Publications

Order by: publication date number of citations

• Spin of fractional quantum Hall neutral modes and “missing states” on a sphere

  Dung Xuan Nguyen, Dam Thanh Son

  SciPost Phys. 19, 131 (2025) · published 18 November 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  A low-energy neutral quasiparticle in a fractional quantum Hall system appears in the latter's energy spectrum on a sphere as a series of many-body excited states labeled by the angular momentum $L$ and whose energy is a smooth function of $L$ in the limit of large sphere radius. We argue that the signature of a nonvanishing spin (intrinsic angular momentum) $s$ of the quasiparticle is the absence, in this series, of states with total angular momentum less than $s$. We reinterpret the missing of certain states, observed in an exact-diagonalization calculation of the spectrum of the $\nu=7/3$ FQH state in a wide quantum well as well as in many proposed wave functions for the excited states as a consequence of the spin-2 nature of the zero-momentum magnetoroton.

• Remembering David J. Rowe

  John L. Wood, Piet Van Isacker

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 14, 013 (2023) · published 23 November 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  David Rowe was a highly respected theoretical physicist who made seminal contributions that improved our understanding of the atomic nucleus, in particular of the collective behaviour of its constituent nucleons - results he often obtained with the use of sophisticated group-theoretical methods. He will also be remembered as the (co-)author of monographs on nuclear physics, written with the scientific rigour that was characteristic of his research.

• Breaking Standard Model global symmetries with the tau lepton

  Jorge Portolés

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 16, 010 (2025) · published 14 July 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Properties of the dynamics of the Standard Model processes such as lepton flavour preservation and lepton, or baryon, number conservation, are usually taken for granted. The only reason is that it seems that these non-gauge accidental symmetries of the Standard Model seem to be conserved in Nature with great accuracy. In addition, the coupling of lepton doublets to the electroweak gauge bosons is universal and does not depend on the flavour. The discovery of the non-zero mass of the neutrinos and, maybe, the hints coming from the B-anomalies at LHCb, point out to a different scenario. I will briefly summarize some aspects of these contingent symmetries as seen from tau lepton processes.

• The low-energy spectrum in DAMIC at SNOLAB

  Alvaro E. Chavarria

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 12, 011 (2023) · published 3 July 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The DAMIC experiment employs large-area, thick charge-coupled devices (CCDs) to search for the interactions of low-mass dark matter particles in the galactic halo with silicon atoms in the CCD target. From 2017 to 2019, DAMIC collected data with a seven-CCD array (40-gram target) installed in the SNOLAB underground laboratory. We report dark-matter search results, including a conspicuous excess of events above the background model below 200$V_{ee}$, whose origin remains unknown. We present details of the published spectral analysis, and update on the deployment of skipper CCDs to perform a more precise measurement by early 2023.

• Annual modulation of dark matter signals: Experimental results and new ideas

  Felix Kahlhoefer

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 12, 004 (2023) · published 3 July 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Direct detection experiments searching for the scattering of dark matter particles off nuclei expect an annual modulation in their event rate. In this presentation, I will review the theoretical predictions and the experimental status of the search for annual modulations, with a focus on ongoing and planned experiments using NaI detectors. In particular, I will discuss the interpretation of the DAMA signal and related model-building efforts.

• Proposal for an autonomous quantum heat engine

  Miika Rasola, Vasilii Vadimov, Tuomas Uusnäkki, Mikko Möttönen

  SciPost Phys. 19, 101 (2025) · published 17 October 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We propose and theoretically analyse a superconducting electric circuit which can be used to experimentally realize an autonomous quantum heat engine. Using a quasiclassical, non-Markovian theoretical model, we demonstrate that coherent microwave power generation can emerge solely from the heat flow through the circuit determined by non-linear circuit quantum electrodynamics. The predicted energy generation rate is sufficiently high for experimental observation with contemporary techniques, rendering this work a significant step toward the first experimental realization of an autonomous quantum heat engine based on Otto cycles.

• Properties of heavy mesons at finite temperature

  Gloria Montaña, Angels Ramos, Laura Tolós

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 3, 038 (2020) · published 26 February 2020 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We study the properties of heavy mesons using a unitarized approach in a hot pionic medium, based on an effective hadronic theory. The interaction between the heavy mesons and pseudoscalar Goldstone bosons is described by a chiral Lagrangian at next-to-leading order in the chiral expansion and leading order in the heavy-quark mass expansion so as to satisfy heavy-quark spin symmetry. The meson-meson scattering problem in coupled channels with finite-temperature corrections is solved in a self-consistent manner. Our results show that the masses of the ground-state charmed mesons $D(0^-)$ and $D_s(1^-)$ decrease in a pionic environment at $T\neq 0$ and they acquire a substantial width. As a consequence, the behaviour of excited mesonic states (i.e. $D_{s0}^*(2317)^\pm$ and $D_0^*(2300)^{0,\pm}$), generated dynamically in our heavy-light molecular model, is also modified at $T\neq 0$. The aim is to test our results against Lattice QCD calculations in the future.

• Towards two- and three-loop QCD corrections to the width difference in $B_s-\bar{B}_s$ mixing

  Vladyslav Shtabovenko

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 7, 025 (2022) · published 21 June 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  In this work we address the issue of large perturbative uncertainties in the theory prediction for $\Delta \Gamma_s$, the width difference in the $B^0_s - \bar{B}^0_s$ mixing process. To this aim we complete important steps towards the full analytic result for the previously unknown Wilson coefficients from the matching between $|\Delta B|=1$ and $|\Delta B|=2$ effective Hamiltonians at next-to-next-leading order (NNLO) in the strong coupling constant. We provide a thorough discussion of technical and conceptual difficulties behind this computation and give an outlook regarding the availability of the new NNLO theory prediction for $\Delta \Gamma_s$.

• The ATLAS Tile Calorimeter performance and its upgrade towards the High Luminosity Large Hadron Collider

  Ryan Mckenzie

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 8, 171 (2022) · published 14 July 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The Tile Calorimeter (TileCal) is a sampling calorimeter that forms the central region of the hadronic calorimeter of the ATLAS experiment. This sub-detector is to undergo its Phase-II upgrade during long-shutdown 3, in the years from 2025 to mid 2027, in preparation for the start of operation of the High Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC) in 2027. In this proceeding, an overview of the TileCal HL-LHC on-detector electronics upgrade is provided. The detectors Run-II performance in the cases of EM scale calibration, calorimeter response, cell energy distribution and noise as well as a portion of the 2015-2018 Test-beam campaigns results are examined.

• An introduction to large deviations with applications in physics

  Ivan N. Burenev, Daniël W. H. Cloete, Vansh Kharbanda, Hugo Touchette

  SciPost Phys. Lect. Notes 104 (2025) · published 23 October 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  These notes are based on the lectures that one of us (HT) gave at the Summer School on the "Theory of Large Deviations and Applications," held in July 2024 at Les Houches in France. They present the basic definitions and mathematical results that form the theory of large deviations, as well as many simple motivating examples of applications in statistical physics, which serve as a basis for the many other lectures given at the school that covered more specific applications in biophysics, random matrix theory, nonequilibrium systems, geophysics, and the simulation of rare events, among other topics. These notes extend the lectures, which can be accessed online, by presenting exercises and pointer references for further reading.