Scientific Series

Compact white dwarf (WD) binaries are important sources for space-based gravitational-wave (GW) observatories, and an increasing number of them are being identified by surveys like ELM and ZTF. We study the effects of nonlinear dynamical tides in such binaries. We focus on the global three-mode parametric instability and show that it has a much lower threshold energy than the local wave-breaking condition studied previously. By integrating networks of coupled modes, we calculate the tidal dissipation rate as a function of orbital period. We construct phenomenological models that match these numerical results and use them to evaluate the spin and luminosity evolution of a WD binary. While in linear theory the WD's spin frequency can lock to the orbital frequency, we find that such a lock cannot be maintained when nonlinear effects are taken into account. Instead, as the orbit decays, the spin and orbit go in and out of synchronization.  Each time they go out of synchronization, there is a brief but significant dip in the tidal heating rate. While most WDs in compact binaries should have luminosities that are similar to previous traveling-wave estimates, a few percent should be about ten times dimmer because they reside in heating rate dips. This offers a potential explanation for the low luminosity of the CO WD in J0651. Lastly, we consider the impact of tides on the GW signal and show that LISA and TianGO can constrain the WD's moment of inertia to better than 1% for centi-Hz systems.

Many quantum information protocols require the implementation of random unitaries. Because it takes exponential resources to produce Haar-random unitaries drawn from the full n-qubit group, one often resorts to t-designs. Unitary t-designs mimic the Haar-measure up to t-th moments. It is known that Clifford operations can implement at most 3-designs. In this work, we quantify the non-Clifford resources required to break this barrier. We find that it suffices to inject O(t^4 log^2(t) log(1/ε)) many non-Clifford gates into a polynomial-depth random Clifford circuit to obtain an ε-approximate t-design. Strikingly, the number of non-Clifford gates required is independent of the system size – asymptotically, the density of non-Clifford gates is allowed to tend to zero. We also derive novel bounds on the convergence time of random Clifford circuits to the t-th moment of the uniform distribution on the Clifford group. Our proofs exploit a recently developed variant of Schur-Weyl duality for the Clifford group, as well as bounds on restricted spectral gaps of averaging operators. Joint work with J. Haferkamp, F. Montealegre-Mora, M. Heinrich, J. Eisert, and D. Gross.

We investigate putting 2+1 free and holographic theories on a product of time with a curved compact 2-d space. We then vary the geometry of the space, keeping the area fixed, at zero/finite temperature, and measure the Casimir/free energy respectively. I will begin by discussing the free theory for a Dirac fermion or scalar field on deformations of the round 2-sphere. I will discuss how the Dirac theory may arise in physical systems such as monolayer graphene. For small deformations we solve analytically using perturbation theory. For large deformations we use novel numerical methods to compute these energies for specific deformations, including ones that drive the space to become singular. I will give evidence that the round sphere globally maximises the Casimir/free energy, which may imply geometric instabilities for spheres of such mono layer materials, although probably not graphene. We then discuss the analog for a holographic theory by studying its gravity dual. Here we use gravity techniques to analytically prove at zero temperature the round sphere maximises the Casimir energy. We discuss attempts to show the same for free energy at finite temperature. And finally I will report on on-going numerical gravity calculations of the Casimir energy for specific  deformations of the round sphere which yield an unexpected result.

Harlow and Hayden [arXiv:1301.4504] argued that distilling information out of Hawking radiation is computationally hard despite the fact that the quantum state of the black hole and its radiation is relatively un-complex. I will trace this computational difficulty to a geometric obstruction in the Einstein-Rosen bridge connecting the black hole and its radiation. Inspired by tensor network models, I will present a conjecture that relates the computational hardness of distilling information to geometric features of the wormhole - specifically to the exponential of the difference in generalized entropies between the two non-minimal quantum extremal surfaces that constitute the obstruction. Due to its shape, this obstruction was dubbed "Python's Lunch", in analogy to the reptile's postprandial bulge.

Using a definition of bulk diff-invariant observables, we go into the bulk of 2d Jackiw-Teitelboim gravity. By mapping the computation to a Schwarzian path integral, we study exact bulk correlation functions and discuss their physical implications. We describe how the black hole thermal atmosphere gets modified by quantum gravitational corrections. Finally, we will discuss how higher topological effects further modify the spectral density and detector response in the Unruh heat bath. 

Given the large push by academia and industry (e.g., IBM and Google), quantum computers with hundred(s) of qubits are at the brink of existence with the promise of outperforming any classical computer. Demonstration of computational advantages of noisy near-term quantum computers over classical computers is an imperative near-term goal. The foremost candidate task for showing this is Random Circuit Sampling (RCS), which is the task of sampling from the output distribution of a random circuit. This is exactly the task that recently Google experimentally performed on 53-qubits.

Stockmeyer's theorem implies that efficient sampling allows for estimation of probability amplitudes. Therefore, hardness of probability estimation implies hardness of sampling. We prove that estimating probabilities to within small errors is #P-hard on average (i.e. for random circuits), and put the results in the context of previous works.

Some ingredients that are developed to make this proof possible are construction of the Cayley path as a rational function valued unitary path that interpolate between two arbitrary unitaries, an extension of Berlekamp-Welch algorithm that efficiently and exactly interpolates rational functions, and construction of probability distributions over unitaries that are arbitrarily close to the Haar measure.

I will give an overview of holographic cosmology and discuss recent results and work in progress.

In holographic cosmology time evolution is mapped to inverse RG flow of the dual QFT. As such this framework naturally explains the arrow of time via the

monotonicity of RG flows. Properties of the RG flow are also responsible for the holographic resolution of the classic puzzles of hot big bang cosmology, such as the horizon problem, the flatness problem and the relic problem.

The holographic framework includes qualitatively new models describing a non-geometric  very early Universe, and such models provide an excellent fit to CMB data.  In the last part of the talk I will present on-going work with lattice gauge theorists aiming to compute on the lattice the QFT observables(the 2-point function of stress energy tensor) needed to compute holographically the cosmological  power spectrum in the regime where the dual QFT is non-perturbative.

The discovery of the Higgs boson has revealed that the quartic Higgs self-coupling becomes small at very high energy scales. Guided by this observation, I introduce Higgs Parity, which is a spontaneously broken symmetry exchanging the standard model Higgs with its parity partner. In addition to explaining the small Higgs quartic coupling, Higgs Parity can provide a dark matter candidate, solve the strong CP problem, and arise from an SO(10) grand unified gauge symmetry. I will show that the Higgs Parity symmetry breaking scale is determined by standard model parameters and predicts experimental signals such as the proton decay rate and the warmness of dark matter. As a result, Higgs Parity provides a tight correlation between future precision measurements of standard model parameters and these experimental signals.

Hawking famously observed that the formation and evaporation of black holes appears to violate the unitary evolution of quantum mechanics. Nonetheless, it has been recently discovered that a signature of unitarity, namely the "Page curve" describing the evolution of entropy, can be recovered from semiclassical gravity. This result relies on "replica wormholes" appearing in the gravitational path integral, which are examples of spacetime wormholes studied more than 30 years ago and related to interactions with closed "baby" universes. I will discuss the connection between these new and old ideas and the consequences for the black hole information problem. A central lesson is that a Hilbert space in quantum gravity can be dramatically modified by nonperturbative topology-changing processes.

We introduce a new technique to study the critical point equations of the eprl model. We show that it correctly reproduces the 4-simplex asymptotics, and how to apply it to an arbitrary vertex. We find that for general vertices, the asymptotics can be linked to a Regge action for polytopes, but contain also more general geometries, called conformal twisted geometries. We present explicit examples including the hypercube, and discuss implications.

To predict the gravitational waves emitted by a black hole binary, one needs to understand the dynamics of the binary in general relativity. No closed form solutions of this problem exist. Instead one must introduce some form of approximation. One such approximation, can be made if one of the components is much heavier than the other, suggesting a perturbative expansion in the mass-ratio. I will review this small mass-ratio (SMR) expansion of the dynamics, and the progress that has been made over the last two decades. In particular, I will discuss some recent results on the convergence of this series, suggesting that at relatively low orders this SMR expansion can be used to model even equal mass binaries.

The full theory of LQG presents enormous challenge to create physical computable models. In this talk we will present the new modern version of Quantum Reduced Loop Gravity. We will show that this framework provide an arena to study the full LQG in a certain limit, where the quantum computations are possible. We will analyze all the major step necessary to build this framework, how is connected with the full theory, its mathematical consistency and the physical intuition behind It.