Publications

Order by: publication date number of citations

• Relativistic kinematics in flat and curved space-times

  Patrick Moylan

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 14, 037 (2023) · published 24 November 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Almost immediately after the seminal papers of Poincaré (1905,1906) and Einstein (1905) on special relativity, wherein Poincaré established the full covariance of the Maxwell-Lorentz equations under the scale-extended Poincaré group and Einstein explained the Lorentz transformation using his assumption that the one-way speed of light in vacuo is constant and the same for all inertial observers (Einstein's second postulate), attempts were made to get at the Lorentz transformations from basic properties of space and time but avoiding Einstein's second postulate. Various such approaches usually involve general consequences of the relativity principle, such as a group structure to the set of all admissible inertial transformations and also assumptions about causality and/or homogeneity of space-time combined with isotropy of space. The first such attempt is usually attributed to von Ignatowsky in 1911. It was followed shortly thereafter by a paper of Frank and Rothe published in the same year. Since then, papers have continued to be written on the subject even up to the present. We elaborate on some of the results of such papers paying special attention to a 1968 paper of Bacri and Lévy-Leblond where possible kinematical groups include the de Sitter and anti-de Sitter groups and lead to special relativity in de Sitter and anti-de Sitter spaces.

• Characterizing the hadronization of parton showers using the HOMER method

  Benoît Assi, Christian Bierlich, Philip Ilten, Tony Menzo, Stephen Mrenna, Manuel Szewc, Michael K. Wilkinson, Ahmed Youssef, Jure Zupan

  SciPost Phys. 19, 125 (2025) · published 11 November 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We update the HOMER method, a technique to solve a restricted version of the inverse problem of hadronization – extracting the Lund string fragmentation function $f(z)$ from data using only observable information. Here, we demonstrate its utility by extracting $f(z)$ from synthetic Pythia simulations using high-level observables constructed on an event-by-event basis, such as multiplicities and shape variables. Four cases of increasing complexity are considered, corresponding to $e^+e^-$ collisions at a center-of-mass energy of $90≥v$ producing either a string stretched between a $q$ and $\bar{q}$ containing no gluons; the same string containing one gluon $g$ with fixed kinematics; the same but the gluon has varying kinematics; and the most realistic case, strings with an unrestricted number of gluons that is the end-result of a parton shower. We demonstrate the extraction of $f(z)$ in each case, with the result of only a relatively modest degradation in performance of the HOMER method with the increased complexity of the string system.

• Immigration Detention at Sea: maritime migration governance in Australia and the sanctioning of indefinite detention for the purpose of removal

  Andonea Jon Dickson

  Mig. Pol. 3, 002 (2024) · published 19 June 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Over the past four decades, maritime geographies have become prominent sites of migration governance. While there is important scholarly work on these spaces, charting changing techniques of control and containment, what continues to demand attention is the governance that works through systematically keeping people seeking asylum mobile at sea. This article focuses on Australia, examining the coerced mobilities that follow interdictions at sea and their carceral nature. I interrogate the High Court case, CPCF v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, which addresses the extended maritime detention of 157 people seeking asylum in June 2014. Through analysing the language used in this case, such as the conclusion by the majority that “to detain” a person at sea mandates a concomitant duty “to take” that person somewhere, I highlight how coerced mobility has become central to Australia’s strategy of maritime migration governance and how this has come to legitimate detention at sea without any clear time limitation. This will reveal the extent to which carcerality informs migration governance in Australia’s maritime geographies.

• Sparks in the dark

  Olga Sunneborn Gudnadottir, Axel Gallén, Giulia Ripellino, Jochen J. Heinrich, Raazesh Sainudiin, Rebeca Gonzalez Suarez

  SciPost Phys. 18, 080 (2025) · published 4 March 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  This study presents a novel method for the definition of signal regions in searches for new physics at collider experiments. By leveraging multi-dimensional histograms with precise arithmetic and utilizing the SparkDensityTree library, it is possible to identify high-density regions within the available phase space, potentially improving sensitivity to very small signals. Inspired by a search for dark mesons at the ATLAS experiment, CMS open data is used for this proof-of-concept intentionally targeting an already excluded signal. Signal regions are defined based on density estimates of signal and background. These preliminary regions align well with the physical properties of the signal while effectively rejecting background events.

• Phase transitions from heating to non-heating in $SU(1,1)$ quantum dynamics: Applications to Bose-Einstein condensates and periodically driven coupled oscillators

  Heng-Hsi Li, Po-Yao Chang

  SciPost Phys. Core 8, 018 (2025) · published 10 February 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We study the entanglement properties in non-equilibrium quantum systems with the $SU(1,1)$ structure. Through Möbius transformation, we map the dynamics of these systems following a sudden quench or a periodic drive onto three distinct trajectories on the Poincaré disc, corresponding the heating, non-heating, and a phase boundary describing these non-equilibrium quantum states. We consider two experimentally feasible systems where their quantum dynamics exhibit the $SU(1,1)$ structure: the quench dynamics of the Bose-Einstein condensates and the periodically driven coupled oscillators. In both cases, the heating, non-heating phases, and their boundary manifest through distinct signatures in the phonon population where exponential, oscillatory, and linear growths classify these phases. Similarly, the entanglement entropy and negativity also exhibit distinct behaviors (linearly, oscillatory, and logarithmic growths) characterizing these phases, respectively. Notibly, for the periodically driven coupled oscillators, the non-equilibrium properties are characterized by two sets of $SU(1,1)$ generators. The corresponding two sets of the trajectories on two Poincaré discs lead to a more complex phase diagram. We identify two distinct phases within the heating region discernible solely by the growth rate of the entanglement entropy, where a discontinuity is observed when varying the parameters across the phase boundary within in heating region. This discontinuity is not observed in the phonon population.

• A Fermi surface descriptor quantifying the correlations between anomalous Hall effect and Fermi surface geometry

  Elena Derunova, Jacob Gayles, Yan Sun, Michael W. Gaultois, Mazhar N. Ali

  SciPost Phys. Core 8, 085 (2025) · published 18 November 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  In the last few decades, basic ideas of topology have completely transformed the prediction of quantum transport phenomena. Following this trend, we go deeper into the incorporation of modern mathematics into quantum material science focusing on geometry. Here we investigate the relation between the geometrical type of the Fermi surface and Anomalous and Spin Hall Effects. An index, $\mathbb{H}_F$, quantifying the hyperbolic geometry of the Fermi surface, shows a universal correlation (R$^2$ = 0.97) with the experimentally measured intrinsic anomalous Hall conductivity, of 16 different compounds spanning a wide variety of crystal, chemical, and electronic structure families, including those where topological methods give R$^2$ = 0.52. This raises a question about the predictive limits of topological physics and its transformation into a wider study of bandstructures' and Fermi surfaces' geometries and relating them to the quantum geometry theory of a more general metric of eigenstates, opening horizon for the prediction of phenomena beyond topological understanding.

• Few-body reactions investigated with the Trojan Horse Method

  Roberta Spartà, Giuseppe G. Rapisarda, Claudio Spitaleri, M. La Cognata, Rosario G. Pizzone, S. Romano, Aurora Tumino

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 3, 033 (2020) · published 26 February 2020 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The Trojan Horse Method is an indirect method to measure reaction cross sections at energies of interest for nuclear astrophysics, exploiting the nuclei clustering properties. Here it is presented with its general features and detailed for the case of the 2H(d,p)3H and 2H(d,n)3He measurements, where interesting results for astrophysics and energy fusion power plants have been obtained.

• Josephson current through the SYK model

  Luca Dell'Anna

  SciPost Phys. 17, 120 (2024) · published 24 October 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We calculate the equilibrium Josephson current through a disordered interacting quantum dot described by a Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev model fully contacted by two BCS superconductors, such that all modes of the dot contribute to the coupling, which encodes hopping and spin-flip processes. We show that, at zero temperature and at the conformal limit, i.e. in the strong interacting limit, the Josephson current is suppressed by $U$, the strength of the interaction, as ln(U)/U and becomes universal, namely it gets independent on the superconducting gap. At finite temperature, instead, it depends on the ratio between the gap and the temperature. A proximity effect exists but the self-energy corrections induced by the coupling with the superconducting leads seem subleading as compared to the interaction self-energy and the tunneling matrix for large number of particles. Finally we compare the results of the original four-fermion model with those obtained considering zero interaction, two-fermions and a generalized $q$-fermion model.

• High-energy logarithmic corrections to the QCD component of same-sign W-pair production

  Jeppe R. Andersen, Bertrand Ducloué, Conor Elrick, Andreas Maier, Graeme Nail, Jennifer M. Smillie

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 8, 129 (2022) · published 13 July 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We describe the calculation of the QCD contribution to same-sign $W$-pair production, $pp\to e^\pm \nu_e \mu^\pm \nu_\mu jj$, resumming all contributions scaling as $\alpha_W^4 \alpha_s^{2+k}\log^k(\hat s/p_\perp^2)$ [arXiv:2107.06818]. These leading logarithmic contributions are enhanced by typical cuts used for Vector Boson Scattering (VBS) studies. We show that while the cross sections are little affected by these corrections, other more exclusive observables relevant for experimental studies are affected more significantly.

• Clocking mechanism from a minimal spinning particle model

  Tobiasz Pietrzak, Łukasz Bratek

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 14, 042 (2023) · published 24 November 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The clock hypothesis plays an important role in the theory of relativity. To test this hypothesis, a mechanical model of an ideal clock is needed. Such a model should have the phase of its intrinsic periodic motion increasing linearly with the affine parameter of the clock's center of mass worldline. A class of relativistic rotators introduced by Staruszkiewicz in the context of an ideal clock is studied. A singularity in the inverse Legendre transform leading from the Hamiltonian to the Lagrangian leads to new possible Lagrangians characterized by fixed values of mass and spin. In free motion the rotators exhibit intrinsic motion with the speed of light and fixed frequency.