Publications

Order by: publication date number of citations

• Learning the simplicity of scattering amplitudes

  Clifford Cheung, Aurélien Dersy, Matthew D. Schwartz

  SciPost Phys. 18, 040 (2025) · published 3 February 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The simplification and reorganization of complex expressions lies at the core of scientific progress, particularly in theoretical high-energy physics. This work explores the application of machine learning to a particular facet of this challenge: the task of simplifying scattering amplitudes expressed in terms of spinor-helicity variables. We demonstrate that an encoder-decoder transformer architecture achieves impressive simplification capabilities for expressions composed of handfuls of terms. Lengthier expressions are implemented in an additional embedding network, trained using contrastive learning, which isolates subexpressions that are more likely to simplify. The resulting framework is capable of reducing expressions with hundreds of terms—a regular occurrence in quantum field theory calculations—to vastly simpler equivalent expressions. Starting from lengthy input expressions, our networks can generate the Parke-Taylor formula for five-point gluon scattering, as well as new compact expressions for five-point amplitudes involving scalars and gravitons. An interactive demonstration can be found at https://spinorhelicity.streamlit.app.

  3 citations

• Topological states between inversion symmetric atomic insulators

  Ana Silva, Jasper van Wezel

  SciPost Phys. 10, 137 (2021) · published 8 June 2021 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  One of the hallmarks of topological insulators is the correspondence between the value of its bulk topological invariant and the number of topologically protected edge modes observed in a finite-sized sample. This bulk-boundary correspondence has been well-tested for strong topological invariants, and forms the basis for all proposed technological applications of topology. Here, we report that a group of weak topological invariants, which depend only on the symmetries of the atomic lattice, also induces a particular type of bulk-boundary correspondence. It predicts the presence or absence of states localised at the interface between two inversion-symmetric band insulators with trivial values for their strong invariants, based on the space group representation of the bands on either side of the junction. We show that this corresponds with symmetry-based classifications of topological materials. The interface modes are protected by the combination of band topology and symmetry of the interface, and may be used for topological transport and signal manipulation in heterojunction-based devices.

  3 citations

• Geometric surprises in the Python's lunch conjecture

  Gurbir Arora, Matthew Headrick, Albion Lawrence, Martin Sasieta, Connor Wolfe

  SciPost Phys. 16, 152 (2024) · published 12 June 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  A bulge surface, on a time reflection-symmetric Cauchy slice of a holographic spacetime, is a non-minimal extremal surface that occurs between two locally minimal surfaces homologous to a given boundary region. According to the python's lunch conjecture of Brown et al., the bulge's area controls the complexity of bulk reconstruction, in the sense of the amount of post-selection that needs to be overcome for the reconstruction of the entanglement wedge beyond the outermost extremal surface. We study the geometry of bulges in a variety of classical spacetimes, and discover a number of surprising features that distinguish them from more familiar extremal surfaces such as Ryu-Takayanagi surfaces: they spontaneously break spatial isometries, both continuous and discrete; they are sensitive to the choice of boundary infrared regulator; they can self-intersect; and they probe entanglement shadows, orbifold singularities, and compact spaces such as the sphere in AdS$_p× S^q$. These features imply, according to the python's lunch conjecture, novel qualitative differences between complexity and entanglement in the holographic context. We also find, surprisingly, that extended black brane interiors have a non-extensive complexity; similarly, for multi-boundary wormhole states, the complexity pleateaus after a certain number of boundaries have been included.

  3 citations

• Gapful electrons in a vortex core in granular superconductors

  Dmitry E. Kiselov, Mikhail A. Skvortsov, Mikhail V. Feigel'man

  SciPost Phys. 15, 008 (2023) · published 12 July 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We calculate the quasiparticle density of states (DoS) inside the vortex core in a granular superconductor, generalizing the classical solution applicable for dirty superconductors. A discrete version of the Usadel equation for a vortex is derived and solved numerically for a broad range of parameters. Electron DoS is found to be gapful when the coherence length $\xi$ becomes comparable to the distance between neighboring grains $l$. Minigap magnitude $E_g$ grows from zero at $\xi \approx 1.4 l$ to third of superconducting gap $\Delta_0 $ at $\xi \approx 0.5 l$. The absence of low-energy excitations is the main ingredient needed to understand strong suppression of microwave dissipation recently observed in a mixed state of granular Al.

  3 citations

• Classical Lie bialgebras for AdS/CFT integrability by contraction and reduction

  Niklas Beisert, Egor Im

  SciPost Phys. 14, 157 (2023) · published 15 June 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Integrability of the one-dimensional Hubbard model and of the factorised scattering problem encountered on the worldsheet of AdS strings can be expressed in terms of a peculiar quantum algebra. In this article, we derive the classical limit of these algebraic integrable structures based on established results for the exceptional simple Lie superalgebra $\mathfrak{d}(2,1;\epsilon)$ along with standard $\mathfrak{sl}(2)$ which form supersymmetric isometries on 3D AdS space. The two major steps in this construction consist in the contraction to a 3D Poincaré superalgebra and a certain reduction to a deformation of the $\mathfrak{u}(2|2)$ superalgebra. We apply these steps to the integrable structure and obtain the desired Lie bialgebras with suitable classical r-matrices of rational and trigonometric kind. We illustrate our findings in terms of representations for on-shell fields on AdS and flat space.

  3 citations

• Current mean values in the XYZ model

  Levente Pristyák, Balázs Pozsgay

  SciPost Phys. 14, 158 (2023) · published 15 June 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The XYZ model is an integrable spin chain which has an infinite set of conserved charges, but it lacks a global $U(1)$-symmetry. We consider the current operators, which describe the flow of the conserved quantities in this model. We derive an exact result for the current mean values, valid for any eigenstate in a finite volume with periodic boundary conditions. This result can serve as a basis for studying the transport properties of this model within Generalized Hydrodynamics.

  3 citations

• Accessing CKM suppressed top decays at the LHC

  Darius A. Faroughy, Jernej F. Kamenik, Manuel Szewc, Jure Zupan

  SciPost Phys. 16, 131 (2024) · published 24 May 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We propose an extension of the existing experimental strategy for measuring branching fractions of top quark decays, targeting specifically $t\to j_q W$, where $j_q$ is a light quark jet. The improved strategy uses orthogonal $b$- and $q$-taggers, and adds a new observable, the number of light-quark-tagged jets, to the already commonly used observable, the fraction of $b$-tagged jets in an event. Careful inclusion of the additional complementary observable significantly increases the expected statistical power of the analysis, with the possibility of excluding $|V_{tb}|=1$ at $95\%$ C.L. at the HL-LHC, and accessing directly the standard model value of $|V_{td}|^2+|V_{ts}|^2$.

  3 citations

• Higher-order topology protected by latent crystalline symmetries

  Lumen Eek, Malte Röntgen, Anouar Moustaj, Cristiane Morais Smith

  SciPost Phys. 18, 061 (2025) · published 20 February 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We demonstrate that rotation symmetry is not a necessary requirement for the existence of fractional corner charges in $C_n$-symmetric higher-order topological crystalline insulators. Instead, it is sufficient to have a latent rotation symmetry, which may be revealed upon performing an isospectral reduction on the system. We introduce the concept of a filling anomaly for latent crystalline symmetric systems, and propose modified topological invariants. The notion of higher-order topology in two dimensions protected by $C_n$ symmetry is thus generalized to a protection by latent symmetry. Our claims are corroborated by concrete examples of models that show non-trivial corner charge in the absence of $C_n$-symmetry. This work extends the classification of topological crystalline insulators to include latent symmetries.

  3 citations

• Anomalous continuous translations

  Nathan Seiberg

  SciPost Phys. 19, 031 (2025) · published 11 August 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We discuss a large class of non-relativistic continuum field theories where the Euclidean spatial symmetry of the classical theory is violated in the quantum theory by an Adler-Bell-Jackiw-like anomaly. In particular, the continuous translation symmetry of the classical theory is broken in the quantum theory to a discrete symmetry. Furthermore, that discrete symmetry is extended by an internal symmetry, making it non-Abelian. This presentation streamlines and extends the discussion in [SciPost Phys. 18, 063 (2025)]. In an Appendix, we present an elementary introduction to 't Hooft and Adler-Bell-Jackiw anomalies using a well-known system.

  3 citations

• Microwave response of type-II superconductors at weak pinning

  B. V. Pashinsky, Mikhail V. Feigel'man, Anton V. Andreev

  SciPost Phys. 14, 096 (2023) · published 4 May 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Theory of linear microwave response of thin films of type-II superconductors in the mixed state is developed taking into account random spatial fluctuations of the parameters of the system, such as the order parameter, diffusion coefficient, or film thickness. In the regime of collective pinning the microwave response of the system exhibits strong frequency dispersion, arising from nonequilibrium vortex core quasiparticles. The corresponding contribution to the ac conductivity is controlled by the inelastic relaxation time, and may exceed the usual Bardeen-Stephen conductivity. It is caused by the Debye-type inelastic relaxation. Debye mechanism of microwave losses may be responsible for strong effects of electromagnetic noise upon dc conductivity in the mixed state at low temperatures.

  3 citations