Scientific Series

An important and unresolved question in cosmology today is whether there is new physics that is missing from our current standard Lambda Cold Dark Matter (LCDM) model. A current discrepancy in the measurement of the Hubble constant could be signaling a new physical property of the universe or, more mundanely, unrecognized measurement uncertainties. I will discuss two of our most precise methods for measuring distances in the local universe: Cepheids and the Tip of the Red Giant Branch (TRGB). I will present new results from the Carnegie-Chicago Hubble Program (CCHP), the goal of which is to independently measure a value of the Hubble constant to a precision and accuracy of 2%. Using the Hubble Space Telescope Advanced Camera for Surveys,  we are  using the TRGB to calibrate Type Ia supernovae. I will  address the uncertainties,  discuss the current tension in Ho, and whether there is need for additional physics beyond the standard LCDM model.

Analog quantum simulation has the potential to be an indispensable technique in the investigation of complex quantum systems. In this work, we numerically investigate a one-dimensional, faithful, analog, quantum electronic circuit simulator built out of Josephson junctions for one of the paradigmatic models of an integrable quantum field theory: the quantum sine-Gordon (qSG) model in 1+1 space-time dimensions. We analyze the lattice model using the density matrix renormalization group technique and benchmark our numerical results with existing Bethe ansatz computations. Furthermore, we perform analytical form-factor calculations for the two-point correlation function of vertex operators, which closely agree with our numerical computations. Finally, we compute the entanglement spectrum of the qSG model. We compare our results with those obtained using the integrable lattice-regularization based on the quantum XYZ chain and show that the quantum circuit model is less susceptible to corrections to scaling compared to the XYZ chain. We provide numerical evidence that the parameters required to realize the qSG model are accessible with modern-day superconducting circuit technology, thus providing additional credence towards the viability of the latter platform for simulating strongly interacting quantum field theories. 

Motivated by the question of how inflation started, we propose a Euclidean preparation of an asymptotically AdS2 spacetime that contains an inflating dS2 bubble. The setup can be embedded in a four dimensional theory with a Minkowski vacuum and a false vacuum. AdS2 times 2-sphere approximate the near horizon geometry of a 4d near-extremal RN wormhole. Likewise, in the false vacuum the near-horizon geometry of a near-extremal black hole is approximately dS2 times 2-sphere. We interpret the Euclidean solution as describing the decay of an excitation inside the wormhole to a false vacuum bubble. The result is an inflating region inside a non-traversable asymptotically Minkowski wormhole.

Despite decades of theoretical work, the physical realization of topological order, outside of the fractional quantum Hall effect, has proved to be an elusive goal. Even the simplest example of a time-reversal symmetric topological order, as encountered in the paradigmatic toric code, awaits experimental realization. Key challenges include the lack of physically realistic models in these phases, and of ways to probe their defining properties. I will discuss a simple `Rydberg blockade' model, and describe numerical results that point to (i) a ground state with toric code topological order that could potentially be realized in experiment and (ii) ``smoking gun'' signatures of the phase which be accessed using a dynamic protocol. I will also briefly discuss how a topological qubit can be constructed in this platform by tuning boundaries as well as implications for constructing fault-tolerant quantum memories. Time permitting, a different platform for realizing exotic phases, magic-angle graphene and the special features of its band structure will be described, which make it a prime candidate for realizing fractional quantum Hall topological order even in the absence of a magnetic field.

References: arXiv:2011.12310. and arXiv:1912.09634
 

The detections of gravitational waves (GWs) from merging binary black holes (BHs) have motivated many studies on the dynamical formation of such compact black hole binaries (BHBs). Recent works have suggested that tertiary-induced merger via Lidov–Kozai (LK) oscillations may play a significant role in producing the BHBs detected by the LIGO/VIRGO collaboration. I will talk about the dynamics of merging compact binaries near a rotating supermassive black hole (SMBH) in a hierarchical triple configuration, including various general relativistic (GR) effects. I will show that these GR effects significantly increase the merger fraction of BHBs and produce a wide range of spin orientations when the BHB enters LIGO band. I will also discuss the hierarchical BH mergers in multiple systems, focusing on the constraints on the formation of GW190412, GW190814 and GW190521-like events.

The problem of quantum gravity -- i.e. to determine the microscopic structure underlying quantum mechanical theories that reproduce general relativity at long distances -- is a major outstanding problem in modern physics.  Solving the quantum gravitational scattering problem is one sharp way to address this question.  While in principle effective field theory (EFT) provides a systematic framework for solving scattering problems, in quantum gravity the complete answer requires an infinite number of measurements and thereby fails to predict details of the microscopic structure.

I will present two developments that provide new insight into the gravitational scattering problem.   The first is a class of infinite-dimensional symmetries generically found to arise in gauge and gravitational scattering.  The infinite number of constraints implied by the symmetries are equivalent to quantum field theoretic soft theorems, which prescribe the pattern of soft radiation produced during a scattering event.  The second development is a reformulation of the gravitational scattering problem in which Lorentz symmetry is rendered manifest and realized as the action of the global conformal group in two dimensions.  This reformulation, which involves scattering particles of definite boost weight as opposed to energy, offers a new approach precisely because it does not admit the decoupling of low and high-energy physics that underpins the traditional EFT approach.  I will describe new perspectives ensuing from these developments on various properties of the gravitational scattering problem, including collinear limits, infrared divergences and universal behavior associated to black hole formation. 

Many physical states of interest, such as ground states of gapped quantum many-body systems, are expected to obey an area law of entanglement entropy. I will report on a series of recent results that suggest a deep connection between area law and two seemingly unrelated subjects: topological quantum field theory and quantum marginal problem. Recently, we deduced --- only using area law and quantum information-theoretic tools --- the existence of new topological charges and invariants associated with the domain walls between topologically ordered systems in two spatial dimensions. Moreover, the same set of tools were also used in finding a solution to the quantum marginal problem. This is the problem in which one asks whether a set of reduced density matrices on bounded subsystems are compatible with some globally well-defined many-body quantum state. Since this problem was first posed in 1959, a solution that goes beyond the mean-field ansatz has remained elusive until now. These results suggest that area law is not just a qualitative statement about entanglement; it is an important equation that lets us "solve" quantum many-body systems that appear in nature.

Based on arXiv:2008.11793 and arXiv:2010.07424

Axion cosmic strings have for some time been considered a potential source of enhancement of axion dark matter production, and have been the subject of extensive simulations (for references, see out in recent years).  But axion strings are rather peculiar entities.  This talk will explore some aspects of these objects, and suggest that they are not likely to play a distinguished role in early universe cosmology.

The Hubble tension is conventionally viewed as that between the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and the SH0ES measurement. A prominent proposal for a resolution of this discrepancy is to introduce a new component in the early universe, which initially acts as "early dark energy" (EDE), thus decreasing the physical size of the sound horizon imprinted in the CMB and increasing the inferred H_0, bringing it into near agreement with SH0ES. However, this impacts cosmological observables beyond the CMB -- in particular, the large scale structure (LSS) of the universe across a range of redshift. The H_0 tension resolving EDE cosmologies produce scale-dependent changes to the matter power spectrum, including 10% more power at k=1 h/Mpc. Motivated by this, I will present the results of two analyses of LSS constraints on the EDE scenario. Weak lensing and galaxy clustering data (from, e.g., the Dark Energy Survey) significantly constrain the EDE model, and the resulting H_0 is in significant tension with SH0ES. Complementary to this, including data from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS), analyzed using the effective field theory (EFT) of LSS,  yields an EDE H_0 value that is in significant (3.6\sigma) tension with SH0ES. These results indicate that current LSS data disfavours the EDE model as a resolution of the Hubble tension, and, more generally, that the EDE model fails to restore cosmological concordance. A sensitivity forecast for EUCLID suggests that future LSS surveys can close the remaining parameter space of the model.

In this talk I will begin by introducing symmetry protected topological (SPT) Floquet systems in 1D. I will describe the topological invariants that characterize these systems,  and highlight their differences from SPT phases arising in static systems.  I will also discuss how the entanglement properties of a many-particle wavefunction depend on these  topological invariants. I will then show that the edge modes encountered in free fermion SPTs are remarkably robust to adding interactions, even in disorder-free systems where generic bulk quantities can heat to infinite temperatures due to the periodic driving. This robustness of the edge modes to heating can be understood in the language of strong modes for free fermion SPTs, and  almost strong modes for interacting SPTs.

I will then outline a tunneling calculation for extracting the long lifetimes of these edge modes by mapping the Heisenberg time-evolution of the edge operator to dynamics of a single particle in Krylov space. 

Detection mechanisms for low mass bosonic dark matter candidates, such the axion or hidden photon, leverage potential interactions with electromagnetic fields, whereby the dark matter (of unknown mass) on rare occasion converts into a single photon. Current dark matter searches operating at microwave frequencies use a resonant cavity to coherently accumulate the field sourced by the dark matter and a near standard quantum limited (SQL) linear amplifier to read out the cavity signal. To further increase sensitivity to the dark matter signal, sub-SQL detection techniques are required. Here we report the development of a novel microwave photon counting technique and a new exclusion limit on hidden photon dark matter. We operate a superconducting qubit to make repeated quantum non-demolition measurements of cavity photons and apply a hidden Markov model analysis to reduce the noise to 15.7 dB below the quantum limit, with overall detector performance limited by a residual background of real photons. With the present device, we perform a hidden photon search and constrain the kinetic mixing angle to  ≤ 1.68×10−15 in a band around 6.011 GHz (24.86 μeV) with an integration time of 8.33 s. This demonstrated noise reduction technique enables future dark matter searches to be sped up by a factor of 1300. By coupling a qubit to an arbitrary quantum sensor, more general sub-SQL metrology is possible with the techniques presented in this work.

The melonic limit of a field theory is a large-N limit in which melonic diagrams dominate, thus differing significantly from the cactus and planar limits of vector and matrix models. It was first discovered in tensor models in zero dimensions, viewed as an approach to quantum gravity, and later in the SYK model. More recently, it has found applications in quantum field theory on a fixed (flat) background as an analytic tool for the study of new fixed points of the renormalization group, i.e. new conformal field theories. In this talk, I will review the main features of the melonic limit, and in view of the recent developments I will revisit an old model by Amit and Roginsky with SO(3) internal symmetry, which is neither a tensor model nor a disordered model like SYK, and yet it has a similar melonic limit. Time permitting, I will also comment on similarities with the fishnet model by Kazakov et al, and on the (in)stability of all such models when complex scaling dimensions appear.