Publications

Order by: publication date number of citations

• BV formalism and partition functions

  Pietro Antonio Grassi, Ondrej Hulik

  SciPost Phys. 18, 202 (2025) · published 23 June 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The BV formalism is a well-established method for analyzing symmetries and quantizing field theories. In this paper, we use BV formalism to derive partition functions and the space of gauge invariant operators implementing the equations of motions and their redundancies for selected theories. We discuss various interpretations of the results, some dualities, and relation to the first quantized models.

• Fermionic non-invertible symmetries in (1+1)d: Gapped and gapless phases, transitions, and symmetry TFTs

  Lakshya Bhardwaj, Kansei Inamura, Apoorv Tiwari

  SciPost Phys. 18, 194 (2025) · published 18 June 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We study fermionic non-invertible symmetries in (1+1)d, which are generalized global symmetries that mix fermion parity symmetry with other invertible and non-invertible internal symmetries. Such symmetries are described by fermionic fusion supercategories, which are fusion $\pi$-supercategories with a choice of fermion parity. The aim of this paper is to flesh out the categorical Landau paradigm for fermionic symmetries. We use the formalism of Symmetry Topological Field Theory (SymTFT) to study possible gapped and gapless phases for such symmetries, along with possible deformations between these phases, which are organized into a Hasse phase diagram. The phases can be characterized in terms of sets of condensed, confined and deconfined generalized symmetry charges, reminiscent of notions familiar from superconductivity. Many of the gapless phases also serve as phase transitions between gapped phases. The associated fermionic conformal field theories (CFTs) can be obtained by performing generalized fermionic Kennedy-Tasaki (KT) transformations on bosonic CFTs describing simpler transitions. The fermionic non-invertible symmetries along with their charges and phases discussed here can be obtained from those of bosonic non-invertible symmetries via fermionization or Jordan-Wigner transformation, which is discussed in detail.

  8 citations

• Four no-go theorems on the existence of spin and orbital angular momentum of massless bosons

  Eric Palmerduca, Hong Qin

  SciPost Phys. 18, 188 (2025) · published 16 June 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The past decades have seen substantial interest in the so-called orbital angular momentum (OAM) of light, driven largely by its diverse range of applications. However, there are fundamental theoretical issues with decomposing the angular momentum of massless particles, such as photons, into spin (SAM) and orbital angular momentum parts. While the angular momentum of massive particles has a natural splitting into the Wigner SAM and OAM, there are numerous proposed splittings for photons and no consensus about which is correct. Moreover, it has been shown that most of the proposed SAM and OAM operators do not satisfy the defining commutation relations of angular momentum operators and are thus not legitimate splittings. Here, we prove that it is generally impossible to split the total angular momentum operator of massless bosons, such as photons and gravitons, into spin and orbital parts. We prove two further generalizations of this result, showing that there are no SAM-OAM splittings even if (1) the SAM operator generates non-internal symmetries or (2) if one allows the SAM and OAM operators to generate non-SO(3) symmetries.

  2 citations

• Efficient on-shell matching

  Mikael Chala, Javier L. Miras, José Santiago, Fuensanta Vilches

  SciPost Phys. 18, 185 (2025) · published 11 June 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We propose an efficient method to perform on-shell matching calculations in effective field theories. The standard off-shell approach to matching requires the use of a Green's basis that includes redundant and evanescent operators. The reduction of such a basis to a physical one is often highly non-trivial, difficult to automate and error prone. Our proposal is based on a numerical solution of the corresponding on-shell matching equations, which automatically implements in a trivial way the delicate cancellation between the non-local terms in the full theory and those in the effective one. The use of rational on-shell kinematics ensures an exact analytic solution despite the numerical procedure. In this way we only need a physical basis to perform the matching. Our procedure can be used to reduce any Green's basis to an arbitrary physical one, or to translate between physical bases; to renormalize arbitrary effective Lagrangians, directly in terms of a physical basis; and to perform finite matching, including evanescent contributions, as we discuss with explicit examples.

  4 citations

• Classical weight-four L-value ratios as sums of Calabi-Yau invariants

  Philip Candelas, Xenia de la Ossa, Joseph McGovern

  SciPost Phys. 18, 181 (2025) · published 6 June 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We revisit the series solutions of the attractor equations of 4d $\mathcal{N}=2$ supergravities obtained by Calabi–Yau compactifications previously studied in [P. Candelas et al., J. High Energy Phys. 11, 032 (2021)]. While only convergent for a restricted set of black hole charges, we find that they are summable with Padé resummation providing a suitable method. By specialising these solutions to rank-two attractors, we obtain many conjectural identities of the type discovered in [P. Candelas et al., J. High Energy Phys. 11, 032 (2021)]. These equate ratios of weight-four special L-values with an infinite series whose summands are formed out of genus-0 Gromov–Witten invariants. We also present two new rank-two attractors which belong to moduli spaces each interesting in their own right. Each of these moduli spaces possess two points of maximal unipotent monodromy. One has already been studied by Hosono and Takagi, and we discuss issues stemming from the associated L-function having nonzero rank.

• 2d dualities from 4d

  Jiaqun Jiang, Satoshi Nawata, Jiahao Zheng

  SciPost Phys. 18, 180 (2025) · published 6 June 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We find new $\mathcal{N}=(2,2)$ and $\mathcal{N}=(0,2)$ dualities through the twisted compactifications of 4d supersymmetric theories on $S^2$. Our findings include dualities for both $\mathcal{N}=(2,2)$ and $\mathcal{N}=(0,2)$ non-Abelian gauge theories, as well as $\mathcal{N}=(0,2)$ Gauge/Landau-Ginzburg duality.

  1 citation

• Lightcone Hamiltonian for Ising field theory I: $T < T_c$

  Andrew Liam Fitzpatrick, Emanuel Katz, Yuan Xin

  SciPost Phys. 18, 179 (2025) · published 5 June 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We study 2d Ising Field Theory (IFT) in the low-temperature phase in lightcone quantization, and show that integrating out zero modes generates a very compact form for the effective lightcone interaction that depends on the finite volume vacuum expectation value of the $\sigma$ operator. This form is most naturally understood in a conformal basis for the lightcone Hilbert space. We further verify that this simple form reproduces to high accuracy results for the spectra, the $c$-function, and the form-factors from integrability methods for the magnetic deformation of IFT. For generic non-integrable values of parameters we also compute the above observables and compare our numeric results to those of equal-time truncation. In particular, we report on new measurements of various bound-state form-factors as well as the stress-tensor spectral density. We find that the stress tensor spectral density provides additional evidence that certain resonances of IFT are surprisingly narrow, even at generic strong coupling. Explicit example code for constructing the effective Hamiltonian is included in an appendix.

  1 citation

• Universal thermalization dynamics in (1+1)d QFTs

  Richard A. Davison, Luca V. Delacretaz

  SciPost Phys. 18, 177 (2025) · published 4 June 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We identify the universal mechanism behind the thermalization of (1+1)d QFTs at high and low temperatures. Viewing these theories as CFTs perturbed by relevant or irrelevant deformations, we show that conformal perturbation theory in the thermal state breaks down at late times allowing for the emergence of hydrodynamics. This breakdown occurs universally due to the unsuppressed exchange of stress tensors near the lightcone. Furthermore, for theories with central charge $c→∞$ we solve for the emergent hydrodynamic theory to all orders in the gradient expansion by arguing that all transport parameters appearing in two-point functions have universal expressions in terms of the scaling dimension $\Delta$ of the perturbation. The radius of convergence of the hydrodynamic dispersion relations provides an early time cutoff for hydrodynamics, which agrees with the time scale at which conformal perturbation theory breaks down.

• Cosmological infrared subtractions & infrared-safe computables

  Paolo Benincasa, Francisco Vazão

  SciPost Phys. 18, 176 (2025) · published 4 June 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Cosmological observables in perturbation theory turn out to be plagued with infrared divergences, which represents both a conceptual and computational challenge. In this paper we present a proof of concept for a systematic procedure to remove these divergences in a large class of scalar cosmological integrals and consistently define an infrared safe computable in perturbation theory. We provide diagrammatic rules which are based on the nestohedra underlying the asymptotic structure of such integrals.

  2 citations

• Vacua, symmetries, and Higgsing of Chern-Simons matter theories

  Fabio Marino, Marcus Sperling

  SciPost Phys. 18, 174 (2025) · published 3 June 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Three-dimensional supersymmetric Chern–Simons matter (CSM) theories typically preserve $\mathcal{N}=3$ supersymmetry but can exhibit enhanced $\mathcal{N}=4$ supersymmetry under special conditions. A detailed understanding of the moduli space of CSM theories, however, has remained elusive. This paper addresses this gap by systematically analysing the maximal branches of the moduli space of $\mathcal{N}=3$ and $\mathcal{N}=4$ CSM realised via Type IIB brane constructions. Firstly, for $\mathcal{N}=4$ theories with Chern–Simons levels equal $1$, the $SL(2,\mathbb{Z})$ dualisation algorithm is employed to construct dual Lagrangian 3d $\mathcal{N}=4$ theories without CS terms. This allows the full moduli space to be determined using quiver algorithms that compute Higgs and Coulomb branch Hasse diagrams and associated RG flows. Secondly, for $\mathcal{N}=4$ theories with CS-levels greater $1$, where $SL(2,\mathbb{Z})$ dualisation does not yield CS-free Lagrangians, a new prescription is introduced to derive two magnetic quivers, $\mathsf{MQ}_A $ and $\mathsf{MQ}_B$, whose Coulomb branches capture the maximal A and B branches of the original $\mathcal{N}=4$ CSM theory. Applying the decay and fission algorithm to $ \mathsf{MQ}_{A/B}$ then enables the systematic analysis of A/B branch RG flows and their geometric structures. Thirdly, for $\mathcal{N}=3$ CSM theories, one magnetic quiver for each maximal (hyper-Kähler) branch is derived from the brane system. This provides an efficient and comprehensive characterisation of these previously scarcely studied features.