Quantum Field Research Articles

Sonoluminescence: Photon production in time-dependent analog systems

Sonoluminescence is a well-known laboratory phenomenon where an oscillating gas bubble in the appropriate environment periodically emits a flash of light in the visible frequency range. In this work, we study the system in the framework of analog gravity. We model the oscillating bubble in terms of analog geometry and propose a nonminimal coupling prescription of the electromagnetic field with the geometry. The geometry behaves as an analogous oscillating time-dependent background in which repeated flux of photons are produced in a wide frequency range through parametric resonance from quantum vacuum. Due to our numerical limitation, we could reach the frequency up to ∼105 m−1. However, we numerically fit the spectrum in a polynomial form including the observed frequency range around ∼107 m−1. Our current analysis seems to suggest that parametric resonance in analog background may play a fundamental role in explaining such phenomena in the quantum field theory framework. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

In-in correlators and scattering amplitudes on a causal set

Causal set theory is an approach to quantum gravity in which spacetime is fundamentally discrete at the Planck scale and takes the form of an irregular Lorentzian lattice, or “causal set,” from which continuum spacetime emerges in a large-scale (low-energy) approximation. In this work, we present new developments in the framework of interacting quantum field theory on causal sets. We derive a diagrammatic expansion for in-in correlators in local scalar field theories with finite polynomial interactions. We outline how these same correlators can be computed using the double-path integral, which acts as a generating functional for the in-in correlators. We modify the in-in generating functional to obtain a generating functional for in-out correlators. We define a notion of scattering amplitudes on causal sets with noninteracting past and future regions and verify that they are given by S-matrix elements (matrix elements of the time-evolution operator). We describe how these formal developments can be implemented to compute early Universe observables under the assumption that spacetime is fundamentally discrete. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Class S theories on S2

We study two-dimensional N=(0,2) and N=(0,4) theories derived from compactifying class S theories on S2 with a topological twist. We present concise expressions for the elliptic genera of both classes of theories, revealing the topological quantum field theory structure on Riemann surfaces Cg,n. Furthermore, our study highlights the relationship between the left-moving sector of the (0,2) theory and the chiral algebra of the four-dimensional N=2 theory. Notably, we propose that the (0,2) elliptic genus of a theory of this class can be expressed as a linear combination of characters of the corresponding chiral algebra. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Holography of linear dilaton spacetimes from the bottom up

The linear dilaton (LD) background is the keystone of a string-derived holographic correspondence beyond AdSd+1/CFTd. This motivates an exploration of the (d+1)-dimensional linear dilaton spacetime (LDd+1) and its holographic properties from the low-energy viewpoint. We first notice that the LDd+1 space has simple conformal symmetries, that we use to shape an effective field theory (EFT) on the LD background. We then place a brane in the background to study holography at the level of quantum fields and gravity. We find that the holographic correlators from the EFT feature a pattern of singularities at certain kinematic thresholds. We argue that such singularities can be used to bootstrap the putative d-dimensional dual theory using techniques analogous to those of the cosmological bootstrap program. Turning on finite temperature, we study the holographic fluid emerging on the brane in the presence of a bulk black hole. We find that the holographic fluid is pressureless for any d due to a cancellation between Weyl curvature and dilaton stress tensor, and verify consistency with the time evolution of the theory. From the fluid thermodynamics, we find a universal temperature and Hagedorn behavior for any d. This matches the properties of a CFT2 with large TT¯ deformation, and of little string theory for d=6. We also find that the holographic fluid entropy exactly matches the bulk black hole Bekenstein-Hawking entropy. Both the fluid equation of state and the spectrum of quantum fluctuations suggest that the d-dimensional dual theory arising from LDd+1 is generically gapped. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

On the running and the UV limit of Wilsonian renormalization group flows

Abstract In nonperturbative formulation of quantum field theory (QFT), the vacuum state is characterized by the Wilsonian renormalization group (RG) flow of Feynman type field correlators. Such a flow is a parametric family of ultraviolet (UV) regularized field correlators, the parameter being the strength of the UV regularization, and the instances with different strength of UV regularizations are linked by the renormalization group equation (RGE). Important RG flows are those which reach out to any UV regularization strengths. In this paper it is shown that for these flows a natural, mathematically rigorous generally covariant definition can be given, and that they form a topological vector space which is Hausdorff, locally convex, complete, nuclear, semi-Montel, Schwartz. That is, they form a generalized function space having favorable properties, similar to multivariate distributions. The other theorem proved in the paper is that for Wilsonian RG flows reaching out to all UV regularization strengths, a simple factorization formula holds in case of bosonic fields over flat (affine) spacetime: the flow always originates from a regularization-independent distributional correlator, and its running satisfies an algebraic ansatz. The conjecture is that this factorization theorem should generically hold, which is worth future investigations.

Treelike structure of symmetry topological field theories and multisector QFTs

The global symmetries of a D-dimensional quantum field theory (QFT) can, in many cases, be captured in terms of a (D+1)-dimensional symmetry topological field theory (SymTFT). In this work we construct a (D+1)-dimensional theory which governs the symmetries of QFTs with multiple sectors which have connected correlators that admit a decoupling limit. The associated symmetry field theory decomposes into a SymTree, namely a treelike structure of SymTFTs fused along possibly nontopological junctions. In string-realized multisector QFTs, these junctions are smoothed out in the extradimensional geometry, as we demonstrate in examples. We further use this perspective to study the fate of higher-form symmetries in the context of holographic large M averaging where the topological sectors of different large M replicas become dressed by additional extended operators associated with the SymTree. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

An Étude on the regularization and renormalization of divergences in primordial observables

AbstractMany cosmological observables derive from primordial vacuum fluctuations evolved to late times. These observables represent statistical draws from some underlying quantum or statistical field theoretic framework where infinities arise and require regularization. After subtraction, renormalization conditions must be imposed by measurements at some scale, mindful of scheme and background dependence. We review this process on backgrounds that transition from finite duration inflation to radiation domination, and show how in spite of the ubiquity of scaleless integrals, ultraviolet (UV) divergences can still be meaningfully extracted from quantities that nominally vanish when dimensionally regularized. In this way, one can contextualize calculations with hard cutoffs, distinguishing between UV and infrared (IR) scales corresponding to the beginning and end of inflation from UV and IR scales corresponding to the unknown completion of the theory and its observables. This distinction has significance as observable quantities cannot depend on the latter, although they will certainly depend on the former. One can also explicitly show the scheme independence of the coefficients of UV divergent logarithms. Furthermore, certain IR divergences are shown to be an artifact of the de Sitter limit and are cured for finite duration inflation. For gravitational wave observables, we stress the need to regularize stress tensors that do not presume a prior scale separation in their definition (as with the standard Isaacson form), deriving an improved stress tensor fit to purpose. We conclude by highlighting the inextricable connection between inferring $$N_\textrm{eff}$$ N eff bounds from vacuum tensor perturbations and the process of background renormalization.

On the construction of various soliton solutions of two space-time fractional nonlinear models

Abstract In this article, we investigate a couple of nonlinear fractional models of eminent interests subsequently the conformable derivative sense is used to designate the fractional order derivatives. The given structures are transformed into nonlinear ordinary differential equations of integer order, and the extended simple equation technique is then employed to solve the resulting equations. Initially, the nonlinear space time fractional Klein–Gordon equation is considered emerging from quantum and classical relativistic mechanics, which have application in plasma physics, dispersive wave phenomena, quantum field theory, and optical fibres. Later, the (2 + 1)-dimensional time fractional Zoomeron equation is analysed which is convenient to explore the innovative phenomena related to boomerons and trappons. As a result, various new soliton solutions are successfully established. The reported results offer a key implementation for analysing the soliton solutions of nonlinear fractional models which are extremely encouraging arising in the recent era of science and engineering. The 3D simulations have been carried out to demonstrate dynamics of the various soliton solutions for a given set of parameters.

Weak-valued correlation functions: Insights and precise readout strategies

The correlation function in quantum systems plays a vital role in decoding their properties and gaining insights into physical phenomena. Its interpretation corresponds to the propagation of particle excitations between space-time, similar in spirit to the idea of quantum weak measurement in terms of recording the system information by interaction. By defining weak-valued correlation function, we propose the basic insights and the universal methods for recording them on the apparatus through weak measurement. To demonstrate the feasibility of our approach, we perform numerical experiments of perturbed quantum harmonic oscillators, addressing the intricate interplay between the coupling strength and the number of ensemble copies. Additionally, we extend our protocol to the domain of quantum field theory, where joint weak values encode crucial information about the correlation function. Hopefully, this comprehensive investigation can advance our understanding of the fundamental nature of the correlation function and weak measurement in quantum theories. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Renormalization on the DFR quantum spacetime

An approach to renormalization of scalar fields on the Doplicher–Fredenhagen–Roberts (DFR) quantum spacetime is presented. The effective nonlocal theory obtained through the use of states of optimal localization for the quantum spacetime is reformulated in the language of (perturbative) Algebraic Quantum Field Theory. The structure of the singularities associated to the nonlocal kernel that codifies the effects of non-commutativity is analyzed using the tools of microlocal analysis.

Identifying diffusive length scales in one-dimensional Bose gases

In the hydrodynamics of integrable models, diffusion is a subleading correction to ballistic propagation. Here we quantify the diffusive contribution for one-dimensional Bose gases and find it most influential in the crossover between the main thermodynamic regimes of the gas. Analysing the experimentally measured dynamics of a single density mode, we find diffusion to be relevant only for high wavelength excitations. Instead, the observed relaxation is solely caused by a ballistically driven dephasing process, whose time scale is related to the phonon lifetime of the system and is thus useful to evaluate the applicability of the phonon bases typically used in quantum field simulators.

Tuning to the edge of the abyss in SU(5)

I show that if a dimensionless parameter is tuned to be close to the boundary of the positivity domain and symmetry breaking is driven by a cubic term in the Lagrangian, the scale of the physics of symmetry breaking in a quantum field theory as measured by the Higgs mass can be much greater than the dimensional scales in the classical Lagrangian. Radiative corrections produce large and physically important corrections, helping to stabilize the large VEV. The resulting picture contrasts sharply with the “modern” view of QFT as an effective field theory. I describe how this mechanism might produce the GUT scale in an SU(5) model in which the dimensional parameters in the Lagrangian are at the low scale.

Decay of correlations in stochastic quantization: the exponential Euclidean field in two dimensions

AbstractWe present two approaches to establish the exponential decay of correlation functions of Euclidean quantum field theories (EQFTs) via stochastic quantization (SQ). In particular we consider the elliptic stochastic quantization of the Høegh–Krohn (or $$\exp (\alpha \phi )_2$$ exp ( α ϕ ) 2 ) EQFT in two dimensions. The first method is based on a path-wise coupling argument and PDE apriori estimates, while the second on estimates of the Malliavin derivative of the solution to the SQ equation.

Pseudo entropy and pseudo-Hermiticity in quantum field theories

In this paper, we explore the concept of pseudo Rényi entropy within the context of quantum field theories (QFTs). The transition matrix is constructed by applying operators situated in different regions to the vacuum state. Specifically, when the operators are positioned in the left and right Rindler wedges respectively, we discover that the logarithmic term of the pseudo Rényi entropy is necessarily real. In other cases, the result might be complex. We provide direct evaluations of specific examples within 2-dimensional conformal field theories (CFTs). Furthermore, we establish a connection between these findings and the pseudo-Hermitian condition. Our analysis reveals that the reality or complexity of the logarithmic term of pseudo Rényi entropy can be explained through this pseudo-Hermitian framework.Additionally, we investigate the divergent term of the pseudo Rényi entropy. Interestingly, we observe a universal divergent term in the second pseudo Rényi entropy within 2-dimensional CFTs. This universal term is solely dependent on the conformal dimension of the operator under consideration. For n-th pseudo Rényi entropy (n ≥ 3), the divergent term is intricately related to the specific details of the underlying theory.

Non-adiabatic direct quantum dynamics using force fields: Toward solvation.

Quantum dynamics simulations are becoming a powerful tool for understanding photo-excited molecules. Their poor scaling, however, means that it is hard to study molecules with more than a few atoms accurately, and a major challenge at the moment is the inclusion of the molecular environment. Here, we present a proof of principle for a way to break the two bottlenecks preventing large but accurate simulations. First, the problem of providing the potential energy surfaces for a general system is addressed by parameterizing a standard force field to reproduce the potential surfaces of the molecule's excited-states, including the all-important vibronic coupling. While not shown here, this would trivially enable the use of an explicit solvent. Second, to help the scaling of the nuclear dynamics propagation, a hierarchy of approximations is introduced to the variational multi-configurational Gaussian method that retains the variational quantum wavepacket description of the key quantum degrees of freedom and uses classical trajectories for the remaining in a quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics like approach. The method is referred to as force field quantum dynamics (FF-QD), and a two-state ππ*/nπ* model of uracil, excited to its lowest bright ππ* state, is used as a test case.

Dilaton in a multicritical 3+epsilon-D parity violating field theory

The multi-critical behavior of an approximately scale and conformal invariant quantum field theory, which can be regarded as the deformation of the critical Gross-Neveu model in 3+epsilon dimensions by a nearly marginal parity violating operator, is studied using a large N expansion. When epsilon is greater than a number of order 1/N, the deformation is marginally relevant and it is found to exhibit spontaneous breaking of the approximate scale symmetry accompanied by the appearance of a light scalar in its spectrum. The scalar mass is parametrically small, of order epsilon times the fermion mass and it can be identified with a light dilaton. When the dimension is reduced to 3 the deformation of the Gross-Neveu model becomes marginally irrelevant, what was a minimum of the potential becomes a maximum and the theory has a non-perturbative global instability. There is a metastable perturbative phase where the scalar does not condense and the fermions are massless separated by an energy barrier with height of order one (rather than N) from an energetically favored phase with a runaway condensate.

Quantum field theory at finite temperature for 3D periodic backgrounds

Abstract The one-loop quantum corrections to the internal energy of some lattices due to the quantum fluctuations of the scalar field of phonons are studied. The band spectrum of the lattice is characterised in terms of the scattering data, allowing to compute the quantum vacuum interaction energy between nodes at zero temperature, as well as the total Helmholtz free energy, the entropy, and the Casimir pressure between nodes at finite non-zero temperature. Some examples of periodic potentials built from the repetition in one of the three spatial dimensions of the same punctual or compact supported potential are addressed: a stack of parallel plates constructed by positioning $\delta\delta'$-functions at the lattice nodes, and an ``upside-down tiled roof" of parallel two-dimensional P"oschl-Teller wells centred at the nodes. They will be called \textit{generalised Dirac comb} and \textit{P"oschl-Teller comb}, respectively. Positive one-loop quantum corrections to the entropy appear for both combs at non-zero temperatures. Moreover, the Casimir force between the lattice nodes is always repulsive for both chains when non-trivial temperatures are considered, implying that the primitive cell increases its size due to the quantum interaction of the phonon field.

Universal fine grained asymptotics of free and weakly coupled quantum field theory

We give a rigorous proof that in any free quantum field theory with a finite group global symmetry G, on a compact spatial manifold, at sufficiently high energy, the density of states ρα(E) for each irreducible representation α of G obeys a universal formula as conjectured by Harlow and Ooguri. We further prove that this continues to hold in a weakly coupled quantum field theory, given an appropriate scaling of the coupling with temperature. This generalizes similar results that were previously obtained in (1 + 1)-D to higher spacetime dimension. We discuss the role of averaging in the density of states, and we compare and contrast with the case of continuous group G, where we prove a universal, albeit different, behavior.

Complexity in tame quantum theories

Inspired by the notion that physical systems can contain only a finite amount of information or complexity, we introduce a framework that allows for quantifying the amount of logical information needed to specify a function or set. We then apply this methodology to a variety of physical systems and derive the complexity of parameter-dependent physical observables and coupling functions appearing in effective Lagrangians. In order to implement these ideas, it is essential to consider physical theories that can be defined in an o-minimal structure. O-minimality, a concept from mathematical logic, encapsulates a tameness principle. It was recently argued that this property is inherent to many known quantum field theories and is linked to the UV completion of the theory. To assign a complexity to each statement in these theories one has to further constrain the allowed o-minimal structures. To exemplify this, we show that many physical systems can be formulated using Pfaffian o-minimal structures, which have a well-established notion of complexity. More generally, we propose adopting sharply o-minimal structures, recently introduced by Binyamini and Novikov, as an overarching framework to measure complexity in quantum theories.

Non-minimal coupling, negative null energy, and effective field theory

The non-minimal coupling of scalar fields to gravity has been claimed to violate energy conditions, leading to exotic phenomena such as traversable wormholes, even in classical theories. In this work we adopt the view that the non-minimal coupling can be viewed as part of an effective field theory (EFT) in which the field value is controlled by the theory’s cutoff. Under this assumption, the average null energy condition, whose violation is necessary to allow traversable wormholes, is obeyed both classically and in the context of quantum field theory. In addition, we establish a type of "smeared" null energy condition in the non-minimally coupled theory, showing that the null energy averaged over a region of spacetime obeys a state dependent bound, in that it depends on the allowed field range. We finally motivate our EFT assumption by considering when the gravity plus matter path integral remains semi-classically controlled.