Publications

Order by: publication date number of citations

• Wilson loops and spherical branes

  Davide Astesiano, Pieter Bomans, Fridrik Freyr Gautason, Valentina Giangreco M. Puletti, Alexia Nix

  SciPost Phys. 18, 050 (2025) · published 12 February 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We study $\frac{1}{2}$-BPS Wilson loop operators in maximally supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory on $d$-dimensional spheres. Their vacuum expectation values can be computed at large $N$ through supersymmetric localisation. The holographic duals are given by back-reacted spherical D-branes. For $d≠ 4$, the resulting theories are non-conformal and correspondingly, the dual geometries do not possess an asymptotic AdS region. The main aim of this work is to compute the holographic Wilson loops by evaluating the partition function of a probe fundamental string and M2-brane in the dual geometry, focusing on the next-to-leading order. Along the way, we highlight a variety of issues related to the presence of a non-constant dilaton. In particular, the structure of the divergences of the one-loop partition functions takes a non-universal form in contrast to examples available in the literature. We devise a general framework to treat the divergences, successfully match the sub-leading scaling with $\lambda$ and $N$, and provide a first step towards obtaining the numerical prefactor.

  4 citations

• Asymptotic symmetries in the $TsT/T\bar{T}$ correspondence

  Zhengyuan Du, Wen-Xin Lai, Kangning Liu, Wei Song

  SciPost Phys. 18, 049 (2025) · published 11 February 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Starting from holography for IIB string theory on AdS$_3× \mathcal N$ with NS-NS flux, the TsT/$T\bar T$ correspondence is a conjecture that a TsT transformation on the string theory side is holographically dual to the single-trace version of the $T\bar T$ deformation on the field theory side. More precisely, the long string sector of string theory on the TsT-transformed background corresponds to the symmetric product theory whose seed theory is the $T\bar T$-deformed CFT$_2$. In this paper, we study the asymptotic symmetry of the string theory in the bulk. We find a state-dependent, non-local field redefinition under which the worldsheet equations of motion, stress tensor, as well as the symplectic form of string theory after the TsT transformation are mapped to those before the TsT transformation. The asymptotic symmetry in the auxiliary AdS basis is generated by two commuting Virasoro generators, while in the TsT transformed basis is non-linear and non-local. Our result from string theory analysis is compatible with that of the $T\bar T$ deformed CFT$_2$.

  3 citations

• Non-unitarity maximizing unraveling of open quantum dynamics

  Ruben Daraban, Fabrizio Salas-Ramírez, Johannes Schachenmayer

  SciPost Phys. 18, 048 (2025) · published 7 February 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The dynamics of many-body quantum states in open systems is commonly numerically simulated by unraveling the density matrix into pure-state trajectories. In this work, we introduce a new unraveling strategy that can adaptively minimize the averaged entanglement in the trajectory states. This enables a more efficient classical representation of trajectories using matrix product decompositions. Our new approach is denoted non-unitarity maximizing unraveling (NUMU). It relies on the idea that adaptively maximizing the averaged non-unitarity of a set of Kraus operators leads to a more efficient trajectory entanglement destruction. Compared to other adaptive entanglement lowering algorithms, NUMU is computationally inexpensive. We demonstrate its utility in large-scale simulations with random quantum circuits. NUMU lowers runtimes in practical calculations, and it also provides new insight on the question of classical simulability of quantum dynamics. We show that for the quantum circuits considered here, unraveling methods are much less efficient than full matrix product density operator simulations, hinting to a still large potential for finding more advanced adaptive unraveling schemes.

  1 citation

• Spectral properties, localization transition and multifractal eigenvectors of the Laplacian on heterogeneous networks

  Jeferson D. da Silva, Diego Tapias, Peter Sollich, Fernando L. Metz

  SciPost Phys. 18, 047 (2025) · published 7 February 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We study the spectral properties and eigenvector statistics of the Laplacian on highly-connected networks with random coupling strengths and a gamma distribution of rescaled degrees. The spectral density, the distribution of the local density of states, the singularity spectrum and the multifractal exponents of this model exhibit a rich behaviour as a function of the first two moments of the coupling strengths and the variance of the rescaled degrees. In the case of random coupling strengths, the spectral density diverges within the bulk of the spectrum when degree fluctuations are strong enough. The emergence of this singular behaviour marks a transition from non-ergodic delocalized states to localized eigenvectors that exhibit pronounced multifractal scaling. For constant coupling strengths, the bulk of the spectrum is characterized by a regular spectral density. In this case, the corresponding eigenvectors display localization properties reminiscent of the critical point of the Anderson localization transition on random graphs.

  1 citation

• Population dynamics of Schrödinger cats

  Foster Thompson, Alex Kamenev

  SciPost Phys. 18, 046 (2025) · published 6 February 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We demonstrate an exact equivalence between classical population dynamics and Lindbladian evolution admitting a dark state and obeying a set of certain local symmetries. We then introduce quantum population dynamics as models in which this local symmetry condition is relaxed. This allows for non-classical processes in which animals behave like Schrödinger's cat and enter superpositions of live and dead states, thus resulting in coherent superpositions of different population numbers. We develop a field theory treatment of quantum population models as a synthesis of Keldysh and third quantization techniques and draw comparisons to the stochastic Doi-Peliti field theory description of classical population models. We apply this formalism to study a prototypical "Schrödinger cat" population model on a $d$-dimensional lattice, which exhibits a phase transition between a dark extinct phase and an active phase that supports a stable quantum population. Using a perturbative renormalization group approach, we find a critical scaling of the Schrödinger cat population distinct from that observed in both classical population dynamics and usual quantum phase transitions.

  2 citations

• Difference equations: From Berry connections to the Coulomb branch

  Andrea E. V. Ferrari, Daniel Zhang

  SciPost Phys. 18, 045 (2025) · published 5 February 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  In recent work, we demonstrated that a spectral variety for the Berry connection of a 2d $\mathcal{N}=(2,2)$ GLSM with Kähler vacuum moduli space $X$ and Abelian flavour symmetry is the support of a sheaf induced by a certain action on the equivariant quantum cohomology of $X$. This action could be quantised to first-order matrix difference equations obeyed by brane amplitudes, and by taking the conformal limit, vortex partition functions. In this article, we elucidate how some of these results may be recovered from a 3d perspective, by placing the 2d theory at a boundary and gauging the flavour symmetry via a bulk A-twisted 3d $\mathcal{N}=4$ gauge theory (a sandwich construction). We interpret the above action as that of the bulk Coulomb branch algebra on boundary twisted chiral operators. This relates our work to recent constructions of actions of Coulomb branch algebras on quantum equivariant cohomology, providing a novel correspondence between these actions and spectral data of generalised periodic monopoles. The effective IR description of the 2d theory in terms of a twisted superpotential allows for explicit computations of these actions, which we demonstrate for Abelian GLSMs.

• Extracting the symmetries of nonequilibrium quantum many-body systems

  Aleksandr N. Mikheev, Viktoria Noel, Ido Siovitz, Helmut Strobel, Markus K. Oberthaler, Jürgen Berges

  SciPost Phys. 18, 044 (2025) · published 4 February 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Symmetries play a pivotal role in our understanding of the properties of quantum many-body systems. While there are theorems and a well-established toolbox for systems in thermal equilibrium, much less is known about the role of symmetries and their connection to dynamics out of equilibrium. This arises due to the direct link between a system's thermal state and its Hamiltonian, which is generally not the case for nonequilibrium dynamics. Here we present a pathway to identify the effective symmetries and to extract them from data in nonequilibrium quantum many-body systems. Our approach is based on exact relations between correlation functions involving different numbers of spatial points, which can be viewed as nonequilibrium versions of (equal-time) Ward identities encoding the symmetries of the system. We derive symmetry witnesses, which are particularly suitable for the analysis of measured or simulated data at different snapshots in time. To demonstrate the potential of the approach, we apply our method to numerical and experimental data for a spinor Bose gas. We investigate the important question of a dynamical restoration of an explicitly broken symmetry of the Hamiltonian by the initial state. Remarkably, it is found that effective symmetry restoration can occur long before the system equilibrates. We also use the approach to define and identify spontaneous symmetry breaking far from equilibrium, which is of great relevance for applications to nonequilibrium phase transitions. Our work opens new avenues for the classification and analysis of quantum as well as classical many-body dynamics in a large variety of systems, ranging from ultracold quantum gases to cosmology.

  2 citations

• Fractional domain wall statistics in spin chains with anomalous symmetries

  Jose Garre Rubio, Norbert Schuch

  SciPost Phys. 18, 043 (2025) · published 4 February 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We study the statistics of domain wall excitations in quantum spin chains. We focus on systems with finite symmetry groups represented by matrix product unitaries (MPUs), i.e. finite depth quantum circuits. Such symmetries can be anomalous, in which case gapped phases which they support must break the symmetry. The lowest lying excitations of those systems are thus domain wall excitations. We investigate the behavior of these domain walls under exchange, and find that they can exhibit non-trivial exchange statistics. This statistics is completely determined by the anomaly of the symmetry, and we provide a direct relation between the known classification of MPU symmetry actions on ground states and the domain wall statistics. Already for the simplest case of a $\mathbb Z_2$ symmetry, we obtain that the presence of an anomalous MPU symmetry gives rise to domain wall excitations which behave neither as bosons nor as fermions, but rather exhibit fractional statistics. Finally, we show that the exchange statistics of domain walls is a physically accessible quantity, by devising explicit measurement operators through which it can be determined.

  2 citations

• Semi-visible jets, energy-based models, and self-supervision

  Luigi Favaro, Michael Krämer, Tanmoy Modak, Tilman Plehn, Jan Rüschkamp

  SciPost Phys. 18, 042 (2025) · published 3 February 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We present DarkCLR, a novel framework for detecting semi-visible jets at the LHC. DarkCLR uses a self-supervised contrastive-learning approach to create observables that are approximately invariant under relevant transformations. We use background-enhanced data to create a sensitive representation and evaluate the representations using a CLR-inspired anomaly score and a normalized autoencoder as density estimators. Our results show a remarkable sensitivity for a wide range of semi-visible jets and are more robust than a supervised classifier trained on a specific signal.

  4 citations

• ABJ anomaly as a U(1) symmetry and Noether’s theorem

  Valentin Benedetti, Horacio Casini, Javier M. Magan

  SciPost Phys. 18, 041 (2025) · published 3 February 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The Adler-Bell-Jackiw anomaly determines the violation of chiral symmetry when massless fermions are coupled to an abelian gauge field. In its seminal paper, Adler noticed that a modified chiral $U(1)$ symmetry could still be defined, at the expense of being generated by a non-gauge-invariant conserved current. We show this internal $U(1)$ symmetry has the special feature that it transforms the Haag duality violating sectors (or non local operator classes). This provides a simple unifying perspective on the origin of anomaly quantization, anomaly matching, applicability of Goldstone theorem, and the absence of a Noether current. We comment on recent literature where this symmetry is considered to be either absent or non-invertible. We end by recalling the DHR reconstruction theorem, which states $0$-form symmetries cannot be non-invertible for $d>2$, and argue for a higher form-symmetry reconstruction theorem.

  3 citations