio when constraining effective field theories in high-energy physics

  Florian Urs Bernlochner, Daniel C. Fry, Stephen Burns Menary, Eric Persson

  SciPost Phys. Core 6, 013 (2023) · published 16 March 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We investigate the asymptotic distribution of the profile likelihood ratio (PLR) when constraining effective field theories (EFTs) and show that Wilks' theorem is often violated, meaning that we should not assume the PLR to follow a $\chi^2$-distribution. We derive the correct asymptotic distributions when either one or two real EFT couplings modulate observable cross sections with a purely linear or quadratic dependence. We then discover that when both the linear and quadratic terms contribute, the PLR distribution does not have a simple form. In this case we provide a partly-numerical solution for the one-parameter case. Using a novel approach, we find that the constants which define our asymptotic distributions may be obtained experimentally using a profile of the Asimov likelihood contour. Our results may be immediately used to obtain the correct coverage when deriving real-world EFT constraints using the PLR as a test-statistic.

• Lifshitz symmetry: Lie algebras, spacetimes and particles

  José Figueroa-O'Farrill, Ross Grassie, Stefan Prohazka

  SciPost Phys. 14, 035 (2023) · published 15 March 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We study and classify Lie algebras, homogeneous spacetimes and coadjoint orbits (``particles'') of Lie groups generated by spatial rotations, temporal and spatial translations and an additional scalar generator. As a first step we classify Lie algebras of this type in arbitrary dimension. Among them is the prototypical Lifshitz algebra, which motivates this work and the name "Lifshitz Lie algebras". We classify homogeneous spacetimes of Lifshitz Lie groups. Depending on the interpretation of the additional scalar generator, these spacetimes fall into three classes: 1. ($d+2$)-dimensional Lifshitz spacetimes which have one additional holographic direction; 2. ($d+1$)-dimensional Lifshitz—Weyl spacetimes which can be seen as the boundary geometry of the spacetimes in (1) and where the scalar generator is interpreted as an anisotropic dilation; 3. and $(d+1)$-dimensional aristotelian spacetimes with one scalar charge, including exotic fracton-like symmetries that generalise multipole algebras. We also classify the possible central extensions of Lifshitz Lie algebras and we discuss the homogeneous symplectic manifolds of Lifshitz Lie groups in terms of coadjoint orbits.

  5 citations

• Rational $Q$-systems, Higgsing and mirror symmetry

  Jie Gu, Yunfeng Jiang, Marcus Sperling

  SciPost Phys. 14, 034 (2023) · published 15 March 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The rational $Q$-system is an efficient method to solve Bethe ansatz equations for quantum integrable spin chains. We construct the rational $Q$-systems for generic Bethe ansatz equations described by an $A_{\ell-1}$ quiver, which include models with multiple momentum carrying nodes, generic inhomogeneities, generic diagonal twists and $q$-deformation. The rational $Q$-system thus constructed is specified by two partitions. Under Bethe/Gauge correspondence, the rational $Q$-system is in a one-to-one correspondence with a 3d $\mathcal{N}=4$ quiver gauge theory of the type ${T}_{{\rho}}^{{\sigma}}[\mathrm{SU}(n)]$, which is also specified by the same partitions. This shows that the rational $Q$-system is a natural language for the Bethe/Gauge correspondence, because known features of the ${T}_{{\rho}}^{{\sigma}}[\mathrm{SU}(n)]$ theories readily translate. For instance, we show that the Higgs and Coulomb branch Higgsing correspond to modifying one of the partitions in the rational $Q$-system while keeping the other untouched. Similarly, mirror symmetry is realized in terms of the rational $Q$-system by simply swapping the two partitions - exactly as for ${T}_{{\rho}}^{{\sigma}}[\mathrm{SU}(n)]$. We exemplify the computational efficiency of the rational $Q$-system by evaluating topologically twisted indices for 3d $\mathcal{N}=4$ $\mathrm{U}(n)$ SQCD theories with $n=1,\ldots,5$.

  10 citations

• Hot and heavy dark matter from a weak scale phase transition

  Iason Baldes, Yann Gouttenoire, Filippo Sala

  SciPost Phys. 14, 033 (2023) · published 14 March 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We point out that dark matter which is produced non-adiabatically in a phase transition (PT) with fast bubble walls receives a boost in velocity which leads to long free-streaming lengths. We find that this could be observed via the suppressed matter power spectrum for dark matter masses around $\mathbf{ 10^8 - 10^9}$ GeV and energy scales of the PT around $\mathbf{ 10^{2} - 10^3}$ GeV. The PT should take place at the border of the supercooled regime, i.e. approximately when the Universe becomes vacuum dominated. This work offers novel physics goals for galaxy surveys, Lyman-$\alpha$, stellar stream, lensing, and 21-cm observations, and connects these to the gravitational waves from such phase transitions, and more speculatively to possible telescope signals of heavy dark matter decay.

  12 citations

• Learning a restricted Boltzmann machine using biased Monte Carlo sampling

  Nicolas Béreux, Aurélien Decelle, Cyril Furtlehner, Beatriz Seoane

  SciPost Phys. 14, 032 (2023) · published 14 March 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Restricted Boltzmann Machines are simple and powerful generative models that can encode any complex dataset. Despite all their advantages, in practice the trainings are often unstable and it is difficult to assess their quality because the dynamics are affected by extremely slow time dependencies. This situation becomes critical when dealing with low-dimensional clustered datasets, where the time required to sample ergodically the trained models becomes computationally prohibitive. In this work, we show that this divergence of Monte Carlo mixing times is related to a phenomenon of phase coexistence, similar to that which occurs in physics near a first-order phase transition. We show that sampling the equilibrium distribution using the Markov chain Monte Carlo method can be dramatically accelerated when using biased sampling techniques, in particular the Tethered Monte Carlo (TMC) method. This sampling technique efficiently solves the problem of evaluating the quality of a given trained model and generating new samples in a reasonable amount of time. Moreover, we show that this sampling technique can also be used to improve the computation of the log-likelihood gradient during training, leading to dramatic improvements in training RBMs with artificial clustered datasets. On real low-dimensional datasets, this new training method fits RBM models with significantly faster relaxation dynamics than those obtained with standard PCD recipes. We also show that TMC sampling can be used to recover the free-energy profile of the RBM. This proves to be extremely useful to compute the probability distribution of a given model and to improve the generation of new decorrelated samples in slow PCD-trained models. The main limitations of this method are, first, the restriction to effective low-dimensional datasets and, second, the fact that the Tethered MC method breaks the possibility of performing parallel alternative Monte Carlo updates, which limits the size of the systems we can consider in practice.

  4 citations

• Composite-boson formalism applied to strongly bound fermion pairs in a one-dimensional trap

  Martín D. Jiménez, Eloisa Cuestas, Ana P. Majtey, Cecilia Cormick

  SciPost Phys. Core 6, 012 (2023) · published 14 March 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We analyze a system of fermions in a one dimensional harmonic trap with attractive delta-interactions between different fermions species, as an approximate description of experiments involving atomic dimers. We solve the problem of two fermion pairs numerically using the so-called "coboson formalism" as an alternative to techniques which are based on the single-particle basis. This allows us to explore the strongly bound regime, approaching the limit of infinite attraction in which the composite particles behave as hard-core bosons. Our procedure is computationally inexpensive and illustrates how the coboson toolbox is useful for ultracold atom systems even in absence of condensation.

  1 citation

• Parametric couplings in engineered quantum systems

  Anja Metelmann

  SciPost Phys. Lect. Notes 66 (2023) · published 13 March 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Parametric couplings in engineered quantum systems are a powerful tool to control, manipulate and enhance interactions in a variety of platforms. It allows us to bring systems of different energy scales into communication with each other. This short chapter introduces the basic principles and discusses a few examples of how one can engineer parametric amplifiers with improved characteristics over conventional setups. Clearly, the selected examples are author-biased, and other interesting proposals and implementations can be found in the literature. The focus of this chapter is on parametric effects between linearly coupled harmonic oscillators, however, parametric modulation is also applicable with nonlinear couplings and anharmonic systems.

  1 citation

• Topological transitions in weakly monitored free fermions

  Graham Kells, Dganit Meidan, Alessandro Romito

  SciPost Phys. 14, 031 (2023) · published 13 March 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We study a free fermion model where two sets of non-commuting non-projective measurements stabilize area-law entanglement scaling phases of distinct topological order. We show the presence of a topological phase transition that is of a different universality class than that observed in stroboscopic projective circuits. In the presence of unitary dynamics, the two topologically distinct phases are separated by a region with sub-volume scaling of the entanglement entropy. We find that this entanglement transition is well identified by a combination of the bipartite entanglement entropy and the topological entanglement entropy. We further show that the phase diagram is qualitatively captured by an analytically tractable non-Hermitian model obtained via post-selecting the measurement outcome. Finally we introduce a partial-post-selection continuous mapping, that uniquely associates topological indices of the non-Hermitian Hamiltonian to the distinct phases of the stochastic measurement-induced dynamics.

  26 citations

• Confined vs. extended Dirac surface states in topological crystalline insulator nanowires

  Roni Majlin Skiff, Fernando de Juan, Raquel Queiroz, Subramanian Mathimalar, Haim Beidenkopf, Roni Ilan

  SciPost Phys. Core 6, 011 (2023) · published 13 March 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Confining two dimensional Dirac fermions on the surface of topological insulators has remained an outstanding conceptual challenge. Here we show that Dirac fermion confinement is achievable in topological crystalline insulators (TCI), which host multiple surface Dirac cones depending on the surface termination and the symmetries it preserves. This confinement is most dramatically reflected in the flux dependence of these Dirac states in the nanowire geometry, where different facets connect to form a closed surface. Using SnTe as a case study, we show how wires with all four facets of the $\langle 100 \rangle$ type display novel Aharonov-Bohm oscillations, while nanowires with the four facets of the $\langle 110 \rangle$ type such oscillations are absent due to strong confinement of the Dirac states to each facet separately. Our results place TCI nanowires as a versatile platform for confining and manipulating Dirac surface states.

  2 citations

• Non-Hermitian quantum quenches in holography

  Sergio Morales-Tejera, Karl Landsteiner

  SciPost Phys. 14, 030 (2023) · published 10 March 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The notion of non-Hermitian $\mathcal{PT}$ symmetric quantum theory has recently been generalized to the gauge/gravity duality. We study the evolution of such non-Hermitian holographic field theories when the couplings are varied with time with particular emphasis on the question non-unitary time vs. unitary time evolution. We show that a non-unitary time evolution in the dual quantum theory corresponds to a violation of the Null Energy Condition (NEC) in the bulk of the asymptotically AdS spacetime. We find that upon varying the non-Hermitian coupling the horizon of a bulk AdS black hole shrinks. On the other hand varying the Hermitian coupling in the presence of a constant non-Hermitian coupling still violates the NEC but results in a growing horizon. We also show that by introducing a non-Hermitian gauge field the time evolution can be made unitary, e.g. the NEC in the bulk is obeyed and an exactly equivalent purely Hermitian description can be given.

  2 citations