Publications

Order by: publication date number of citations

• Vector-like quarks: Status and new directions at the LHC

  Avik Banerjee, Elin Bergeaas Kuutmann, Venugopal Ellajosyula, Rikard Enberg, Gabriele Ferretti, Luca Panizzi

  SciPost Phys. Core 7, 079 (2024) · published 4 December 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Experimental searches for vector-like quarks have until now only considered their decays into Standard Model particles. However, various new physics scenarios predict additional scalars, so that these vector-like quarks can decay to new channels. These new channels reduce the branching ratios into Standard Model final states, significantly affecting current mass bounds. In this article, we quantitatively assess the relevance and observability of single and pair production processes of vector-like quarks, followed by decays into both standard and exotic final states. We highlight the importance of large widths and the relative interaction strengths with Standard Model particles and new scalars. Then, we review the post-Moriond 2024 status of these models in light of available LHC data and discuss potential future strategies to enhance the scope of vector-like quark searches.

  14 citations

• On the Q operator and the spectrum of the XXZ model at root of unity

  Yuan Miao, Jules Lamers, Vincent Pasquier

  SciPost Phys. 11, 067 (2021) · published 22 September 2021 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The spin-1/2 Heisenberg XXZ chain is a paradigmatic quantum integrable model. Although it can be solved exactly via Bethe ansatz techniques, there are still open issues regarding the spectrum at root of unity values of the anisotropy. We construct Baxter's Q operator at arbitrary anisotropy from a two-parameter transfer matrix associated to a complex-spin auxiliary space. A decomposition of this transfer matrix provides a simple proof of the transfer matrix fusion and Wronskian relations. At root of unity a truncation allows us to construct the Q operator explicitly in terms of finite-dimensional matrices. From its decomposition we derive truncated fusion and Wronskian relations as well as an interpolation-type formula that has been conjectured previously. We elucidate the Fabricius-McCoy (FM) strings and exponential degeneracies in the spectrum of the six-vertex transfer matrix at root of unity. Using a semicyclic auxiliary representation we give a conjecture for creation and annihilation operators of FM strings for all roots of unity. We connect our findings with the 'string-charge duality' in the thermodynamic limit, leading to a conjecture for the imaginary part of the FM string centres with potential applications to out-of-equilibrium physics.

  14 citations

• Comparing machine learning and interpolation methods for loop-level calculations

  Ibrahim Chahrour, James D. Wells

  SciPost Phys. 12, 187 (2022) · published 8 June 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The need to approximate functions is ubiquitous in science, either due to empirical constraints or high computational cost of accessing the function. In high-energy physics, the precise computation of the scattering cross-section of a process requires the evaluation of computationally intensive integrals. A wide variety of methods in machine learning have been used to tackle this problem, but often the motivation of using one method over another is lacking. Comparing these methods is typically highly dependent on the problem at hand, so we specify to the case where we can evaluate the function a large number of times, after which quick and accurate evaluation can take place. We consider four interpolation and three machine learning techniques and compare their performance on three toy functions, the four-point scalar Passarino-Veltman $D_0$ function, and the two-loop self-energy master integral $M$. We find that in low dimensions ($d = 3$), traditional interpolation techniques like the Radial Basis Function perform very well, but in higher dimensions ($d=5, 6, 9$) we find that multi-layer perceptrons (a.k.a neural networks) do not suffer as much from the curse of dimensionality and provide the fastest and most accurate predictions.

  14 citations

• Entropy of causal diamond ensembles

  Ted Jacobson, Manus R. Visser

  SciPost Phys. 15, 023 (2023) · published 24 July 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We define a canonical ensemble for a gravitational causal diamond by introducing an artificial York boundary inside the diamond with a fixed induced metric and temperature, and evaluate the partition function using a saddle point approximation. For Einstein gravity with zero cosmological constant there is no exact saddle with a horizon, however the portion of the Euclidean diamond enclosed by the boundary arises as an approximate saddle in the high-temperature regime, in which the saddle horizon approaches the boundary. This high-temperature partition function provides a statistical interpretation of the recent calculation of Banks, Draper and Farkas, in which the entropy of causal diamonds is recovered from a boundary term in the on-shell Euclidean action. In contrast, with a positive cosmological constant, as well as in Jackiw-Teitelboim gravity with or without a cosmological constant, an exact saddle exists with a finite boundary temperature, but in these cases the causal diamond is determined by the saddle rather than being selected a priori.

  14 citations

• CFTs with $\mathbf{U(m)\times U(n)}$ global symmetry in 3D and the chiral phase transition of QCD

  Stefanos R. Kousvos, Andreas Stergiou

  SciPost Phys. 15, 075 (2023) · published 31 August 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Conformal field theories (CFTs) with $U(m)\times U(n)$ global symmetry in $d=3$ dimensions have been studied for years due to their potential relevance to the chiral phase transition of quantum chromodynamics (QCD). In this work such CFTs are analyzed in $d=4-\varepsilon$ and $d=3$. This includes perturbative computations in the $\varepsilon$ and large-$n$ expansions as well as non-perturbative ones with the numerical conformal bootstrap. New perturbative results are presented and a variety of non-perturbative bootstrap bounds are obtained in $d=3$. Various features of the bounds obtained for large values of $n$ disappear for low values of $n$ (keeping $m<n$ fixed), a phenomenon which is attributed to a transition of the corresponding fixed points to the non-unitary regime. Numerous bootstrap bounds are found that are saturated by large-$n$ results, even in the absence of any features in the bounds. A double scaling limit is also observed, for $m$ and $n$ large with $m/n$ fixed, both in perturbation theory as well as in the numerical bootstrap. For the case of two-flavor massless QCD existing bootstrap evidence is reproduced that the chiral phase transition may be second order, albeit associated to a universality class unrelated to the one usually discussed in the $\varepsilon$ expansion. Similar evidence is found for the case of three-flavor massless QCD, where we observe a pronounced kink.

  14 citations

• Two-species hardcore reversible cellular automaton: matrix ansatz for dynamics and nonequilibrium stationary state

  Marko Medenjak, Vladislav Popkov, Tomaž Prosen, Eric Ragoucy, Matthieu Vanicat

  SciPost Phys. 6, 074 (2019) · published 24 June 2019 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  In this paper we study the statistical properties of a reversible cellular automaton in two out-of-equilibrium settings. In the first part we consider two instances of the initial value problem, corresponding to the inhomogeneous quench and the local quench. Our main result is an exact matrix product expression of the time evolution of the probability distribution, which we use to determine the time evolution of the density profiles analytically. In the second part we study the model on a finite lattice coupled with stochastic boundaries. Once again we derive an exact matrix product expression of the stationary distribution, as well as the particle current and density profiles in the stationary state. The exact expressions reveal the existence of different phases with either ballistic or diffusive transport depending on the boundary parameters.

  14 citations

• Unweighting multijet event generation using factorisation-aware neural networks

  Timo Janßen, Daniel Maître, Steffen Schumann, Frank Siegert, Henry Truong

  SciPost Phys. 15, 107 (2023) · published 21 September 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  In this article we combine a recently proposed method for factorisation-aware matrix element surrogates with an unbiased unweighting algorithm. We show that employing a sophisticated neural network emulation of QCD multijet matrix elements based on dipole factorisation can lead to a drastic acceleration of unweighted event generation. We train neural networks for a selection of partonic channels contributing at the tree-level to $Z+4,5$ jets and $t\bar{t}+3,4$ jets production at the LHC which necessitates a generalisation of the dipole emulation model to include initial state partons as well as massive final state quarks. We also present first steps towards the emulation of colour-sampled amplitudes. We incorporate these emulations as fast and accurate surrogates in a two-stage rejection sampling algorithm within the SHERPA Monte Carlo that yields unbiased unweighted events suitable for phenomenological analyses and post-processing in experimental workflows, e.g. as input to a time-consuming detector simulation. For the computational cost of unweighted events we achieve a reduction by factors between $16$ and $350$ for the considered channels.

  14 citations

• Superspin chains from superstring theory

  Nafiz Ishtiaque, Seyed Faroogh Moosavian, Surya Raghavendran, Junya Yagi

  SciPost Phys. 13, 083 (2022) · published 5 October 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We present a correspondence between two-dimensional N=(2,2) supersymmetric gauge theories and rational integrable gl(m|n) spin chains with spin variables taking values in Verma modules. To explain this correspondence, we realize the gauge theories as configurations of branes in string theory and map them by dualities to brane configurations that realize line defects in four-dimensional Chern-Simons theory with gauge group GL(m|n). The latter configurations embed the superspin chains into superstring theory. We also provide a string theory derivation of a similar correspondence, proposed by Nekrasov, for rational gl(m|n) spin chains with spins valued in finite-dimensional representations.

  14 citations

• A supervised learning algorithm for interacting topological insulators based on local curvature

  Paolo Molignini, Antonio Zegarra, Evert van Nieuwenburg, R. Chitra, Wei Chen

  SciPost Phys. 11, 073 (2021) · published 28 September 2021 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Topological order in solid state systems is often calculated from the integration of an appropriate curvature function over the entire Brillouin zone. At topological phase transitions where the single particle spectral gap closes, the curvature function diverges and changes sign at certain high symmetry points in the Brillouin zone. These generic properties suggest the introduction of a supervised machine learning scheme that uses only the curvature function at the high symmetry points as input data. We apply this scheme to a variety of interacting topological insulators in different dimensions and symmetry classes. We demonstrate that an artificial neural network trained with the noninteracting data can accurately predict all topological phases in the interacting cases with very little numerical effort. Intriguingly, the method uncovers a ubiquitous interaction-induced topological quantum multicriticality in the examples studied.

  14 citations

• Electric manipulation of domain walls in magnetic Weyl semimetals via the axial anomaly

  Julia D. Hannukainen, Alberto Cortijo, Jens H. Bardarson, Yago Ferreiros

  SciPost Phys. 10, 102 (2021) · published 11 May 2021 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We show how the axial (chiral) anomaly induces a spin torque on the magnetization in magnetic Weyl semimetals. The anomaly produces an imbalance in left- and right-handed chirality carriers when non-orthogonal electric and magnetic fields are applied. Such imbalance generates a spin density which exerts a torque on the magnetization, the strength of which can be controlled by the intensity of the applied electric field. We show how this results in an electric control of the chirality of domain walls, as well as in an improvement of the domain wall dynamics, by delaying the onset of the Walker breakdown. The measurement of the electric field mediated changes in the domain wall chirality would constitute a direct proof of the axial anomaly. Additionally, we show how quantum fluctuations of electronic Fermi arc states bound to the domain wall naturally induce an effective magnetic anisotropy, allowing for high domain wall velocities even if the intrinsic anisotropy of the magnetic Weyl semimetal is small.

  14 citations