Publications

Order by: publication date number of citations

• Connecting quasinormal modes and heat kernels in 1-loop determinants

  Cynthia Keeler, Victoria L. Martin, Andrew Svesko

  SciPost Phys. 8, 017 (2020) · published 3 February 2020 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We connect two different approaches for calculating functional determinants on quotients of hyperbolic spacetime: the heat kernel method and the quasinormal mode method. For the example of a rotating BTZ background, we show how the image sum in the heat kernel method builds up the logarithms in the quasinormal mode method, while the thermal sum in the quasinormal mode method builds up the integrand of the heat kernel. More formally, we demonstrate how the heat kernel and quasinormal mode methods are linked via the Selberg zeta function. We show that a 1-loop partition function computed using the heat kernel method may be cast as a Selberg zeta function whose zeros encode quasinormal modes. We discuss how our work may be used to predict quasinormal modes on more complicated spacetimes.

  9 citations

• Quantum spin systems versus Schroedinger operators: A case study in spontaneous symmetry breaking

  Christiaan J. F. van de Ven, Gerrit C. Groenenboom, Robin Reuvers, Nicolaas P. Landsman

  SciPost Phys. 8, 022 (2020) · published 6 February 2020 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Spontaneous symmetry breaking (SSB) is mathematically tied to some limit, but must physically occur, approximately, before the limit. Approximate SSB has been independently understood for Schroedinger operators with double well potential in the classical limit (Jona-Lasinio et al, 1981; Simon, 1985) and for quantum spin systems in the thermodynamic limit (Anderson, 1952; Tasaki, 2019). We relate these to each other in the context of the Curie-Weiss model, establishing a remarkable relationship between this model (for finite N) and a discretized Schroedinger operator with double well potential.

  8 citations

• The representation theory of seam algebras

  Alexis Langlois-Rémillard, Yvan Saint-Aubin

  SciPost Phys. 8, 019 (2020) · published 5 February 2020 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The boundary seam algebras $\mathsf{b}_{n,k}(\beta=q+q^{-1})$ were introduced by Morin-Duchesne, Ridout and Rasmussen to formulate algebraically a large class of boundary conditions for two-dimensional statistical loop models. The representation theory of these algebras $\mathsf{b}_{n,k}(\beta=q+q^{-1})$ is given: their irreducible, standard (cellular) and principal modules are constructed and their structure explicited in terms of their composition factors and of non-split short exact sequences. The dimensions of the irreducible modules and of the radicals of standard ones are also given. The methods proposed here might be applicable to a large family of algebras, for example to those introduced recently by Flores and Peltola, and Cramp\'e and Poulain d'Andecy.

  3 citations

• Dynamics of hot Bose-Einstein condensates: stochastic Ehrenfest relations for number and energy damping

  Rob G. McDonald, Peter S. Barnett, Fradom Atayee, Ashton S. Bradley

  SciPost Phys. 8, 029 (2020) · published 18 February 2020 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Describing partially-condensed Bose gases poses a long-standing theoretical challenge. We present exact stochastic Ehrenfest relations for the stochastic projected Gross-Pitaevskii equation, including both number and energy damping mechanisms, and all projector terms that arise from the energy cutoff separating system from reservoir. We test the theory by applying it to the centre of mass fluctuations of a harmonically trapped prolate system, finding close agreement between c-field simulations and analytical results. The formalism lays the foundation to analytically explore experimentally accessible hot Bose-Einstein condensates.

  2 citations

• Microscopic theory of fractional excitations in gapless quantum Hall states: semi-quantized quantum Hall states

  Oğuz Türker, Tobias Meng

  SciPost Phys. 8, 031 (2020) · published 28 February 2020 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We derive the low-energy theory of semi-quantized quantum Hall states, a recently observed class of gapless bilayer fractional quantum Hall states. Our theory shows these states to feature gapless quasiparticles of fractional charge coupled to an emergent Chern-Simons gauge field. These gapless quasiparticles can be understood as composites of electrons and Laughlin-like quasiparticles. We show that semi-quantized quantum Hall states exhibit perfect interlayer drag, host non-Fermi liquid physics, and serve as versatile parent states for fully gapped topological phases hosting anyonic excitations.

  2 citations

• First-order transition in a model of prestige bias

  Brian Skinner

  SciPost Phys. 8, 030 (2020) · published 19 February 2020 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  One of the major benefits of belonging to a prestigious group is that it affects the way you are viewed by others. Here I use a simple mathematical model to explore the implications of this "prestige bias" when candidates undergo repeated rounds of evaluation. In the model, candidates who are evaluated most highly are admitted to a "prestige class", and their membership biases future rounds of evaluation in their favor. I use the language of Bayesian inference to describe this bias, and show that it can lead to a runaway effect in which the weight given to the prior expectation associated with a candidate's class becomes stronger with each round. Most dramatically, the strength of the prestige bias after many rounds undergoes a first-order transition as a function of the precision of the examination on which the evaluation is based.

  2 citations