Scientific Series

The phase diagram of a material is of central importance in describing the properties and behaviour of a condensed matter system. Indeed, the study of quantum phase transitions has formed a central part of 20th and 21st Century physics. We examine the complexity and computability of determining the phase diagram of a general Hamiltonian. We show that in the worst case it is uncomputable and in more restricted cases, where the Hamiltonian is “better behaved”, it remains computationally intractable even for a quantum computer. Finally, we take a look at the relations between the Renormalization Group and uncomputable Hamiltonians.

Zoom Link: https://pitp.zoom.us/j/96048987715?pwd=WGtwWk1SUnFsanNIVTZVYjNmbTh3Zz09

Abstract TBA

Zoom link:  https://pitp.zoom.us/j/91804523922?pwd=M0NBa21NVklLUjBiY2pPR1ExdXZxQT09

Models of dark sectors with a mass threshold can have important cosmological signatures. If, in the era prior to recombination, a relativistic species becomes non-relativistic and is then depopulated in equilibrium, there can be measurable impacts on the CMB as the entropy is transferred to lighter relativistic particles. In particular, if this "step'" occurs near z = 20,000, the model can naturally accommodate larger values of $H_0$. If this stepped radiation is additionally coupled to dark matter, there can be a meaningful impact on the matter power spectrum as dark matter can be coupled via a species that becomes non-relativistic and depleted. This can naturally lead to suppressed power at scales inside the sound horizon before the step, while leaving conventional CDM signatures for power outside the sound horizon. We study these effects and show such models can naturally provide lower values of $S_8$ than scenarios without a step. This suggests these models may provide an interesting framework to address the $S_8$ tension, both in concert with the $H_0$ tension and without.

Zoom Link:  https://pitp.zoom.us/j/96399847158?pwd=RkNHMkJHeEo5Q1Q2MkhHSHZ6c1BoQT09

Joint work (in progress) with Ladina Hausmann, Nuriya Nurgalieva and Renato Renner

We can classify contemporary approaches to thermodynamics in roughly four camps:

(1) Top-down microscopic approaches. These are for example resource-theoretical approaches to quantum thermodynamics: they have a microscopic model of states and systems, and which microscopic restrictions implement macroscopic properties. For instance, in the resource theory of quantum thermodynamics, states are represented by density operators, thermal states in particular have a specific micro-canonical form, and constraints like energy preservation are enforced by forcing quantum transformations to commute with a global Hamiltonian. These approaches success at deriving thermodynamic laws in general settings that satisfy the microscopic model (like non-relativistic quantum systems.

(2) Bottom-up microscopic approaches. These also start from a microscopic model, but rather than looking for universal restrictions, they search for explicit thermodynamics protocols: this is the case of recent proposals for quantum work extraction or nano quantum heat engines.

(3) Top-down phenomenological approaches. These try to derive thermodynamic laws from first principles independently of a microscopic model. In principle the results derived in this framework can be applied to a wider variety of explicit systems, and the challenge is then to find the right implementations.  The first derivations of thermodynamics were naturally phenomenological, and some modern information-inspired derivations follow this approach.

(4) Bottom-up phenomenological approaches. These approaches try to find explicit thermodynamic protocols independently of the microscopic model, based only on operational properties of the systems at hand. It was the case for Carnot's original engines and more recently for some approaches to deriving black hole thermodynamics, or thermodynamics of new materials; some experimental results also fit in this camp.

In this work we generalize top-down phenomenological approaches to the case of multiple conserved quantities. Note that multiple conserved quantities have been studied in top-down and bottom-up microscopic approaches to quantum thermodynamics. We argue that our framework is more general, in that it can be applied to systems for which we don't have an explicit microscopic model; in particular we will apply the results of this framework to black hole thermodynamics. Moreover, having a phenomenological axiomatic approach to thermodynamics allows us to identify which properties are specific to a microscopic model like quantum physics, and which hold in any physical theory: our results can be applied to study the thermodynamics of generalized process theories, and other generalizations and foils of quantum mechanics. This generalization makes us reconsider the second law of thermodynamics, adapting for an exchange of different conserved quantities, for example, energy and angular momentum, or energy and spin. Our guiding principle here is to use information as a universal token of exchange to convert between different quantities via Landauer's principle.

Zoom Link: https://pitp.zoom.us/j/96001094153?pwd=YTArTGpPdEJ1NFBMcnFqV1dIRTVyZz09

We analyse models of Matrix Quantum Mechanics in the double scaling limit that contain non-singlet states. The finite temperature partition function of such systems contains non-trivial winding modes (vortices) and is expressed in terms of a group theoretic sum over representations. We then focus on the model of Kazakov-Kostov-Kutasov when the first winding mode is dominant. In the limit of large representations (continuous Young diagrams), and depending on the values of the parameters of the model such as the compactification radius and the string coupling, the dual geometric background corresponds either to that of a long string (winding mode) condensate or a 2d (non-supersymmetric) semi-classical Black Hole competing with the thermal linear dilaton background. In the matrix model we are free to tune these parameters and explore various regimes of this phase diagram. Our construction allows us to identify the origin of the microstates of the long string condensate/2d Black Hole arising from the non trivial representations.

Zoom Link: https://pitp.zoom.us/j/95764320439?pwd=L1E1cEREM29ORjZhK21WdFN0RVgyQT09

Abstract and

Zoom Link: https://pitp.zoom.us/j/91762985902?pwd=djhwYVdsQ25GVVBRVTlwSkQvaDJ4Zz09

Cosmology and astrophysics with the extragalactic light: background and fluctuations

Abstract: The aggregate light emitted by all extragalactic sources can be measured either as an absolute intensity or through its spatial fluctuations; these are known as line-intensity mapping (LIM) when a particular line transition is targeted. I will discuss how these measurements can be used both to learn about galaxy evolution and to investigate the presence of more speculative sources of radiation, such as decaying dark matter. I will then discuss the prospects of LIM to probe the interstellar and intergalactic medium, as well as structure on large scales. In particular, I will focus on the joint information across different line transitions and across different tracers, such as galaxies and extragalactic CMB foregrounds.

Zoom Link: https://pitp.zoom.us/j/94959896129?pwd=QjhzWS9rczdBNGFndUhhNDZ1K1FLQT09

Variational methods have proven to be excellent tools to approximate the ground states of complex many-body Hamiltonians. Generic tools such as neural networks are extremely powerful, but their parameters are not necessarily physically motivated. Thus, an efficient parametrization of the wave function can become challenging. In this talk I will introduce a neural-network-based variational ansatz that retains the flexibility of these generic methods while allowing for a tunability with respect to the relevant correlations governing the physics of the system. I will illustrate the ansatz on a model exhibiting topological phase transitions: The toric code in the presence of magnetic fields. Additionally, I will talk about the use of variational wave functions to gain physical insights beyond lattice models, in particular for the real use-case of two-dimensional materials.

Information is physical, and for a physical theory to be universal, it
should model observers as physical systems, with concrete memories where
they store the information acquired through experiments and reasoning.
Here we address these issues in Spekkens' toy theory, a non-contextual
epistemically restricted model that partially mimics the behaviour of
quantum mechanics. We propose a way to model physical implementations of
agents, memories, measurements, conditional actions and information
processing. We find that the actions of toy agents are severely limited:
although there are non-orthogonal states in the theory, there is no way
for physical agents to consciously prepare them. Their memories are also
constrained: agents cannot forget in which of two arbitrary states a
system is. Finally, we formalize the process of making inferences about
other agents' experiments and model multi-agent experiments like
Wigner's friend. Unlike quantum theory or box world, in the toy theory
there are no inconsistencies when physical agents reason about each
other's knowledge.

Zoom Link: TBD

In this talk we combine integrability and conformal bootstrap to learn about correlation functions of planar maximally supersymmetric Yang- Mills theory. Focusing on correlators of four stress-tensor multiplets, we first introduce a set of dispersive sum rules that are only sensitive to single-traces in the OPE expansion (this is advantageous because this data is available from integrability). We then construct combinations of the sum rules which determine one-loop correlators. Further, we discuss how to employ the sum rules in numerical bootstrap to nonperturbatively bound planar OPE coefficients. As an example, we show a nontrivial upper bound on the OPE coefficient of the Konishi operator outside the perturbative regime. 

In this talk, I will show that supergravity on asymptotically flat spaces possesses a (nonlinear) asymptotic symmetry algebra, containing an infinite number of fermionic generators. Starting from the Hamiltonian action for supergravity with suitable boundary conditions on the graviton and gravitino fields, I will derive a graded extension of the BMS_4 algebra at spatial infinity, denoted by SBMS_4. These boundary conditions are not only invariant under the SBMS_4 algebra, but lead to a fully consistent canonical description of the supersymmetries, which have well-defined Hamiltonian generators. One finds, in particular, that the graded brackets between the fermionic generators yield BMS supertranslations, of which they provide therefore “square roots”.  I will comment on some key aspects of extending the asymptotic analysis at spatial infinity to fermions and on the structure of the SBMS_4 algebra in terms of Lorentz representations.

Zoom link: https://pitp.zoom.us/j/95951230095?pwd=eHIwUXB5SUkvd0IvZnVUN3JJMFE1QT09