Publications

Order by: publication date number of citations

• The complex Liouville string: The gravitational path integral

  Scott Collier, Lorenz Eberhardt, Beatrix Mühlmann

  SciPost Phys. 19, 115 (2025) · published 28 October 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We give a rigorous definition of sine dilaton gravity in terms of the worldsheet theory of the complex Liouville string [S. Collier et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 134, 251602 (2025)]. The latter has a known exact solution that we leverage to explore the gravitational path integral of sine dilaton gravity – a quantum deformation of dS JT gravity that admits both AdS$_2$ and dS$_2$ vacua. We uncover that the gravitational path integral receives contributions from new saddles describing transitions between vacua in a third-quantized picture. We also discuss the sphere and disk partition function in this context and contrast our findings with other recent work on this theory.

  1 citation

• Superstring amplitudes meet surfaceology

  Qu Cao, Jin Dong, Song He, Fan Zhu

  SciPost Phys. 19, 114 (2025) · published 28 October 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We reformulate tree-level amplitudes in open superstring theory (type-I) in terms of stringy Tr$(\phi^3)$ amplitudes with various kinematical shifts in the "curve-integral" formulation: while the bosonic-string amplitude with $n$ pairs of "scaffolding" scalars comes from a particularly simple shift of the Tr$(\phi^3)$ one (corresponding to $n$ length-$2$ cycles), the analogous superstring amplitude requires "correction" terms given by bosonic-string amplitudes with longer, even-length "cycles", which are also Tr$(\phi^3)$ ones at shifted kinematics dictated by the cycles; in total it is expressed as a sum of $(2n-3)!!$ shifted amplitudes originated from the expansion of a reduced Pfaffian. Upon taking $n$ scaffolding residues, this leads to a new formula of the $n$-gluon superstring amplitude, which is manifestly symmetric in $n-1$ legs, as a gauge-invariant combination of mixed bosonic string amplitudes with gluons and scalars, which come from length-$2$ cycles and longer ones respectively (the total sum is associated with the expansion a $n× n$ symmetrical determinant); the corresponding prefactors are nested commutators of $2n$-gon kinematical variables, which nicely become traces of field-strengths for those legs corresponding to scalars in the mixed amplitudes. These interesting linear combinations of bosonic string amplitudes must guarantee the cancellation of tachyon poles and $F^3$ vertices etc., and they give new relations between the superstring amplitude and its bosonic-string building blocks to all orders in the $\alpha'$ expansion (the first order gives a new formula for gluon amplitudes with a single $F^3$ insertion in terms of Yang-Mills-scalar amplitudes). We provide both the worldsheet and "curve-integral" derivations, and discuss applications to heterotic and type II cases.

• Hasse diagrams for gapless SPT and SSB phases with non-invertible symmetries

  Lakshya Bhardwaj, Daniel Pajer, Sakura Schäfer-Nameki, Alison Warman

  SciPost Phys. 19, 113 (2025) · published 28 October 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We discuss (1+1)d gapless phases with non-invertible global symmetries, also referred to as categorical symmetries. This includes gapless phases showing properties analogous to gapped symmetry protected topological (SPT) phases, known as gapless SPT (or gSPT) phases; and gapless phases showing properties analogous to gapped spontaneous symmetry broken (SSB) phases, that we refer to as gapless SSB (or gSSB) phases. We fit these gapless phases, along with gapped SPT and SSB phases, into a phase diagram describing possible deformations connecting them. This phase diagram is partially ordered and defines a so-called Hasse diagram. Based on these deformations, we identify gapless phases exhibiting symmetry protected criticality, that we refer to as intrinsically gapless SPT (igSPT) and intrinsically gapless SSB (igSSB) phases. This includes the first examples of igSPT and igSSB phases with non-invertible symmetries. Central to this analysis is the Symmetry Topological Field Theory (SymTFT), where each phase corresponds to a condensable algebra in the Drinfeld center of the symmetry category. On a mathematical note, gSPT phases are classified by functors between fusion categories, generalizing the fact that gapped SPT phases are classified by fiber functors; and gSSB phases are classified by functors from fusion to multi-fusion categories. Finally, our framework can be applied to understand gauging of trivially acting non-invertible symmetries, including possible patterns of decomposition arising due to such gaugings.

  4 citations

• Achieving quantum advantage in a search for a violations of the Goldbach conjecture, with driven atoms in tailored potentials

  Oleksandr V. Marchukov, Andrea Trombettoni, Giuseppe Mussardo, Maxim Olshanii

  SciPost Phys. Core 8, 074 (2025) · published 28 October 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The famous Goldbach conjecture states that any even natural number $N$ greater than $2$ can be written as the sum of two prime numbers $p^{\text{(I)}}$ and $p^{\text{(II)}}$. In this article we propose a quantum analogue device that solves the following problem: given a small prime $p^{\text{(I)}}$, identify a member $N$ of a $\mathcal{N}$-strong set even numbers for which $N-p^{\text{(I)}}$ is also a prime. A table of suitable large primes $p^{\text{(II)}}$ is assumed to be known a priori. The device realizes the Grover quantum search protocol and as such ensures a $\sqrt{\mathcal{N}}$ quantum advantage. Our numerical example involves a set of 51 even numbers just above the highest even classical-numerically explored so far [T. O. e Silva, S. Herzog, and S. Pardi, Mathematics of Computation 83, 2033 (2013)]. For a given small prime number $p^{\text{(I)}}=223$, it took our quantum algorithm 5 steps to identify the number $N=4× 10^{18}+14$ as featuring a Goldbach partition involving $223$ and another prime, namely $p^{\text{(II)}}=4× 10^{18}-239$. Currently, our algorithm limits the number of evens to be tested simultaneously to $\mathcal{N} \sim \ln(N)$: larger samples will typically contain more than one even that can be partitioned with the help of a given $p^{\text{(I)}}$, thus leading to a departure from the Grover paradigm.

• Pseudospectral implementation of the Einstein-Maxwell system

  Jorge Expósito Patiño, Hannes Robert Rüter, David Hilditch

  SciPost Phys. 19, 112 (2025) · published 27 October 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Electromagnetism plays an important role in a variety of applications in gravity that we wish to investigate. To that end, in this work, we present an implementation of the Maxwell equations within the adaptive-mesh pseudospectral numerical relativity code BAMPS. We perform a thorough analysis of the evolution equations as a first order symmetric hyperbolic system of PDEs. This includes both the construction of the characteristic variables for use in our penalty boundary communication scheme, as well as radiation controlling, constraint preserving outer boundary conditions which, for the first time in a numerical context, are shown to be boundary-stable. After choosing a formulation of the Maxwell constraints that we may solve for initial data, we move on to show a suite of numerical tests. Our simulations, both within the Cowling approximation, and in full non-linear evolution, demonstrate rapid convergence of error with resolution, as well as consistency with known quasinormal decay rates on the Kerr background. Finally we evolve the electrovacuum equations of motion with strong data, a good representation of typical critical collapse runs.

• Mutual multilinearity of nonequilibrium network currents

  Sara Dal Cengio, Pedro E. Harunari, Vivien Lecomte, Matteo Polettini

  SciPost Phys. 19, 111 (2025) · published 27 October 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Continuous-time Markov chains have been successful in modelling systems across numerous fields, with currents being fundamental entities that describe the flows of energy, particles, individuals, chemical species, information, or other quantities. They apply to systems described by agents transitioning between vertices along the edges of a network (at some rate in each direction). It has recently been shown by the authors that, at stationarity, a hidden linearity exists between currents that flow along edges: if one controls the current of a specific "input" edge (by tuning transition rates along it), any other current is a linear-affine function of the input current [Phys. Rev. Lett. 133, 047401 (2024)]. In this paper, we extend this result to the situation where one controls the currents of several edges, and prove that other currents are in linear-affine relation with the input ones. Two proofs with distinct insights are provided: the first relies on Kirchhoff's current law and reduces the input set inductively through graph analysis, while the second utilizes the resolvent approach via a Laplace transform in time. We obtain explicit expressions for the current-to-current susceptibilities, which allow one to map current dependencies through the network. We also verify from our expression that Kirchhoff's current law is recovered as a limiting case of our mutual linearity. Last, we uncover that susceptibilities can be obtained from fluctuations when the reference system is originally at equilibrium.

• Noninvertible symmetry and topological holography for modulated SPT in one dimension

  Jintae Kim, Yizhi You, Jung Hoon Han

  SciPost Phys. 19, 110 (2025) · published 24 October 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We examine noninvertible symmetry (NIS) in one-dimensional (1D) symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phases protected by dipolar and exponential-charge symmetries, which are two key examples of modulated SPT (MSPT). To set the stage, we first study NIS in the $\mathbb{Z}_N × \mathbb{Z}_N$ cluster model, extending previous work on the $\mathbb{Z}_2 × \mathbb{Z}_2$ case. For each symmetry type (charge, dipole, exponential), we explicitly construct the noninvertible Kramers-Wannier (KW) and Kennedy-Tasaki (KT) transformations, revealing dual models with spontaneous symmetry breaking (SSB). The resulting symmetry group structure of the SSB model is rich enough that it allows the identification of other SSB models with the same symmetry. Using these alternative SSB models and KT duality, we generate novel MSPT phases distinct from those associated with the standard decorated domain wall picture, and confirm their distinctiveness by projective symmetry analyses at their interfaces. Additionally, we establish a topological-holographic correspondence by identifying the 2D bulk theories-two coupled layers of toric codes (charge), anisotropic dipolar toric codes (dipole), and exponentially modulated toric codes (exponential)-whose boundaries host the respective 1D MSPT phases.

  1 citation

• Precise quantum-geometric electronic properties from first principles

  José Luís Martins, Carlos Loia Reis, Ivo Souza

  SciPost Phys. 19, 109 (2025) · published 24 October 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The calculation of quantum-geometric properties of Bloch electrons – Berry curvature, quantum metric, orbital magnetic moment and effective mass – was implemented in a pseudopotential plane-wave code. The starting point was the first derivative of the periodic part of the wavefunction $\psi_{k}(r)$ with respect to wavevector $k$. This was evaluated with perturbation theory by solving a Sternheimer equation. Comparison of effective masses obtained from perturbation theory for silicon and gallium arsenide with carefully-converged numerical second derivatives of band energies confirmed the high precision of the method. Calculations of quantum-geometric quantities for gapped graphene were performed by adding a bespoke symmetry-breaking potential to first-principles graphene. As the two bands near the opened gap are reasonably isolated, the results could be compared with those obtained from an analytical two-band model, allowing to assess the strengths and limitations of such widely-used models. The final application was trigonal tellurium, where some quantum-geometric quantities flip sign with chirality.

• Accurate surrogate amplitudes with calibrated uncertainties

  Henning Bahl, Nina Elmer, Luigi Favaro, Manuel Haußmann, Tilman Plehn, Ramon Winterhalder

  SciPost Phys. Core 8, 073 (2025) · published 24 October 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Neural networks for LHC physics have to be accurate, reliable, and controlled. Using neural surrogates for the prediction of loop amplitudes as a use case, we first show how activation functions are systematically tested with Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks. Then, we train neural surrogates to simultaneously predict the target amplitude and an uncertainty for the prediction. We disentangle systematic uncertainties, learned by a well-defined likelihood loss, from statistical uncertainties, which require the introduction of Bayesian neural networks or repulsive ensembles. We test the coverage of the learned uncertainties using pull distributions to quantify the calibration of cutting-edge neural surrogates.

• A Lorentz-equivariant transformer for all of the LHC

  Johann Brehmer, Víctor Bresó, Pim de Haan, Tilman Plehn, Huilin Qu, Jonas Spinner, Jesse Thaler

  SciPost Phys. 19, 108 (2025) · published 23 October 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We show that the Lorentz-Equivariant Geometric Algebra Transformer (L-GATr) yields state-of-the-art performance for a wide range of machine learning tasks at the Large Hadron Collider. L-GATr represents data in a geometric algebra over space-time and is equivariant under Lorentz transformations. The underlying architecture is a versatile and scalable transformer, which is able to break symmetries if needed. We demonstrate the power of L-GATr for amplitude regression and jet classification, and then benchmark it as the first Lorentz-equivariant generative network. For all three LHC tasks, we find significant improvements over previous architectures.

  2 citations