SciPost Submission Page
Dynamical Phases of Higher Dimensional Floquet CFTs
by Diptarka Das, Sumit R. Das, Arnab Kundu, and Krishnendu Sengupta
Submission summary
| Authors (as registered SciPost users): | Krishnendu Sengupta |
| Submission information | |
|---|---|
| Preprint Link: | scipost_202506_00028v2 (pdf) |
| Date accepted: | Feb. 2, 2026 |
| Date submitted: | Dec. 22, 2025, 2:56 a.m. |
| Submitted by: | Krishnendu Sengupta |
| Submitted to: | SciPost Physics |
| Ontological classification | |
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| Academic field: | Physics |
| Specialties: |
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| Approach: | Theoretical |
Abstract
This paper investigates the dynamical phases of Floquet Conformal Field Theories (CFTs) in space-time dimensions greater than two. Building upon our previous work which introduced quaternionic representations for studying Floquet dynamics in higher-dimensional CFTs, we now explore more general square pulse drive protocols that go beyond a single SU(1, 1) subgroup. We demonstrate that, for multi-step drive protocols, the system exhibits distinct dynamical phases characterized by the nature of the eigenvalues of the quaternionic matrix representing time evolution in a single cycle, leading to different stroboscopic responses. Our analysis establishes a fundamental geometric interpretation where these dynamical phases directly correspond to the presence or absence of Killing horizons in the base space of the CFT and in a higher dimensional AdS space on which a putative dual lives. The heating phase is associated with a non-extremal horizon, the critical phase with an extremal horizon which disappears in the non-heating phase. We develop perturbative approaches to compute the Floquet Hamiltonians in different regimes and show, how tuning drive parameters can lead to horizons, providing a geometric framework for understanding heating phenomena in driven conformal systems.
Author indications on fulfilling journal expectations
- Provide a novel and synergetic link between different research areas.
- Open a new pathway in an existing or a new research direction, with clear potential for multi-pronged follow-up work
- Detail a groundbreaking theoretical/experimental/computational discovery
- Present a breakthrough on a previously-identified and long-standing research stumbling block
Author comments upon resubmission
We resubmit our manuscript addressing all points raised by both the referees. We hope that
the revised manuscript will be found suitable for publication .
Thank you for your time and effort.
Regards
Diptarka Das, Sumit R. Das, Arnab Kundu, and Krishnendu Sengupta
List of changes
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We have split the introduction into two parts in response to comments of Ref 2.
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We have made several changes in the text throughout the paper in response to the comments by both the referees. These changes are color coded in present manuscript.
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We have added a figure in response to the referee.
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We have added App B .
Current status:
Editorial decision:
For Journal SciPost Physics: Publish
(status: Editorial decision fixed and (if required) accepted by authors)
Reports on this Submission
Report
I thank the Authors for addressing all my concerns and for implementing my suggestions. In my view, the readability of the manuscript has improved, and it now contains a sufficient amount of new results to be useful to the community and suitable for publication in SciPost Physics.
As a very minor point, I noticed a small typo in the Discussion: “A key result of this work is of this work is the establishment…”, where “of this work is” is duplicated.
I therefore recommend publication, and I thank the Authors again for their careful revisions.
Recommendation
Publish (meets expectations and criteria for this Journal)