Publications

Order by: publication date number of citations

• Introduction to string theory

  Carlo Maccaferri, Fabio Marino, Beniamino Valsesia

  SciPost Phys. Lect. Notes 90 (2025) · published 29 January 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  These are lecture notes of the introductory String Theory course held by one of the authors for the master program of Theoretical Physics at Turin University. The world-sheet approach to String Theory is pedagogically introduced in the framework of the bosonic string and of the superstring.

• Closed-channel parameters of Feshbach resonances

  Pascal Naidon

  SciPost Phys. 18, 036 (2025) · published 29 January 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  This work investigates how the closed channel of a Feshbach resonance is characterised by experimental observables. Surprisingly, it is found that the two-body observables associated with the Feshbach resonance can be insensitive to the properties of the closed channel. In particular, it is impossible in this situation to determine the energy of the bound state causing the resonance from the usual experimental data. This is the case for all magnetic Feshbach resonances in ultracold atoms, due to their deep two-body interaction potentials. This insensitivity highlights a major difference with Feshbach resonances that involve shallow interaction potentials, such as hadron resonances. It appears however that short-range two-body correlations and three-body observables are affected by a parameter of the closed channel called the "closed-channel scattering length". A photoassociation experiment is proposed to measure this parameter in ultracold atom systems.

  1 citation

• Gravitational higher-form symmetries and the origin of hidden symmetries in Kaluza-Klein compactifications

  Carmen Gómez-Fayrén, Tomás Ortín, Matteo Zatti

  SciPost Phys. Core 8, 010 (2025) · published 29 January 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We show that, in presence of isometries and non-trivial topology, the Einstein–Hilbert action is invariant under certain transformations of the metric which are not diffeomorphisms. These transformations are similar to the higher-form symmetries of field theories with $p$-form fields. In the context of toroidal Kaluza–Klein compactifications, we show that these symmetries give rise to some of the "hidden symmetries" (dualities) of the dimensionally-reduced theories.

  4 citations

• Codebase release 1.0 for kdotpy

  Wouter Beugeling, Florian Bayer, Christian Berger, Jan Böttcher, Leonid Bovkun, Christopher Fuchs, Maximilian Hofer, Saquib Shamim, Moritz Siebert, Li-Xian Wang, Ewelina M. Hankiewicz, Tobias Kießling, Hartmut Buhmann, Laurens W. Molenkamp

  SciPost Phys. Codebases 47-r1.0 (2025) · published 28 January 2025 | Toggle abstract · src

  The software project kdotpy provides a Python application for simulating electronic band structures of semiconductor devices with k·p theory on a lattice. The application implements the widely used Kane model, capable of reliable predictions of transport and optical properties for a large variety of topological and non-topological materials with a zincblende crystal structure. The application automates the tedious steps of simulating band structures. The user inputs the relevant physical parameters on the command line, for example materials and dimensions of the device, magnetic field, and temperature. The program constructs the appropriate matrix Hamiltonian on a discretized lattice of spatial coordinates and diagonalizes it. The physical observables are extracted from the eigenvalues and eigenvectors and saved as output. The program is highly customizable with a large set of configuration options and material parameters.

  1 citation

• kdotpy: k·p theory on a lattice for simulating semiconductor band structures

  Wouter Beugeling, Florian Bayer, Christian Berger, Jan Böttcher, Leonid Bovkun, Christopher Fuchs, Maximilian Hofer, Saquib Shamim, Moritz Siebert, Li-Xian Wang, Ewelina M. Hankiewicz, Tobias Kießling, Hartmut Buhmann, Laurens W. Molenkamp

  SciPost Phys. Codebases 47 (2025) · published 28 January 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The software project kdotpy provides a Python application for simulating electronic band structures of semiconductor devices with k·p theory on a lattice. The application implements the widely used Kane model, capable of reliable predictions of transport and optical properties for a large variety of topological and non-topological materials with a zincblende crystal structure. The application automates the tedious steps of simulating band structures. The user inputs the relevant physical parameters on the command line, for example materials and dimensions of the device, magnetic field, and temperature. The program constructs the appropriate matrix Hamiltonian on a discretized lattice of spatial coordinates and diagonalizes it. The physical observables are extracted from the eigenvalues and eigenvectors and saved as output. The program is highly customizable with a large set of configuration options and material parameters.

  5 citations

• Bethe Ansatz inside Calogero-Sutherland models

  Gwenaël Ferrando, Jules Lamers, Fedor Levkovich-Maslyuk, Didina Serban

  SciPost Phys. 18, 035 (2025) · published 28 January 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We study the trigonometric quantum spin-Calogero–Sutherland model, and the Haldane–Shastry spin chain as a special case, using a Bethe-Ansatz analysis. We harness the model's Yangian symmetry to import the standard tools of integrability for Heisenberg spin chains into the world of integrable long-range models with spins. From the transfer matrix with a diagonal twist we construct Heisenberg-style symmetries (Bethe algebra) that refine the usual hierarchy of commuting Hamiltonians (quantum determinant) of the spin-Calogero–Sutherland model. We compute the first few of these new conserved charges explicitly, and diagonalise them by Bethe Ansatz inside each irreducible Yangian representation. This yields a new eigenbasis for the spin-Calogero–Sutherland model that generalises the Yangian Gelfand–Tsetlin basis of Takemura–Uglov. The Bethe-Ansatz analysis involves non-generic values of the inhomogeneities. Our review of the inhomogeneous Heisenberg XXX chain, with special attention to how the Bethe Ansatz works in the presence of fusion, may be of independent interest.

• Practical realization of chiral nonlinearity for strong topological protection

  Xinxin Guo, Lucien Jezequel, Mathieu Padlewski, Hervé Lissek, Pierre Delplace, Romain Fleury

  SciPost Phys. 18, 034 (2025) · published 27 January 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Nonlinear topology has been much less inquired compared to its linear counterpart. Existing advances have focused on nonlinearities of limited magnitudes and fairly homogeneous types. As such, the realizations have rarely been concerned with the requirements for nonlinearity. Here we explore nonlinear topological protection by determining nonlinear rules and demonstrate their relevance in real-world experiments. We take advantage of chiral symmetry and identify the condition for its continuation in general nonlinear environments. Applying it to one-dimensional topological lattices, we show possible evolution paths for zero-energy edge states that preserve topologically nontrivial phases regardless of the specifics of the chiral nonlinearities. Based on an acoustic prototype design with non-local nonlinearities, we theoretically, numerically, and experimentally implement the nonlinear topological edge states that persist in all nonlinear degrees and directions without any frequency shift. Our findings unveil a broad family of nonlinearities compatible with topological non-triviality, establishing a solid ground for future drilling in the emergent field of nonlinear topology.

  3 citations

• Critical spin chains and loop models with $PSU(n)$ symmetry

  Paul Roux, Jesper Lykke Jacobsen, Sylvain Ribault, Hubert Saleur

  SciPost Phys. 18, 033 (2025) · published 27 January 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Starting with the Ising model, statistical models with global symmetries provide fruitful approaches to interesting physical systems, for example percolation or polymers. These include the $O(n)$ model (symmetry group $O(n)$) and the Potts model (symmetry group $S_Q$). Both models make sense for $n,Q∈ \mathbb{C}$ and not just $n,Q∈ \mathbb{N}$, and both give rise to a conformal field theory in the critical limit. Here, we study similar models based on the group $PSU(n)$. We focus on the two-dimensional case, where the models can be described either as gases of non-intersecting orientable loops, or as alternating spin chains. This allows us to determine their spectra either by computing a twisted torus partition function, or by studying representations of the walled Brauer algebra. In the critical limit, our models give rise to a CFT that exists for any $n∈\mathbb{C}$ and has a global $PSU(n)$ symmetry. Its spectrum is similar to those of the $O(n)$ and Potts CFTs, but a bit simpler. We conjecture that the $O(n)$ CFT is a $\mathbb{Z}_2$ orbifold of the $PSU(n)$ CFT, where $\mathbb{Z}_2$ acts as complex conjugation.

  4 citations

• Site-wise dynamic defects in a non-conserving exclusion process

  Nikhil Bhatia, Arvind Kumar Gupta

  SciPost Phys. Core 8, 009 (2025) · published 27 January 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Motivated by the significant influence of the defects in the dynamics of the natural or man-made transportation systems, we propose an open, dynamically disordered, totally asymmetric simple exclusion process featuring bulk particle attachment and detachment. The site-wise dynamic defects might randomly emerge or vanish at any lattice location, and their presence slows down the motion of the particles. Using a mean-field approach, we obtain an analytical expression for both particle and defect density and validate them using Monte Carlo simulation. The study investigates the steady-state characteristics of the system, including phase transitions, analysis of boundary layers, and phase diagrams. Our approach streamlines the defect dynamics by integrating two parameters into one called the obstruction factor, which helps in determining an effective binding constant. The impact of the obstruction factor on the phase diagram is explored across various combinations of binding constants and detachment rates. A critical value of the obstruction factor is obtained, about which an infinitesimal change results in a substantial qualitative change in the structure of the phase diagrams. Further, the effect of the detachment rate is studied, and critical values along which the system observes a quantitative transition of the stationary phases are obtained as a function of the obstruction factor. Overall, the system shows stationary phases ranging from three to seven depending upon the value of the obstruction factor, the binding constant, and the detachment rate. Moreover, we scrutinized the impact of the obstruction factor on the shock dynamics and found no finite-size effect.

• Gapped phases with non-invertible symmetries: (1+1)d

  Lakshya Bhardwaj, Lea E. Bottini, Daniel Pajer, Sakura Schäfer-Nameki

  SciPost Phys. 18, 032 (2025) · published 24 January 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We propose a general framework to characterize gapped infra-red (IR) phases of theories with non-invertible (or categorical) symmetries. In this paper we focus on (1+1)d gapped phases with fusion category symmetries. The approach that we propose uses the Symmetry Topological Field Theory (SymTFT) as a key input: associated to a field theory in $d$ spacetime dimensions, the SymTFT lives in one dimension higher and admits a gapped boundary, which realizes the categorical symmetries. It also admits a second, physical, boundary, which is generically not gapped. Upon interval compactification of the SymTFT by colliding the gapped and physical boundaries, we regain the original theory. In this paper, we realize gapped symmetric phases by choosing the physical boundary to be a gapped boundary condition as well. This set-up provides computational power to determine the number of vacua, the symmetry breaking pattern, and the action of the symmetry on the vacua. The SymTFT also manifestly encodes the order parameters for these gapped phases, thus providing a generalized, categorical Landau paradigm for (1+1)d gapped phases. We find that for non-invertible symmetries the order parameters involve multiplets containing both untwisted and twisted sector local operators, and hence can be interpreted as mixtures of conventional and string order parameters. We also observe that spontaneous breaking of non-invertible symmetries can lead to vacua that are physically distinguishable: unlike the standard symmetries described by groups, non-invertible symmetries can have different actions on different vacua of an irreducible gapped phase. This leads to the presence of relative Euler terms between physically distinct vacua. Along with the physical description of symmetric gapped phases, we also provide a mathematical one as pivotal 2-functors whose source 2-category is the delooping of the fusion category characterizing the symmetry and the target 2-category is the Euler completion of 2-vector spaces.

  38 citations