Publications

Order by: publication date number of citations

• Strong CP problem, electric dipole moment, and fate of the axion

  Gerrit Schierholz

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 6, 011 (2022) · published 31 May 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Three hard problems! In this talk I investigate the long-distance properties of quantum chromodynamics in the presence of a topological theta term. This is done on the lattice, using the gradient flow to isolate the long-distance modes in the functional integral measure and tracing it over successive length scales. It turns out that the color fields produced by quarks and gluons are screened, and confinement is lost, for vacuum angles |theta| > 0, thus providing a natural solution of the strong CP problem. This solution is compatible with recent lattice calculations of the electric dipole moment of the neutron, while it excludes the axion extension of the Standard Model.

• SU(3) hybrid static potentials at small quark-antiquark separations from fine lattices

  Carolin Schlosser, Marc Wagner

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 6, 009 (2022) · published 31 May 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We summarize our recent lattice gauge theory computation of the $\Pi_u$ and $\Sigma_u^-$ hybrid static potentials at small quark-antiquark separations. We provide parameterizations of the resulting lattice data points, which can be used for investigating masses and properties of heavy hybrid mesons in the Born-Oppenheimer approximation.

• New determination of the production cross section for secondary positrons and electrons in the Galaxy

  Luca Orusa, Mattia Di Mauro, Fiorenza Donato, Michael Korsmeier

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 13, 006 (2023) · published 28 September 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The cosmic-ray fluxes of electrons and positrons ($e^{±}$) are measured with high precision by the space-borne particle spectrometer AMS-02. To infer a precise interpretation of the production processes for $e^{±}$ in our Galaxy, it is necessary to have an accurate description of the secondary component, produced by the interaction of cosmic-ray proton and helium with the interstellar medium atoms. We determine new analytical functions of the Lorentz invariant cross section for the production of $e^±$ by fitting data from collider experiments. The total differential cross section $d\sigma/dT_{e^±}(p+p→ e^±+X)$ is predicted with an uncertainty of about 5-7% in the energies relevant for AMS-02 positron flux. For further information about this work refer to [Phys. Rev. D 105, 123021 (2022)].

• The composition of cosmic rays according to the data on EAS cores

  S. B. Shaulov, V. A. Ryabov, S. E. Pyatovsky, A. L. Shepetov, V. V. Zhukov

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 13, 014 (2023) · published 28 September 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The main purpose of this work is to find the causes of the break of the cosmic ray spectrum at an energy of 3 PeV, which is called the knee. The solution of the problem is associated with the determination of the nuclear composition of cosmic rays in the knee area. The conclusions of this work are based on the analysis of the characteristics of the EAS cores obtained using X-ray emulsion chambers. According to these data, a number of anomalous effects are observed in the knee region, such as scaling violation in the spectra of secondary hadrons, an excess of muons in EAS with gamma families and others. At the same energies equivalent to 1-100 PeV the laboratory system colliders show scaling behavior. So analysis of the data on the EAS cores suggests that the knee in their spectrum is formed by a component of cosmic rays of a non-nuclear nature, possibly consisting of stable (quasi-stable) particles of hypothetical strange quark matter, which named strangelets. This is the only model of the knee compatible with the magnetic rigidity of the nuclear spectra break R=100 TV. In fact, stranglets are stable heavy quasi-nuclei with a positive electric charge of Z=30-1000, so the mechanism of their acceleration coincides with the nuclear one. The break of the cosmic ray spectrum can be associated with a significantly larger mass of strangelets compared to nuclei.

• Crossed product algebras and generalized entropy for subregions

  Shadi Ali Ahmad, Ro Jefferson

  SciPost Phys. Core 7, 020 (2024) · published 10 April 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  An early result of algebraic quantum field theory is that the algebra of any subregion in a QFT is a von Neumann factor of type III$_{1}$, in which entropy cannot be well-defined because such algebras do not admit a trace or density states. However, associated to the algebra is a modular group of automorphisms characterizing the local dynamics of degrees of freedom in the region, and the crossed product of the algebra with its modular group yields a type II$_∞$ factor, in which traces and hence von Neumann entropy can be well-defined. In this work, we generalize recent constructions of the crossed product algebra for the TFD to, in principle, arbitrary spacetime regions in arbitrary QFTs, formally paving the way to the study of entanglement entropy without UV divergences. In contrast to previous works, we emphasize that this construction is independent of gravity. In this sense, the crossed product construction represents a refinement of Haag's assignment of nets of observable algebras to spacetime regions by providing a natural construction of a type II factor. We present several concrete examples: a QFT in Rindler space, a CFT in an open ball of Minkowski space, and arbitrary boundary subregions in AdS/CFT. In the holographic setting, we provide a novel argument for why the bulk dual must be the entanglement wedge, and discuss the distinction arising from boundary modular flow between causal and entanglement wedges for excited states and disjoint regions.

• Hamiltonian truncation crafted for UV-divergent QFTs

  Olivier Delouche, Joan Elias Miro, James Ingoldby

  SciPost Phys. 16, 105 (2024) · published 19 April 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We develop the theory of Hamiltonian Truncation (HT) to systematically study RG flows that require the renormalization of coupling constants. This is a necessary step towards making HT a fully general method for QFT calculations. We apply this theory to a number of QFTs defined as relevant deformations of d=1+1 CFTs. We investigated three examples of increasing complexity: The deformed Ising, Tricritical-Ising, and non-unitary minimal model M(3,7). The first two examples provide a crosscheck of our methodologies against well established characteristics of these theories. The M(3,7) CFT deformed by its $\mathbb{Z}_2$-even operators shows an intricate phase diagram that we clarify. At a boundary of this phase diagram we show that this theory flows, in the IR, to the M(3,5) CFT.

• Some recent results on renormalization-group properties of quantum field theories

  Robert Shrock

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 6, 005 (2022) · published 31 May 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We discuss some higher-loop studies of renormalization-group flows and fixed points in various quantum field theories.

• The threefold way to quantum periods: WKB, TBA equations and q-Painlevé

  Fabrizio Del Monte, Pietro Longhi

  SciPost Phys. 15, 112 (2023) · published 25 September 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We show that TBA equations defined by the BPS spectrum of $5d$ $\mathcal{N}=1$ $SU(2)$ Yang-Mills on $S^1\times \mathbb{R}^4$ encode the q-Painlevé III$_3$ equation. We find a fine-tuned stratum in the physical moduli space of the theory where solutions to TBA equations can be obtained exactly, and verify that they agree with the algebraic solutions to q-Painlevé. Switching from the physical moduli space to that of stability conditions, we identify two one-parameter deformations of the fine-tuned stratum, where the general solution of the q-Painlevé equation in terms of dual instanton partition functions continues to provide explicit TBA solutions. Motivated by these observations, we propose a further extensions of the range of validity of this correspondence, under a suitable identification of moduli. As further checks of our proposal, we study the behavior of exact WKB quantum periods for the quantum curve of local $\mathbb{P}^1\times\mathbb{P}^1$.

• CFT and lattice correlators near an RG domain wall between minimal models

  Cameron V. Cogburn, Andrew Liam Fitzpatrick, Hao Geng

  SciPost Phys. Core 7, 021 (2024) · published 19 April 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Conformal interfaces separating two conformal field theories (CFTs) provide maps between different CFTs, and naturally exist in nature as domain walls between different phases. One particularly interesting construction of a conformal interface is the renormalization group (RG) domain wall between CFTs. For a given Virasoro minimal model $\mathcal{M}_{k+3,k+2}$, an RG domain wall can be generated by a specific deformation which triggers an RG flow towards its adjacent Virasoro minimal model $\mathcal{M}_{k+2,k+1}$ with the deformation turned on over part of the space. An algebraic construction of this domain wall was proposed by Gaiotto in [J. High Energy Phys. 12, 103 (2012)]. In this paper, we will provide a study of this RG domain wall for the minimal case $k=2$, which can be thought of as a nonperturbative check of the construction. In this case the wall is separating the Tricritical Ising Model (TIM) CFT and the Ising Model (IM) CFT. We will check the analytical results of correlation functions from the RG brane construction with the numerical density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) calculation using a lattice model proposed in [arXiv.1206.1332, Science 344, 280 (2014)], and find a perfect agreement. We comment on possible experimental realizations of this RG domain wall.

• The Compton Amplitude, lattice QCD and the Feynman-Hellmann approach

  K.U. Can, A. Hannaford-Gunn, R. Horsley, Y. Nakamura, H. Perlt, P.E.L. Rakow, E. Sankey, G. Schierholz, H. Stuben, R.D. Young, J.M. Zanotti

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 6, 003 (2022) · published 31 May 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  A major objective of lattice QCD is the computation of hadronic matrix elements. The standard method is to use three-point and four-point correlation functions. An alternative approach, requiring only the computation of two-point correlation functions is to use the Feynman-Hellmann theorem. In this talk we develop this method up to second order in perturbation theory, in a context appropriate for lattice QCD. This encompasses the Compton Amplitude (which forms the basis for deep inelastic scattering) and hadron scattering. Some numerical results are presented showing results indicating what this approach might achieve.