Publications

Order by: publication date number of citations

• Introduction to Hamiltonian formulation of general relativity and homogeneous cosmologies

  Rishabh Jha

  SciPost Phys. Lect. Notes 73 (2023) · published 11 August 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We give a pedagogical introduction to the Hamiltonian formalism of general relativity at an advanced undergraduate and graduate levels. After covering the mathematical pre-requisites as well as the 3+1-decomposition of spacetime, we proceed to discuss the Arnowitt-Deser-Misner (ADM) formalism (a Hamiltonian approach) of general relativity. Then we proceed to give a brief but self-contained introduction to homogeneous (but not necessarily isotropic) universes and discuss the associated Bianchi classification. We first study their dynamics in the Lagrangian formulation, followed by the Hamiltonian formulation to show the equivalence of both approaches. We present a variety of examples to illustrate the ADM formalism: (i) free & massless scalar field coupled to homogeneous (in particular, Bianchi IX) universe, (ii) scalar field with a potential term coupled to Bianchi IX universe, (iii) electromagnetic field coupled to gravity in general, and (iv) electromagnetic field coupled to Bianchi IX universe.

  5 citations

• Ergodic Archimedean dimers

  Henrik Schou Røising, Zhao Zhang

  SciPost Phys. Core 6, 054 (2023) · published 11 August 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We study perfect matchings, or close-packed dimer coverings, of finite sections of the eleven Archimedean lattices and give a constructive proof showing that any two perfect matchings can be transformed into each other using small sets of local ring-exchange moves. This result has direct consequences for formulating quantum dimer models with a resonating valence bond ground state, i.e., a superposition of all dimer coverings compatible with the boundary conditions. On five of the composite Archimedean lattices we supplement the sufficiency proof with translationally invariant reference configurations that prove the strict necessity of the sufficient terms with respect to ergodicity. We provide examples of and discuss frustration-free deformations of the quantum dimer models on two tripartite lattices.

• Exact physical quantities of a competing spin chain in the thermodynamic limit

  Pengcheng Lu, Yi Qiao, Junpeng Cao, Wen-Li Yang

  SciPost Phys. 15, 060 (2023) · published 10 August 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We study the exact physical quantities of a competing spin chain which contains many interesting and meaningful couplings including the nearest neighbor, next nearest neighbor, chiral three spins, Dzyloshinsky-Moriya interactions and unparallel boundary magnetic fields in the thermodynamic limit. We obtain the density of zero roots, surface energies and elementary excitations in different regimes of model parameters. Due to the competition of various interactions, the surface energy and excited spectrum show many different pictures from those of the Heisenberg spin chain.

• Higher-point integrands in $\mathcal{N} = 4$ super Yang-Mills theory

  Till Bargheer, Thiago Fleury, Vasco Gonçalves

  SciPost Phys. 15, 059 (2023) · published 10 August 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We compute the integrands of five-, six-, and seven-point correlation functions of twenty-prime operators with general polarizations at the two-loop order in $\mathcal{N}=4$ super Yang-Mills theory. In addition, we compute the integrand of the five-point function at three-loop order. Using the operator product expansion, we extract the two-loop four-point function of one Konishi operator and three twenty-prime operators. Two methods were used for computing the integrands. The first method is based on constructing an ansatz, and then numerically fitting for the coefficients using the twistor-space reformulation of $\mathcal{N}=4$ super Yang-Mills theory. The second method is based on the OPE decomposition. Only very few correlator integrands for more than four points were known before. Our results can be used to test conjectures, and to make progresses on the integrability-based hexagonalization approach for correlation functions.

  3 citations

• The role of fluctuations in quantum and classical time crystals

  Toni L. Heugel, Alexander Eichler, Ramasubramanian Chitra, Oded Zilberberg

  SciPost Phys. Core 6, 053 (2023) · published 10 August 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Discrete time crystals (DTCs) are a many-body state of matter whose dynamics are slower than the forces acting on it. The same is true for classical systems with period-doubling bifurcations. Hence, the question naturally arises what differentiates classical from quantum DTCs. Here, we analyze a variant of the Bose-Hubbard model, which describes a plethora of physical phenomena and has both a classical and a quantum time-crystalline limit. Fluctuations enter the system due to the intrinsic quantum uncertainty and/or due to finite coupling to an environment. These fluctuations can activate transitions between the system's various stationary solutions. We study the role of fluctuations on the stability of the system in the long-time limit and find no distinction between quantum and classical DTCs. This allows us to probe the fluctuations in an experiment using two strongly coupled parametric resonators subject to classical noise.

  4 citations

• Search for ultralight axion dark matter in a side-band analysis of a ${}^{199}$Hg free-spin precession signal

  C. Abel, N. J. Ayres, G. Ban, G. Bison, K. Bodek, V. Bondar, E. Chanel, C. B. Crawford, M. Daum, B. Dechenaux, S. Emmenegger, P. Flaux, W. C. Griffith, P. G. Harris, Y. Kermaidic, K. Kirch, S. Komposch, P. A. Koss, J. Krempel, B. Lauss, T. Lefort, Prajwal MohanMurthy, Oscar Naviliat Cuncic, D. Pais, F. M. Piegsa, Guillaume Pignol, M. Rawlik, D. Ries, Stephanie Roccia, D. Rozpedzik, Philipp Schmidt-Wellenburg, N. Severijns, Y. V. Stadnik, J. A. Thorne, A. Weis, E. Wursten, Jacek Zejma, Geza Zsigmond

  SciPost Phys. 15, 058 (2023) · published 9 August 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Ultra-low-mass axions are a viable dark matter candidate and may form a coherently oscillating classical field. Nuclear spins in experiments on Earth might couple to this oscillating axion dark-matter field, when propagating on Earth's trajectory through our Galaxy. This spin coupling resembles an oscillating pseudo-magnetic field which modulates the spin precession of nuclear spins. Here we report on the null result of a demonstration experiment searching for a frequency modulation of the free spin-precession signal of \magHg in a 1 $\mu$T magnetic field. Our search covers the axion mass range $10^{-16}$ eV $\lesssim m_a \lesssim 10^{-13}$ eV and achieves a peak sensitivity to the axion-nucleon coupling of $g_{aNN} \approx 3.5 \times 10^{-6}$ GeV$^{-1}$.

  2 citations

• Massive superfluid vortices and vortex necklaces on a planar annulus

  Matteo Caldara, Andrea Richaud, Massimo Capone, Pietro Massignan

  SciPost Phys. 15, 057 (2023) · published 9 August 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We study a superfluid in a planar annulus hosting vortices with massive cores. An analytical point-vortex model shows that the massive vortices may perform radial oscillations on top of the usual uniform precession of their massless counterpart. Beyond a critical vortex mass, this oscillatory motion becomes unstable and the vortices are driven towards one of the edges. The analogy with the motion of a charged particle in a static electromagnetic field leads to the development of a plasma orbit theory that provides a description of the trajectories which remains accurate even beyond the regime of small radial oscillations. These results are confirmed by the numerical solution of coupled two-component Gross-Pitaevskii equations. The analysis is then extended to a necklace of vortices symmetrically arranged within the annulus.

  4 citations

• Near-extremal limits of warped CFTs

  Ankit Aggarwal, Alejandra Castro, Stéphane Detournay, Beatrix Mühlmann

  SciPost Phys. 15, 056 (2023) · published 9 August 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Warped conformal field theories (WCFTs) are two-dimensional non-relativistic systems, with a chiral scaling and shift symmetry. We present a detailed derivation of the near-extremal limit for their torus partition function. This limit requires large values of the central charge, and is only consistent for non-unitary WCFT. We compare our analysis with previous studies of WCFT and its relation to a one-dimensional warped-Schwarzian theory. We discuss different ensembles of warped CFTs and contrast our results with analogous limits in two-dimensional CFTs.

  4 citations

• Conformal dispersion relations for defects and boundaries

  Lorenzo Bianchi, Davide Bonomi

  SciPost Phys. 15, 055 (2023) · published 8 August 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We derive a dispersion relation for two-point correlation functions in defect conformal field theories. The correlator is expressed as an integral over a (single) discontinuity that is controlled by the bulk channel operator product expansion (OPE). This very simple relation is particularly useful in perturbative settings where the discontinuity is determined by a subset of bulk operators. In particular, we apply it to holographic correlators of two chiral primary operators in $\mathcal{N}=4$ Super Yang-Mills theory in the presence of a supersymmetric Wilson line. With a very simple computation, we are able to reproduce and extend existing results. We also propose a second relation, which reconstructs the correlator from a double discontinuity, and is controlled by the defect channel OPE. Finally, for the case of codimension-one defects (boundaries and interfaces) we derive a dispersion relation which receives contributions from both OPE channels and we apply it to the boundary correlator in the O(N) critical model. We reproduce the order $\epsilon^2$ result in the $\epsilon$-expansion using as input a finite number of boundary CFT data.

  8 citations

• Holography for bulk states in 3D quantum gravity

  Joris Raeymaekers, Gideon Vos

  SciPost Phys. 15, 054 (2023) · published 8 August 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  In this work we discuss the holographic description of states in the Hilbert space of (2+1)-dimensional quantum gravity, living on a time slice in the bulk. We focus on pure gravity coupled to pointlike sources for heavy spinning particles. We develop a formulation where the equations for the backreacted metric reduce to two decoupled Liouville equations with delta-function sources under pseudosphere boundary conditions. We show that both the semiclassical wavefunction and the gravity solution are determined by a universal object, namely a classical Virasoro vacuum block on the sphere. In doing so we derive a version of Polyakov's conjecture, as well as an existence criterion, for classical Liouville theory on the pseudosphere. We also discuss how some of these results are modified when considering closed universes with compact spatial slices.

  1 citation