Scientific Series

In this talk I will share our recent work in developing statistical models based on machine learning methods. In particular, I will discuss posterior sampling in low- and high-dimensional spaces and connect this to two ongoing projects: measuring the small-scale distribution of dark matter and estimating the expansion rate of the Universe. I will discuss how the speed and the accuracy gained by these models are essential for the large volumes of data from the next generation sky surveys. I will finish by mentioning a few other projects and a new initiative for interdisciplinary collaboration in astrophysics and data sciences. 

Zoom link:  https://pitp.zoom.us/j/98316228305?pwd=UWwrZkIwUG1QZFBkYzc1eVdNSW1Ldz09

Z2 lattice gauge theories (LGTs) coupled to dynamical matter show rich physics, including topological phases with anyons (toric code) and fractionalized Fermi liquids, with potential realizations in strongly correlated quantum matter. In this talk I report on recent progress — theoretical and experimental — in performing analog quantum simulations of such models. Starting from several distinct zero-dimensional building blocks I will move on to discuss extensions to extended 1D and 2D systems, including the realization of the plaquette operators in 2D. Next I will discuss how experimental imperfects, such as gauge-symmetry breaking errors, impact quantum simulations, and how they can be overcome. Then I will show how the insights gained lead us to an inherently stable protocol for quantum simulations of Z2 LGTs with dynamical matter with existing Rydberg tweezer arrays. I will close with an outlook and by discussing possible near-term experimental goals ranging from disorder-free localization to finite-temperature deconfinement transitions.

Zoom link:  https://pitp.zoom.us/j/91839919649?pwd=Tm1uOVljWUV3R05aUkxFVkFzN3lIZz09

New quantum simulation platforms provide an unprecedented microscopic perspective on the structure of strongly correlated quantum matter. This allows to revisit decade-old problems from a fresh perspective, such as the two-dimensional Fermi-Hubbard model, believed to describe the physics underlying high-temperature superconductivity. In order to fully use the experimental as well as numerical capabilities available today, we need to go beyond conventional observables, such as one- and two-point correlation functions. In this talk, I will give an overview of recent results on the Hubbard model obtained through novel analysis tools: using machine learning techniques to analyze quantum gas microscopy data allows us to take into account all available information and compare different theories on a microscopic level. In particular, we consider Anderson's RVB paradigm to the geometric string theory, which takes the interplay of spin and charge degrees of freedom microscopically into account. The analysis of data from quantum simulation experiments of the doped Fermi-Hubbard model shows a qualitative change in behavior around 20% doping, up to where the geometric string theory captures the experimental data better. This microscopic understanding of the low doping limit has led us to the discovery of a binding mechanism in so-called mixed-dimensional systems, which has enabled the observation of pairing of charge carriers in cold atom experiments.
Intriguingly, mixed-dimensional systems exhibit similar features as the original two-dimensional model, e.g. a stripe phase at low temperatures. At intermediate to high temperatures, we use Hamiltonian reconstruction tools to quantify the frustration in the spin sector induced by the hole motion and find that the spin background is best described by a highly frustrated J1-J2 model.

Zoom link:  https://pitp.zoom.us/j/99449352935?pwd=cXdYYTJ2c1hVZ014SWRwZi9LRjQ3dz09

Mapping the intensity of the 21 cm emission line from neutral hydrogen (HI) is a promising technique for characterizing the 3D matter distribution over large volumes of the Universe and out to high redshifts.  The Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) is a radio interferometer specifically designed for this purpose.  CHIME recently reported the detection of 21 cm emission from large-scale structure between redshifts 0.8 and 1.4.  This was achieved by stacking maps of the radio sky, constructed from 102 nights of CHIME data, on the angular and spectral locations of galaxies and quasars from the eBOSS clustering catalogs.  In this talk, I will introduce the experiment and provide an overview of the detection.  I will describe key aspects of both the data processing pipeline and the simulation pipeline used to model the stacked signal.  I will discuss the implications of the detection.  Finally, I will evaluate the prospects for using CHIME -- and it's successor, the Canadian Hydrogen Observatory and Radio-transient Detector (CHORD) -- to measure the power spectrum of 21 cm emission, identify the signature of baryon acoustic oscillations, and constrain dark energy.

Zoom link:  https://pitp.zoom.us/j/94362295704?pwd=NnQxa1pteWJVTzVBTVFYUmlsWnlVUT09

The Drake Equation is a thought experiment whose purpose is to understand the ingredients necessary for life and advanced technological civilizations to exist on other worlds in our galaxy.  However, beyond reflecting on life on Earth we have no knowledge of many of these ingredients, such as the number of planets that have life, the number of with intelligent life, the number with advanced civilizations, and the lifetimes of these civilizations. In this talk I will review the Drake Equation and the biases that scientists have traditionally had in discussing this equation and how it has led to the current searches of biological and technological signatures. I will discuss how the Drake Equation looks different if we consider it through the lens of Indigenous methods and sciences and how these methods would lead to a dramatically different view of life in our Galaxy. 

Zoom link: https://pitp.zoom.us/j/95952883179?pwd=a2lzaEc2UWJER2k2VmwzRVgvMVpoQT09

Superconductivity in electronic systems, where the non-interacting bandwidth for a set of isolated bands is small compared to the scale of the interactions, is a non-perturbative problem. Here we present a theoretical framework for computing the electromagnetic response in the limit of zero frequency and vanishing wavenumber  for the interacting problem, which controls the superconducting phase stiffness, without resorting to any mean-field approximation. Importantly, the contribution to the phase stiffness arises from (i) ``integrating-out" the remote bands that couple to the microscopic current operator, and (ii) the density-density interactions projected on to the isolated bands. We also obtain the electromagnetic response directly in the limit of an infinite gap to the remote bands, using the appropriate ``projected" gauge-transformations. These results can be used to obtain a conservative upper bound on the phase stiffness, and relatedly the superconducting transition temperature, with a few assumptions. In a companion article, we apply this formalism to a host of topologically (non-)trivial ``flat-band" systems, including twisted bilayer graphene. 

Zoom link:  https://pitp.zoom.us/j/99631762791?pwd=dU4yaU1wKzJNTisrazJjaUF2ODlXUT09

The fact black holes carry statistical entropy proportional to their horizon area implies that quantum information concepts are geometrized in gravity. This idea obtains a particular manifestation in the AdS/CFT correspondence, where it is believed that the quantum information content in the dual field theory state can be used to reconstruct the bulk space-time geometry. The calculation of entanglement entropy from geodesics in the bulk space-time have clarified this idea to some extend.

In this talk, I will consider two aspects of quantum information theory in relation to holography: First, I will discuss a refinement of entanglement entropy for systems with conserved charges, the so-called symmetry resolved entanglement. It measures the entanglement in a sector of fixed charge. I will present how to calculate the symmetry-resolved entanglement entanglement in two-dimensional conformal field theories with Kac-Moody symmetry, and also within W_3 higher spin theory. I will also discuss the geometric realization in the dual AdS space-time, and how the independent calculation there leads to a new test of the AdS3/CFT2 correspondence.

Second, I will discuss the large N limit of Nielsen's operator complexity on the SU(N) manifold, with a particular choice of cost function based on the Laplacian on the Lie algebra, which leads to polynomial (instead of exponential) penalty factors. I will first present numerical results that hint to the existence of chaotic and hence ergodic geodesic motion on the group manifold, as well show the existence of conjugate points. I will then discuss a mapping between the Euler-Arnold equation which governs the geodesic evolution, to the Euler equation of two-dimensional idea hydrodynamics, in the strict large N limit.

It has been argued astronomy and astrophysics as a research field developed with the first telescope.  At the same time that Galileo observed the phases of Venus and the moons of Jupiter, European Powers will colonizing the Americas and other parts of the world.  This began a relationship between astronomy and colonization that continues today in terms of astronomers and nations building giant telescopes on Indigenous lands.  In the future as private actors develop a new space industry we will see the export of this colonialism to Space, to the Moon and one day even to Mars. We are already seeing this today with the development of satellite constellations, some of which are visible by the unaided eye and with the multinational Artemis Accords for lunar exploration.  In this talk I will review the relation between astronomy and colonization in the past, present, and future; and I will discuss steps educators and astronomers can take to address this in the classroom and how the field of astronomy and space exploration can be inclusive of Indigenous rights and voices.

Zoom link: https://pitp.zoom.us/j/95620288526?pwd=dW9ReW5FUVp3TWFmUVUxZjV5VFhNdz09

With over a hundred detections to date, the discoveries of compact binary mergers by gravitational wave observatories LIGO and Virgo have allowed us to start characterizing the astrophysical population of binary black holes. This task requires measuring the fifteen parameters (masses, spins, location, orientation, etc...) that characterize each merger event. However, these high dimensional distributions are challenging to describe due to the presence of nonlinear correlations and multiple modes. In this seminar I will describe a series of coordinate changes that, by identifying parameter combinations that control specific observable signatures in the data, remove these degeneracies and multimodality, making parameter estimation amenable. Among the new coordinates is a spin azimuth that can be measured surprisingly well in several cases, hinting that some black hole spins are misaligned with the orbit. This is very interesting because the degree of spin-orbit alignment is a robust discriminator between isolated and dynamical formation channels, which predict spins preferentially aligned with the orbit or randomly oriented, respectively. At the same time, I will show that the observed proportion of events with spins aligned versus anti-aligned with the orbit disfavors the hypothesis that the spin distribution is isotropic.

Zoom link:  https://pitp.zoom.us/j/91820222881?pwd=YW9vR0xwTlBCVXg4UlRBNWxuUFhCQT09

In this talk  will develop Rafael D. Sorkin's heuristic that a partially ordered process of the birth of spacetime atoms in causal set quantum gravity can provide an objective physical correlate of our perception of time passing. I will argue that one cannot have an external, fully objective picture of the birth process because the order in which the spacetime atoms are born is a partial order. I propose that live experience in causal set theory is an internal ``view'' of the objective birth process in which events that are neural correlates of consciousness occur. In causal set theory, what ``breathes fire'' into a neural correlate of consciousness is that which breathes fire into the whole universe: the unceasing, partially ordered process of the birth of spacetime atoms.

Zoom link: https://pitp.zoom.us/j/95170823205?pwd=QW9YM3QrZU12Ti9HTUQ4TDlVNmN5Zz09

The NLTS (No Low-Energy Trivial State) conjecture of Freedman and Hastings [2014] posits that there exist families of Hamiltonians with all low energy states of non-trivial complexity (with complexity measured by the quantum circuit depth preparing the state). Our recent work https://arxiv.org/abs/2206.13228 (with Nikolas Breuckmann and Chinmay Nirkhe) proves this conjecture by showing that the recently discovered families of constant-rate and linear-distance QLDPC codes correspond to NLTS local Hamiltonians. This talk will provide background on the conjecture, its relevance to quantum many-body physics and quantum complexity theory, and touch upon the proof techniques.

Zoom link: https://pitp.zoom.us/j/94224635225?pwd=SUovNXA3MWlkRUJlcTIxV0pLQzQxdz09

Within the AdS/CFT correspondence, the entanglement properties of the CFT are related to wormholes in the dual gravity theory. This gives rise to questions about the factorisation properties of the Hilbert spaces on both sides of the correspondence.  We  show how the Berry phase, a geometrical phase encoding information about topology, may be used to reveal the Hilbert space structure. Wormholes are characterized by a non-exact symplectic form that gives rise to the Berry phase. For wormholes connecting two spacelike regions in AdS3 spacetimes, we find that the non-exactness is linked to a variable appearing in the phase space of the boundary CFTs. Mathematical concepts such as coadjoint orbits and geometric actions play an important role in this analysis.  We classify Berry phases according to the type of dual bulk diffeomorphism involved, distinguishing between Virasoro, gauge and modular Berry phases.

In addition to its relevance for quantum gravity, the approach presented also suggests how to experimentally realize the Berry phase and its relation to entanglement in table-top experiments involving photons or electrons. This provides a new example for relations between very different branches of physics that follow from the AdS/CFT correspondence and its generalizations. Based on 2202.11717 and 2109.06190.

Zoom link: https://pitp.zoom.us/j/96113910200?pwd=YXJnSWxiMHRIb21xdGFnNFM0cFFvUT09