Matter Theory Research Articles

The Quantum Motion of the Nerve with a Local Defect

We consider the nerve as the elastic string, the left end of which is fixed at the beginning of the coordinate system, the right end is fixed at point l and mass m is fixed between the ends of the string. We determine the classical and the quantum vibration of such system. The quantum motion is obtained by the so-called non-conventional oscillator quantization method by author. The proposed model can be also related in the modified form to the problem of the Mossbauer effect, being the recoilless nuclear resonance fluorescence, which is the resonant and recoil-free emission and absorption of gamma radiation by atomic nuclei bound in a solid. (Mossbauer,1958). It is not excluded that our oscillator quantization of the string can be extended to generate the new way of the string theory of matter and physiology of nerves.

R. J. Boscovich on physical symmetries

R. J. Boscovich (1711–1787) is best known for his unified theory of natural phenomena of 1758, based on the notion of centrally interacting point-particles. While addressing contemporaneous scientific questions, his natural philosophy also systematically integrated many methodological and metaphysical ideas related to the pursuits of natural philosophy. One such excursion is Boscovich's treatment of what we today consider physical symmetries. In this paper I suggest a comprehensive interpretation of his comments on physical symmetries. I give special emphasis to Boscovich's notable inclusion of a re-scaling transformation among better known symmetries of Newtonian physics and show that it instantiates a generalization of standard dynamical symmetries. My interpretation shows that Boscovich's position results not only from his theory of matter (or basic ontology) but also from his explicit metaphysics and epistemology of space and time and his views on nomological possibility.

Unified model for inflation, pseudo-Goldstone dark matter, neutrino mass, and baryogenesis

We present a unified theory of inflation, neutrino mass, baryogenesis, and dark matter where global lepton number symmetry and its breaking play a crucial role. The basic idea is to use a lepton number carrying a complex scalar field as the inflaton as well as the field that implements Affleck-Dine (AD) leptogenesis. Dark matter is the massive Majoron which is a pseudo-Goldstone boson, resulting from the spontaneous breaking of lepton number symmetry supplemented by explicit lepton number violation needed to implement AD leptogenesis. The magnitude of the resulting ${n}_{B}/s$ in the model is related to the mass of the pseudo-Goldstone dark matter, connecting two apparently disconnected cosmological observations. An inverse seesaw mechanism with lepton number breaking at low scale is crucial to prevent washout of the lepton asymmetry during the universe's evolution. The model seems to provide an economical solution to several puzzles of the standard model of particle physics and cosmology in one stroke.

Kinks and realistic impurity models in φ4-theory

The [Formula: see text]-theory is ubiquitous as a low-energy effective description of processes in all fields of physics, ranging from cosmology and particle physics to biophysics and condensed matter theory. The topological defects, or kinks, in this theory describe stable, particle-like excitations. In practice, these excitations will necessarily encounter impurities or imperfections in the background potential as they propagate. Here, we describe the interaction between kinks and various types of realistic impurity models. We find that realistic impurities behave qualitatively like the well-studied, idealized delta function impurities, but that significant quantitative differences appear in both the characteristics of localized impurity modes, and in the collision dynamics. We also identify a particular regime of kink-impurity interactions, in which kinks lose all of their kinetic energy upon colliding with an impurity.

Nodal lines in momentum space: topological invariants and recent realizations in photonic and other systems.

Topological insulators constitute one of the most intriguing phenomena in modern condensed matter theory. The unique and exotic properties of topological states of matter allow for unidirectional gapless electron transport and extremely accurate measurements of the Hall conductivity. Recently, new topological effects occurring at Dirac/Weyl points have been better understood and demonstrated using artificial materials such as photonic and phononic crystals, metamaterials and electrical circuits. In comparison, the topological properties of nodal lines, which are one-dimensional degeneracies in momentum space, remain less explored. Here, we explain the theoretical concept of topological nodal lines and review recent and ongoing progress using artificial materials. The review includes recent demonstrations of non-Abelian topological charges of nodal lines in momentum space and examples of nodal lines realized in photonic and other systems. Finally, we will address the challenges involved in both experimental demonstration and theoretical understanding of topological nodal lines.

Constraining momentum space CFT correlators with consistent position space OPE limit and the collider bound

Consistency with position space OPE limit requires three-point momentum space CFT correlators to have only total energy singularity. We show that this requirement gives a simple proof of the known result that in three dimensions the parity-odd structure cannot exist for three-point correlators of exactly conserved currents with spins si, sj, sk, when triangle inequality si ≤ sj + sk is violated. We also show that even for parity even correlation functions the properties are different inside and outside the triangle. It was previously shown that if we allow for weakly broken higher spin symmetry, parity-odd correlators can exist even when triangle inequality is violated. In this paper we establish a relation between non-conservation Ward-Takahashi (WT) identities for weakly broken currents at large N and the WT identities for exactly conserved currents with the help of a few examples. This allows us to calculate the parity violating results outside the triangle using parity-even free bosonic and free fermionic results.In general, there is one parity-odd structure and two parity-even structures for three-point functions. It can be shown that the coefficient of one of the parity-even and odd parts can be combined into a complex parameter c when correlators are expressed in spinor-helicity variables. When this complex parameter takes real value c = ±1 it corresponds to either the free boson or free fermion theory. When c is a pure phase, it corresponds to Chern-Simons matter theories. Furthermore, re-expressing known results for conformal collider bounds we see that |c| ≤ 1 for generic 3d CFTs and |c| ≤ f(∆gap) for holographic CFTs.

The Birth of Regulatory Kinetics - A Matter Theory Under Systemic Thinking Approach

The Birth of Regulatory Kinetics - A Matter Theory Under Systemic Thinking Approach

Theories of motion and matter from Aristotle to Galileo

We examine the metaphysical theories of motion and matter developed by Democritus, Plato, and Aristotle, as well as other theories that appeared later on and were great influenced by Aristotle. We distinguish two subsequent developments. One is the impetus theory for the projectile motion and the other is the void theory for the rise of liquids by suction. We analyze the Galileo theory of motion, emphasizing the crucial step in its development which was the precise definition of velocity. We also analyze the events related to the experiments of Torricelli, which was understood as the production of void, and his explanation based on the weight of the atmospheric air.

От математической к критической метафизике природы. Ламберт и Кант

In the mid-1760s, Johann Heinrich Lambert wrote a letter to Kant who offered cooperation with a view to reforming metaphysics. Based on the short correspondence between the two philosophers, it can be shown that this cooperation could never really come about. Nevertheless the thesis was sometimes put forward in research that Lambert had a defining influence on Kant’s Metaphysical Foundations of Natural Science, also, and above all, with regard to the Newton-critical moments of this natur­al theory. However, this thesis can only be confirmed in relation to individual theorems, such as the relationship between attraction and repulsion force, even though the reasons for Lambert and Kant’s deviation from Newton’s theory of gravity also differ. For in its main features the transcendental metaphysics of Kant’s nature is substantially different from the mathematical methodology of Lambert’s theory of nature. In addition, Lambert stuck throughout his life to a theonomous natural teleology in the succession of Wolff, which was fundamentally made impossible by the Critique of Pure Reason: because the wise “intention of the creator”, which Lambert’s empirical-rationalistic cosmology could not and did not want to do without, could no longer be referred to in a rational context according to the Critique of Pure Reason. Even if Lambert certainly had moments of the Kantian theory of matter or — as Kant himself admitted — elements of the spatial theory of the first Critique, there is no way from his mathematisation of metaphysics and his natural teleology to the fundamental innovation of the Metaphysical Foundations.

Competency-Based Learning. Teaching Gases

This paper seeks to evaluate learning based on the competency approach, taking a didactic experience to evaluate a possible improvement in the ability to solve problems and for autonomous learning in general. For the didactic development, the theme “gases” was taken, which is generally enunciated: Corpuscular kinetic theory of matter; State variables of a gas: P, V, T; Absolute temperature; General and State Equation of Ideal Gases Dalton’s Law or Law of Partial Pressures; Ideal Gases and Real Gases; Van der Waals equation. For this purpose, the AIRBAG systems, and the determination of the normal molar volume of a gas are taken as the object of study.

On the Reception of Wilhelm Ostwald’s Energism in the United States: The American Frontier, Pragmatism, and a Non-Atomic Theory of Matter in the 1890s

This article discusses the reception of Wilhelm Ostwald’s energism in the United States. Ostwald, as a renowned teacher and contributor to the field of physical chemistry, was an important influence on the development of chemistry in the United States. In the final decade of the nineteenth century, he also developed and promoted a non-atomic theory of matter called energism. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the reception of energism in the United States was quite enthusiastic because of its perceived compatibility with American pragmatism, and with the values and concepts associated with the American frontier. Energism, in the interpretation of its American proponents, puts more emphasis on individual experience, volition, force, and initiative, as various manifestations of energy, the hypothetical fabric of the universe. This perspective led to interesting speculations about the equivalence of the mind and matter. The article will present primary sources by a philosopher and two natural scientists: John Elof Boodin, Edwin Emery Slosson, and Clarence L. Herrick.

Monopole operators and symmetry enhancement in ABJM theory revisited

We construct monopole operators for 3D Yang-Mills matter theories and Chern-Simons matter theories in canonical formalism. In this framework, monopole operators, although they are disorder operators, could be written in terms of the fundamental fields of the theory, and thus could be treated in the same way as the ordinary operators. We study the properties of the constructed monopole operators. In Chern-Simons matter theories, monopole operators transform as the local operators with the classical conformal dimension 0 under the action of the dilation and are also covariantly constant. In supersymmetric Chern-Simons matter theories like the ABJM model, monopole operators commute with all of the supercharges, and thus are SUSY invariant. The ABJM model with level $k=1,2$ is expected to have enhanced $SO(8)$ R symmetry due to the existence of the conserved extra R-symmetry currents ${j}_{\ensuremath{\mu}}^{AB}$ involving monopoles. With the explicit form of the monopole operators given, we prove the current conservation equation ${\ensuremath{\partial}}^{\ensuremath{\mu}}{j}_{\ensuremath{\mu}}^{AB}=0$ using the equations of motion. We also compute the extra $\mathcal{N}=2$ supercharges, derive the extra $\mathcal{N}=2$ SUSY transformation rules, and verify the closure of the $\mathcal{N}=8$ supersymmetry.

Theophrastus Paracelsus von Hohenheim: His Corpuscular Theory and the Spread of Paracelsianism

The purpose of this article is to analyze Paracelsus’s corpuscular theory in order to be explained how his theory redefined the terms of minima naturalia and semina rerum adding new terms, such as archeus. Initially the study refers to important information about his life and to historical theories of analysis of Paracelsus’s corpuscularianism. Next, the paper undertakes a detailed analysis of his matter theory focusing on the terms of minima naturalia, semina rerum and tria prima. Finally, the research explains how Paracelsus’s matter theory was adopted by his followers and constituted a controversial subject between the scholars of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, providing a different view of how his matter theory constituted a force key in the development of the Scientific Revolution.

Quantum Black Holes and (Re)Solution of the Singularity

Classical general relativity predicts the occurrence of spacetime singularities under very general conditions. Starting from the idea that the spacetime geometry must be described by suitable states in the complete quantum theory of matter and gravity, we shall argue that this scenario cannot be realised physically since no proper quantum state may contain the infinite momentum modes required to resolve the singularity.

Connecting 5d Higgs branches via Fayet-Iliopoulos deformations

We describe how the geometry of the Higgs branch of 5d superconformal field theories is transformed under movement along the extended Coulomb branch. Working directly with the (unitary) magnetic quiver, we demonstrate a correspondence between Fayet-Iliopoulos deformations in 3d and 5d mass deformations. When the Higgs branch has multiple cones, characterised by a collection of magnetic quivers, the mirror map is not globally well-defined, however we are able to utilize the correspondence to establish a local version of mirror symmetry. We give several detailed examples of deformations, including decouplings and weak-coupling limits, in (Dn, Dn) conformal matter theories, TN theory and its parent PN, for which we find new Lagrangian descriptions given by quiver gauge theories with fundamental and anti-symmetric matter.

Deformations of supergravity and supersymmetry anomalies

We present a BRST analysis of supersymmetry anomalies of mathcal{N} = 1 supersymmetric quantum field theories with anomalous R symmetry. To this end, we consider the coupling of the matter theory to classical mathcal{N} = 1 new minimal supergravity. We point out that a supersymmetry anomaly cocycle associated to the U(1)R field does exist for this theory. It is non-trivial in the space of supergravity fields (and ghosts), but it becomes BRST-exact in the functional space that includes antifields. Equivalently, the U(1)R supersymmetry anomaly cocycle vanishes “on-shell”. It is therefore removable. However, to remove it — precisely because it is not trivial in the smaller space of fields — one needs to deform the supergravity BRST operator. This deformation is triggered, at first order in the anomaly coefficient, by a local operator S1 of ghost number 1. We give a cohomological characterization of S1 and compute it in full detail. At higher orders in the anomaly coefficient, we expect a priori that further deformations of the BRST rules are necessary.

Orbital Isotropy of Magnetic Fluctuations in Correlated Electron Materials Induced by Hund's Exchange Coupling.

Characterizing nonlocal magnetic fluctuations in materials with strong electronic Coulomb interactions remains one of the major outstanding challenges of modern condensed matter theory. In this Letter, we address the spatial symmetry and orbital structure of magnetic fluctuations in perovskite materials. To this aim, we develop a consistent multiorbital diagrammatic extension of dynamical mean-field theory, which we apply to an anisotropic three-orbital model of cubic t_{2g} symmetry. We find that the form of spatial spin fluctuations is governed by the local Hund's coupling. For small values of the coupling, magnetic fluctuations are anisotropic in orbital space, which reflects the symmetry of the considered t_{2g} model. Large Hund's coupling enhances collective spin excitations, which mixes orbital and spatial degrees of freedom, and magnetic fluctuations become orbitally isotropic. Remarkably, this effect can be seen only in two-particle quantities; single-particle observables remain anisotropic for any value of the Hund's coupling. Importantly, we find that the orbital isotropy can be induced both at half filling and for the case of four electrons per lattice site, where the magnetic instability is associated with different, antiferromagnetic and ferromagnetic, modes, respectively.

Self-consistent O(4) model spectral functions from analytically continued functional renormalization group flows

In this paper we explore practicable ways for self-consistent calculations of spectral functions from analytically continued functional renormalization group (aFRG) flow equations. As a particularly straightforward one we propose to include parametrizations of self-energies based on explicit analytic one-loop expressions. To exemplify this scheme we calculate the spectral functions of pion and sigma meson of the $O(4)$ model at vanishing temperature in the broken phase. Comparing the results with those from previous aFRG calculations, we explicitly demonstrate how self-consistency at all momenta fixes the tight relation between particle masses and decay thresholds. In addition, the two-point functions from our new semianalytic FRG scheme have the desired domain of holomorphy built in and can readily be studied in the entire cut-complex frequency plane, on physical as well as other Riemann sheets. This is very illustrative and allows, for example, to trace the flow of the resonance pole of the sigma meson across an unphysical sheet. In order to assess the limitations due to the underlying one-loop structure, we also introduce a fully self-consistent numerical scheme based on spectral representations with scale-dependent spectral functions. The most notable improvement of this numerically involved calculation is that it describes the three-particle resonance decay of an off-shell pion, ${\ensuremath{\pi}}^{*}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\sigma}\ensuremath{\pi}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}3\ensuremath{\pi}$. Apart from this further conceptual improvement, overall agreement with the results from the considerably simpler semianalytic one-loop scheme is very encouraging, however. The latter can therefore provide a sound and practicable basis for self-consistent calculations of spectral functions in more realistic effective theories for warm and dense matter.

Forecasting Skills in Experimental Markets: Illusion or Reality?

There is an ongoing debate regarding the degree to which a forecaster’s ability to draw correct inferences from market signals is real or illusory. This paper attempts to shed light on the debate by examining how personal characteristics do or do not affect forecaster success. Specifically, we investigate the role of fluid intelligence, manipulativeness, and theory of mind on forecast accuracy in experimental asset markets. We find that intelligence improves forecaster performance when market mispricing is low, manipulativeness improves forecaster performance when mispricing is high, and the degree to which theory of mind skills matter depends on both the level of mispricing and how information is displayed. All three of these results are consistent with hypotheses derived from the previous literature. Additionally, we observe that male forecasters outperform female forecasters after controlling for intelligence, manipulativeness, and theory of mind skills as well as risk aversion. Interestingly, we do not find any evidence that forecaster performance improves with experience across markets or within markets.This paper was accepted by Axel Ockenfels, behavioral economics and decision analysis.

Wilsonian Renormalization in the 1970s

This paper examines the history of the renormalization group, a cornerstone of contemporary theoretical physics, focusing on the work of Kenneth Wilson (winner of the 1982 Nobel Prize in physics) and affiliated scholars in the 1970s. In particular, it reconstructs how studies of the renormalization group led to formative interactions between two distinct branches of physics, namely particle physics and condensed matter theory. Instead of explaining such intellectual coordination as the result of material and conceptual exchanges, as in Peter Galison’s widely influential discussion of the “trading zone,” my analysis emphasizes the pedagogical labor, social institutions, and political economic conditions that gave the renormalization group its mediating power. To that end, I show how early lectures and fast circulating pre-prints on the renormalization group created a population of physicists in the United States conversant in the rudiments of both condensed matter and particle theory. I then root the formation of a transatlantic network of renormalization group enthusiasts in the geopolitics of the Cold War, showing that the spread of Wilsonian ideas was made possible by a liberal internationalist program of academic exchanges and summer schools sponsored by the US state department and NATO. Finally, I argue that sharp cuts to basic science funding in the United States pushed young physicists seeking jobs in the 1970s to work across specializations, which visibly impacted how renormalization group ideas were interpreted and used—often against the objections of their original progenitors.