Publications

Order by: publication date number of citations

• 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 The Lectures mostly review results which previously appeared in the literature but also contain some unpublished derivations.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

• Nonlinear response in diffusive systems

  Luca V. Delacrétaz, Ruchira Mishra

  SciPost Phys. 16, 047 (2024) · published 12 February 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Nonintegrable systems thermalize, leading to the emergence of fluctuating hydrodynamics. Typically, this hydrodynamics is diffusive. We use the effective field theory (EFT) of diffusion to compute higher-point functions of conserved densities. We uncover a simple scaling behavior of correlators at late times, and, focusing on three and four-point functions, derive the asymptotically exact universal scaling functions that characterize nonlinear response in diffusive systems. This allows for precision tests of thermalization beyond linear response in quantum and classical many-body systems. We confirm our predictions in a classical lattice gas.

  4 citations

• Apparent fine tunings for field theories with broken space-time symmetries

  Alberto Nicolis, Ira Z. Rothstein

  SciPost Phys. 16, 045 (2024) · published 9 February 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We exhibit a class of effective field theories that have hierarchically small Wilson coefficients for operators that are not protected by symmetries but are not finely tuned. These theories possess bounded target spaces and vacua that break space-time symmetries. We give a physical interpretation of these theories as generalized solids with open boundary conditions. We show that these theories realize unusual RG flows where higher dimensional (seemingly irrelevant) operators become relevant even at weak coupling. Finally, we present an example of a field theory whose vacuum energy relaxes to a hierarchically small value compared to the UV cut-off.

• Soliton confinement in the double sine-Gordon model

  Sergei Rutkevich

  SciPost Phys. 16, 042 (2024) · published 7 February 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The double sine-Gordon field theory in the weak confinement regime is studied. It represents the small non-integrable deformation of the standard sine-Gordon model caused by the cosine perturbation with the frequency reduced by the factor of 2. This perturbation leads to the confinement of the sine-Gordon solitons, which become coupled into the 'meson' bound states. We classify the meson states in the weak confinement regime, and obtain three asymptotic expansions for their masses, which can be used in different regions of the model parameters. It is shown, that the sine-Gordon breathers, slightly deformed by the perturbation term, transform into the mesons upon increase of the sine-Gordon coupling constant.

• Classifying irreducible fixed points of five scalar fields in perturbation theory

  Junchen Rong, Slava Rychkov

  SciPost Phys. 16, 040 (2024) · published 1 February 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Classifying perturbative fixed points near upper critical dimensions plays an important role in understanding the space of conformal field theories and critical phases of matter. In this work, we consider perturbative fixed points of N=5 scalar bosons coupled with quartic interactions preserving an arbitrary subgroup $G\subset O(5)$. We perform an exhaustive algorithmic search over the symmetry groups G which are irreducible and satisfy the Landau condition, so that the fixed point can be reached by fine-tuning a single mass term and there is no need to tune the cubic couplings. We also impose stability of the RG flow in the space of quartic couplings, and reality. We thus prove that there exist no new stable fixed points in d=4-$\epsilon$ dimensions beyond the two known ones: namely the O(5) nvariant fixed point and the Cubic(5) fixed point. This work is a continuation of the classification of such fixed points with N=4 scalars by Toledano, Michel, Toledano and Brézin in 1985 [Phys. Rev. B 31, 7171 (1985)].

• Ideal fracton superfluids

  Jay Armas, Emil Have

  SciPost Phys. 16, 039 (2024) · published 30 January 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We investigate the thermodynamics of equilibrium thermal states and their near-equilibrium dynamics in systems with fractonic symmetries in arbitrary curved space. By explicitly gauging the fracton algebra we obtain the geometry and gauge fields that field theories with conserved dipole moment couple to. We use the resultant fracton geometry to show that it is not possible to construct an equilibrium partition function for global thermal states unless part of the fractonic symmetries is spontaneously broken. This leads us to introduce two classes of fracton superfluids with conserved energy and momentum, namely $p$-wave and $s$-wave fracton superfluids. The latter phase is an Aristotelian superfluid at ideal order but with a velocity constraint and can be split into two separate regimes: The U(1) fracton superfluid and the pinned $s$-wave superfluid regimes. For each of these classes and regimes we formulate a hydrodynamic expansion and study the resultant modes. We find distinctive features of each of these phases and regimes at ideal order in gradients, without introducing dissipative effects. In particular we note the appearance of a sound mode for $s$-wave fracton superfluids. We show that previous work on fracton hydrodynamics falls into these classes. Finally, we study ultra-dense $p$-wave fracton superfluids with a large kinetic mass in addition to studying the thermodynamics of ideal Aristotelian superfluids.

  5 citations

• $T \overline{T}$-like flows and $3d$ nonlinear supersymmetry

  Christian Ferko, Yangrui Hu, Zejun Huang, Konstantinos Koutrolikos, Gabriele Tartaglino-Mazzucchelli

  SciPost Phys. 16, 038 (2024) · published 29 January 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We show that the $3d$ Born-Infeld theory can be generated via an irrelevant deformation of the free Maxwell theory. The deforming operator is constructed from the energy-momentum tensor and includes a novel non-analytic contribution that resembles root-$T \ overline{T}$. We find that a similar operator deforms a free scalar into the scalar sector of the Dirac-Born-Infeld action, which describes transverse fluctuations of a D-brane, in any dimension. We also analyse trace flow equations and obtain flows for subtracted models driven by a relevant operator. In $3d$, the irrelevant deformation can be made manifestly supersymmetric by presenting the flow equation in $\mathcal{N} = 1$ superspace, where the deforming operator is built from supercurrents. We demonstrate that two supersymmetric presentations of the D2-brane effective action, the Maxwell-Goldstone multiplet and the tensor-Goldstone multiplet, satisfy superspace flow equations driven by this supercurrent combination. To do this, we derive expressions for the supercurrents in general classes of vector and tensor/scalar models by directly solving the superspace conservation equations and also by coupling to $\mathcal{N} = 1$ supergravity. As both of these multiplets exhibit a second, spontaneously broken supersymmetry, this analysis provides further evidence for a connection between current-squared deformations and nonlinearly realized symmetries.

  2 citations

• 5d SCFTs and their non-supersymmetric cousins

  Mohammad Akhond, Masazumi Honda, Francesco Mignosa

  SciPost Phys. 16, 036 (2024) · published 29 January 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We consider generalisations of the recently proposed supersymmetry breaking deformation of the 5d rank-1 $E_1$ superconformal field theory to higher rank. We generalise the arguments to theories which admit a mass deformation leading to gauge theories coupled to matter hypermultiplets at low energies. These theories have a richer space of non-supersymmetric deformations, due to the existence of a larger global symmetry. We show that there is a one-to-one correspondence between the non-SUSY deformations of the gauge theory and their $(p,q)$ 5-brane web. We comment on the (in)stability of these deformations both from the gauge theory and the 5-brane web point of view. UV duality plays a key role in our analysis, fixing the effective Chern-Simons level for the background vector multiplets, together with their complete prepotential. We partially classify super-Yang-Mills theories known to enjoy UV dualities which show a phase transition where different phases are separated by a jump of Chern-Simons levels of both a perturbative and an instantonic global symmetry. When this transition can be reached by turning on a non-supersymmetric deformation of the UV superconformal field theory, it can be a good candidate to host a 5d non-supersymmetric CFT. We also discuss consistency of the proposed phase diagram with the 't Hooft anomalies of the models that we analyse.

  2 citations

• Gravitational Regge bounds

  Kelian Häring, Alexander Zhiboedov

  SciPost Phys. 16, 034 (2024) · published 26 January 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We review the basic assumptions and spell out the detailed arguments that lead to the bound on the Regge growth of gravitational scattering amplitudes. The minimal extra ingredient compared to the gapped case - in addition to unitarity, analyticity, subexponentiality, and crossing - is the assumption that scattering at large impact parameters is controlled by known semi-classical physics. We bound the Regge growth of amplitudes both with the fixed transferred momentum and smeared over it. Our basic conclusion is that gravitational scattering amplitudes admit dispersion relations with two subtractions. For a sub-class of smeared amplitudes, black hole formation reduces the number of subtractions to one. Finally, using dispersion relations with two subtractions we derive bounds on the local growth of relativistic scattering amplitudes. Schematically, the local bound states that the amplitude cannot grow faster than $s^2$. The results obtained in the paper are valid for $d> 4$ for which the $2\to2$ scattering amplitude is well-defined.

  8 citations

• Hydrodynamics of a relativistic charged fluid in the presence of a periodically modulated chemical potential

  Nicolas Chagnet, Koenraad Schalm

  SciPost Phys. 16, 028 (2024) · published 24 January 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We study charged hydrodynamics in a periodic lattice background. Fluctuations are Bloch waves rather than single momentum Fourier modes. At boundaries of the unit cell where hydrodynamic fluctuations are formally degenerate with their Umklapped copy, level repulsion occurs. Novel mode mixings between charge, sound, and their Umklapped copies appear at finite chemical potential - both at zero and finite momentum. We provide explicit examples for an ionic lattice, i.e. a periodic external chemical potential, and verify our results with numerical computations in fluid-gravity duality.

  2 citations