Choice Of Gauge Research Articles

Shape Morphing of Planar Liquid Crystal Elastomers.

We consider planar liquid crystal elastomers: two-dimensional objects made of anisotropic responsive materials that remain flat when stimulated, however change their planar shape. We derive a closed form, analytical solution based on the implicit linearity featured by this subclass of deformations. Our solution provides the nematic director field on an arbitrary domain starting with two initial director curves. We discuss the different gauge choices for this problem and the inclusion of disclinations in the nematic order. Finally, we propose several applications and useful design principles based on this theoretical framework.

Spherical winding and helicity

In ideal magnetohydrodynamics, magnetic helicity is a conserved dynamical quantity and a topological invariant closely related to Gauss linking numbers. However, for open magnetic fields with non-zero boundary components, the latter geometrical interpretation is complicated by the fact that helicity varies with non-unique choices of a field’s vector potential or gauge. Evaluated in a particular gauge called the winding gauge, open-field helicity in Cartesian slab domains has been shown to be the average flux-weighted pairwise winding numbers of field lines, a measure constructed solely from field configurations that manifest its topological origin. In this paper, we derive the spherical analogue of the winding gauge and the corresponding winding interpretation of helicity, in which we formally define the concept of spherical winding of curves. Using a series of examples, we demonstrate novel properties of spherical winding and the validity of spherical winding helicity. We further argue for the canonical status of the winding gauge choice among all vector potentials for magnetic helicity by exhibiting equivalences between local coordinate changes and gauge transformations.

Gauging Fractons and Linearized Gravity

We consider the covariant gauge field theory of fractons, which describes a new type of quasiparticles exhibiting novel and non-trivial properties. In particular, we focus on the field theoretical peculiarities which characterize this theory, starting from the fact that, if we accept the paradigm that quantum field theories are defined by their symmetries, fractons unavoidably come together with linearized gravity. The standard Faddeev–Popov procedure to gauge fix the theory leads to a scalar gauge condition, which has two important drawbacks: it is frozen in the Landau gauge and linearized gravity cannot be obtained as a limit. In this paper, we adopt a tensorially alternative gauge fixing, which avoids both problems. In particular, this allows to show that important physical features, such as counting of the degrees of freedom, do not depend on a particular gauge choice, as expected. Moreover, the resulting gauge fixed theory contains both fractons and linearized gravity as a limit, differently from the standard scalar choice.

Entanglement entropy of local gravitational quenches

We study the time dependence of Rényi/entanglement entropies of locally excited states created by fields with integer spins s ≤ 2 in 4 dimensions. For spins 0, 1 these states are characterised by localised energy densities of a given width which travel as a spherical wave at the speed of light. For the spin 2 case, in the absence of a local gauge invariant stress tensor, we probe these states with the Kretschmann scalar and show they represent localised curvature densities which travel at the speed of light. We consider the reduced density matrix of the half space with these excitations and develop methods which include a convenient gauge choice to evaluate the time dependence of Rényi/entanglement entropies as these quenches enter the half region. In all cases, the entanglement entropy grows in time and saturates at log 2. In the limit, the width of these excitations tends to zero, the growth is determined by order 2s + 1 polynomials in the ratio of the distance from the co-dimension-2 entangling surface and time. The polynomials corresponding to quenches created by the fields can be organized in terms of their representations under the SO(2)T × SO(2)L symmetry preserved by the presence of the co-dimension 2 entangling surface. For fields transforming as scalars under this symmetry, the order 2s + 1 polynomial is completely determined by the spin.

Tree-level color–kinematics duality implies loop-level color–kinematics duality up to counterterms

Color-kinematics (CK) duality is a remarkable symmetry of gluon amplitudes that is the key to the double copy which links gauge theory and gravity amplitudes. Here we show that the complete Yang-Mills action itself, including its gauge-fixing and ghost sectors required for quantization, can be recast to manifest CK duality using a series of field redefinitions and gauge choices. Crucially, the resulting loop-level integrands are automatically CK-dual, up to potential Jacobian counterterms required for unitarity. While these counterterms may break CK duality, they exist, are unique and, since the tree-level is unaffected, may be deduced from the action or the integrands. Consequently, CK duality is a symmetry of the action like any other symmetry, and it is anomalous in a controlled and mostly harmless sense. Our results apply to any theory with CK-dual tree-level amplitudes. We also show that two CK duality-manifesting parent actions may be factorized and fused into a consistent quantizable offspring, with the double copy as the prime example. This provides a direct proof of the double copy to all loop orders.

Singularity resolution by holonomy corrections: Spherical charged black holes in cosmological backgrounds

We study spherical charged black holes in the presence of a cosmological constant with corrections motivated by the theory of loop quantum gravity. The effective theory is constructed at the Hamiltonian level by introducing certain correction terms under the condition that the modified constraints form a closed algebra. The corresponding metric tensor is then carefully constructed ensuring that the covariance of the theory is respected, that is, in such a way that different gauge choices on phase space simply correspond to different charts of the same spacetime solution. The resulting geometry is characterized by four parameters: the three usual ones that appear in the general relativistic limit (describing the mass, the charge, and the cosmological constant), as well as a polymerization parameter, which encodes the quantum-gravity corrections. Contrary to general relativity, where this family of solutions is generically singular, in this effective model the presence of the singularity depends on the values of the parameters. The specific ranges of values that define the family of singularity-free spacetimes are explicitly found, and their global structure is analyzed. In particular, the mass and the cosmological constant need to be nonnegative to provide a nonsingular geometry, while there can only be a bounded, relatively small, amount of charge. These conditions are suited for any known spherical astrophysical black hole in the de Sitter cosmological background, and thus this model provides a globally regular description for them.

Numerical stability and efficiency of response property calculations in density functional theory

Response calculations in density functional theory aim at computing the change in ground-state density induced by an external perturbation. At finite temperature, these are usually performed by computing variations of orbitals, which involve the iterative solution of potentially badly conditioned linear systems, the Sternheimer equations. Since many sets of variations of orbitals yield the same variation of density matrix, this involves a choice of gauge. Taking a numerical analysis point of view, we present the various gauge choices proposed in the literature in a common framework and study their stability. Beyond existing methods, we propose a new approach, based on a Schur complement using extra orbitals from the self-consistent field calculations, to improve the stability and efficiency of the iterative solution of Sternheimer equations. We show the success of this strategy on nontrivial examples of practical interest, such as Heusler transition metal alloy compounds, where savings of around 40% in the number of required cost-determining Hamiltonian applications have been achieved.

A comprehensive study of the velocity, momentum and position matrix elements for Bloch states: Application to a local orbital basis

We present a comprehensive study of the velocity operator, \hat{\boldsymbol{v}}=\frac{i}{\hbar} [\hat{H},\hat{\boldsymbol{r}}]\,𝐯̂=iℏ[Ĥ,𝐫̂], when used in crystalline solids calculations. The velocity operator is key to the evaluation of a number of physical properties and its computation, both from a practical and fundamental perspective, has been a long-standing debate for decades. Our work summarizes the different approaches found in the literature, but never connected before in a comprehensive manner. In particular we show how one can compute the velocity matrix elements following two different routes. One where the commutator is explicitly used and another one where the commutator is avoided by relying on the Berry connection. We work out an expression in the latter scheme to compute velocity matrix elements, generalizing previous results. In addition, we show how this procedure avoids ambiguous mathematical steps and how to properly deal with the two popular gauge choices that coexist in the literature. As an illustration of all this, we present several examples using tight-binding models and local density functional theory calculations, in particular using Gaussian-type localized orbitals as basis sets. We show how the the velocity operator cannot be approximated, in general, by the k-gradient of the Bloch Hamiltonian matrix when a non-orthonormal basis set is used. Finally, we also compare with its real-space evaluation through the identification with the canonical momentum operator when possible. This comparison offers us, in addition, a glimpse of the importance of non-local corrections, which may invalidate the naive momentum-velocity correspondence.

Nonequilibrium diffusion processes via non-Hermitian electromagnetic quantum mechanics with application to the statistics of entropy production in the Brownian gyrator.

The nonequilibrium Fokker-Planck dynamics in an arbitrary force field f[over ⃗](x[over ⃗]) in dimension N is revisited via the correspondence with the non-Hermitian quantum mechanics in a real scalar potential V(x[over ⃗]) and in a purely imaginary vector potential [-iA[over ⃗](x[over ⃗])] of real amplitude A[over ⃗](x[over ⃗]). The relevant parameters of irreversibility are then the N(N-1)/2 magnetic matrix elements B_{nm}(x[over ⃗])=-B_{mn}(x[over ⃗])=∂_{n}A_{m}(x[over ⃗])-∂_{m}A_{n}(x[over ⃗]), while it is enlightening to explore the corresponding gauge transformations of the vector potential A[over ⃗](x[over ⃗]). This quantum interpretation is even more fruitful to study the statistics of all the time-additive observables of the stochastic trajectories, since their generating functions correspond to the same quantum problem with additional scalar and/or vector potentials. Our main conclusion is that the analysis of their large deviations properties and the construction of the corresponding Doob conditioned processes can be drastically simplified via the choice of an appropriate gauge for each purpose. This general framework is then applied to the special time-additive observables of Ornstein-Uhlenbeck trajectories in dimension N, whose generating functions correspond to quantum propagators involving quadratic scalar potentials and linear vector potentials, i.e., to quantum harmonic oscillators in constant magnetic matrices. As simple illustrative example, we finally focus on the Brownian gyrator in dimension N=2 to compute the large deviations properties of the entropy production of its stochastic trajectories and to construct the corresponding conditioned processes having a given value of the entropy production per unit time.

Regularizing dual-frame generalized harmonic gauge at null infinity

The dual-frame formalism leads to an approach to extend numerical relativity simulations in generalized harmonic gauge (GHG) all the way to null infinity. A major setback is that without care, even simple choices of initial data give rise to logarithmically divergent terms that would result in irregular variables and equations on the compactified domain, which would in turn prevent accurate numerical approximation. It has been shown, however, that a suitable choice of gauge and constraint addition can be used to prevent their appearance. Presently we give a first order symmetric hyperbolic reduction of general relativity in GHG on compactified hyperboloidal slices that exploits this knowledge and eradicates these log-terms at leading orders. Because of their effect on the asymptotic solution space, specific formally singular terms are systematically chosen to remain. Such formally singular terms have been successfully treated numerically in toy models and result in a formulation with the desirable property that unphysical radiation content near infinity is suppressed.

Effective Hamiltonian for the system of the electromagnetic field and charged particles

A classical system of point charged particles and electromagnetic field is investigated in the general formulation, in which there is no direct interaction of the particles with each other. Particles are assumed to be non-relativistic for research simplicity. The point of view is defended that gauge choice determines the physical picture of processes in the system. The idea of extended gauge, in which scalar φk and longitudinal part Alnk of the vector potentials transform separately for large and small wave numbers, is proposed. Moreover, in the new gauge φk ≠ 0 only when k ≥ k0 and Alnk ≠ 0 only when k ≤ k0 , where k0 is a certain wave number. This greatly simplifies the study of the system dynamics, in which the transversecomponents Atnk of the vector potential are taken into account and do not change at the gauge transformation. Basing on the extended gauge idea, it is established that the system has a massive oscillatory mode described by a transverse potential Atnk and an oscillatory mod described by a longitudinal potential Alnk with the laws of dispersion (ωk2 + ω02 )1/2 і ω0, respectively (ωk = ck is the dispersion law for electromagnetic waves in vacuum, and ω0 is the plasma frequency). These modes can be called electromagnetic and plasma ones. At the same time, effective interaction between charged particles is introduced, which describes the screening effect. A connection of our work with Bohm and Pines investigations related to the presence of plasma modes in a Coulomb system, in which they do not use idea of gauge transformations, is analyzed.

New recursion relations for tree-level correlators in anti–de Sitter spacetime

We present for the first time classical multiparticle solutions in Anti de Sitter space (AdS) involving scalars, gluons, and gravitons. They are recursively defined through multiparticle currents which reduce to Berends-Giele currents in the flat space limit. This construction exposes a compact definition of tree-level boundary correlators using a general prescription that removes unphysical boundary contributions. Similarly to the flat space perturbiner, a convenient gauge choice leads to a scalar basis for all degrees of freedom, while the tensor structure is exclusively captured by field theory vertices. This provides a fully automated way to compute AdS boundary correlators to any multiplicity and cosmological wavefunction coefficients after Wick-rotating to de Sitter space.

Derivation and implementation of the optical rotation tensor for chiral crystals.

This paper reports the derivation and implementation of the electric dipole-magnetic dipole and electric dipole-electric quadrupole polarizability tensors at the density functional theory level with periodic boundary conditions (DFT-PBC). These tensors are combined to evaluate the Buckingham/Dunn tensor that describes the optical rotation (OR) in oriented chiral systems. We describe several aspects of the derivation of the equations and present test calculations that verify the correctness of the tensor formulation and their implementation. The results show that the full OR tensor is completely origin invariant as for molecules and that PBC calculations match molecular cluster calculations on 1D chains. A preliminary investigation on the choice of density functional, basis set, and gauge indicates a similar dependence as for molecules: the functional is the primary factor that determines the OR magnitude, followed by the basis set and to a much smaller extent the choice of gauge. However, diffuse functions may be problematic for PBC calculations even if they are necessary for the molecular case. A comparison with experimental data of OR for the tartaric acid crystal shows reasonable agreement given the level of theory employed. The development presented in this paper offers the opportunity to simulate the OR of chiral crystalline materials with general-purpose DFT-PBC methods, which, in turn, may help to understand the role of intermolecular interactions on this sensitive electronic property.

Implications of gauge freedom for nonrelativistic quantum electrodynamics

Gauge freedom in quantum electrodynamics (QED) outside of textbook regimes is reviewed. It is emphasized that QED subsystems are defined relative to a choice of gauge. Each definition uses different gauge-invariant observables. This relativity is eliminated only if a sufficient number of Markovian and weak-coupling approximations are employed. All physical predictions are gauge invariant, including subsystem properties such as photon number and entanglement. However, subsystem properties naturally differ for different physical subsystems. Gauge ambiguities arise not because it is unclear how to obtain gauge-invariant predictions, but because it is not always clear which physical observables are the most operationally relevant. The gauge invariance of a prediction is necessary but not sufficient to ensure its operational relevance. It is shown that, in controlling which gauge invariant observables are used to define a material system, the choice of gauge affects the balance between the material system's localization and its electromagnetic dressing. Various implications of subsystem gauge relativity for deriving effective models, for describing time-dependent interactions, for photodetection theory, and for describing matter within a cavity are reviewed.

Gauge invariant perturbations of general spherically symmetric spacetimes

In this paper, the gauge choices in general spherically symmetric spacetimes have been explored. We construct the gauge invariant variables and the master equations for both the Detweiler easy gauge and the Regge-Wheeler gauge, respectively. The particular cases for $l=0,1$ are also been investigated. Our results provide analytical calculations of metric perturbation in general spherically symmetric spacetimes, which can be applied to various cases, including the Effective-One-Body problem. A simple example is presented to show how the metric perturbation components are related to the source perturbation terms.

Comparing equivalent gravities: common features and differences

We discuss equivalent representations of gravity in the framework of metric-affine geometries pointing out basic concepts from where these theories stem out. In particular, we take into account tetrads and spin connection to describe the so called Geometric Trinity of Gravity. Specifically, we consider General Relativity, constructed upon the metric tensor and based on the curvature R; Teleparallel Equivalent of General Relativity, formulated in terms of torsion T and relying on tetrads and spin connection; Symmetric Teleparallel Equivalent of General Relativity, built up on non-metricity Q, constructed from metric tensor and affine connection. General Relativity is formulated as a geometric theory of gravity based on metric, whereas teleparallel approaches configure as gauge theories, where gauge choices permit not only to simplify calculations, but also to give deep insight into the basic concepts of gravitational field. In particular, we point out how foundation principles of General Relativity (i.e. the Equivalence Principle and the General Covariance) can be seen from the teleparallel point of view. These theories are dynamically equivalent and this feature can be demonstrated under three different standards: (1) the variational method; (2) the field equations; (3) the solutions. Regarding the second point, we provide a procedure starting from the (generalised) second Bianchi identity and then deriving the field equations. Referring to the third point, we compare spherically symmetric solutions in vacuum recovering the Schwarzschild metric and the Birkhoff theorem in all the approaches. It is worth stressing that, in extending the approaches to f(R), f(T), and f(Q) gravities respectively, the dynamical equivalence is lost opening the discussion on the different number of degrees of freedom intervening in the various representations of gravitational theories.

Carrollian manifolds and null infinity: a view from Cartan geometry

We discuss three different (conformally) Carrollian geometries and their relation to null infinity from the unifying perspective of Cartan geometry. Null infinity per se comes with numerous redundancies in its intrinsic geometry and the two other Carrollian geometries can be recovered by making successive choices of gauge. This clarifies the extent to which one can think of null infinity as being a (strongly) Carrollian geometry and we investigate the implications for the corresponding Cartan geometries. The perspective taken, which is that characteristic data for gravity at null infinity are equivalent to a Cartan geometry for the Poincaré group, gives a precise geometrical content to the fundamental fact that ‘gravitational radiation is the obstruction to having the Poincaré group as asymptotic symmetries’.

Nonlinear Radiation Gauge for Near Kerr Spacetimes

In this paper, we introduce and explore the properties of a new gauge choice for the vacuum Einstein equation inspired by the ingoing and outgoing radiation gauges (IRG, ORG) for the linearized vacuum Einstein equation introduced by Chrzanowski in his work on metric reconstruction (Chrzanowski in Phys Rev D 11:2042–2062, 1975) on the Kerr background. It has been shown by Price et al. (Class Quantum Gravity 24:2367–2388, 2007) that the IRG/ORG are consistent gauges for the linearized vacuum Einstein equation on Petrov type II backgrounds. In (Andersson et al. Stability for linearized gravity on the Kerr spacetime, 2019), the ORG was used in proving linearized stability for the Kerr spacetime, and the new non-linear radiation gauge introduced here is a direct generalization of that gauge condition, and is intended to be used to study the stability of Kerr black holes under the evolution generated by the vacuum Einstein equation.

Effective field theory of gravitating continuum: solids, fluids, and aether unified

We investigate the relativistic effective field theory (EFT) describing a non-dissipative gravitating continuum. In addition to ordinary continua, namely solids and fluids, we find an extraordinary more symmetric continuum, aether. In particular, the symmetry of the aether concludes that a homogeneous and isotropic state behaves like a cosmological constant. We formulate the EFT in the unitary/comoving gauge in which the dynamical degrees of freedom of the continuum (phonons) are eaten by the spacetime metric. This gauge choice, which is interpreted as the Lagrangian description in hydrodynamics, offers a neat geometrical understanding of continua. We examine a thread-based spacetime decomposition with respect to the four-velocity of the continuum which is different from the foliation-based Arnowitt-Deser-Misner one. Our thread-based decomposition respects the symmetries of the continua and, therefore, makes it possible to systematically find invariant building blocks of the EFT for each continuum even at higher orders in the derivative expansion. We also discuss the linear dynamics of the system and show that both gravitons and phonons acquire “masses” in a gravitating background.

Non-Gaussianity in the squeezed three-point correlation from the relativistic effects

Assuming a ΛCDM universe in a single-field inflationary scenario,we compute the three-point correlation function of the observed matterdensity fluctuation in the squeezed triangular configuration, accountingfor all the relativistic effects at the second order in perturbations.This squeezed three-point correlation function characterizes the local-typeprimordial non-Gaussianity, and it has been extensively debated in literaturewhether there exists a prominent feature in galaxy clustering on large scalesin a single-field inflationary scenarioeither from the primordial origin or the intrinsic nonlinearity in generalrelativity. First, we show that theoretical descriptions of galaxy bias areincomplete in general relativity due to ambiguities in spatial gauge choice,while those of cosmological observables are independent of spatial gaugechoice. Hence a proper relativistic description of galaxy bias is neededto reach a definitive conclusion in galaxy clustering. Second, we demonstratethat the gauge-invariant calculations of the cosmologicalobservables remain unaffected by extra coordinate transformations like CFC orlarge diffeomorphism like dilatation. Finally, we show thatthe relativistic effects associated with light propagation inobservations cancel each other, and hence there exists nonon-Gaussian contribution from the so-called projection effectsin the squeezed three-point correlation function.