Publications

Order by: publication date number of citations

• Testing new physics models with global comparisons to collider measurements: the Contur toolkit

  A. Buckley, J. M. Butterworth, L. Corpe, M. Habedank, D. Huang, D. Yallup, M. Altakach, G. Bassman, I. Lagwankar, J. Rocamonde, H. Saunders, B. Waugh, G. Zilgalvis

  SciPost Phys. Core 4, 013 (2021) · published 20 May 2021 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Measurements at particle collider experiments, even if primarily aimed at understanding Standard Model processes, can have a high degree of model independence, and implicitly contain information about potential contributions from physics beyond the Standard Model. The Contur package allows users to benefit from the hundreds of measurements preserved in the Rivet library to test new models against the bank of LHC measurements to date. This method has proven to be very effective in several recent publications from the Contur team, but ultimately, for this approach to be successful, the authors believe that the Contur tool needs to be accessible to the wider high energy physics community. As such, this manual accompanies the first user-facing version: Contur v2. It describes the design choices that have been made, as well as detailing pitfalls and common issues to avoid. The authors hope that with the help of this documentation, external groups will be able to run their own Contur studies, for example when proposing a new model, or pitching a new search.

  30 citations

• Crossed product algebras and generalized entropy for subregions

  Shadi Ali Ahmad, Ro Jefferson

  SciPost Phys. Core 7, 020 (2024) · published 10 April 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  An early result of algebraic quantum field theory is that the algebra of any subregion in a QFT is a von Neumann factor of type III$_{1}$, in which entropy cannot be well-defined because such algebras do not admit a trace or density states. However, associated to the algebra is a modular group of automorphisms characterizing the local dynamics of degrees of freedom in the region, and the crossed product of the algebra with its modular group yields a type II$_∞$ factor, in which traces and hence von Neumann entropy can be well-defined. In this work, we generalize recent constructions of the crossed product algebra for the TFD to, in principle, arbitrary spacetime regions in arbitrary QFTs, formally paving the way to the study of entanglement entropy without UV divergences. In contrast to previous works, we emphasize that this construction is independent of gravity. In this sense, the crossed product construction represents a refinement of Haag's assignment of nets of observable algebras to spacetime regions by providing a natural construction of a type II factor. We present several concrete examples: a QFT in Rindler space, a CFT in an open ball of Minkowski space, and arbitrary boundary subregions in AdS/CFT. In the holographic setting, we provide a novel argument for why the bulk dual must be the entanglement wedge, and discuss the distinction arising from boundary modular flow between causal and entanglement wedges for excited states and disjoint regions.

  29 citations

• On the boundary conformal field theory approach to symmetry-resolved entanglement

  Giuseppe Di Giulio, René Meyer, Christian Northe, Henri Scheppach, Suting Zhao

  SciPost Phys. Core 6, 049 (2023) · published 11 July 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We study the symmetry resolution of the entanglement entropy of an interval in two-dimensional conformal field theories (CFTs), by relating the bipartition to the geometry of an annulus with conformal boundary conditions. In the presence of extended symmetries such as Kac-Moody type current algebrae, symmetry resolution is possible only if the boundary conditions on the annulus preserve part of the symmetry group, i.e. if the factorization map associated with the spatial bipartition is compatible with the symmetry in question. The partition function of the boundary CFT (BCFT) is then decomposed in terms of the characters of the irreducible representations of the symmetry group preserved by the boundary conditions. We demonstrate that this decomposition already provides the symmetry resolution of the entanglement spectrum of the corresponding bipartition. Considering the various terms of the partition function associated with the same representation, or charge sector, the symmetry-resolved Rényi entropies can be derived to all orders in the UV cutoff expansion without the need to compute the charged moments. We apply this idea to the theory of a free massless boson with $U(1)$, $\mathbb{R}$ and $\mathbb{Z}_2$ symmetry.

  27 citations

• Page curves and bath deformations

  Elena Caceres, Arnab Kundu, Ayan K. Patra, Sanjit Shashi

  SciPost Phys. Core 5, 033 (2022) · published 13 June 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We study the black hole information problem within a semiclassically gravitating AdS$_d$ black hole coupled to and in equilibrium with a $d$-dimensional thermal conformal bath. We deform the bath state by a relevant scalar deformation, triggering a holographic RG flow whose “trans-IR” region deforms from a Schwarzschild geometry to a Kasner universe. The setup manifests two independent scales which control both the extent of coarse-graining and the entanglement dynamics when counting Hawking degrees of freedom in the bath. In tuning either, we find nontrivial changes to the Page time and Page curve. We consequently view the Page curve as a probe of the holographic RG flow, with a higher Page time manifesting as a result of increased coarse-graining of the bath degrees of freedom.

  27 citations

• Measurement phase transitions in the no-click limit as quantum phase transitions of a non-hermitean vacuum

  Caterina Zerba, Alessandro Silva

  SciPost Phys. Core 6, 051 (2023) · published 18 July 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We study dynamical phase transitions occurring in the stationary state of the dynamics of integrable many-body non-hermitian Hamiltonians, which can be either realized as a no-click limit of a stochastic Schrödinger equation or using spacetime duality of quantum circuits. In two specific models, the Transverse Field Ising Chain and the Long Range Kitaev Chain, we observe that the entanglement phase transitions occurring in the stationary state have the same nature as that occurring in the vacuum of the non-hermitian Hamiltonian: bounded entanglement entropy when the imaginary part of the quasi-particle spectrum is gapped and a logarithmic growth for gapless imaginary spectrum. This observation suggests the possibility to generalize the area-law theorem to non-Hermitian Hamiltonians.

  27 citations

• Lattice Bisognano-Wichmann modular Hamiltonian in critical quantum spin chains

  Jiaju Zhang, Pasquale Calabrese, Marcello Dalmonte, M. A. Rajabpour

  SciPost Phys. Core 2, 007 (2020) · published 7 May 2020 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We carry out a comprehensive comparison between the exact modular Hamiltonian and the lattice version of the Bisognano-Wichmann (BW) one in one-dimensional critical quantum spin chains. As a warm-up, we first illustrate how the trace distance provides a more informative mean of comparison between reduced density matrices when compared to any other Schatten $n$-distance, normalized or not. In particular, as noticed in earlier works, it provides a way to bound other correlation functions in a precise manner, i.e., providing both lower and upper bounds. Additionally, we show that two close reduced density matrices, i.e. with zero trace distance for large sizes, can have very different modular Hamiltonians. This means that, in terms of describing how two states are close to each other, it is more informative to compare their reduced density matrices rather than the corresponding modular Hamiltonians. After setting this framework, we consider the ground states for infinite and periodic XX spin chain and critical Ising chain. We provide robust numerical evidence that the trace distance between the lattice BW reduced density matrix and the exact one goes to zero as $\ell^{-2}$ for large length of the interval $\ell$. This provides strong constraints on the difference between the corresponding entanglement entropies and correlation functions. Our results indicate that discretized BW reduced density matrices reproduce exact entanglement entropies and correlation functions of local operators in the limit of large subsystem sizes. Finally, we show that the BW reduced density matrices fall short of reproducing the exact behavior of the logarithmic emptiness formation probability in the ground state of the XX spin chain.

  26 citations

• Entanglement wedge in flat holography and entanglement negativity

  Debarshi Basu, Ashish Chandra, Vinayak Raj, Gautam Sengupta

  SciPost Phys. Core 5, 013 (2022) · published 15 March 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We establish a construction for the entanglement wedge in asymptotically flat bulk geometries for subsystems in dual $(1+1)$-dimensional Galilean conformal field theories in the context of flat space holography. In this connection we propose a definition for the bulk entanglement wedge cross section for bipartite states of such dual non relativistic conformal field theories. Utilizing our construction for the entanglement wedge cross section we compute the entanglement negativity for such bipartite states through the generalization of an earlier proposal, in the context of the usual $AdS/CFT$ scenario, to flat space holography. The entanglement negativity obtained from our construction exactly reproduces earlier holographic results and match with the corresponding field theory replica technique results in the large central charge limit.

  26 citations

• Mean-field model of interacting quasilocalized excitations in glasses

  Corrado Rainone, Pierfrancesco Urbani, Francesco Zamponi, Edan Lerner, and Eran Bouchbinder

  SciPost Phys. Core 4, 008 (2021) · published 16 April 2021 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Structural glasses feature quasilocalized excitations whose frequencies $\omega$ follow a universal density of states ${\cal D}(\omega)\!\sim\!\omega^4$. Yet, the underlying physics behind this universality is not yet fully understood. Here we study a mean-field model of quasilocalized excitations in glasses, viewed as groups of particles embedded inside an elastic medium and described collectively as anharmonic oscillators. The oscillators, whose harmonic stiffness is taken from a rather featureless probability distribution (of upper cutoff $\kappa_0$) in the absence of interactions, interact among themselves through random couplings (characterized by strength $J$) and with the surrounding elastic medium (an interaction characterized by a constant force $h$). We first show that the model gives rise to a gapless density of states ${\cal D}(\omega)\!=\!A_{\rm g}\,\omega^4$ for a broad range of model parameters, expressed in terms of the strength of stabilizing anharmonicity, which plays a decisive role in the model. Then --- using scaling theory and numerical simulations --- we provide a complete understanding of the non-universal prefactor $A_{\rm g}(h,J,\kappa_0)$, of the oscillators' interaction-induced mean square displacement and of an emerging characteristic frequency, all in terms of properly identified dimensionless quantities. In particular, we show that $A_{\rm g}(h,J,\kappa_0)$ is a non-monotonic function of $J$ for a fixed $h$, varying predominantly exponentially with $-(\kappa_0 h^{2/3}\!/J^2)$ in the weak interactions (small $J$) regime --- reminiscent of recent observations in computer glasses --- and predominantly decays as a power-law for larger $J$, in a regime where $h$ plays no role. We discuss the physical interpretation of the model and its possible relations to available observations in structural glasses, along with delineating some future research directions.

  26 citations

• An unfolding method based on conditional invertible neural networks (cINN) using iterative training

  Mathias Backes, Anja Butter, Monica Dunford, Bogdan Malaescu

  SciPost Phys. Core 7, 007 (2024) · published 21 February 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The unfolding of detector effects is crucial for the comparison of data to theory predictions. While traditional methods are limited to representing the data in a low number of dimensions, machine learning has enabled new unfolding techniques while retaining the full dimensionality. Generative networks like invertible neural networks~(INN) enable a probabilistic unfolding, which map individual data events to their corresponding unfolded probability distribution. The accuracy of such methods is however limited by how well simulated training samples model the actual data that is unfolded. We introduce the iterative conditional INN (IcINN) for unfolding that adjusts for deviations between simulated training samples and data. The IcINN unfolding is first validated on toy data and then applied to pseudo-data for the $pp \to Z \gamma \gamma$ process.

  26 citations

• Euler-scale dynamical correlations in integrable systems with fluid motion

  Frederik S. Møller, Gabriele Perfetto, Benjamin Doyon, Jörg Schmiedmayer

  SciPost Phys. Core 3, 016 (2020) · published 22 December 2020 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We devise an iterative scheme for numerically calculating dynamical two-point correlation functions in integrable many-body systems, in the Eulerian scaling limit. Expressions for these were originally derived in Ref. [1] by combining the fluctuation-dissipation principle with generalized hydrodynamics. Crucially, the scheme is able to address non-stationary, inhomogeneous situations, when motion occurs at the Euler-scale of hydrodynamics. In such situations, in interacting systems, the simple correlations due to fluid modes propagating with the flow receive subtle corrections, which we test. Using our scheme, we study the spreading of correlations in several integrable models from inhomogeneous initial states. For the classical hard-rod model we compare our results with Monte-Carlo simulations and observe excellent agreement at long time-scales, thus providing the first demonstration of validity for the expressions derived in Ref. [1]. We also observe the onset of the Euler-scale limit for the dynamical correlations.

  25 citations