Publications

Order by: publication date number of citations

• Exceptional Chern-Simons-Matter dualities

  Clay Córdova, Po-Shen Hsin, Kantaro Ohmori

  SciPost Phys. 7, 056 (2019) · published 28 October 2019 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We use conformal embeddings involving exceptional affine Kac-Moody algebras to derive new dualities of three-dimensional topological field theories. These generalize the familiar level-rank duality of Chern-Simons theories based on classical gauge groups to the setting of exceptional gauge groups. For instance, one duality sequence we discuss is $(E_{N})_{1}\leftrightarrow SU(9-N)_{-1}$. Others such as $SO(3)_{8}\leftrightarrow PSU(3)_{-6},$ are dualities among theories with classical gauge groups that arise due to their embedding into an exceptional chiral algebra. We apply these equivalences between topological field theories to conjecture new boson-boson Chern-Simons matter dualities. We also use them to determine candidate phase diagrams of time-reversal invariant $G_{2}$ gauge theory coupled to either an adjoint fermion, or two fundamental fermions.

  21 citations

• Charged quantum fields in AdS$_2$

  Dionysios Anninos, Diego M. Hofman, Jorrit Kruthoff

  SciPost Phys. 7, 054 (2019) · published 23 October 2019 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We consider quantum field theory near the horizon of an extreme Kerr black hole. In this limit, the dynamics is well approximated by a tower of electrically charged fields propagating in an $SL(2,\mathbb{R})$ invariant AdS$_2$ geometry endowed with a constant, symmetry preserving background electric field. At large charge the fields oscillate near the AdS$_2$ boundary and no longer admit a standard Dirichlet treatment. From the Kerr black hole perspective, this phenomenon is related to the presence of an ergosphere. We discuss a definition for the quantum field theory whereby we 'UV' complete AdS$_2$ by appending an asymptotically two dimensional Minkowski region. This allows the construction of a novel observable for the flux-carrying modes that resembles the standard flat space S-matrix. We relate various features displayed by the highly charged particles to the principal series representations of $SL(2,\mathbb{R})$. These representations are unitary and also appear for massive quantum fields in dS$_2$. Both fermionic and bosonic fields are studied. We find that the free charged massless fermion is exactly solvable for general background, providing an interesting arena for the problem at hand.

  20 citations

• Reconstructing the EFT of inflation from cosmological data

  Amel Durakovic, Paul Hunt, Subodh P. Patil, Subir Sarkar

  SciPost Phys. 7, 049 (2019) · published 10 October 2019 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Reconstructions of the primordial power spectrum (PPS) of curvature perturbations from cosmic microwave background anisotropies and large-scale structure data suggest that the usually assumed power-law PPS has localised features (up to $\sim 10\%$ in amplitude), although of only marginal significance in the framework of $\Lambda$CDM cosmology. On the other hand if the underlying cosmology is assumed to be Einstein-de Sitter, larger features in the PPS (up to $\sim 20\%$) are required to accurately fit the observed acoustic peaks. Within the context of single clock inflation, we show that any given reconstruction of the PPS can be mapped on to functional parameters of the underlying effective theory of the adiabatic mode within a 2nd-order formalism, provided the best fit fractional change of the PPS, $\Delta\mathcal{P}_\mathcal{R}/\mathcal{P}_\mathcal{R}$ is such that $(\Delta\mathcal{P}_\mathcal{R}/\mathcal{P}_\mathcal{R})^3$ falls within the $1\,\sigma$ confidence interval of the reconstruction for features induced by variations of either the sound speed $c_\mathrm{s}$ or the slow-roll parameter $\epsilon$. Although there is a degeneracy amongst these functional parameters (and the models that project onto them), we can identify simple representative inflationary models that yield such features in the PPS. Thus we provide a dictionary (more accurately, a thesaurus) to go from observational data, via the reconstructed PPS, to models that reproduce them to per cent level precision.

  7 citations

• Quantum scrambling and state dependence of the butterfly velocity

  Xizhi Han (韩希之), Sean A. Hartnoll

  SciPost Phys. 7, 045 (2019) · published 8 October 2019 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Operator growth in spatially local quantum many-body systems defines a scrambling velocity. We prove that this scrambling velocity bounds the state dependence of the out-of-time-ordered correlator in local lattice models. We verify this bound in simulations of the thermal mixed-field Ising spin chain. For scrambling operators, the butterfly velocity shows a crossover from a microscopic high temperature value to a distinct value at temperatures below the energy gap.

  19 citations

• On four-point connectivities in the critical 2d Potts model

  Marco Picco, Sylvain Ribault, Raoul Santachiara

  SciPost Phys. 7, 044 (2019) · published 7 October 2019 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We perform Monte-Carlo computations of four-point cluster connectivities in the critical 2d Potts model, for numbers of states $Q\in (0,4)$ that are not necessarily integer. We compare these connectivities to four-point functions in a CFT that interpolates between D-series minimal models. We find that 3 combinations of the 4 independent connectivities agree with CFT four-point functions, down to the $2$ to $4$ significant digits of our Monte-Carlo computations. However, we argue that the agreement is exact only in the special cases $Q=0, 3, 4$. We conjecture that the Potts model can be analytically continued to a double cover of the half-plane $\{\Re c <13\}$, where $c$ is the central charge of the Virasoro symmetry algebra.

  20 citations

• KdV charges in TTbar theories and new models with super-Hagedorn behavior

  Bruno Le Floch, Márk Mezei

  SciPost Phys. 7, 043 (2019) · published 4 October 2019 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Two-dimensional CFTs and integrable models have an infinite set of conserved KdV higher spin currents. These currents can be argued to remain conserved under the $T\bar{T}$ deformation and its generalizations. We determine the flow equations the KdV charges obey under the $T\bar{T}$ deformation: they behave as probes "riding the Burgers flow" of the energy eigenvalues. We also study a Lorentz-breaking $T_{s+1}\bar{T}$ deformation built from a KdV current and the stress tensor, and find a super-Hagedorn growth of the density of states.

  27 citations

• Lectures on faster-than-light travel and time travel

  Barak Shoshany

  SciPost Phys. Lect. Notes 10 (2019) · published 1 October 2019 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  These lecture notes were prepared for a 25-hour course for advanced undergraduate students participating in Perimeter Institute's Undergraduate Summer Program. The lectures cover some of what is currently known about the possibility of superluminal travel and time travel within the context of established science, that is, general relativity and quantum field theory. Previous knowledge of general relativity at the level of a standard undergraduate-level introductory course is recommended, but all the relevant material is included for completion and reference. No previous knowledge of quantum field theory, or anything else beyond the standard undergraduate curriculum, is required. Advanced topics in relativity, such as causal structures, the Raychaudhuri equation, and the energy conditions are presented in detail. Once the required background is covered, concepts related to faster-than-light travel and time travel are discussed. After introducing tachyons in special relativity as a warm-up, exotic spacetime geometries in general relativity such as warp drives and wormholes are discussed and analyzed, including their limitations. Time travel paradoxes are also discussed in detail, including some of their proposed resolutions.

  8 citations

• Twisted and untwisted negativity spectrum of free fermions

  Hassan Shapourian, Paola Ruggiero, Shinsei Ryu, Pasquale Calabrese

  SciPost Phys. 7, 037 (2019) · published 25 September 2019 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  A basic diagnostic of entanglement in mixed quantum states is known as the positive partial transpose (PT) criterion. Such criterion is based on the observation that the spectrum of the partially transposed density matrix of an entangled state contains negative eigenvalues, in turn, used to define an entanglement measure called the logarithmic negativity. Despite the great success of logarithmic negativity in characterizing bosonic many-body systems, generalizing the operation of PT to fermionic systems remained a technical challenge until recently when a more natural definition of PT for fermions that accounts for the Fermi statistics has been put forward. In this paper, we study the many-body spectrum of the reduced density matrix of two adjacent intervals for one-dimensional free fermions after applying the fermionic PT. We show that in general there is a freedom in the definition of such operation which leads to two different definitions of PT: the resulting density matrix is Hermitian in one case, while it becomes pseudo-Hermitian in the other case. Using the path-integral formalism, we analytically compute the leading order term of the moments in both cases and derive the distribution of the corresponding eigenvalues over the complex plane. We further verify our analytical findings by checking them against numerical lattice calculations.

  60 citations

• Event generation with Sherpa 2.2

  Enrico Bothmann, Gurpreet Singh Chahal, Stefan Höche, Johannes Krause, Frank Krauss, Silvan Kuttimalai, Sebastian Liebschner, Davide Napoletano, Marek Schönherr, Holger Schulz, Steffen Schumann, Frank Siegert

  SciPost Phys. 7, 034 (2019) · published 18 September 2019 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Sherpa is a general-purpose Monte Carlo event generator for the simulation of particle collisions in high-energy collider experiments. We summarize essential features and improvements of the Sherpa 2.2 release series, which is heavily used for event generation in the analysis and interpretation of LHC Run 1 and Run 2 data. We highlight a decade of developments towards ever higher precision in the simulation of particle-collision events.

  543 citations

• Exact effective interactions and 1/4-BPS dyons in heterotic CHL orbifolds

  Guillaume Bossard, Charles Cosnier-Horeau, Boris Pioline

  SciPost Phys. 7, 028 (2019) · published 5 September 2019 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Motivated by precision counting of BPS black holes, we analyze six-derivative couplings in the low energy effective action of three-dimensional string vacua with 16 supercharges. Based on perturbative computations up to two-loop, supersymmetry and duality arguments, we conjecture that the exact coefficient of the $\nabla^2(\nabla\phi)^4$ effective interaction is given by a genus-two modular integral of a Siegel theta series for the non-perturbative Narain lattice times a specific meromorphic Siegel modular form. The latter is familiar from the Dijkgraaf-Verlinde-Verlinde (DVV) conjecture on exact degeneracies of 1/4-BPS dyons. We show that this Ansatz reproduces the known perturbative corrections at weak heterotic coupling, including tree-level, one- and two-loop corrections, plus non-perturbative effects of order $e^{-1/g_3^2}$. We also examine the weak coupling expansions in type I and type II string duals and find agreement with known perturbative results, as well as new predictions for higher genus perturbative contributions. In the limit where a circle in the internal torus decompactifies, our Ansatz predicts the exact $\nabla^2 F^4$ effective interaction in four-dimensional CHL string vacua, along with infinite series of exponentially suppressed corrections of order $e^{-R}$ from Euclideanized BPS black holes winding around the circle, and further suppressed corrections of order $e^{-R^2}$ from Taub-NUT instantons. We show that instanton corrections from 1/4-BPS black holes are precisely weighted by the BPS index predicted from the DVV formula, including the detailed moduli dependence. We also extract two-instanton corrections from pairs of 1/2-BPS black holes, demonstrating consistency with supersymmetry and wall-crossing, and estimate the size of instanton-anti-instanton contributions.

  11 citations