Scientific Series

We study remarkable RG flows in 4d QFT where supersymmetry enhances from N=1 to N=2 in the IR. This is triggered by the N=1 preserving deformation of 4d N=2 SCFTs with non-Abelian flavor symmetry by adding a chiral multiplet in the adjoint representation of the flavor symmetry and giving a nilpotent vev to the chiral multiplet. When the original N=2 SCFT and choice of the vev satisfy certain conditions, the resulting RG flows give N=2 Argyres-Douglas theories in the IR. These flows thus enable us to compute partition functions of Argyres-Douglas theories via localization. We also consider the more general and systematic deformation procedure which is applicable to any N=1 SCFTs and thus includes the above nilpotent one. Starting from N=1 SCFTs we allow all possible relevant deformations and/or coupling to a free chiral sector. We apply this to simple N=1 SCFTs and discuss the landscape of the IR fixed points, focusing on the enhancement of supersymmetry.

The Wilson formulation of lattice gauge theories provides a first-principles study of many properties of strongly interacting theories, such as quantum chromodynamics (QCD). Certain other properties, such as real-time dynamics, pose insurmountable challenges in this paradigm. Quantum Link Models are generalized lattice gauge theories, which not only offer novel approaches to study dynamics of gauge theories with quantum simulators, but also connect to
gauge theory descriptions of certain condensed matter systems (such as frustrated magnetism). In this talk, we explore some novel properties of gauge theories using quantum link models on classical computers, and explain how to realize them on quantum simulators.  

The out-of-time-ordered correlator (OTOC) and entanglement are two physically motivated and widely used probes of the ``scrambling'' of quantum information, which has drawn great interest recently in quantum gravity and many-body physics. By proving upper and lower bounds for OTOC saturation on graphs with bounded degree and a lower bound for entanglement on general graphs, we show that the time scales of scrambling as given by the growth of OTOC and entanglement entropy can be asymptotically separated in a random quantum circuit model defined on graphs with a tight bottleneck. Our result counters the intuition that a random quantum circuit mixes in time proportional to the diameter of the underlying graph of interactions.  It also serves as a more rigorous justification for an argument of [Shor, 1807.04363], that black holes may be very slow scramblers in terms of entanglement generation. Such observations may be of fundamental importance in the understanding of the black hole information problem. The bound we obtained for OTOC is interesting in its own right in that it generalized previous studies of OTOC on lattices to the geometries on graphs and proved it rigorously.   Based on [Harrow-Kong-Liu-Mehraban-Shor, 1906.02219]

In this talk, I will focus on topological aspects and edge states of a spin system on a Kagome lattice. with the anisotropic XXZ and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI). I will begin with the rich phase diagram in the classical limit arising as a result of the interplay of the two interaction strengths, followed by a spin-wave analysis in some of these phases. These spin-waves (or magnons) are studied using the Holstein-Primakoff transformations.   In the  ferromagnetic phase in which all the spins point along the +z or -z direction the bulk bands are separated from each other by finite energy gaps. Finding the Chern numbers here one finds that, there are four topologically distinct phases sharing the same ground state spin-configuration.  Hence an infinite strip of the system hosts robust edge states which are directly related to the Chern number of the bands. The other phases also are found to have edge modes. However, these are not topologically protected because of the gapless nature of the energy dispersion. 

We uncover a rich phenomenology of the self-organized honeycomb network superstructure of one-dimensional metals in a nearly-commensurate charge-density wave 1T-TaS${}_2$, which may play a significant role in understanding global topology of phase diagrams and superconductivity. The key observation is that the emergent honeycomb network magically supports a cascade of flat bands, whose unusual stability we thoroughly investigate. Furthermore, by combining the weak-coupling mean-field and strong-coupling approaches, we argue that the superconductivity will be strongly enhanced in the network. This provides a natural cooperative mechanism of the charge order and superconductivity, which coexist side-by-side in the 1T-TaS${}_2$. Not only explaining the superconductivity, we show that abundant topological band structures including several symmetry-protected band crossings and corner states, which are closely related to that of the higher-order topology, appear. The results reported here can be generically applicable to various other systems with similar network superstructures.

It has been recently pointed out that variable weak gravitational lensing effects on the motion of background stars can be used to probe nonluminous structures inside the Milky Way halo. I will describe one possible detection strategy targeting collapsed dark matter structures in the mass range from million to billion solar masses. The data analysis technique will be discussed in detail with an application to the second data release of Gaia.

We propose a novel design of a laboratory search for axions based on photon regeneration with superconducting RF cavities. Our particular setup uses a toroid as a region of confined static magnetic field, while production and detection cavities are positioned in regions of vanishing external field. This permits cavity operation at quality factors of Q ~ 10¹⁰ - 10¹². The limitations due to fundamental issues such as signal screening and back-reaction are discussed, and the optimal sensitivity is calculated. This experimental design can potentially probe axion-photon couplings beyond astrophysical limits, comparable and complementary to next generation optical experiments.

The stability of dark matter and its interactions with the Standard Model remain some of the biggest mysteries of our time. Instead of inventing ad hoc stabilization symmetries I propose to economically use the existing baryon and lepton number symmetries of the SM. This can lead to interesting signatures in terrestrial experiments, shower us in anti-helium, and keep neutron stars warm.

We introduce two new effective quantities for the study of comoving curvature perturbations ζ: the space dependent effective sound speed (SESS) and the momentum dependent effective sound speed (MESS) . We use the SESS and the MESS to derive a new set of equations,  not involving explicitly entropy or anisotropies, which can be applied to any system described by an effective stress-energy-momentum tensor (EST), including any multi-fields systems, supergravity and modified gravity theories.

The MESS is the natural quantity to parametrize in a model independent way the effects produced on curvature perturbations by multi-fields systems, particle production and modified gravity theories and could be conveniently used in the analysis of LSS observations, such as the ones from the upcoming EUCLID mission or CMB radiation measurements. It can be also useful to study in a model independent way the production of primordial black holes.

Beside the degeneracy due to different theoretical scenarios producing the same MESS, we show that in absence of entropy or effective anisotropic stress there is an additional degeneracy related to the freedom in the choice of the initial energy scale of inflation, or to the sign of the Hubble parameter.  This implies the existence of an infinite family of dual slow-roll parameters histories which can produce the same spectrum of comoving curvature perturbations, implying  that in general there is no one-to-one correspondence between the spectrum and higher order correlation functions. Bounce models are  examples of  the members of this infinite class of dual models.

The combined analysis of data from future CMB and gravitational wave experiments could allow to distinguish between dual models  because the primordial tensor perturbations spectra of dual models are in general different.