Publications

Order by: publication date number of citations

• Generalized toric polygons, T-branes, and 5d SCFTs

  Antoine Bourget, Andrés Collinucci, Sakura Schäfer-Nameki

  SciPost Phys. 18, 079 (2025) · published 4 March 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  5d Superconformal Field Theories (SCFTs) are intrinsically strongly-coupled UV fixed points, whose realization hinges on string theoretic methods: they can be constructed by compactifying M-theory on local Calabi-Yau threefold singularities or alternatively from the world-volume of 5-brane-webs in type IIB string theory. There is a correspondence between 5-brane-webs and toric Calabi-Yau threefolds, however this breaks down when multiple 5-branes are allowed to end on a single 7-brane. In this paper, we extend this connection and provide a geometric realization of brane configurations including 7-branes. A web with 7-branes defines a so-called generalized toric polygon (GTP), which corresponds to combinatorial data that is obtained by removing vertices along external edges of a toric polygon. We identify the geometries associated to GTPs as non-toric deformations of toric Calabi-Yau threefolds and provide a precise, algebraic description of the geometry, when 7-branes are introduced along a single edge. The key ingredients in our analysis are T-branes in a type IIA frame, which includes D6-branes. We show that performing Hanany-Witten moves for the 7-branes on the type IIB side corresponds to switching on semisimple vacuum expectation values on the worldvolume of D6-branes, which in turn uplifts to complex structure deformations of the Calabi-Yau geometries. We test the proposal by computing the crepant resolutions of the deformed geometries, thereby checking consistency with the expected properties of the SCFTs.

  1 citation

• Single-boson exchange formulation of the Schwinger-Dyson equation and its application to the functional renormalization group

  Miriam Patricolo, Marcel Gievers, Kilian Fraboulet, Aiman Al-Eryani, Sarah Heinzelmann, Pietro M. Bonetti, Alessandro Toschi, Demetrio Vilardi, Sabine Andergassen

  SciPost Phys. 18, 078 (2025) · published 4 March 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We extend the recently introduced single-boson exchange formulation to the computation of the self-energy from the Schwinger–Dyson equation (SDE). In particular, we derive its expression both in diagrammatic and in physical channels. The simple form of the single-boson exchange SDE, involving only the bosonic propagator and the fermion-boson vertex, but not the rest function, allows for an efficient numerical implementation. We furthermore discuss its implications in a truncated unity solver, where a restricted number of form factors introduces an information loss in the projection of the momentum dependence that in general affects the equivalence between the different channel representations. In the application to the functional renormalization group, we find that the convergence in the number of form factors depends on the channel representation of the SDE. For the two-dimensional Hubbard model at weak coupling, the pseudogap opening driven by antiferromagnetic fluctuations is captured already by a single ($s$-wave) form factor in the magnetic channel representation, differently to the density and superconducting channels.

• Two-particle self-consistent approach for broken symmetry phases

  Lorenzo Del Re

  SciPost Phys. 18, 077 (2025) · published 3 March 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Spontaneous symmetry breaking of interacting fermion systems constitutes a major challenge for many-body theory due to the proliferation of new independent scattering channels once absent or degenerate in the symmetric phase. One example is given by the ferro/antiferromagnetic broken symmetry phase (BSP) of the Hubbard model, where vertices in the spin-transverse and spin-longitudinal channels become independent with a consequent increase in the computational power for their calculation. We generalise the non-perturbative Two-Particle-Self-Consistent method (TPSC) to address broken SU(2) magnetic phases in the Hubbard model, offering an efficient approach that incorporates strong correlations. We show that in the BSP, the sum-rule enforcement of susceptibilities must be accompanied by a modified gap equation resulting in a renormalisation of the order parameter, vertex corrections and the preservation of the gap-less feature of the Goldstone modes. We then apply the theory to the antiferromagnetic phase of the Hubbard model in the cubic lattice at half-filling. We compare our results of double occupancies and staggered magnetisation to the ones obtained using Diagrammatic Monte Carlo showing excellent quantitative agreement. We demonstrate how vertex corrections play a central role in lowering the Higgs resonance with respect to the quasi-particle excitation gap in the spin-longitudinal susceptibility, yielding a well visible Higgs-mode.

• Boson-fermion pairing and condensation in two-dimensional Bose-Fermi mixtures

  Leonardo Pisani, Pietro Bovini, Fabrizio Pavan, Pierbiagio Pieri

  SciPost Phys. 18, 076 (2025) · published 3 March 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We consider a mixture of bosons and spin-polarized fermions in two dimensions at zero temperature with a tunable Bose-Fermi attraction. By adopting a diagrammatic $T$-matrix approach, we analyze the behavior of several thermodynamic quantities for the two species as a function of the density ratio and coupling strength, including the chemical potentials, the momentum distribution functions, the boson condensate density, and the Tan's contact parameter. By increasing the Bose-Fermi attraction, we find that the condensate is progressively depleted and Bose-Fermi pairs form, with a small fraction of condensed bosons surviving even for strong Bose-Fermi attraction. This small condensate proves sufficient to hybridize molecular and atomic states, producing quasi-particles with unusual Fermi liquid features. A nearly universal behavior of the condensate fraction, the bosonic momentum distribution, and Tan's contact parameter with respect to the density ratio is also found.

• Jet diffusion versus JetGPT – Modern networks for the LHC

  Anja Butter, Nathan Huetsch, Sofia Palacios Schweitzer, Tilman Plehn, Peter Sorrenson, Jonas Spinner

  SciPost Phys. Core 8, 026 (2025) · published 3 March 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We introduce two diffusion models and an autoregressive transformer for LHC physics simulations. Bayesian versions allow us to control the networks and capture training uncertainties. After illustrating their different density estimation methods for simple toy models, we discuss their advantages for Z plus jets event generation. While diffusion networks excel through their precision, the transformer scales best with the phase space dimensionality. Given the different training and evaluation speed, we expect LHC physics to benefit from dedicated use cases for normalizing flows, diffusion models, and autoregressive transformers.

  2 citations

• Soliton gas of the integrable Boussinesq equation and its generalised hydrodynamics

  Thibault Bonnemain, Benjamin Doyon

  SciPost Phys. 18, 075 (2025) · published 28 February 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Generalised hydrodynamics (GHD) is a recent and powerful framework to study many-body integrable systems, quantum or classical, out of equilibrium. It has been applied to several models, from the delta Bose gas to the XXZ spin chain, the KdV soliton gas and many more. Yet it has only been applied to (1+1)-dimensional systems and generalisation to higher dimensions of space is non-trivial. We study the Boussinesq equation which, while generally considered to be less physically relevant than the KdV equation, is interesting as a stationary reduction of the (boosted) Kadomtsev-Petviashvili (KP) equation, a prototypical and universal example of a nonlinear integrable PDE in (2+1) dimensions. We follow a heuristic approach inspired by the Thermodynamic Bethe Ansatz in order to construct the GHD of the Boussinesq soliton gas. Such approach allows for a statistical mechanics interpretation of the Boussinesq soliton gas that comes naturally with the GHD picture. This is to be seen as a first step in the construction of the KP soliton gas, yielding insight on some classes of solutions from which we may be able to build an intuition on how to devise a more general theory. This also offers another perspective on the construction of anisotropic bidirectional soliton gases previously introduced phenomenologically by Congy et al (2021).

  2 citations

• Extending the planar theory of anyons to quantum wire networks

  Tomasz Maciazek, Mia Conlon, Gert Vercleyen, J. K. Slingerland

  SciPost Phys. 18, 074 (2025) · published 28 February 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The braiding of the worldlines of particles restricted to move on a network (graph) is governed by the graph braid group, which can be strikingly different from the standard braid group known from two-dimensional physics. It has been recently shown that imposing the compatibility of graph braiding with anyon fusion for anyons exchanging at a single wire junction leads to new types of anyon models with the braiding exchange operators stemming from solutions of certain generalised hexagon equations. In this work, we establish these graph-braided anyon fusion models for general wire networks. We show that the character of braiding strongly depends on the graph-theoretic connectivity of the given network. In particular, we prove that triconnected networks yield the same braiding exchange operators as the planar anyon models. In contrast, modular biconnected networks support independent braiding exchange operators in different modules. Consequently, such modular networks may lead to more efficient topological quantum computer circuits. Finally, we conjecture that the graph-braided anyon fusion models will possess the (generalised) coherence property where certain polygon equations determine the braiding exchange operators for an arbitrary number of anyons. We also extensively study solutions to these polygon equations for chosen low-rank multiplicity-free fusion rings, including the Ising theory, quantum double of $\mathbb{Z}_{2}$, and Tambara-Yamagami models. We find numerous solutions that do not appear in the planar theory of anyons.

• LHC EFT WG note: Basis for anomalous quartic gauge couplings

  Gauthier Durieux, Grant N. Remmen, Nicholas L. Rodd, Oscar J. P. Éboli, Maria C. Gonzalez-Garcia, Dan Kondo, Hitoshi Murayama, Risshin Okabe

  SciPost Phys. Comm. Rep. 6 (2025) · published 28 February 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  In this note, we give a definitive basis for the dimension-eight operators leading to quartic—but no cubic—interactions among electroweak gauge bosons. These are often called anomalous quartic gauge couplings, or aQGCs. We distinguish in particular the CP-even ones from their CP-odd counterparts.

• Yukawa-Lorentz symmetry of interacting non-Hermitian birefringent Dirac fermions

  Sk Asrap Murshed, Bitan Roy

  SciPost Phys. 18, 073 (2025) · published 27 February 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The energy spectra of linearly dispersing gapless spin-3/2 Dirac fermions display birefringence, featuring two effective Fermi velocities, thus breaking the space-time Lorentz symmetry. Here, we consider a non-Hermitian (NH) generalization of this scenario by introducing a masslike anti-Hermitian birefringent Dirac operator to its Hermitian counterpart. The resulting NH operator shows real eigenvalue spectra over an extended NH parameter regime, and a combination of non-spatial and discrete rotational symmetries protects the gapless nature of such quasiparticles. However, at the brink of dynamic mass generation, triggered by Hubbardlike local interactions, the birefringent parameter always vanishes under coarse grain due to the Yukawa-type interactions with scalar bosonic order-parameter fluctuations. The resulting quantum critical state is, therefore, described by two decoupled copies of spin-1/2 Dirac fermions with a unique terminal Fermi velocity, which is equal to the bosonic order-parameter velocity, thereby fostering an emergent space-time Lorentz symmetry. Furthermore, depending on the internal algebra between the anti-Hermitian birefringent Dirac operator and the candidate mass order, the system achieves the emergent Yukawa-Lorentz symmetry either by maintaining its non-Hermiticity or by recovering a full Hermiticity. We discuss the resulting quantum critical phenomena and possible microscopic realizations of the proposed scenarios.

• BPS chaos

  Yiming Chen, Henry W. Lin, Stephen H. Shenker

  SciPost Phys. 18, 072 (2025) · published 27 February 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Black holes are chaotic quantum systems that are expected to exhibit random matrix statistics in their finite energy spectrum. Lin, Maldacena, Rozenberg and Shan (LMRS) have proposed a related characterization of chaos for the ground states of BPS black holes with finite area horizons. On a separate front, the "fuzzball program" has uncovered large families of horizon-free geometries that account for the entropy of holographic BPS systems, but only in situations with sufficient supersymmetry to exclude finite area horizons. The highly structured, non-random nature of these solutions seems in tension with strong chaos. We verify this intuition by performing analytic and numerical calculations of the LMRS diagnostic in the corresponding boundary quantum system. In particular we examine the 1/2 and 1/4-BPS sectors of $\mathcal{N}=4$ SYM, and the two charge sector of the D1-D5 CFT. We find evidence that these systems are only weakly chaotic, with a Thouless time determining the onset of chaos that grows as a power of $N$. In contrast, finite horizon area BPS black holes should be strongly chaotic, with a Thouless time of order one. In this case, finite energy chaotic states become BPS as $N$ is decreased through the recently discovered "fortuity" mechanism. Hence they can plausibly retain their strongly chaotic character.