Vacuum Sector Research Articles

Asymptotic structure of higher dimensional Yang-Mills theory

Using the covariant phase space formalism, we construct the phase space for non-Abelian gauge theories in (d+2)-dimensional Minkowski spacetime for any d ≥ 2, including the edge modes that symplectically pair to the low energy degrees of freedom of the gauge field. Despite the fact that the symplectic form in odd and even-dimensional spacetimes appear ostensibly different, we demonstrate that both cases can be treated in a unified manner by utilizing the shadow transform. Upon quantization, we recover the algebra of the vacuum sector of the Hilbert space and derive a Ward identity that implies the leading soft gluon theorem in (d+2)-dimensional spacetime.

Materials adopted for particle beam windows in relevant experimental facilities

A beam vacuum window is a thin interface of separation between a volume under vacuum and a volume at a higher pressure traversed by particle beams. Their application is not only limited to particle accelerators, where they are typically installed inside the beamline to separate vacuum sectors, but also extends to other fields of nuclear research and to high-power hadron beam applications, such as spallation neutron sources and accelerator-driven systems. The main issue concerning the beam window technology resides intrinsically in the dual role of these components: the thickness of the window is supposed to be as thin as possible to allow the passage of the particles through matter with minimal interaction but, at the same time, enough resistant to maintain the required differential pressure between the two environments. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

On the Mass Dependence of the Modular Operator for a Double Cone

We present a numerical approximation scheme for the Tomita–Takesaki modular operator of local subalgebras in linear quantum fields, working at one-particle level. This is applied to the local subspaces for double cones in the vacuum sector of a massive scalar free field in (1+1)- and (3+1)-dimensional Minkowski spacetime, using a discretization of time-0 data in position space. In the case of a wedge region, one component of the modular generator is well known to be a mass-independent multiplication operator; our results strongly suggest that for the double cone, the corresponding component is still at least close to a multiplication operator, but that it is dependent on mass and angular momentum.

Cut-off kinks

We answer the question: If a vacuum sector Hamiltonian is regularized by an energy cutoff, how is the one-kink sector Hamiltonian regularized? We find that it is not regularized by an energy cutoff, indeed normal modes of all energies are present in the kink Hamiltonian, but rather the decomposition of the field into normal mode operators yields coefficients which lie on a constrained surface that forces them to become small for energies above the cutoff. This explains the old observation that an energy cutoff of the kink Hamiltonian leads to an incorrect one-loop kink mass. To arrive at our conclusion, we impose that the regularized kink sector Hamiltonian is unitarily equivalent to the regularized vacuum sector Hamiltonian. This condition implies that the two regularized Hamiltonians have the same spectrum and so guarantees that the kink Hamiltonian yields the correct kink mass.

NiTi shape memory alloy pipe couplers for ultra-high vacuum systems: development and implementation

Novel Nickel–Titanium (NiTi)-based shape memory alloy (SMA) pipe couplers were designed and developed. They are suitable for room-temperature ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) systems and provide a quick and compact solution at reasonable cost. Their use is particularly interesting for restricted-access areas of particle accelerators as their installation/dismounting can be performed remotely by temperature variations. A NiTi SMA with suitable composition was selected. NiTi couplers with different diameters in the range 30–135 mm were manufactured and thermo-mechanically trained to exhibit a proper two-way shape memory behaviour which comply with the strict operative constraints for coupling applications in room temperature vacuum sectors. The connectors are easily implementable as they were designed to be compatible with commercially available flanges (DN16, DN25, DN100) used worldwide in vacuum systems. The effect of the SMA joint geometry on the thermo-mechanical response and vacuum performance was investigated by numerical studies and experimental analyses such as strain-gauge, extensometer and leak-tightness tests performed under different operating conditions including static axial loads and multiple thermal cycles. It was demonstrated that NiTi-based connectors can be thermally mounted upon heating and can guarantee the leak tightness of the vacuum pipe within a suitable temperature window. The thermal dismounting was also verified by cooling the couplers down to subzero temperatures (lower than −40 °C). Possible use of these connections at European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) is foreseen in vacuum assemblies installed in high radioactive areas, like those nearby particle collision points and beam collimators. Thanks to their compactness, SMA couplers are also of great interest for connecting beam pipes with small aperture such as those studied for the electron–positron future circular collider (FCC-ee) and next-generation synchrotron light facilities.

Proof of the universal density of charged states in QFT

We prove a recent conjecture by Harlow and Ooguri concerning a universal formula for the charged density of states in QFT at high energies for global symmetries associated with finite groups. An equivalent statement, based on the entropic order parameter associated with charged operators in the thermofield double state, was proven in a previous article by Casini, Huerta, Pontello, and the present author. Here we describe how the statement about the entropic order parameter arises, and how it gets transformed into the universal density of states. The use of the certainty principle, relating the entropic order and disorder parameters, is crucial for the proof. We remark that although the immediate application of this result concerns charged states, the origin and physics of such density can be understood by looking at the vacuum sector only. We also describe how these arguments lie at the origin of the so-called entropy equipartition in these type of systems, and how they generalize to QFT’s on non-compact manifolds.

Removing tadpoles in a soliton sector

It has long been known that perturbative calculations can be performed in a soliton sector of a quantum field theory by using a soliton Hamiltonian, which is constructed from the defining Hamiltonian by shifting the field by the classical soliton solution. It is also known that even if tadpoles are eliminated in the vacuum sector, they remain in the soliton sector. In this note we show, in the case of quantum kinks at two loops, that the soliton sector tadpoles may be removed by adding certain quantum corrections to the classical solution used in this construction. Stated differently, the renormalization condition that the soliton sector tadpoles vanish may be satisfied by renormalizing the soliton solution.

Two-loop scalar kinks

At one loop, quantum kinks are described by a sum of quantum harmonic oscillator Hamiltonians, and the ground state is just the product of the oscillator ground states. Two-loop kink masses are only known in integrable and supersymmetric cases and two-loop states have never been found. We find the two-loop kink mass and explicitly construct the two-loop kink ground state in a scalar field theory with an arbitrary nonderivative potential. We use a coherent state operator which maps the vacuum sector to the kink sector, allowing all states to be treated with a single Hamiltonian which needs to be renormalized only once, eliminating the need for regulator matching conditions. Our calculation is greatly simplified by a recently introduced alternative to collective coordinates, in which the kink momentum is fixed perturbatively.

Covariant phase space and soft factorization in non-Abelian gauge theories

We perform a careful study of the infrared sector of massless non-abelian gauge theories in four-dimensional Minkowski spacetime using the covariant phase space formalism, taking into account the boundary contributions arising from the gauge sector of the theory. Upon quantization, we show that the boundary contributions lead to an infinite degeneracy of the vacua. The Hilbert space of the vacuum sector is not only shown to be remarkably simple, but also universal. We derive a Ward identity that relates the n-point amplitude between two generic in- and out-vacuum states to the one computed in standard QFT. In addition, we demonstrate that the familiar single soft gluon theorem and multiple consecutive soft gluon theorem are consequences of the Ward identity.

The emergence of electroweak Skyrmions through Higgs bosons

Skyrmions are extended field configurations, initially proposed to describe baryons as topological solitons in an effective field theory of mesons. We investigate and confirm the existence of skyrmions within the electroweak sector of the Standard Model and study their properties. We find that the interplay of the electroweak sector with a dynamical Higgs field and the Skyrme term leads to a non-trivial vacuum structure with the skyrmion and perturbative vacuum sectors separated by a finite energy barrier. We identify dimension-8 operators that stabilise the electroweak skyrmion as a spatially localised soliton field configuration with finite size. Such operators are induced generically by a wide class of UV models. To calculate the skyrmion energy and radius we use a neural network method. Electroweak skyrmions are non-topological solitons but are exponentially long lived, and we find that the electroweak skyrmion is a viable dark matter candidate. While the skyrmion production cross section at collider experiments is suppressed, measuring the size of the Skyrme term in multi-Higgs-production processes at high-energy colliders is a promising avenue to probe the existence of electroweak skyrmions.

The effective action of superrotation modes

Starting from an analysis of four-dimensional asymptotically flat gravity in first order formulation, we show that superrotation reparametrization modes are governed by an Alekseev-Shatashvili action on the celestial sphere. This two-dimensional conformal theory describes spontaneous symmetry breaking of Virasoro superrotations together with the explicit symmetry breaking of more general Diff( {mathcal{S}}^2 ) superrotations. We arrive at this result by first reformulating the asymptotic field equations and symmetries of the radiative vacuum sector in terms of a Chern-Simons theory at null infinity, and subsequently performing a Hamiltonian reduction of this theory onto the celestial sphere.

Recent Approaches for Chemical Speciation and Analysis by Electrospray Ionization (ESI) Mass Spectrometry.

In recent years, the chemical speciation of several species has been increasingly monitored and investigated, employing electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS). This soft ionization technique gently desolvates weak metal–ligand complexes, taking them in the high vacuum sectors of mass spectrometric instrumentation. It is, thus, possible to collect information on their structure, energetics, and fragmentation pathways. For this reason, this technique is frequently chosen in a synergistic approach to investigate competitive ligand exchange-adsorption otherwise analyzed by cathodic stripping voltammetry (CLE-ACSV). ESI-MS analyses require a careful experimental design as measurement may face instrumental artifacts such as ESI adduct formation, fragmentation, and sometimes reduction reactions. Furthermore, ESI source differences of ionization efficiencies among the detected species can be misleading. In this mini-review are collected and critically reported the most recent approaches adopted to mitigate or eliminate these limitations and to show the potential of this analytical technique.

Finite-Field Calculations of Transition Properties by the Fock Space Relativistic Coupled Cluster Method: Transitions between Different Fock Space Sectors

Reliable information on transition matrix elements of various property operators between molecular electronic states is of crucial importance for predicting spectroscopic, electric, magnetic and radiative properties of molecules. The finite-field technique is a simple and rather accurate tool for evaluating transition matrix elements of first-order properties in the frames of the Fock space relativistic coupled cluster approach. We formulate and discuss the extension of this technique to the case of transitions between the electronic states associated with different sectors of the Fock space. Pilot applications to the evaluation of transition dipole moments between the closed-shell-like states (vacuum sector) and those dominated by single excitations of the Fermi vacuum (the 1h1p sector) in heavy atoms (Xe and Hg) and simple molecules of heavy element compounds (I2 and TlF) are reported.

Impact of deconditioning on the secondary electron yield of Cu surfaces in particle accelerators

Electron cloud is a critical phenomenon in particle accelerators operating with high intensity and positively charged beams, as it is responsible for beam instabilities, vacuum degradation, and heat load on cryogenic sections. Electron clouds provoke a conditioning of the beam pipe that is reflected on the reduction of its secondary electron yield (SEY). However, such a benefit is partially lost when vacuum sectors are vented for maintenance of accelerators; this phenomenon is called deconditioning. Samples removed from accelerators are also vented before surface analysis. Deconditioning amplifies the electron cloud at the resuming of beam operation and, on the other hand, hinders the understanding of the electron multipacting mechanism from surface analysis data. In this paper, copper deconditioning was studied for samples stored in a desiccator over months. Immediately after air exposure, an increase of the SEY is observed. This increase is driven by carbon recontamination and copper hydroxide growth on the conditioned surface as observed by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. After deconditioning, the differences of SEY present on the tested samples partially vanish, in particular, for surfaces conditioned to a maximum SEY below 1.45, limiting the level of accessible information when analyzing components extracted from accelerators. However, for a maximum SEY above 1.45, the differences remain visible for at least 8 weeks of storage. Among different storage conditions, vacuum efficiently stops the SEY increase over time. Besides, the memory effect of the conditioning is preserved over at least 4 months when closing the vacuum system on itself after venting with a clean and dry gas.

Well-defined quantum soliton masses without supersymmetry

22 years ago, Rebhan and van Nieuwenhuizen showed that loop corrections to the mass of a quantum soliton depend on a choice of matching condition for the regulators of the vacuum and one-soliton sector Hamiltonians. In supersymmetric theories, regulators which preserve supersymmetry yield the correct quantum corrections, as these are dictated by supersymmetry. However, in a general theory it is not known which matching condition yields the correct mass. We use the leading term in the operator that creates the soliton to construct the regulated one-soliton sector Hamiltonian from that of the vacuum sector, providing the correct matching condition. As an application, we derive a simple formula for the one-loop mass of a kink in a large class of 1+1 dimensional scalar field theories and also, at one loop, we diagonalize the Hamiltonian which describes the kink excitations.

Finite derivation of the one-loop sine-Gordon soliton mass

Calculations of quantum corrections to soliton masses generally require both the vacuum sector and the soliton sector to be regularized. The finite part of the quantum correction depends on the assumed relation between these regulators when both are taken to infinity. Recently, in the case of quantum kinks, a manifestly finite prescription for the calculation of the quantum corrections has been proposed, which uses the kink creation operator to relate the two sectors. In this note, we test this new prescription by calculating the one-loop correction to the sine-Gordon soliton mass, reproducing the well-known result which has been derived using integrability.

Vacuum system design for the storage ring of Iranian Light Source Facility

The current study describes the vacuum system of ILSF storage ring. The design uses the stainless steel vacuum chambers with a continuing keyhole profile all around the storage ring. The NEG cartridge and Ion pumps which are installed in the antechamber will pump all the vacuum sectors. Using Monte-Carlo simulation proved that the machine could reach an average pressure of 1 nTorr after the commissioning phase, which could guarantee a vacuum life time of about 13 h. The general layout of the vacuum system and the construction steps for the vacuum chambers will also be elaborated on. Several discrete photon absorbers which are designed in three types will absorb all the synchrotron radiations. For the heat load study, a simulation with Synrad is performed to calculate the power distribution on the absorber surfaces. Then the result is used to calculate the stress and strain on the absorbers by Finite Element Analysis (FEA).

Structure of light-front vacuum sector diagrams

We study the structure of scalar field light-front quantization vacuum graphs. In instant-time quantization both non-vacuum and vacuum graphs can equivalently be described by either the off-shell four-dimensional Feynman diagram approach or the on-shell three-dimensional Fock space approach, with this being the case since the relevant Feynman diagrams are given entirely by pole terms. This is also the case for light-front quantization non-vacuum graphs. However this is not the case for light-front vacuum sector diagrams, since then there are also circle at infinity contributions to Feynman diagrams. These non-pole contributions cause light-front vacuum diagrams to be nonzero and to not be given by a light-front Hamiltonian Fock space analysis. The three-dimensional approach thus fails in the light-front vacuum sector. In consequence, the closely related infinite momentum frame approach also fails in the light-front vacuum sector.

Bell inequalities violation within non-Bunch–Davies states

In this Letter, we study the quantum nature of non-Bunch–Davies states in de Sitter space by evaluating CHSH inequality on a localized two-atom system. We show that quantum nonlocality can be generated through the Markovian evolution of two-atom, witnessed by a violation of CHSH inequality on its final equilibrium state. We find that the upper bound of inequality violation is determined by different choices of de Sitter-invariant vacua sectors. In particular, with growing Gibbons–Hawking temperature, the CHSH bound degrades monotonously for Bunch–Davies vacuum sector. Due to the intrinsic correlation of non-Bunch–Davies vacua, we find that the related violation of inequality can however drastically increase after certain turning point, and may persist for arbitrarily large environment decoherence. This implies that the CHSH inequality is useful to classify the initial quantum state of the Universe. Finally, we clarify that the witnessed intrinsic correlation of non-Bunch–Davies vacua can be utilized for quantum information applications, e.g., surpassing the Heisenberg uncertainty bound of quantum measurement in de Sitter space.

Recent Progress in Fighting Ghosts in Quantum Gravity

We review some of the recent results which can be useful for better understanding of the problem of stability of vacuum and in general classical solutions in higher derivative quantum gravity. The fourth derivative terms in the purely gravitational vacuum sector are requested by renormalizability already in both semiclassical and complete quantum gravity theories. However, because of these terms, the spectrum of the theory has unphysical ghost states which jeopardize the stability of classical solutions. At the quantum level, ghosts violate unitarity, and thus ghosts look incompatible with the consistency of the theory. The “dominating” or “standard” approach is to treat higher derivative terms as small perturbations at low energies. Such an effective theory is supposed to glue with an unknown fundamental theory in the high energy limit. We argue that the perspectives for such a scenario are not clear, to say the least. On the other hand, recently, there was certain progress in understanding physical conditions which can make ghosts not offensive. We survey these results and discuss the properties of the unknown fundamental theory which can provide these conditions satisfied.