Publications

Order by: publication date number of citations

• Physics from Photons at the LHC

  Lucian Harland-Lang

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 8, 072 (2022) · published 12 July 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  LHC collisions can act as a source of photons in the initial state. This mechanism plays an important role in the production of particles with electroweak couplings, and a precise account of photon-initiated (PI) production at the LHC is a key ingredient in the LHC precision physics programme. I will discuss the possibility of modelling PI processes directly via the structure function approach. This can provide percent level precision in the production cross sections, and is therefore well positioned to account for LHC precision requirements. This formalism in addition allows one to make use of another useful feature of photons, namely that they are colour-singlet and can often be emitted elastically (or quasi-elastically) from the proton. I will discuss recent work on applications of the structure function approach to precision calculations of PI production in the inclusive mode, and to `exclusive' processes with rapidity gaps, which can provide a unique probe of the Standard Model and physics beyond it.

• Photoinduced pairing in Mott insulators

  Satoshi Ejima, Holger Fehske

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 11, 009 (2023) · published 5 June 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Utilizing time-evolution techniques in (infinite) matrix-product-state representation, we study the non-equilibrium dynamics of driven Mott insulators and demonstrate photoinduced $\eta$ pairing directly in the thermodynamic limit. Analyzing the time evolution of the corresponding pairing correlations, we determine the optimal laser pump parameters for which long-range $\eta$-pairing becomes dominant after pulse irradiation. The time-dependent photoemission spectra for this optimal pump parameter set show clear signatures of the photoinduced insulator-to-metal phase transition related to the formation of $\eta$ pairs.

• Sea Asymmetry from Polarized W Boson Production

  C. Cocuzza, A. Metz, N. Sato

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 8, 025 (2022) · published 11 July 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We present the results of a global QCD analysis of helicity parton distribution functions (PDFs) that includes the latest polarized W-lepton production data from the STAR collaboration at the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider (RHIC). This data allows the first extraction of a nonzero helicity light-quark sea asymmetry within a simultaneous global QCD analysis of unpolarized and helicity PDFs.

• On the breakdown of dimensional reduction and supersymmetry in random-field models

  Gilles Tarjus, Matthieu Tissier, Ivan Balog

  SciPost Phys. 19, 001 (2025) · published 1 July 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We discuss the breakdown of the Parisi-Sourlas supersymmetry (SUSY) and of the dimensional-reduction (DR) property in the random field Ising and O($N$) models as a function of space dimension $d$ and/or number of components $N$. The functional renormalization group (FRG) predicts that this takes place below a critical line $d_\mathrm{DR}(N)$. We revisit the perturbative FRG results for the RFO($N$)M in $d=4+\epsilon$ and carry out a more comprehensive investigation of the nonperturbative FRG approximation for the RFIM. In light of this FRG description, we discuss the perturbative results in $\epsilon=6-d$ recently derived for the RFIM by Kaviraj, Rychkov, and Trevisani. We stress in particular that the disappearance of the SUSY/DR fixed point below $d_\mathrm{DR}$ arises as a consequence of the nonlinearity of the FRG equations and cannot be found via the perturbative expansion in $\epsilon=6-d$ (nor in $1/N$). We also provide an error bar on the value of the critical dimension $d_\mathrm{DR}$ for the RFIM, which we find around $5.11±0.09$, by studying several successive orders of the nonperturbative FRG approximation scheme.

• High field magnetism of the triangular lattice antiferromagnet CsFeCl$_3$ under high pressure

  Katsuki Nihongi, Takanori Kida, Yasuo Narumi, Nobuyuki Kurita, Hidekazu Tanaka, Yoshiya Uwatoko, Koichi Kindo, Masayuki Hagiwara

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 11, 012 (2023) · published 5 June 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Magnetization measurements of the triangular lattice antiferromagnet CsFeCl$_{3}$ at 1.4 K for $H \parallel c$ were performed in pulsed high magnetic fields of up to 51 T under high pressures of up to 0.80 GPa. At ambient pressure, the magnetization below $H_{\rm c1}$ = 4 T is small, and then it changes steeply between $H_{\rm c1}$ and $H_{\rm c2}$ = 12 T, followed by a gradual increase in magnetization up to $H_{\rm m}$ = 33 T where a two-step metamagnetic transition occurs. With increasing pressure, the $H_{\rm c1}$ and $H_{\rm m}$ shifted to the low-field side, while the $H_{\rm c2}$ shifted to the opposite side. The change in $H_{\rm m}$ may depend on the difference in the single-ion anisotropies on pressure in the lowest $J$ = 1 and the excited $J$ = 2 states.

• What do DVCS data tell us about TCS observables?

  O. Grocholski, H. Moutarde, B. Pire, P. Sznajder, J. Wagner

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 8, 070 (2022) · published 12 July 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Deeply virtual Compton scattering (DVCS) and timelike Compton scattering (TCS) leading twist amplitudes are intimately related thanks to their analytic properties as a function of $Q^2$. We exploit this feature to use Compton form factors previously extracted from available DVCS data and derive data-driven predictions for TCS observables to be measured in near future experiments. Our results quantitatively illustrate the complementarity of DVCS and TCS experiments.

• Probing dielectric breakdown in Mott insulators through current oscillations

  Joan Triadú-Galí, Artur Garcia-Saez, Bruno Juliá-Díaz, Axel Pérez-Obiol

  SciPost Phys. 19, 010 (2025) · published 7 July 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We investigate the dielectric breakdown of mesoscopic Mott insulators, a phenomenon where a strong electric field destabilizes the insulating state, resulting in a transition to a metallic phase. Using the Landau-Zener formalism, which models the excitation of a two-level system, we derive a theoretical expression for the threshold value of the field. To validate our predictions, we present an efficient protocol for estimating the charge gap and threshold field via non-equilibrium current oscillations, overcoming the computational limitations of exact diagonalization. Our simulations demonstrate the accuracy of our theoretical formula for systems with small gaps. Moreover, our findings are directly testable in ultracold atomic experiments with ring geometries and artificial gauge fields, as our method uses measurable quantities and relies on already available technologies. This work aims to bridge the gap between theoretical models and experimentally realizable protocols, providing tools to explore non-equilibrium mesoscopic phenomena in strongly correlated quantum systems.

• Improved Galactic diffuse emission model strengthens the case for a Millisecond Pulsar explanation of the Fermi GeV excess

  Oscar Macias, Martin Pohl, Chris Gordon, Phaedra Coleman

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 12, 049 (2023) · published 4 July 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  After more than a decade since its discovery, the Galactic center gamma-ray excess - discovered with the Fermi Large Area Telescope - remains puzzling. While the spectrum of the signal can be explained by either dark matter or an unresolved population of millisecond pulsars, the spatial morphology of this excess seems to hold the key to separate the two theories. In this contribution, we present the results of a recent study in which we use bleeding edge models for interstellar gas, inverse Compton emission, and stellar mass models to reanalyze the Galactic center excess. We find that the spatial morphology of the excess is highly correlated with stellar matter in the Galactic bulge, providing strong support for the millisecond pulsar hypothesis.

• Hard exclusive $\pi^{+}n$ electro production beam spin asymmetries off the proton in the GPD and TDA regimes

  S. Diehl for the CLAS collaboration

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 8, 066 (2022) · published 12 July 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Hard exclusive $\pi^{+}$n electro-production can be used to gain access to the 3D nucleon structure. The QCD factorisation mechanism in the "nearly forward region" ($t/Q^{2}$ small) allows a description by Generalized Parton Distributions (GPDs), while for the "nearly backward" kinematic region ($u/Q^{2}$ small) a description based on nucleon to pion transitions (TDAs) is available. The paper presents a measurement of single beam spin asymmetries to extract the $A^{\sin\phi}_{LU}$ moments and the related cross section ratio $\sigma_{LT^\prime}/\sigma_{0}$ from the hard exclusive $\pi^{+}$ channel off the unpolarized hydrogen target in a wide range of kinematics based on data taken with the CLAS spectrometer at Jefferson Lab. In addition, under forward angles a detailed multidimensional study will be presented based on CLAS12 data and compared to theoretical predictions.

• A family of vertex algebras from Argyres-Douglas theory

  Heeyeon Kim, Jaewon Song

  SciPost Phys. 19, 144 (2025) · published 2 December 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We find that multiple vertex algebras can arise from a single 4d $\mathcal{N}=2$ superconformal field theory (SCFT). The connection is given by the BPS monodromy operator $M$, which is a wall-crossing invariant quantity that captures the BPS spectrum on the Coulomb branch. For a class of low-rank Argyres-Douglas theories, we find that the trace of the multiple powers of the monodromy operator Tr$M^N$ yield modular functions that can be identified with the vacuum characters of certain vertex algebra for each $N$. In particular, we realize unitary VOAs of the Deligne-Cvitanović exceptional series type $(A_2)_1$, $(G_2)_1$, $(D_4)_1$, $(F_4)_1$, $(E_6)_1$ from Argyres-Douglas theories. We also find the modular invariant characters of the 'intermediate vertex algebras' $(E_{7\frac{1}{2}})_1$ and $(X_1)_1$. Our analysis allows us to construct 3d $\mathcal{N}=2$ gauge theories that flow to $\mathcal{N}=4$ SCFTs in the IR, whose specialized half-index can be identified with these modular invariant characters.