Short-distance Limit Research Articles

Observing gravitational waves with solar system astrometry

The subtle influence of gravitational waves on the apparent positioning of celestial bodies offers novel observational windows [1,2,3,4]. We calculate the expected astrometric signal induced by an isotropic Stochastic Gravitational Wave Background (SGWB) in the short distance limit. Our focus is on the resultant proper motion of Solar System objects, a signal on the same time scales addressed by Pulsar Timing Arrays (PTA). We derive the corresponding astrometric deflection patterns, finding that they manifest as distinctive dipole and quadrupole correlations or, in some cases, may not be present. Our analysis encompasses both Einsteinian and non-Einsteinian polarisations. We estimate the upper limits for the amplitude of SGWBs that could be obtained by tracking the proper motions of large numbers of solar system objects such as asteroids. We find that for SGWBs with negative spectral indices, such as that generated by Super Massive Black Hole Binaries (SMBHB), the constraints from these observations could rival those from PTAs. With the Gaia satellite and the Vera C. Rubin Observatory poised to track an extensive sample of asteroids — ranging from 𝒪(105) to 𝒪(106), we highlight the significant future potential for similar surveys to contribute to our understanding of the SGWB.

Mutual information of generalized free fields

We study generalized free fields (GFF) from the point of view of information measures. We first review conformal GFF, their holographic representation, and the ambiguities in the assignation of algebras to regions that arise in these theories. Then we study the mutual information (MI) in several geometric configurations. The MI displays unusual features at the short distance limit: a leading volume term rather than an area term, and a logarithmic term in any dimensions rather than only for even dimensions as in ordinary CFT's. We find the dependence of some subleading terms on the conformal dimension $\Delta$ of the GFF. We study the long distance limit of the MI for regions with boundary in the null cone. The pinching limit of these surfaces show the GFF behaves as an interacting model from the MI point of view. The pinching exponents depend on the choice of algebra. The entanglement wedge algebra choice allows these models to ``fake'' causality, giving results consistent with its role in the description of large $N$ models.

Pregeometry and spontaneous time-space asymmetry

In pregeometry a metric arises as a composite object at large distances. We investigate if its signature, which distinguishes between time and space, could be a result of the dynamics rather than being built in already in the formulation of a model. For short distances we formulate our model as a Yang-Mills theory with fermions and vector fields. For the local gauge symmetry we take the non-compact group SO(4, ℂ). The particular representation of the vector field permits us to implement diffeomorphism invariant kinetic terms. Geometry and general relativity emerge at large distances due to a spontaneous breaking of the gauge symmetry which induces masses for the gauge bosons. The difference between time and space arises directly from this spontaneous symmetry breaking. For a euclidean metric all fields have a standard propagator at high momenta. Analytic continuation to a Minkowski-metric is achieved by a change of field values. We conjecture that this type of model could be consistent with unitarity and well behaved in the short distance limit.

Asymptotic expansions for Large Scale Structure

We explore the deep ultraviolet (that is, short-distance) limit of the power spectrum (PS) and of the correlation function of a cold dark matter dominated Universe. While for large scales the PS can be written as a double series expansion, in powers of the linear PS and of the wavenumber k, we show that, in the opposite limit, it can be expressed via an expansion in powers of the form 1/kd+2n, where d is the number of spatial dimensions, and n is a non negative integer. The coefficients of the terms of the expansion are nonperturbative in the linear PS, and can be interpreted in terms of the probability density function for the displacement field, evaluated around specific configurations of the latter, that we identify. In the case of the Zel'dovich dynamics, these coefficients can be determined analytically, whereas for the exact dynamics they can be treated as fit, or nuisance, parameters. We confirm our findings with numerical simulations and discuss the necessary steps to match our results to those obtained for larger scales and to actual measurements.

Four-Body Scale in Universal Few-Boson Systems.

The role of an intrinsic four-body scale in universal few-boson systems is the subject of active debate. We study these systems within the framework of effective field theory. For systems of up to six bosons we establish that no four-body scale appears at leading order (LO). However, we find that at next-to-leading order (NLO) a four-body force is needed to obtain renormalized results for binding energies. With the associated parameter fixed to the binding energy of the four-boson system, this force is shown to renormalize the five- and six-body systems as well. We present an original ansatz for the short-distance limit of the bosonic A-body wave function from which we conjecture that new A-body scales appear at N^{A-3} LO. As a specific example, calculations are presented for clusters of helium atoms. Our results apply more generally to other few-body systems governed by a large scattering length, such as light nuclei and halo states, the low-energy properties of which are independent of the detailed internal structure of the constituents.

Magnetic dipole-dipole interaction induced by the electromagnetic field

We give a derivation for the indirect interaction between two magnetic dipoles induced by the quantized electromagnetic field. It turns out that the interaction between permanent dipoles directly returns to the classical form; the interaction between transition dipoles does not directly return to the classical result, yet returns in the short-distance limit. In a finite volume, the field modes are highly discrete, and both the permanent and transition dipole-dipole interactions are changed. For transition dipoles, the changing mechanism is similar with the Purcell effect, since only a few number of nearly resonant modes take effect in the interaction mediation; for permanent dipoles, the correction comes from the boundary effect: if the dipoles are placed close to the boundary, the influence is strong, otherwise, their interaction does not change too much from the free space case.

More on large-momentum effective theory approach to parton physics

Large-Momentum Effective Theory (or LaMET) advocated by the present authors provides a direct approach to simulate parton physics in Euclidean lattice QCD theory. Recently, there has been much interest in this theory in the literature, with some questioning its validity and effectiveness. Here we provide some discussions aiming at a further exposition of this approach. In particular, we explain why it does not have the usual power divergence problem in lattice QCD calculations for the moments of parton distributions. The only power divergence in the LaMET approach comes from the self-energy of the Wilson lines which can be properly factorized. We show that although the Ioffe-time distribution provides an alternative way to extract the parton distribution from the same lattice observables, it also requires the same large momentum (or short distance) limit as in LaMET to obtain a precision calculation. With a proper quantification of errors, both extraction methods shall be compared with the same lattice data.

Polyakov loop correlator in perturbation theory

We study the Polyakov loop correlator in the weak coupling expansion and show how the perturbative series re-exponentiates into singlet and adjoint contributions. We calculate the order $g^7$ correction to the Polyakov loop correlator in the short distance limit. We show how the singlet and adjoint free energies arising from the re-exponentiation formula of the Polyakov loop correlator are related to the gauge invariant singlet and octet free energies that can be defined in pNRQCD, namely we find that the two definitions agree at leading order in the multipole expansion, but differ at first order in the quark-antiquark distance.

Chiral fermions on 2D curved space–times

The theory of free Majorana–Weyl spinors is the prototype of conformal field theory in two dimensions in which the gravitational anomaly and the Weyl anomaly obstruct extending the flat space–time results to curved backgrounds. In this paper, we investigate a quantization scheme in which the short distance singularity in the two-point function of chiral fermions on a two-dimensional curved space–time is given by the Green’s function corresponding to the classical field equation. We compute the singular term in the Green’s function explicitly and observe that the short distance limit is not well-defined in general. We identify constraints on the geometry which are necessary to resolve this problem. On such special backgrounds, the theory has locally [Formula: see text] conformal symmetry.

Non-commutative fields and the short-scale structure of spacetime

There is a growing evidence that due to quantum gravity effects the effective spacetime dimensionality might change in the UV. In this letter we investigate this hypothesis by using quantum fields to derive the UV behaviour of the static, two point sources potential. We mimic quantum gravity effects by using non-commutative fields associated to a Lie group momentum space with a Planck mass curvature scale. We find that the static potential becomes finite in the short-distance limit. This indicates that quantum gravity effects lead to a dimensional reduction in the UV or, alternatively, that point-like sources are effectively smoothed out by the Planck scale features of the non-commutative quantum fields.

The universal C*-algebra of the electromagnetic field II. Topological charges and spacelike linear fields

Conditions for the appearance of topological charges are studied in the framework of the universal C*-algebra of the electromagnetic field, which is represented in any theory describing electromagnetism. It is shown that non-trivial topological charges, described by pairs of fields localised in certain topologically non-trivial spacelike separated regions, can appear in regular representations of the algebra only if the fields depend non-linearly on the mollifying test functions. On the other hand, examples of regular vacuum representations with non-trivial topological charges are constructed, where the underlying field still satisfies a weakened form of "spacelike linearity". Such representations also appear in the presence of electric currents. The status of topological charges in theories with several types of electromagnetic fields, which appear in the short distance (scaling) limit of asymptotically free non-abelian gauge theories, is also briefly discussed.

Quenching parameter in a holographic thermal QCD

We have calculated the quenching parameter, qˆ in a model-independent way using the gauge–gravity duality. In earlier calculations, the geometry in the gravity side at finite temperature was usually taken as the pure AdS black hole metric for which the dual gauge theory becomes conformally invariant unlike QCD. Therefore we use a metric which incorporates the fundamental quarks by embedding the coincident D7 branes in the Klebanov–Tseytlin background and a finite temperature is switched on by inserting a black hole into the background, known as OKS-BH metric. Further inclusion of an additional UV cap to the metric prepares the dual gauge theory to run similar to thermal QCD. Moreover qˆ is usually defined in the literature from the Glauber model perturbative QCD evaluation of the Wilson loop, which has no reasons to hold if the coupling is large and is thus against the main idea of gauge–gravity duality. Thus we use an appropriate definition of qˆ: qˆL−=1/L2, where L is the separation for which the Wilson loop is equal to some specific value. The above two refinements cause qˆ to vary with the temperature as T4 always and to depend linearly on the light-cone time L− with an additional (1/L−) correction term in the short-distance limit whereas in the long-distance limit, qˆ depends only linearly on L− with no correction term. These observations agree with other holographic calculations directly or indirectly.

Branch point twist field correlators in the massive free Boson theory

Well-known measures of entanglement in one-dimensional many body quantum systems, such as the entanglement entropy and the logarithmic negativity, may be expressed in terms of the correlation functions of local fields known as branch point twist fields in a replica quantum field theory. In this “replica” approach the computation of measures of entanglement generally involves a mathematically non-trivial analytic continuation in the number of replicas. In this paper we consider two-point functions of twist fields and their analytic continuation in the 1+1 dimensional massive (non-compactified) free Boson theory. This is one of the few theories for which all matrix elements of twist fields are known so that we may hope to compute correlation functions very precisely. We study two particular two-point functions which are related to the logarithmic negativity of semi-infinite disjoint intervals and to the entanglement entropy of one interval. We show that our prescription for the analytic continuation yields results which are in full agreement with conformal field theory predictions in the short-distance limit. We provide numerical estimates of universal quantities and their ratios, both in the massless (twist field structure constants) and the massive (expectation values of twist fields) theory. We find that particular ratios are given by divergent form factor expansions. We propose such divergences stem from the presence of logarithmic factors in addition to the expected power-law behaviour of two-point functions at short-distances. Surprisingly, at criticality these corrections give rise to a log⁡(log⁡ℓ) correction to the entanglement entropy of one interval of length ℓ. This hitherto overlooked result is in agreement with results by Calabrese, Cardy and Tonni and has been independently derived by Blondeau-Fournier and Doyon [25].

Black strings in Gauss-Bonnet theory are unstable

We report the existence of unstable s-wave modes for black strings in Gauss-Bonnet theory (which is quadratic in the curvature) in seven dimensions. This theory admits analytic uniform black strings that are, in the transverse section, black holes of the same Gauss-Bonnet theory in six dimensions. All the components of the perturbation can be written in terms of a single component and its derivatives. For this, we find a master equation that admits bounded solutions provided the characteristic time of the exponential growth of the perturbation is related to the wave number along the extra direction, as in general relativity. It is known that these configurations suffer from a thermal instability; therefore, the results presented here provide evidence for the Gubser-Mitra conjecture in the context of Gauss-Bonnet theory. Because of the nontriviality of the curvature of the background, all of the components of the metric perturbation appear in the linearized equations. Similar to spherical black holes, the black strings should be obtained as the short-distance limit $r\ensuremath{\ll}{\ensuremath{\alpha}}^{1/2}$ of the black-string solution of Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet theory (which is not known analytically), where $\ensuremath{\alpha}$ is the Gauss-Bonnet coupling.

Thermal dispersion potential of a diamagnetic atom

We study the diamagnetic interaction between a ground-state atom, which is located at a distance $z$ from a planar body, e.g., a perfect mirror or a nondispersive and nonabsorbing dielectric substrate, and the body-assisted electromagnetic fields from vacuum, equilibrium, and out of equilibrium thermal fluctuations. We find that the diamagnetic potential at zero temperature is always proportional to ${z}^{\ensuremath{-}4}$ in both the retarded and the nonretarded zones, and the Casimir-Polder (CP) force is attractive. The CP potential due to the thermal fluctuations at equilibrium dominates over that due to the zero-point fluctuations in the long-distance or high-temperature limit and behaves like $T/{z}^{3}$, and the corresponding force is attractive. However, in the case of out of thermal equilibrium, the CP potential exhibits a different behavior with slower dependence on the distance and stronger dependence on temperature in the same limit, and it decays like $({T}_{e}^{2}\ensuremath{-}{T}_{s}^{2})/{z}^{2}$, where ${T}_{e}$ is the temperature of the environment and ${T}_{s}$ is that of the substrate, yielding a CP force that can either be attractive or repulsive. Meanwhile, in the short-distance or low-temperature limit the CP potential is always dominated by the contribution due to the vacuum fluctuations.

Dissociation of quarkonium in an anisotropic hot QCD medium

We have investigated the properties of quarkonium states in an anisotropic hot QCD medium by correcting the full Cornell potential, not the Coulomb term alone as usually done in the literature, with a dielectric function from the hard-loop resummed gluon propagator. We have found that in-medium modification in anisotropic medium causes less screening than in isotropic medium. In the short distance limit, potential does not show any medium dependence whereas in the long-distance limit, it reduces to the Coulomb potential with a dynamically screened color charge. In addition, anisotropy in momentum space introduces a characteristic angular dependence in the potential and as a result, quarkonium states in anisotropic medium are more tightly bound than in isotropic medium. In particular, quark pairs aligned in the direction of anisotropy are more bound than perpendicular to the direction of anisotropy.

Five-loop Konishi in [formula omitted] SYM

We present a new method for computing the Konishi anomalous dimension in N=4 SYM at weak coupling. It does not rely on the conventional Feynman diagram technique and is not restricted to the planar limit. It is based on the OPE analysis of the four-point correlation function of stress-tensor multiplets, which has been recently constructed up to six loops. The Konishi operator gives the leading contribution to the singlet SU(4) channel of this OPE. Its anomalous dimension is the coefficient of the leading single logarithmic singularity of the logarithm of the correlation function in the double short-distance limit, in which the operator positions coincide pairwise. We regularize the logarithm of the correlation function in this singular limit by a version of dimensional regularization. At any loop level, the resulting singularity is a simple pole whose residue is determined by a finite two-point integral with one loop less. This drastically simplifies the five-loop calculation of the Konishi anomalous dimension by reducing it to a set of known four-loop two-point integrals and two unknown integrals which we evaluate analytically. We obtain an analytic result at five loops in the planar limit and observe perfect agreement with the prediction based on integrability in AdS/CFT.

Short-distance repulsion in three-nucleon forces from perturbative quantum chromodynamics

We investigate the short-distance behavior of three-nucleon forces (3NF) defined through the Nambu–Bethe–Salpeter (NBS) wave functions using the operator product expansion and calculating anomalous dimensions of nine-quark operators in perturbative quantum chromodynamics (QCD). As in the case of NN forces considered previously, we show that 3NF have repulsions at short distance at one-loop, which becomes exact in the short-distance limit thanks to the asymptotic freedom of QCD. Moreover, these behaviors are universal in the sense that they do not depend on the energy of the NBS wave function for three nucleons.

Superconvergent Representation of the Gersten–Nitzan and Ford–Weber Nonradiative Rates

An alternative representation of the quasistatic nonradiative rates of Gersten and Nitzan [J. Chem. Phys. 1981, 75, 1139] and Ford and Weber [Phys. Rep. 1984, 113, 195] is derived for the respective parallel and perpendicular dipole orientations. Given the distance d of a dipole from a sphere surface of radius a, the representations comprise four elementary analytic functions and a modified multipole series taking into account residual multipole contributions. The analytic functions could be arranged hierarchically according to decreasing singularity at the short distance limit d ---> 0, ranging from d^{-3} over d^{-1} to ln (d/a). The alternative representations exhibit drastically improved convergence properties. On keeping mere residual dipole contribution of the modified multipole series, the representations agree with the converged rates on at least 99.9% for all distances, arbitrary particle sizes and emission wavelengths, and for a broad range of dielectric constants. The analytic terms of the representations reveal a complex distance dependence and could be used to interpolate between the familiar d^{-3} short-distance and d^{-6} long-distance behaviors with an unprecedented accuracy. Therefore, the representations could be especially useful for the qualitative and quantitative understanding of the distance behavior of nonradiative rates of fluorophores and semiconductor quantum dots involving nanometal surface energy transfer in the presence of metallic nanoparticles or nanoantennas. As a byproduct, a complete short-distance asymptotic of the quasistatic nonradiative rates is derived. The above results for the nonradiative rates translate straightforwardly to the so-called image enhancement factors Delta, which are of relevance for the surface-enhanced Raman scattering.

DIRECTOR FIELD OF DISCLINATION LINE IN UNIAXIAL NEMATIC LIQUID CRYSTAL IN THE PRESENCE OF MAGNETIC FIELD

Using the Oseen–Zöcher–Frank theory, in the steady state, I study the distortion energy of a disclination line in nematic liquid crystal in the presence of an external magnetic field. The director field around a disclination line is exactly calculated by minimizing the total free energy. The behavior of total free energy as a function of magnetic field for two kinds of nematic material (positive and negative magnetic anisotropy) are discussed. In the short distance limit, the total free energy per unit length is calculated. In this case, the magnetic dependence of total free energy is discussed.