Publications

Order by: publication date number of citations

• Engineering of anyons on M5-probes via flux quantization

  Hisham Sati, Urs Schreiber

  SciPost Phys. Lect. Notes 107 (2025) · published 4 November 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  These extended lecture notes survey a novel derivation of anyonic topological order (as seen in fractional quantum Hall systems) on single magnetized M5-branes probing Seifert orbi-singularities ("geometric engineering" of anyons), which we motivate from fundamental open problems in the field of quantum computing. The rigorous construction is non-Lagrangian and non-perturbative, based on previously neglected global completion of the M5-brane's tensor field by flux-quantization consistent with its non-linear self-duality and its twisting by the bulk C-field. This exists only in little-studied non-abelian generalized cohomology theories, notably in a twisted equivariant (and "twistorial") form of unstable Cohomotopy ("Hypothesis H"). As a result, topological quantum observables form Pontrjagin homology algebras of mapping spaces from the orbi-fixed worldvolume into a classifying 2-sphere. Remarkably, results from algebraic topology imply from this the quantum observables and modular functor of abelian Chern-Simons theory, as well as braid group actions on defect anyons of the kind envisioned as hardware for topologically protected quantum gates.

• On the generalized Komar charge of Kaluza-Klein theories and higher-form symmetries

  Gabriele Barbagallo, José Luis V. Cerdeira, Carmen Gómez-Fayrén, Patrick Meessen, Tomás Ortín

  SciPost Phys. Core 8, 077 (2025) · published 4 November 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The generalized Komar $(d-2)$-form charge can be modified by the addition of any other on-shell closed (conserved) $(d-2)$-form charge. We show that, with Kaluza–Klein boundary conditions, one has to add a charge related to the higher-form symmetry identified in Ref. [C. Gomez-Fayren et al., SciPost Phys. Core 8, 010 (2025)] to the naive Komar charge of pure 5-dimensional gravity to obtain a conserved charge whose integral at spatial infinity gives the mass. The new term also contains the contribution of the Kaluza–Klein monopole charge leading to electric-magnetic duality invariance.

• Rademacher expansion of modular integrals

  Marco Maria Baccianti, Jeevan Chandra, Lorenz Eberhardt, Thomas Hartman, Sebastian Mizera

  SciPost Phys. 19, 103 (2025) · published 20 October 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We develop a method to evaluate integrals of non-holomorphic modular functions over the fundamental domain of the torus with modular parameter $\tau$ analytically. It proceeds in two steps: first the integral is transformed to a Lorentzian contour by the same strategy that leads to the Lorentzian inversion formula in CFT, and then we apply a two-dimensional version of the Rademacher expansion. This computes the integral in terms of an expansion sensitive to the singular behaviour of the integrand near all the Lorentzian cusps $\tau \to i ∞$, $\bar{\tau} \to x ∈ \mathbb{Q}$. We apply this technique to a variety of examples such as the evaluation of string one-loop partition functions, where it leads to the first analytic formula for the cosmological constants of the bosonic string and the $\mathrm{SO}(16) × \mathrm{SO}(16)$ string.

• Worldsheet fermion correlators, modular tensors and higher genus integration kernels

  Eric D'Hoker, Oliver Schlotterer

  SciPost Phys. 19, 091 (2025) · published 9 October 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The cyclic product of an arbitrary number of Szegö kernels for even spin structure $\delta$ on a compact higher-genus Riemann surface $\Sigma$ may be decomposed via a descent procedure which systematically separates the dependence on the points $z_i ∈ \Sigma$ from the dependence on the spin structure $\delta$. In this paper, we prove two different, but complementary, descent procedures to achieve this decomposition. In the first procedure, the dependence on the points $z_i ∈ \Sigma$ is expressed via the meromorphic multiple-valued Enriquez kernels of e-print 1112.0864 while the dependence on $\delta$ resides in multiplets of functions that are independent of $z_i$, locally holomorphic in the moduli of $\Sigma$ and generally do not have simple modular transformation properties. The $\delta$-dependent constants are expressed as multiple convolution integrals over homology cycles of $\Sigma$, thereby generalizing a similar representation of the individual Enriquez kernels. In the second procedure, which was proposed without proof in e-print 2308.05044, the dependence on $z_i$ is expressed in terms the single-valued, modular invariant, but non-meromorphic DHS kernels introduced in e-print 2306.08644 while the dependence on $\delta$ resides in modular tensors that are independent of $z_i$ and are generally non-holomorphic in the moduli of $\Sigma$. Although the individual building blocks of these decompositions have markedly different properties, we show that the combinatorial structure of the two decompositions is virtually identical, thereby extending the striking correspondence observed earlier between the roles played by Enriquez and DHS kernels. Both decompositions are further generalized to the case of linear chain products of Szegö kernels.

  1 citation

• The open XYZ spin 1/2 chain: Separation of variables and scalar products for boundary fields related by a constraint

  Giuliano Niccoli, Veronique Terras

  SciPost Phys. 19, 090 (2025) · published 8 October 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We consider the open XYZ spin chain with boundary fields. We solve the model by the new Separation of Variables approach introduced in [J. M. Maillet and G. Niccoli, J. Stat. Mech.: Theory Exp. 094020 (2019)]. In this framework, the transfer matrix eigenstates are obtained as a particular sub-class of the class of so-called separate states. We consider the problem of computing scalar products of such separate states. As usual, they can be represented as determinants with rows labelled by the inhomogeneity parameters of the model. We notably focus on the special case in which the boundary parameters parametrising the two boundary fields satisfy one constraint, hence enabling for the description of part of the transfer matrix spectrum and eigenstates in terms of some elliptic polynomial $Q$-solution of a usual $TQ$-equation. In this case, we show how to transform the aforementioned determinant for the scalar product into some more convenient form for the consideration of the homogeneous and thermodynamic limits: as in the open XXX or XXZ cases, our result can be expressed as some generalisation of the so-called Slavnov determinant.

• Rainbow chains and numerical renormalisation group for accurate chiral conformal spectra

  Attila Szabó

  SciPost Phys. 19, 075 (2025) · published 26 September 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Based on the relationship between reduced and thermal density matrices in conformal field theory (CFT), we show that the entanglement spectrum of a conformal critical chain with exponentially decaying terms consists of conformal towers of the associated chiral CFT, with only weak finite-size effects. Through free-fermion and interacting examples, we show that these entanglement spectra present a reliable method to extract detailed CFT spectra from single wave functions without access to the parent Hamiltonian. We complement our method with a Wilsonian numerical renormalisation group algorithm for solving interacting, exponentially decaying chain Hamiltonians.

• Quantum groups as global symmetries II. Coulomb gas construction

  Barak Gabai, Victor Gorbenko, Jiaxin Qiao, Bernardo Zan, Aleksandr Zhabin

  SciPost Phys. 19, 070 (2025) · published 25 September 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We study a conformal field theory that arises in the infinite-volume limit of a spin chain with $U_q(sl_2)$ global symmetry. Most operators in the theory are defect-ending operators which allows $U_q(sl_2)$ symmetry transformations to act on them in a consistent way. We use Coulomb gas techniques to construct correlation functions and compute all OPE coefficients of the model in closed form, as well as to prove that the properties imposed by the quantum group symmetry are indeed satisfied by the correlation functions. In particular, we treat the non-chiral operators present in the theory. Free boson realization elucidates the origin of the defects attached to the operators. We also comment on the role of quantum group in generalized minimal models.

  1 citation

• A perturbation theory for multi-time correlation functions in open quantum systems

  Piotr Szańkowski

  SciPost Phys. 19, 066 (2025) · published 3 September 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Dynamical maps are the principal subject of the open system theory. Formally, the dynamical map of a given open quantum system is a density matrix transformation that takes any initial state and sends it to the state at a later time. Physically, it encapsulates the system's evolution due to coupling with its environment. Hence, the theory provides a flexible and accurate framework for computing expectation values of open system observables. However, expectation values-or more generally, single-time correlation functions-capture only the simplest aspects of a quantum system's dynamics. A complete characterization of the dynamics requires access to multi-time correlation functions as well: phenomena like detailed balance, linear and non-linear response, non-equilibrium transport in general, or even sequential measurements of system observables are all described in terms of multi-time correlations. For closed systems, such correlations are well-defined, even though knowledge of the system's state alone is insufficient to determine them fully. In contrast, the standard dynamical map formalism for open systems does not account for multi-time correlations, as it is fundamentally limited to describing state evolution. Here, we extend the scope of open quantum system theory by developing a systematic perturbation theory for computing multi-time correlation functions.

• Spin-$s$ $Q$-systems: Twist and open boundaries

  Yi-Jun He, Jue Hou, Yi-Chao Liu, Zi-Xi Tan

  SciPost Phys. Core 8, 057 (2025) · published 27 August 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  In integrable spin chains, the spectral problem can be solved by the method of Bethe Ansatz, which transforms the problem of diagonalization of the Hamiltonian into the problem of solving a set of algebraic equations named Bethe equations. In this work, we systematically investigate the spin-$s$ XXX chain with twisted and open boundary conditions using the rational $Q$-system, which is a powerful tool to solve Bethe equations. We establish basic frameworks of the rational $Q$-system and confirm its completeness numerically in both cases. For twisted boundaries, we investigate the polynomiality conditions of the rational $Q$-system and derive physical conditions for singular solutions of Bethe equations. For open boundaries, we uncover novel phenomena such as hidden symmetries and boundary induced strings under specific boundary parameters. Hidden symmetries lead to the appearance of extra degeneracies in the Hilbert space, while the boundary induced string is a novel type of exact string configuration, whose length depends on the boundary magnetic fields. These findings, supported by both analytical and numerical evidences, offer new insights into the interplay between symmetries and boundary conditions.

• Gapped phases in (2+1)d with non-invertible symmetries: Part I

  Lakshya Bhardwaj, Daniel Pajer, Sakura Schäfer-Nameki, Apoorv Tiwari, Alison Warman, Jingxiang Wu

  SciPost Phys. 19, 056 (2025) · published 26 August 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We use the Symmetry Topological Field Theory (SymTFT) to study and classify gapped phases in (2+1)d for a class of categorical symmetries, referred to as being of bosonic type. The SymTFTs for these symmetries are given by twisted and untwisted (3+1)d Dijkgraaf-Witten (DW) theories for finite groups $G$. A finite set of boundary conditions (BCs) of these DW theories is well-known: these simply involve imposing Dirichlet and Neumann conditions on the (3+1)d gauge fields. We refer to these as minimal BCs. The key new observation here is that for each DW theory, there exists an infinite number of other BCs, that we call non-minimal BCs. These non-minimal BCs are all obtained by a 'theta construction', which involves stacking the Dirichlet BC with 3d TFTs having $G$ 0-form symmetry, and gauging the diagonal $G$ symmetry. On the one hand, using the non-minimal BCs as symmetry BCs gives rise to an infinite number of non-invertible symmetries having the same SymTFT, while on the other hand, using the non-minimal BCs as physical BCs in the sandwich construction gives rise to an infinite number of (2+1)d gapped phases for each such non-invertible symmetry. Our analysis is thoroughly exemplified for $G=\mathbb{Z}_2$ and more generally any finite abelian group, for which the resulting non-invertible symmetries and their gapped phases already reveal an immensely rich structure.

  9 citations