Scientific Series

Light rays can orbit the photon shell of a black hole many times before escaping to infinity.  This means that a distant observer can see a successive series of "echo"  images, each separated in time by the photon shell orbital period, and each dimmer than the previous.  I will present a study of light echos using coherent autocorrelation functions sourced by fluctuating matter in accretion flows.  I will demonstrate that coherent autocorrelation functions are peaked at integer multiples of the photon shell orbital period.  Furthermore, I will argue that the power in echos from supermassive black holes is too small to be observed on Earth.

Zoom Link: https://pitp.zoom.us/j/92751681169?pwd=V0hQeUMwaWtTQjQ3UzdxekJiT0lmQT09

With ongoing efforts to observe quantum effects in larger and more complex systems, both for the purposes of quantum computing and fundamental tests of quantum gravity, it becomes important to study the consequences of extending quantum theory to the macroscopic domain. Frauchiger and Renner have shown that quantum theory, when applied to model the memories of reasoning agents, can lead to a conflict with certain principles of logical deduction. Is this incompatibility a peculiar feature of quantum theory, or can modelling reasoning agents using other physical theories also lead to such contradictions? What features of physical theories are responsible for such paradoxes? 

Multi-agent paradoxes have been previously analysed only in quantum theory. To address the above questions, a framework for analysing multi-agent paradoxes in general physical theories is required. Here, we develop such a framework that can in particular be applied to generalized probabilistic theories (GPTs). We apply the framework to model how observers’ memories may evolve in box world, a post-quantum GPT and using this, derive a stronger paradox that does not rely on post-selection. Our results reveal that reversible, unitary evolution of agents’ memories is not necessary for deriving multi-agent logical paradoxes, and suggest that certain forms of contextuality might be. 

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1367-2630/ab4fc4

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.