UV Boundary Research Articles

Time‐Dependent Wrinkle Pattern Based on Photo‐Controlled Stress Relaxation for Multi‐Level Information Encryption and Information Camouflage

AbstractStimuli‐responsive surfaces have garnered intensive research attention in addressing the challenges of severe information leakage problems, but they exhibit limitations in terms of intricate preparation and compatibility. Herein, the study reports a time‐dependent wrinkled surface controlled by photo‐induced stress relaxation of azobenzene‐ containing crosslinked polymer network comprised of furan‐containing polymer (PEA‐Fu) and maleimide‐substituted azobenzene (AZO‐2MI) as skin layer. Two kinds of wrinkled surfaces induced by two crosslinked networks (thermal‐ and UV‐induced) can be prepared by Diels‐Alder reaction and UV‐induced radical coupling reaction, exhibiting distinct amplitude decrease rate resulted from different stress relaxation rate induced by photo‐isomerization of azobenzene. By UV preprogramming with photomasks, various time‐dependent wrinkle patterns are obtained and can be identified at specific times under 450 nm irradiation. The time window for information read out can be preset through different UV preprogramming time and boundary conditions to achieve multi‐level information encryption. Furthermore, the written information can be camouflaged as another “false” information by regional‐selective irradiation under 450 nm irradiation, which offers a new method for information protection. Based on distinctive time‐dependent characteristics and excellent stability, this responsive wrinkled surface offers bright prospects in multi‐level information encryption.

Spectra of glueballs and oddballs and the equation of state from holographic QCD

We study the spectra of two-gluon glueballs and three-gluon oddballs and corresponding equation of state in $5$-dimensional deformed holographic QCD models in the graviton-dilaton system, where the metric, the dilaton field and dilaton potential are self-consistently solved from each other through the Einstein field equations and the equation of motion of the dilaton field. We compare the models by inputting the dilaton field, inputting the deformed metric and inputting the dilaton potential, and find that with only 2 parameters, the $5$-dimensional holographic QCD model predictions on glueballs/oddballs spectra in general are in good agreement with lattice results except two oddballs $0^{+-}$ and $2^{+-}$. From the results of glueballs/oddballs spectra at zero temperature and the equation of state at finite temperature, we observe that the model with quadratic dilaton field can simultaneously describe glueballs/oddballs spectra as well as equation of state of pure gluon system. The model with quadratic $A_{E}(z)$ can describe glueballs/oddballs spectra, but its corresponding equation of state behaves more like $N_{f}=2+1$ quark matter. These are consistent with dimension analysis at UV boundary.

Small instantons in weakly-gauged holographic models

Small instantons can play an important role in Yang-Mills theories whose gauge couplings are sizeable at small distances. An interesting class of theories where this could occur is in weakly-gauged holographic models (dual to Yang-Mills theories interacting with strongly-coupled CFTs), since gauge couplings are indeed enhanced towards the UV boundary of the 5D AdS space. However, contrary to expectations, we show that small instantons in these non-asymptotically-free models are highly suppressed and ineffective. This is due to the conservation of topological charge that forbids instantons to be localized near the UV boundary. Despite this fact we find non-trivial UV localized instanton-anti-instanton solutions of the Yang-Mills equations where the topological charges annihilate in the AdS bulk. These analytic solutions arise from a 5D conformal transformation of the uplifted 4D instanton. Our analysis therefore reveals unexpected nonperturbative configurations of Yang-Mills theories when they interact with strongly-coupled CFTs.

Constraints on anisotropic RG flows from the holographic entanglement entropy

In the context of the gauge/gravity duality, using the proposed candidate $c$-function, which is derived from the entanglement entropy of a strip-shaped region, we investigate the RG flow for $d+1$-dimensional quantum field theories with broken Lorentz and rotational symmetries in the IR, but preserved conformal invariance in the UV boundary. We examine conditions of monotonicity of the $c$-function for holographic anisotropic theories dual to the Einstein gravity via the constraints imposed by the null energy conditions. We consider near UV and IR behaviors and identify the sufficient conditions that guarantee the $c$ function decreases monotonically along the RG flows.

A natural composite Higgs via universal boundary conditions

We present a novel realization of a composite Higgs, which can naturally produce top partners above the current LHC bounds without increasing the tuning above 10%. The essential ingredients are softened breaking of the Higgs shift symmetry as well as maximal symmetry, which turn out to perfectly complement each other. The 5D realization of this model is particularly simple: universal UV and IR boundary conditions for the bulk fermions containing the SM fields will cure the problems of existing holographic composite Higgs models and provide a complete viable model for a naturally light Higgs without much tuning.

Properties of RG interfaces for 2D boundary flows

We consider RG interfaces for boundary RG flows in two-dimensional QFTs. Such interfaces are particular boundary condition changing operators linking the UV and IR conformal boundary conditions. We refer to them as RG operators. In this paper we study their general properties putting forward a number of conjectures. We conjecture that an RG operator is always a conformal primary such that the OPE of this operator with its conjugate must contain the perturbing UV operator when taken in one order and the leading irrelevant operator (when it exists) along which the flow enters the IR fixed point, when taken in the other order. We support our conjectures by perturbative calculations for flows between nearby fixed points, by a non-perturbative variational method inspired by the variational method proposed by J. Cardy for massive RG flows, and by numerical results obtained using boundary TCSA. The variational method has a merit of its own as it can be used as a first approximation in charting the global structure of the space of boundary RG flows. We also discuss the role of the RG operators in the transport of states and local operators. Some of our considerations can be generalised to two-dimensional bulk flows, clarifying some conceptual issues related to the RG interface put forward by D. Gaiotto for bulk \U0001d7191,3 flows.

Anomaly inflow and holography

We systematically study the perturbative anomaly inflow by the bulk Chern-Simons (CS) theory in a slice of five-dimensional anti-de Sitter spacetime (AdS5). The introduction of UV and IR 3-branes makes the anomaly story remarkably rich and many interesting aspects can be obtained, including weakly gauging and spontaneous symmetry breaking of the global symmetries of the dual 4D CFT. Our main contribution is to provide a unified and comprehensive discussion of the subject, together with a detailed description of the dual CFT picture for each case. To this end, we employ a gauge-fixed effective action suitable for a holographic study, which allows us to incorporate general UV and IR boundary conditions (BCs). As part of the process, we reproduce many known results in the literature, such as ’t Hooft anomaly matching for unbroken symmetry (Neumann IR-BC) and (gauged) Wess-Zumino-Witten (WZW) action for broken symmetry (IR-BC breaks the bulk group G → H). In addition, we show that anomaly matching occurs for ABJ anomalies as well as ’t Hooft anomalies, which suggests anomalies inflowed from the bulk CS theory are necessarily free of mixed anomalies with the confining gauge force of the 4D dual CFT. In the case of broken symmetry, we prove that the “would-be” Goldstone bosons associated with the weakly gauged symmetry are completely removed by a proper field redefinition, provided the anomaly from the bulk is exactly cancelled by the boundary contribution, hence confirming the standard expectation. Moreover, we present a holographic formulation of Witten’s argument for the quantization condition for the WZW action, and argue in favor of an alternative way to obtain the same condition using a “deformed” theory (different BCs). We work out several examples, including a product group with mixed anomaly, and identify the corresponding dual CFT picture. We consider a fully general case typically arising in the context of dynamical electroweak symmetry breaking.

Flavoured warped axion

We consider a 5D extension of the DFSZ axion model that addresses both the axion quality and fermion mass hierarchy problems, and predicts flavour-dependent, off-diagonal axion-fermion couplings. The axion is part of a 5D complex scalar field charged under a U(1)PQ symmetry that is spontaneously broken in the bulk, and is insensitive to explicit PQ breaking on the UV boundary. Bulk Standard Model fermions interact with two Higgs doublets that can be localized on the UV boundary or propagate in the bulk to explain the fermion masses and mixings. When the Higgs doublets are localized on the UV boundary, they induce flavour diagonal couplings between the fermions and the axion. However, when the Higgs doublets propagate in the bulk, the overlap of the axion and fermion profiles generates flavour off-diagonal couplings. The effective scale of these off-diagonal couplings in both the quark and lepton sectors can be as small as 1011 GeV, and therefore will be probed in future precision flavour experiments.

Blocks and vortices in the 3d ADHM quiver gauge theory

We study the hemisphere partition function of a three-dimensional mathcal{N} = 4 supersymmetric U(N) gauge theory with one adjoint and one fundamental hypermultiplet — the ADHM quiver theory. In particular, we propose a distinguished set of UV boundary conditions which yield Verma modules of the quantised chiral rings of the Higgs and Coulomb branches. In line with a recent proposal by two of the authors in collaboration with M. Bullimore, we show explicitly that the hemisphere partition functions recover the characters of these modules in two limits, and realise blocks gluing exactly to the partition functions of the theory on closed three-manifolds. We study the geometry of the vortex moduli space and investigate the interpretation of the vortex partition functions as equivariant indices of quasimaps to the Hilbert scheme of points in ℂ2. We also investigate half indices of the ADHM quiver gauge theory in the presence of a line operator and discuss their geometric interpretation. Along the way we find interesting relations between our hemisphere blocks and related quantities in topological string theory and equivariant quantum K-theory.

The Continuum Linear Dilaton

Continuum spectra can be a way out to alleviate the tension generated by the elusiveness of narrow resonances of new physics in direct experimental searches. Motivated by the latter, we consider the linear dilaton model with a continuum spectrum of KK modes. It is provided by a critical exponential bulk potential for the scalar field stabilizing the distance, between the UV boundary at $y=0$ and a naked (good) singularity at $y=y_s$, in proper coordinates, which corresponds in conformal coordinates to $z_s\to\infty$. The cutoff $M_s$ in this theory is an intermediate scale $M_s\simeq 10^{-5}M_{\rm Pl}$ and the warped factor solves the hierarchy between $M_s$ and the TeV, while the hierarchy between $M_{\rm Pl}$ and $M_s$ has to be solved by a (Little) String Theory with coupling $g_s\simeq 10^{-5}$. The Standard Model is localized on a 4D IR brane. The graviton and radion Green's and spectral functions have a continuum of states with a TeV mass gap, and isolated poles consisting on the 4D graviton and the light radion/dilaton. We construct the effective field theory below the mass gap where the continua of KK modes are integrated out, generating a set of dimension eight operators which contribute to low energy electroweak precision observables, and high energy violation of unitarity in vector boson scattering processes. The radion mass depends on the stabilizing UV brane potential and its wave function is localized toward the IR which enhances its coupling with the SM fields.

Topological Entanglement Entropy of Black Hole Interiors

Recent theoretical progress shows that (2+1) black hole solution manifests long-range topological quantum entanglement similar to exotic non-Abelian excitations with fractional quantum statistics. In topologically ordered systems, there is a deep connection between physics of the bulk and that at the boundaries. Boundary terms play an important role in explaining the black hole entropy in general. We find several common properties between BTZ black holes and the Quantum Hall effect in (2+1)-dimensional bulk/boundary theories. We calculate the topological entanglement entropy of a (2+1) black hole and recover the Bekenstein–Hawking entropy, showing that black hole entropy and topological entanglement entropy are related.Using Chern–Simons and Liouville theories, we find that long-range entanglement describes the interior geometry of a black hole and identify it with the boundary entropy as the bond required by the connectivity of spacetime, gluing the short-range entanglement described by the area law. The IR bulk–UV boundary correspondence can be realized as a UV low-excitation theory on the bulk matching the IR long-range excitations on the boundary theory. Several aspects of the current ndings are discussed.

Topological Entanglement Entropy of Black Hole Interiors

Recent theoretical progress shows that ([Formula: see text]) black hole solution manifests long-range topological quantum entanglement similar to exotic non-Abelian excitations with fractional quantum statistics. In topologically ordered systems, there is a deep connection between physics of the bulk and that at the boundaries. Boundary terms play an important role in explaining the black hole entropy in general. We find several common properties between BTZ black holes and the Quantum Hall effect in ([Formula: see text])-dimensional bulk/boundary theories. We calculate the topological entanglement entropy of a ([Formula: see text]) black hole and recover the Bekenstein–Hawking entropy, showing that black hole entropy and topological entanglement entropy are related. Using Chern–Simons and Liouville theories, we find that long-range entanglement describes the interior geometry of a black hole and identify it with the boundary entropy as the bond required by the connectivity of spacetime, gluing the short-range entanglement described by the area law. The IR bulk–UV boundary correspondence can be realized as a UV low-excitation theory on the bulk matching the IR long-range excitations on the boundary theory. Several aspects of the current findings are discussed.

Asymptotic safety in the conformal hidden sector?

We combine the notion of asymptotic safety (AS) with conformal invariance in a hidden sector beyond the Standard Model. We use the renormalization group equations as a bridge to connect UV boundary conditions and EW/TeV scale physics and furnish a detailed example in the context of a leptophobic U(1)′ model. A broad selection of UV boundary conditions are formulated corresponding to differing AS scenarios, and we find an AS scenario with very strong predictive power, allowing unique determination of most of the parameters in the model. We obtain the interrelationships among the couplings, the transition scale of the fixed point MUV and the generations of quarks coupled to the Z′, and especially the correlation between MUV and the top quark Yukawa coupling Yt. Several phenomenological implications of our results are presented for selected Z′ masses.

Topological non-Fermi liquid

In this paper we investigate the $(2+1)$-dimensional topological non-Fermi liquid in strongly correlated electron system, which has a holographic dual description by Einstein gravity in $(3+1)$-dimensional anti-de Sitter (AdS) space-time. In a dyonic Reissner-Nordstrom black hole background, we consider a Dirac fermion coupled to the background $U(1)$ gauge theory and an intrinsic chiral gauge field $b_M$ induced by chiral anomaly. UV retarded Green's function of the charged fermion in the UV boundary from AdS$_4$ gravity is calculated, by imposing in-falling wave condition at the horizon. We also obtain IR correlation function of the charged fermion at the IR boundary arising from the near horizon geometry of the topological black hole with index $k=0,\pm 1$. By using the UV retarded Green's function and IR correlation function, we analyze the low frequency behavior of the topological non-Fermi liquid at zero and finite temperatures, especially the relevant non-Fermi liquid behavior near the quantum critical region. In addition, we find that when $k=\pm 1$, the effective mass of bulk Dirac fermion at IR fixed point is topologically quantized, consequently the Fermi momentum presents a discrete sparse distributed pattern, in contrary to the Ricci flat case with $k=0$. As demonstrated examples, we calculate the spectral functions of topological non-Fermi liquid due to anomalous Hall effect (AHE) ($|\vec{b}|\ne 0, b_0=0$) and chiral magnetic effect (CME) ($|\vec{b}| = 0, b_0\ne 0$), which can be tested in topological materials such as topological insulator and topological metal with strong couplings.

Anomalous mass dimensions and Schwinger–Dyson equations boundary condition

Theories with large mass anomalous dimensions (γm) have been extensively studied because of their deep consequences for models where the scalar bosons are composite. Large γm values may appear when a non-Abelian gauge theory has a large number of fermions or is affected by four-fermion interactions. In this note we provide a simple explanation how γm can be directly read out from the IR and UV boundary conditions derived from the gap equation, and verify that moderate γm values appear when the theory possess a large number of fermions, but large γm values are obtained only when four-fermion interactions are added to the theory. We also verify how the critical line separating the different chiral phases emerge from these conditions.

Boundaries, mirror symmetry, and symplectic duality in 3d N = 4 $$ \mathcal{N}=4 $$ gauge theory

We introduce several families of $\mathcal{N}=(2,2)$ UV boundary conditions in 3d $\mathcal N=4$ gauge theories and study their IR images in sigma-models to the Higgs and Coulomb branches. In the presence of Omega deformations, a UV boundary condition defines a pair of modules for quantized algebras of chiral Higgs- and Coulomb-branch operators, respectively, whose structure we derive. In the case of abelian theories, we use the formalism of hyperplane arrangements to make our constructions very explicit, and construct a half-BPS interface that implements the action of 3d mirror symmetry on gauge theories and boundary conditions. Finally, by studying two-dimensional compactifications of 3d $\mathcal{N}=4$ gauge theories and their boundary conditions, we propose a physical origin for symplectic duality - an equivalence of categories of modules associated to families of Higgs and Coulomb branches that has recently appeared in the mathematics literature, and generalizes classic results on Koszul duality in geometric representation theory. We make several predictions about the structure of symplectic duality, and identify Koszul duality as a special case of wall crossing.

750 GeV messenger of dark conformal symmetry breaking

The tentative hints for a diphoton resonance at a mass of $\sim 750$ GeV from the ATLAS and CMS experiments at the LHC may be interpreted as first contact with a "dark" sector with a spontaneously broken conformal symmetry. The implied TeV scale of the dark sector may be motivated by the interaction strength required to accommodate a viable thermal relic dark matter (DM) candidate. We model the conformal dynamics using a Randall-Sundrum type 5D geometry whose IR boundary is identified with the dynamics of the composite dark sector, while the Standard Model (SM) matter content resides on the UV boundary, corresponding to "elementary" fields. We allow the gauge fields to reside in the 5D bulk, which can be minimally chosen to be $SU(3)_c\times U(1)_Y$. The "dark" radion is identified as the putative 750 GeV resonance. Heavy vector-like fermions, often invoked to explain the diphoton excess, are not explicitly present in our model and are not predicted to appear in the spectrum of TeV scale states. Our minimal setup favors scalar DM of $\mathcal{O}(\text{TeV})$ mass. A generic expectation in this scenario, suggested by DM considerations, is the appearance of vector bosons at $\sim$ few TeV, corresponding to the gluon and hypercharge Kaluza-Klein (KK) modes that couple to UV boundary states with strengths that are suppressed uniformly compared to their SM values. Our analysis suggests that these KK modes could be within the reach of the LHC in the coming years.

Light scalar from deformations of the Klebanov-Strassler background

We study deformations of the Klebanov-Strassler background parametrized by the size of a dim-6 VEV. In the UV, these solutions describe the usual duality cascade of Klebanov-Strassler; however below the scale rho* set by the dim-6 VEV they exhibit hyperscaling violation over a range of the radial coordinate. Focusing on the spectrum of scalar glueballs, we find a parametrically light state, the mass of which is suppressed by rho*, becoming massless in the limit of rho* -> infinity. Along the way, we clarify the choice of IR and UV boundary conditions for the fluctuations in the bulk, and find agreement with previous calculations for the spectrum of Klebanov-Strassler.

Unified flavor symmetry from warped dimensions

In a model of warped extra-dimensions with all matter fields in the bulk, we propose a scenario which explains all the masses and mixings of the SM fermions. In this scenario, the same flavor symmetric structure is imposed on all the fermions of the Standard Model (SM), including neutrinos. Due to the exponential sensitivity on bulk fermion masses, a small breaking of this symmetry can be greatly enhanced and produce seemingly un-symmetric hierarchical masses and small mixing angles among the charged fermion zero-modes (SM quarks and charged leptons), thus washing out visible effects of the symmetry. If the Dirac neutrinos are sufficiently localized towards the UV boundary, and the Higgs field leaking into the bulk, the neutrino mass hierarchy and flavor structure will still be largely dominated and reflect the fundamental flavor structure, whereas localization of the quark sector would reflect the effects of the flavor symmetry breaking sector. We explore these features in an example based on which a family permutation symmetry is imposed in both quark and lepton sectors.

Crystalline geometries from a fermionic vortex lattice

We study charged Dirac fermions on an ${\mathrm{AdS}}_{2}\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{\mathbb{R}}^{2}$ background with a nonzero magnetic field. Under certain boundary conditions, we show that the charged fermion can make the background unstable, resulting in spontaneous formation of a vortex lattice. We observe that an electric field emerges in the backreacted solution due to the vortex lattice constructed from spin polarized fermions. This electric field may be extended to the UV boundary which leads to a finite charge density. We also discuss corrections to the thermodynamic functions due to the lattice formation.