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SciPost Physics

SciPost Physics Vol. 17 issue 6 (December 2024)

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Unambiguous simulation of diffusive charge transport in disordered nanoribbons

Henrique Pina Veiga, Simão Meneses João, João Manuel Alendouro Pinho, João Pedro Santos Pires, João Manuel Viana Parente Lopes

SciPost Phys. 17, 149 (2024) · published 3 December 2024 | · pdf

Charge transport in disordered two-dimensional (2D) systems showcases a myriad of unique phenomenologies that highlight different aspects of the underlying quantum dynamics. Electrons in such systems undergo a crossover from ballistic propagation to Anderson localization, contingent on the system's effective coherence length. Between the extended and localized phases lies a diffusive crossover in which the charge conductivity is properly defined. The numerical observation of this regime has remained elusive because it requires fully coherent transport to be simulated in systems whose dimensions are sufficiently large to meaningfully split the mean-free path and localization length scales. To address this challenge, we employed a novel linear scaling time-resolved approach that enabled us to derive the dc-transport characteristics and observe the three expected 2D transport regimes — ballistic, diffusive, and localized.
Superdiffusive transport in quasi-particle dephasing models

Yu-Peng Wang, Chen Fang, Jie Ren

SciPost Phys. 17, 150 (2024) · published 3 December 2024 | · pdf

Investigating the behavior of noninteracting fermions subjected to local dephasing, we reveal that quasi-particle dephasing can induce superdiffusive transport. This superdiffusion arises from nodal points within the momentum distribution of local dephasing quasi-particles, leading to asymptotic long-lived modes. By studying the dynamics of the Wigner function, we rigorously elucidate how the dynamics of these enduring modes give rise to Lévy walk processes, a renowned mechanism underlying superdiffusion phenomena. Our research demonstrates the controllability of dynamical scaling exponents by selecting quasi-particles and extends its applicability to higher dimensions, underlining the pervasive nature of superdiffusion in dephasing models.
Complexity is not enough for randomness

Shiyong Guo, Martin Sasieta, Brian Swingle

SciPost Phys. 17, 151 (2024) · published 4 December 2024 | · pdf

We study the dynamical generation of randomness in Brownian systems as a function of the degree of locality of the Hamiltonian. We first express the trace distance to a unitary design for these systems in terms of an effective equilibrium thermal partition function, and provide a set of conditions that guarantee a linear time to design. We relate the trace distance to design to spectral properties of the time-evolution operator. We apply these considerations to the Brownian $p$-SYK model as a function of the degree of locality $p$. We show that the time to design is linear, with a slope proportional to $1/p$. We corroborate that when $p$ is of order the system size this reproduces the behavior of a completely non-local Brownian model of random matrices. For the random matrix model, we reinterpret these results from the point of view of classical Brownian motion in the unitary manifold. Therefore, we find that the generation of randomness typically persists for exponentially long times in the system size, even for systems governed by highly non-local time-dependent Hamiltonians. We conjecture this to be a general property: there is no efficient way to generate approximate Haar random unitaries dynamically, unless a large degree of fine-tuning is present in the ensemble of time-dependent Hamiltonians. We contrast the slow generation of randomness to the growth of quantum complexity of the time-evolution operator. Using known bounds on circuit complexity for unitary designs, we obtain a lower bound determining that complexity grows at least linearly in time for Brownian systems. We argue that these bounds on circuit complexity are far from tight and that complexity grows at a much faster rate, at least for non-local systems.
Locality of topological dynamics in Chern insulators

Anton Markov, Diana Golovanova, Alexander Yavorsky, Alexey Rubtsov

SciPost Phys. 17, 152 (2024) · published 5 December 2024 | · pdf

A system having macroscopic patches in different topological phases has no well-defined global topological invariant. To treat such a case, the quantities labeling different areas of the sample according to their topological state are used, dubbed local topological markers. Here we study their dynamics. We concentrate on two quantities, namely the local Chern marker and the on-site charge induced by an applied magnetic field. The first one provides the correct information about the system's topological properties, the second can be readily measured in experiment. We demonstrate that the time-dependent local Chern marker is a much more non-local object than the equilibrium one. Surprisingly, large samples driven out of equilibrium lead to a simple description of the local Chern marker's dynamics by a local continuity equation. Also, we argue that the connection between the local Chern marker and magnetic-field induced charge known in static holds out of equilibrium in some experimentally relevant systems as well. This gives a clear physical description of the marker's evolution and provides a simple recipe for experimental estimation of the topological marker's value.
Lack of near-sightedness principle in non-Hermitian systems

Helene Spring, Viktor Könye, Anton R. Akhmerov, Ion Cosma Fulga

SciPost Phys. 17, 153 (2024) · published 5 December 2024 | · pdf

The non-Hermitian skin effect is a phenomenon in which an extensive number of states accumulates at the boundaries of a system. It has been associated to nontrivial topology, with nonzero bulk invariants predicting its appearance and its position in real space. Here, we demonstrate that the non-Hermitian skin effect has weaker bulk-edge correspondence than topological insulators: when translation symmetry is broken by a single non-Hermitian impurity, skin modes are depleted at the boundary and accumulate at the impurity site, without changing any bulk invariant. Similarly, a single non-Hermitian impurity may deplete the states from a region of Hermitian bulk.
BBBW on the spindle

Antonio Amariti, Salvo Mancani, Davide Morgante, Nicolò Petri, Alessia Segati

SciPost Phys. 17, 154 (2024) · published 5 December 2024 | · pdf

We study the spindle compactification of families of AdS$_5$ consistent truncations corresponding to M5 branes wrapped on complex curves in Calabi-Yau three-folds. From the AdS/CFT correspondence these models are dual to $\mathcal{N}=1$ SCFTs obtained by gluing of $T_N$ blocks. The truncations considered here have both vector and hyper multiplets and the analysis of the BPS equations on the spindle allows to extract the central charges. Such analysis gives also consistency conditions for the existence of the solutions. The solutions are then found both analytically and numerically for opportune choices of the charges for some sub-families of truncations. We then compare our results with the one expected from the field theory side, by integrating the anomaly polynomial.
The deformed Inozemtsev spin chain

Rob Klabbers, Jules Lamers

SciPost Phys. 17, 155 (2024) · published 6 December 2024 | · pdf

The Inozemtsev chain is an exactly solvable interpolation between the short-range Heisenberg and long-range Haldane–Shastry (HS) chains. In order to unlock its potential to study spin interactions with tunable interaction range using the powerful tools of integrability, the model's mathematical properties require better understanding. As a major step in this direction, we present a new generalisation of the Inozemtsev chain with spin symmetry reduced to $\textit{U}(1)$, interpolating between a Heisenberg XXZ chain and the XXZ-type HS chain, and integrable throughout. Underlying it is a new quantum many-body system that extends the elliptic Ruijsenaars system by including spins, contains the trigonometric spin-Ruijsenaars–Macdonald system as a special case, and yields our spin chain by 'freezing'. Our models have potential applications from condensed-matter to high-energy theory, and provide a crucial step towards a general theory for long-range integrability.
Asymptotics of Weil-Petersson volumes and two-dimensional quantum gravities

Luca Griguolo, Jacopo Papalini, Lorenzo Russo, Domenico Seminara

SciPost Phys. 17, 156 (2024) · published 6 December 2024 | · pdf

We propose a refined expression for the large genus asymptotics of the Weil-Petersson volumes of the moduli space of super-Riemann surfaces with an arbitrary number of boundaries. Our formula leverages the connection between JT supergravity and its matrix model definition, utilizing some basic tools of resurgence theory. The final result holds for arbitrary boundary lengths and preserves the polynomial structure of the super-volumes. As a byproduct we also obtain a prediction for the large genus asymptotics of generalized $\Theta$-class intersection numbers. We extend our proposal to the case of the quantum volumes relevant for the Virasoro minimal string/Liouville gravity. Performing the classical limit on the quantum volumes, we recover a formula for the ordinary Weil-Petersson building blocks of JT gravity.
Refined cyclic renormalization group in Russian doll model

Vedant Motamarri, Ivan M. Khaymovich, Alexander Gorsky

SciPost Phys. 17, 157 (2024) · published 6 December 2024 | · pdf

Focusing on Bethe-Ansatz integrable models, robust to both time-reversal symmetry breaking and disorder, we consider the Russian Doll Model (RDM) for finite system sizes and energy levels. Suggested as a time-reversal-symmetry breaking deformation of Richardson's model, the well-known and simplest model of superconductivity, RDM revealed an unusual cyclic renormalization group (RG) over the system size $N$, where the energy levels repeat themselves, shifted by one after a finite period in $\ln N$, supplemented by a hierarchy of superconducting condensates, with the superconducting gaps following the so-called Efimov (exponential) scaling. The equidistant single-particle spectrum of RDM made the above Efimov scaling and cyclic RG to be asymptotically exact in the wideband limit of the diagonal potential. Here, we generalize this observation in various respects. We find that, beyond the wideband limit, when the entire spectrum is considered, the periodicity of the spectrum is not constant, but appears to be energy-dependent. Moreover, we resolve the apparent paradox of shift in the spectrum by a single level after the RG period, despite the disappearance of a finite fraction of energy levels. We also analyze the effects of disorder in the diagonal potential on the above periodicity and show that it survives only for high energies beyond the energy interval of the disorder amplitude. Our analytic analysis is supported with exact diagonalization.
Modelling the underlying event in photon-initiated processes

Jonathan Butterworth, Ilkka Helenius, Juan Jose Juan Castella, Bradley Pattengale, Shahzad Sanjrani, Matthew Wing

SciPost Phys. 17, 158 (2024) · published 9 December 2024 | · pdf

Modelling the underlying event in high-energy hadronic collisions is important for physics at colliders. This includes lepton colliders, where low-virtuality photons accompanying the lepton beam(s) may develop hadronic structure. Similarly, photon-induced collisions also occur in proton or heavy-ion beam experiments. While the underlying event in proton-proton collisions has been the subject of much study at the LHC, studies of hadronic-photon-induced underlying event are now of increasing interest in light of planned future lepton and lepton-hadron colliders, as well as the photon-induced processes in ultra-peripheral collisions at the LHC. Here we present an investigation of the underlying event in photon-initiated processes, starting from the Pythia models used to describe LHC and Tevatron data, and revisiting HERA and LEP2 data. While no single tune describes all the data with different beam configurations, we find that a good agreement can still be found within the same model by adjusting the relevant parameters separately for $\gamma\gamma$, $\gamma p$ and $pp$. This suggests that the basic model of multiparton interaction implemented in Pythia can be applied for different beam configurations. Furthermore, we find that a reasonable agreement for $\gamma\gamma$ and $\gamma p$ data, and for $pp$ data at an LHC reference energy, can be found within a single parametrization, but $pp$ collisions would prefer a stronger energy dependence, leading to too many multiparton interactions in lower energy photon-induced collisions. On this basis, we make some recommendations for simulations of photon-induced processes, such as $\gamma \gamma$ events at the LHC or FCC and $ep$ or $eA$ collisions at the EIC, and suggest possibilities for improvements in the modelling.
Time-dependent Schwinger boson mean-field theory of supermagnonic propagation in 2D antiferromagnets

Martijn D. Bouman, Johan H. Mentink

SciPost Phys. 17, 159 (2024) · published 9 December 2024 | · pdf

Understanding the speed limits for the propagation of magnons is of key importance for the development of ultrafast spintronics and magnonics. Recently, it was predicted that in 2D antiferromagnets, spin correlations can propagate faster than the highest magnon velocity. Here we gain deeper understanding of this supermagnonic effect based on time-dependent Schwinger boson mean-field theory. We find that the supermagnonic effect is determined by the competition between propagating magnons and a localized quasi-bound state, which is tunable by lattice coordination and quantum spin value $S$, suggesting a new scenario to enhance magnon propagation.
Replica symmetry breaking in spin glasses in the replica-free Keldysh formalism

Johannes Lang, Subir Sachdev, Sebastian Diehl

SciPost Phys. 17, 160 (2024) · published 9 December 2024 | · pdf

We show that the algebra of Parisi ultrametric matrices is recovered by the real-time, replica-free, Dyson-Keldysh equations of infinite-range quantum spin glasses in the late time glassy limit. This connects to earlier results on classical and quantum systems showing how ultrametricity emerges from the persistent slow aging dynamics of the glass phase. The stationary spin glass state thereby spontaneously breaks thermal symmetry, or the Kubo-Martin-Schwinger relation of a state in global thermal equilibrium. We describe the Keldysh path integral of the infinite-range Ising model in transverse and longitudinal fields, and in the context of the Landau expansion of the action functional, show how the long-time limit connects to the full replica symmetry breaking obtained in the equilibrium formalism. We also illustrate our formalism by applying it to the spherical quantum $p$-spin model, which only exhibits one-step replica symmetry breaking.
Pairing symmetry and fermion projective symmetry groups

Xu Yang, Sayak Biswas, Shuangyuan Lu, Mohit Randeria, Yuan-Ming Lu

SciPost Phys. 17, 161 (2024) · published 10 December 2024 | · pdf

The Ginzburg-Landau (GL) theory is very successful in describing the pairing symmetry, a fundamental characterization of the broken symmetries in a paired superfluid or superconductor. However, GL theory does not describe fermionic excitations such as Bogoliubov quasiparticles or Andreev bound states that are directly related to topological properties of the superconductor. In this work, we show that the symmetries of the fermionic excitations are captured by a Projective Symmetry Group (PSG), which is a group extension of the bosonic symmetry group in the superconducting state. We further establish a correspondence between the pairing symmetry and the fermion PSG. When the normal and superconducting states share the same spin rotational symmetry, there is a simpler correspondence between the pairing symmetry and the fermion PSG, which we enumerate for all 32 crystalline point groups. We also discuss the general framework for computing PSGs when the spin rotational symmetry is spontaneously broken in the superconducting state. This PSG formalism leads to experimental consequences, and as an example, we show how a given pairing symmetry dictates the classification of topological superconductivity.
Dynamical correlation functions in the Ising field theory

István Csépányi, Márton Kormos

SciPost Phys. 17, 162 (2024) · published 10 December 2024 | · pdf

We study finite temperature dynamical correlation functions of the magnetization operator in the one-dimensional Ising quantum field theory. Our approach is based on a finite temperature form factor series and on a Fredholm determinant representation of the correlators. While for space-like separations the Fredholm determinant can be efficiently evaluated numerically, for the time-like region it has convergence issues inherited from the form factor series. We develop a method to compute the correlation functions at time-like separations based on the analytic continuation of the space-time coordinates to complex values. Using this numerical technique, we explore all space-time and temperature regimes in both the ordered and disordered phases including short, large, and near-light-cone separations at low and high temperatures. We confirm the existing analytic predictions for the asymptotic behavior of the correlations except in the case of space-like correlations in the paramagnetic phase. For this case we derive a new closed form expression for the correlation length that has some unusual properties: it is a non-analytic function of both the space-time direction and the temperature, and its temperature dependence is non-monotonic.
When does a Fermi puddle become a Fermi sea? Emergence of pairing in two-dimensional trapped mesoscopic Fermi gases

Emma K. Laird, Brendan C. Mulkerin, Jia Wang, Matthew J. Davis

SciPost Phys. 17, 163 (2024) · published 11 December 2024 | · pdf

Pairing lies at the heart of superfluidity in fermionic systems. Motivated by recent experiments in mesoscopic Fermi gases, we study up to six fermionic atoms with equal masses and equal populations in two different spin states, confined in a quasi-two-dimensional harmonic trap. We couple a stochastic variational approach with the use of an explicitly correlated Gaussian basis set, which enables us to obtain highly accurate energies and structural properties. Utilising two-dimensional two-body scattering theory with a finite-range Gaussian interaction potential, we tune the effective range to model realistic quasi-two-dimensional scattering. We calculate the excitation spectrum, pair correlation function, and number of pairs as a function of increasing attractive interaction strength. For up to six fermions in the ground state, we find that opposite spin and momentum pairing is maximised well below the Fermi surface in momentum space. By contrast, corresponding experiments on twelve fermions have found that pairing is maximal at the Fermi surface and strongly suppressed beneath [M. Holten et al., Nature 606, 287-291 (2022)]. This suggests that the Fermi sea — which acts to suppress pairing at low momenta via Pauli blocking — emerges in the transition from six to twelve particles.
On quantum melting of superfluid vortex crystals: From Lifshitz scalar to dual gravity

Dung Xuan Nguyen, Sergej Moroz

SciPost Phys. 17, 164 (2024) · published 11 December 2024 | · pdf

Despite a long history of studies of vortex crystals in rotating superfluids, their melting due to quantum fluctuations is poorly understood. Here we develop a fracton-elasticity duality to investigate a two-dimensional vortex lattice within the fast rotation regime, where the Lifshitz model of the collective Tkachenko mode serves as the leading-order low-energy effective theory. We incorporate topological defects and discuss several quantum melting scenarios triggered by their proliferation. Furthermore, we lay the groundwork for a dual non-linear emergent gravity description of the superfluid vortex crystals.
B-type D-branes in hybrid models

Johanna Knapp, Robert Pryor

SciPost Phys. 17, 165 (2024) · published 12 December 2024 | · pdf

A hybrid model is a fibration of a Landau-Ginzburg orbifold over a geometric base. We study B-type D-branes in hybrid models. Imposing B-type supersymmetry on the boundary action, we show that D-branes are specified by matrix factorisations in the fibre direction, together with some geometric data associated to the base. We also deduce conditions for the compatibility of these branes with the bulk orbifold actions and R-symmetry. We construct examples of hybrid B-branes which are generalisations of well-studied branes in geometric and Landau-Ginzburg models. Hybrid models can arise at limiting points of the stringy Kähler moduli space of Calabi-Yaus, and can be realised as phases of the corresponding gauged linear sigma models (GLSMs). Using GLSM techniques, we establish connections between geometric branes and hybrid branes. As explicit examples, we consider one- and two-parameter Calabi-Yau hybrids with a $\mathbb{P}^1$-base.
ML-based top taggers: Performance, uncertainty and impact of tower & tracker data integration

Rameswar Sahu, Kirtiman Ghosh

SciPost Phys. 17, 166 (2024) · published 12 December 2024 | · pdf

Machine learning algorithms have the capacity to discern intricate features directly from raw data. We demonstrated the performance of top taggers built upon three machine learning architectures: a BDT that uses jet-level variables (high-level features, HLF) as input, a CNN (a miniature version of ResNet) trained on the jet image, and a GNN (LorentzNet) trained on the particle cloud representation of a jet utilizing the 4-momentum (low-level features, LLF) of the jet constituents as input. We found significant performance enhancement for all three classes of classifiers when trained on combined data from calorimeter towers and tracker detectors. The high resolution of the tracking data not only improved the classifier performance in the high transverse momentum region, but the information about the distribution and composition of charged and neutral constituents of the fat jets and subjets helped identify the quark/gluon origin of sub-jets and hence enhances top tagging efficiency. The LLF-based classifiers, such as CNN and GNN, exhibit significantly better performance when compared to HLF-based classifiers like BDT, especially in the high transverse momentum region. Nevertheless, the LLF-based classifiers trained on constituents' 4-momentum data exhibit substantial dependency on the jet modeling within Monte Carlo generators. The composite classifiers, formed by stacking a BDT on top of a GNN/CNN, not only enhance the performance of LLF-based classifiers but also mitigate the uncertainties stemming from the showering and hadronization model of the event generator. We have conducted a comprehensive study on the influence of the fat jet's reconstruction and labeling procedure on the efficiency of the classifiers.
Topologically ordered steady states in open quantum systems

Zijian Wang, Xu-Dong Dai, He-Ran Wang, Zhong Wang

SciPost Phys. 17, 167 (2024) · published 13 December 2024 | · pdf

The interplay between dissipation and correlation can lead to novel emergent phenomena in open systems. Here we investigate "steady-state topological order" defined by the robust topological degeneracy of steady states, which is a generalization of the ground-state topological degeneracy of closed systems. Specifically, we construct two representative Liouvillians using engineered dissipation, and exactly solve the steady states with topological degeneracy. We find that while the steady-state topological degeneracy is fragile under noise in two dimensions, it is stable in three dimensions, where a genuine many-body phase with topological degeneracy is realized. We identify universal features of steady-state topological physics such as the deconfined emergent gauge field and slow relaxation dynamics of topological defects. The transition from a topologically ordered phase to a trivial phase is also investigated via numerical simulation. Our work highlights the essential difference between ground-state topological order in closed systems and steady-state topological order in open systems.
WZW terms without anomalies: Generalised symmetries in chiral Lagrangians

Joe Davighi, Nakarin Lohitsiri

SciPost Phys. 17, 168 (2024) · published 13 December 2024 | · pdf

We consider a 4d non-linear sigma model on the coset $(\text{SU}(N)_L × \text{SU}(N)_R × \text{SU}(2))/(\text{SU}(N)_{L+R}× \mathrm{U}(1))\cong \text{SU}(N) × S^2$, that features a topological Wess–Zumino–Witten (WZW) term whose curvature is $\frac{n}{24\pi^2}{Tr}(g^{-1}dg)^3 \wedge \mathrm{Vol}_{S^2}$ where $g$ is the $\text{SU}(N)$ pion field. This WZW term, unlike its familiar cousin in QCD, does not match any chiral anomaly, so its microscopic origin is not obviously QCD-like. We find that generalised symmetries provide a key to unlocking a UV completion. The $S^2$ winding number bestows the theory with a 1-form symmetry, and the WZW term intertwines this with the $\text{SU}(N)^2$ flavour symmetry into a 2-group global symmetry. Like a 't Hooft anomaly, the 2-group symmetry should match between UV and IR, precluding QCD-like completions that otherwise give the right pion manifold. We instead construct a weakly-coupled UV completion that matches the 2-group symmetry, in which an abelian gauge field connects the QCD baryon number current to the winding number current of a $\mathbb{C}P^1$ model, and explicitly show how the mixed WZW term arises upon flowing to the IR. The coefficient is fixed to be the number of QCD colours and, strikingly, this matching must be 'tree-level exact' to satisfy a quantization condition. We discuss generalisations, and elucidate the more intricate generalised symmetry structure that arises upon gauging an anomaly-free subgroup of $\text{SU}(N)_{L+R}$. This WZW term may even play a phenomenological role as a portal to a dark sector, that determines the relic abundance of dark matter.
On a class of selection rules without group actions in field theory and string theory

Justin Kaidi, Yuji Tachikawa, Hao Y. Zhang

SciPost Phys. 17, 169 (2024) · published 19 December 2024 | · pdf

We discuss a class of selection rules which i) do not come from group actions on fields, ii) are exact at tree level in perturbation theory, iii) are increasingly violated as the loop order is raised, and iv) eventually reduce to selection rules associated with an ordinary group symmetry. We start from basic field-theoretical examples in which fields are labeled by conjugacy classes rather than representations of a group, and discuss generalizations using fusion algebras or hypergroups. We also discuss how such selection rules arise naturally in string theory, such as for non-Abelian orbifolds or other cases with non-invertible worldsheet symmetries.