Publications

Order by: publication date number of citations

• Interplay between chiral media and perfect electromagnetic conductor plates: Repulsive vs. attractive Casimir force transitions

  Thomas Oosthuyse, David Dudal

  SciPost Phys. 15, 213 (2023) · published 28 November 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We determine the Casimir energies and forces in a variety of potentially experimentally viable setups, consisting of parallel plates made of perfect electromagnetic conductors (PEMCs), which generalize perfect electric conductors (PECs) and perfect magnetic conductors (PMCs), and Weyl semimetals (WSMs). Where comparison is possible, our results agree with the Casimir forces calculated elsewhere in the literature, albeit with different methods. We find a multitude of known but also new cases where repulsive Casimir forces are in principle possible, but restricting the setup to PECs combined with the aforementioned WSM geometry, results in purely attractive Casimir forces.

  1 citation

• Traveling/non-traveling phase transition and non-ergodic properties in the random transverse-field Ising model on the Cayley tree

  Ankita Chakrabarti, Cyril Martins, Nicolas Laflorencie, Bertrand Georgeot, Éric Brunet, Gabriel Lemarié

  SciPost Phys. 15, 211 (2023) · published 28 November 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We study the random transverse field Ising model on a finite Cayley tree. This enables us to probe key questions arising in other important disordered quantum systems, in particular the Anderson transition and the problem of dirty bosons on the Cayley tree, or the emergence of non-ergodic properties in such systems. We numerically investigate this problem building on the cavity mean-field method complemented by state-of-the art finite-size scaling analysis. Our numerics agree very well with analytical results based on an analogy with the traveling wave problem of a branching random walk in the presence of an absorbing wall. Critical properties and finite-size corrections for the zero-temperature paramagnetic-ferromagnetic transition are studied both for constant (independent of the system volume) and algebraically vanishing (scaling as an inverse power law with the system volume) boundary conditions. In the later case, we reveal a regime which is reminiscent of the non-ergodic delocalized phase observed in other systems, thus shedding some light on critical issues in the context of disordered quantum systems, such as Anderson transitions, the many-body localization or disordered bosons in infinite dimensions.

• Dipole symmetry breaking and fractonic Nambu-Goldstone mode

  Evangelos Afxonidis, Alessio Caddeo, Carlos Hoyos, Daniele Musso

  SciPost Phys. Core 6, 082 (2023) · published 28 November 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We introduce a family of quantum field theories for fields carrying monopole and dipole charges. In contrast to previous realizations, fields have quadratic two-derivative kinetic terms. The dipole symmetry algebra is realized in a discretized internal space and connected to the physical space through a background gauge field. We study spontaneous symmetry breaking of dipole symmetry in 1+1 dimensions in a large-$N$ limit. The trivial classical vacuum is lifted by quantum corrections into a vacuum which breaks dipole symmetry while preserving monopole charge. By means of a Hubbard-Stratonovich transformation, heat-kernel and large-$N$ techniques, we compute the effective action for the low-energy modes. We encounter a fractonic immobile Nambu-Goldstone mode whose dispersion characteristics avoid Coleman-Hohenberg-Mermin-Wagner theorem independently of the large-$N$ limit.

  1 citation

• Double-Fourier engineering of Josephson energy-phase relationships applied to diodes

  A. Mert Bozkurt, Jasper Brookman, Valla Fatemi, Anton R. Akhmerov

  SciPost Phys. 15, 204 (2023) · published 24 November 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We present a systematic method to design arbitrary energy-phase relations using parallel arms of two series Josephson tunnel junctions each. Our approach employs Fourier engineering in the energy-phase relation of each arm and the position of the arms in real space. We demonstrate our method by engineering the energy-phase relation of a near-ideal superconducting diode, which we find to be robust against the imperfections in the design parameters. Finally, we show the versatility of our approach by designing various other energy-phase relations.

  2 citations

• A functional-analysis derivation of the parquet equation

  Christian J. Eckhardt, Patrick Kappl, Anna Kauch, Karsten Held

  SciPost Phys. 15, 203 (2023) · published 24 November 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The parquet equation is an exact field-theoretic equation known since the 60s that underlies numerous approximations to solve strongly correlated Fermion systems. Its derivation previously relied on combinatorial arguments classifying all diagrams of the two-particle Green's function in terms of their (ir)reducibility properties. In this work we provide a derivation of the parquet equation solely employing techniques of functional analysis namely functional Legendre transformations and functional derivatives. The advantage of a derivation in terms of a straightforward calculation is twofold: (i) the quantities appearing in the calculation have a clear mathematical definition and interpretation as derivatives of the Luttinger-Ward functional; (ii) analogous calculations to the ones that lead to the parquet equation may be performed for higher-order Green's functions potentially leading to a classification of these in terms of their (ir)reducible components.

• Interpolating between the gauge and Schrödinger pictures of quantum dynamics

  Sayak Guha Roy, Kevin Slagle

  SciPost Phys. Core 6, 081 (2023) · published 24 November 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Although spatial locality is explicit in the Heisenberg picture of quantum dynamics, spatial locality is not explicit in the Schrödinger picture equations of motion. The gauge picture is a modification of Schrödinger's picture such that locality is explicit in the equations of motion. In order to achieve this explicit locality, the gauge picture utilizes (1) a distinct wavefunction associated with each patch of space, and (2) time-dependent unitary connections to relate the Hilbert spaces associated with nearby patches. In this work, we show that by adding an additional spatially-local term to the gauge picture equations of motion, we can effectively interpolate between the gauge and Schrödinger pictures, such that when this additional term has a large coefficient, all of the gauge picture wavefunctions approach the Schrödginer picture wavefunction (and the connections approach the identity).

• The parastatistics of braided Majorana fermions

  Francesco Toppan

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 14, 046 (2023) · published 24 November 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  This paper presents the parastatistics of braided Majorana fermions obtained in the framework of a graded Hopf algebra endowed with a braided tensor product. The braiding property is encoded in a t-dependent 4×4 braiding matrix $B_t$ related to the Alexander-Conway polynomial. The nonvanishing complex parameter t defines the braided parastatistics. At t=1 ordinary fermions are recovered. The values of t at roots of unity are organized into levels which specify the maximal number of braided Majorana fermions in a multiparticle sector. Generic values of t and the t=-1 root of unity mimick the behaviour of ordinary bosons.

• Brane detectors of a dynamical phase transition in a driven CFT

  Suchetan Das, Bobby Ezhuthachan, Arnab Kundu, Somnath Porey, Baishali Roy, Krishnendu Sengupta

  SciPost Phys. 15, 202 (2023) · published 23 November 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We show that a dynamical transition from a non-heating to a heating phase of a periodic $SL(2,\mathbb{R})$ driven two dimensional conformal field theory (CFT) with a large central charge is perceived as a first order transition by a bulk brane embedded in the dual AdS. We construct the dual bulk metric corresponding to a driven CFT for both the heating and the non-heating phases. These metrics are different AdS$_2$ slices of the pure AdS$_3$ metric. We embed a brane in the obtained dual AdS space and provide an explicit computation of its free energy both in the probe limit and for an end-of-world (EOW) brane taking into account its backreaction. Our analysis indicates a finite discontinuity in the first derivative of the brane free energy as one moves from the non-heating to the heating phase (by tuning the drive amplitude and/or frequency of the driven CFT) thus demonstrating the presence of the bulk first order transition. Interestingly, no such transition is perceived by the bulk in the absence of the brane. We also provide explicit computations of two-point, four-point out-of-time correlators (OTOC) using the bulk picture. Our analysis shows that the structure of these correlators in different phases match their counterparts computed in the driven CFT. We analyze the effect of multiple EOW branes in the bulk and discuss possible extensions of our work for richer geometries and branes.

  1 citation

• Symmetry-protected exceptional and nodal points in non-Hermitian systems

  Sharareh Sayyad, Marcus Stålhammar, Lukas Rødland, Flore K. Kunst

  SciPost Phys. 15, 200 (2023) · published 23 November 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  One of the unique features of non-Hermitian (NH) systems is the appearance of NH degeneracies known as exceptional points (EPs). The extensively studied defective EPs occur when the Hamiltonian becomes non-diagonalizable. Aside from this degeneracy, we show that NH systems may host two further types of non-defective degeneracies, namely, non-defective EPs and ordinary (Hermitian) nodal points. The non-defective EPs manifest themselves by i) the diagonalizability of the NH Hamiltonian at these points and ii) the non-diagonalizability of the Hamiltonian along certain intersections of these points, resulting in instabilities in the Jordan decomposition when approaching the points from certain directions. We demonstrate that certain discrete symmetries, namely parity-time, parity-particle-hole, and pseudo-Hermitian symmetry, guarantee the occurrence of both defective and non-defective EPs. We extend this list of symmetries by including the NH time-reversal symmetry in two-band systems. Two-band and four-band models exemplify our findings. Through an example, we further reveal that ordinary nodal points may coexist with defective EPs in NH models when the above symmetries are relaxed.

  10 citations

• Hilbert space structure and classical limit of the low energy sector of U(N) quantum Hall ferromagnets

  Manuel Calixto, Alberto Mayorgas, Julio Guerrero

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 14, 021 (2023) · published 23 November 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Using the Lieb–Mattis ordering theorem of electronic energy levels, we identify and construct the Hilbert space of the low energy sector of U(N) quantum Hall/Heisenberg ferromagnets at filling factor M for L Landau/lattice sites. The carrier Hilbert space of irreducible representations of U(N) is described by rectangular Young tableaux of M rows and L columns, and associated with Grassmannian phase spaces U(N)/U(M)×U(N-M). Replacing U(N)-spin operators by their expectation values in a Grassmannian coherent state allows for a semi-classical treatment of the low energy U(N)-spin-wave coherent excitations (skyrmions) of U(N) quantum Hall ferromagnets in terms of Grasmannian nonlinear sigma models.