Scientific Series

Gravitational wave observations are revealing new features in the mass distribution of merging binary black holes (BBHs). The BBHs we observe today are relics of massive stars that lived in the early Universe, and we aim to use their properties to help reveal the lives and deaths of their stellar ancestors.   

In this talk, I will discuss which of the observed features are robust, and if/how we can use them to constrain the uncertain progenitor physics. I will focus on the lowest mass BHs, just above the edge of NS formation because we find they I) contain crucial information about the most common formation pathway, II) are least affected by uncertainties in the cosmic star formation, and III) shine new light on the much-disputed mass-gap between neutron stars and black holes.

Zoom link:  https://pitp.zoom.us/j/91476126992?pwd=QXdENmErYklaYTdLcDZNTVBXamlXdz09

The Floquet code implements a periodic sequence of two-qubit measurements to realize the topological order. After each measurement round, the instantaneous stabilizer group can be mapped to a honeycomb toric code, thus explaining the topological feature. However, the code also possesses a time-crystal order distinct from a stationary toric code – an e-m exchange after every cycle. In this work, we construct a continuous path interpolating between the Floquet and toric codes, focusing on the transition between the time-crystal and non-time crystal phases. We show that this transition is characterized by a diverging length scale. We also add single qubit noise to the model and obtain a two-dimensional parametric phase diagram of the Floquet code.

Zoom link:  https://pitp.zoom.us/j/95933569447?pwd=UkcrVHdkWERTNVIrcXdCREQ3Y1JUZz09

I will present recent progress in building a rigorous theory to understand how scientists, machines, and future quantum computers could learn models of our quantum universe. The talk will begin with an experimentally feasible procedure for converting a quantum many-body system into a succinct classical description of the system, its classical shadow. Classical shadows can be applied to efficiently predict many properties of interest, including expectation values of local observables and few-body correlation functions. I will then build on the classical shadow formalism to answer two fundamental questions at the intersection of machine learning and quantum physics: Can classical machines learn to solve challenging problems in quantum physics? And can quantum machines learn exponentially faster than classical machines?

Zoom link:  https://pitp.zoom.us/j/97994359596?pwd=UlBwc2hoSkNzWlZvM1o1RWErU1U2QT09

In general, observables in QFTs can only be computed perturbatively using Feynman integrals. In this talk, which is based on arXiv:2008.12310 and arXiv:2204.06414, I will address some questions on the computability of such observables. By looking at QFT through the lens of tropical geometry, one can see that the runtime of such computations is dominated by the time it takes to understand the structure of certain polytopes. In the case of scalar QFTs on Euclidean space the relevant polytopes turn out to be generalized permutahedra, whose structure is well-understood thanks to the works of Postnikov, Aguiar and Ardila.  Using these insights, results in a new algorithm for Feynman integral evaluation that exceeds the capabilities of existing methods by multiple orders of magnitude, while being easy to implement.  I will also briefly discuss current wip that extends these findings to QFTs on Minkowski spacetime.

Zoom link:  https://pitp.zoom.us/j/93629580865?pwd=WnJ6aUVpckFZWGVDL0NqMTFrWlhBQT09

The long range nature of gravity complicates the dynamics of self-gravitating many-body systems such as galaxies and dark matter (DM) halos. Relaxation/equilibration of perturbed galaxies and cold dark matter halos is typically a collective, collisionless process. Depending on the perturbation timescale, this process can be impulsive/fast, adiabatic/slow or resonant. First, I shall present a linear perturbative formalism to compute the response (in all three regimes) of disk galaxies to external perturbations such as satellite impacts. I shall elucidate how phase-mixing of the disk response gives rise to phase-space spirals akin to those observed by Gaia in the Milky Way disk, and how these features can be used to constrain the Milky Way’s potential as well as its dynamical history. Next, I shall discuss the secular evolution of a massive perturber due to the back reaction of the near-resonant response of the host galaxy/halo. In this context I shall present two novel techniques to model the secular torque (dynamical friction) experienced by the perturber: 1. a self-consistent, time-dependent, perturbative treatment and 2. a non-perturbative orbit-based framework. These two approaches explain the origin of certain secular phenomena observed in N-body simulations of cored galaxies but unexplained in the standard Chandrasekhar and LBK theories of dynamical friction, namely core-stalling and dynamical buoyancy. I shall briefly discuss some astrophysical implications of these phenomena: potential choking of supermassive black hole mergers in cored galaxies, and the possibility of constraining the inner density profile (core vs cusp) of DM dominated dwarf galaxies and therefore the DM particle nature.

Zoom link:  https://pitp.zoom.us/j/99089663538?pwd=aVVjV2ozMkZRTkE0ZW1Ib0dGUC9tdz09

In this talk, I will introduce the so-called entanglement linear response, i.e., response under entanglement generated unitary dynamics. As an application, I will show how it can be applied to certain anomalies in 1D CFTs. Moreover, I will apply it to extract the quantum Hall conductance from a wavefunction and how it embraces a previous work on the chiral central charge. This gives a new connection between entanglement, anomaly and topological response. If time permits, I will also talk about how it inspires some generalizations of the real-space Chern number formula in free fermion systems.

Zoom link:  https://pitp.zoom.us/j/96535214681?pwd=MldXRkRjZ1J6WS95WXQ0cG03cWdCZz09

Neural networks offer a novel approach to represent wave functions for solving quantum many-body problems. But what kinds of quantum states are efficiently represented by neural networks? In this talk, we will discuss entanglement properties of an ensemble of neural network states represented by random restricted Boltzmann machines. Phases with distinct entanglement features are identified and characterized. In particular, for certain parameters, we will show that these neural network states can look typical in their entanglement profile while still being distinguishable from a typical state by their fractal dimensions. The obtained phase diagrams may help inform the initialization of neural network ansatzes for future computational tasks.

Zoom link:  https://pitp.zoom.us/j/94316902357?pwd=RGxWYm9EWGtGYzBvUzM5ZWdwVTB5dz09

The Deligne-Mumford moduli space of genus 0 curves plays many roles in representation theory.  For example, the fundamental group of its real locus is the cactus group which acts on tensor products of crystals.

I will discuss a variant on this space which parametrizes "cactus flower curves".  The fundamental group of the real locus of this space is the virtual cactus group.  This moduli space of cactus flower curves is also the parameter space for inhomogeneous Gaudin algebras.

Zoom link:  https://pitp.zoom.us/j/96658223425?pwd=NUxRN2FsdWJ1SWtHMlRDcTdHMGNPQT09

In this talk, I will describe how to implement the conformal bootstrap program in the context of the embedding space OPE formalism introduced by Fortin and Skiba (DOI:10.1007/JHEP06(2020)028). To begin with, I will give some background on the formalism. In particular, I will map out how to build two-, three-, and four-point functions within this framework. I will then lay out how to construct tensorial generalizations of the well-known scalar four-point blocks for symmetric traceless exchange. As I will discuss, these generalized objects satisfy a number of contiguous relations. Together, these empower us to fully contract the four-point tensorial blocks, ultimately yielding finite spin-independent linear combinations of four-point scalar blocks potentially acted upon by first-order differential operators. I will next proceed to describe how to set up the conformal bootstrap equations directly in the embedding space. I will begin by mapping out a general strategy for counting the number of independent tensor structures, which leads to a simple path to generating the bootstrap equations. I will then examine how to implement this method to construct the two-point, three-point, and ultimately four-point conformal bootstrap equations. Lastly, I will illustrate this method in the context of a simple example.

Zoom link:  https://pitp.zoom.us/j/98920533892?pwd=cDQvOExJWnBsUWNpZml5S1cxb0FJQT09

Many topological phases of lattice systems display quantized responses to lattice defects. Notably, 2D insulators with C_n lattice rotation symmetry hosts a response where disclination defects bind fractional charge. In this talk, I will show that the underlying physics of the disclination-charge response can be understood via a theory of continuum fermions with an enlarged SO(2) rotation symmetry. This interpretation maps the response of lattice fermions to disclinations onto the response of continuum fermions to spatial curvature. Additionally, in 3D, the response of continuum fermions to spatial curvature predicts a new type of lattice response where disclination lines host a quantized polarization. This disclination-polarization response defines a new class of topological crystalline insulator that can be realized in lattice models. In total, these results show that continuum theories with spatial curvature provide novel insights into the universal features of topological lattice systems. In total, these results show that theories with spatial curvature provide novel insights into the universal features of topological lattice systems.

Zoom link:  https://pitp.zoom.us/j/97325013281?pwd=MU5tdFYzTFljMGdaelZtNjJqbmRPZz09

As was realized by Bondi, Metzner, van der Burg, and Sachs (BMS), the symmetry group of asymptotic infinity is not the Poincaré group, but an infinite-dimensional group called the BMS group. Because of this, understanding the BMS frame of the gravitational waves produced by numerical relativity is crucial for ensuring that analyses on such waveforms and comparisons with other waveform models are performed properly. Up until now, however, the BMS frame of numerical waveforms has not been thoroughly examined, largely because the necessary tools have not existed. In this talk, I will highlight new methods that have led to improved numerical waveforms; specifically, I will explain what the gravitational memory effect is and how it has recently been resolved in numerical relativity. Following this, I will then illustrate how we fix the BMS frame of numerical waveforms to perform much more accurate comparisons with either quasi-normal mode or post-Newtonian models. Last, I will briefly highlight  some exciting results that this work has enabled, such as building memory-containing surrogate models and finding nonlinearities in black hole ringdowns.

Zoom Link:  https://pitp.zoom.us/j/96739417230?pwd=Tm00eHhxNzRaOEQvaGNzTE85Z1ZJdz09

The usual quantum mechanical description of measurements, unitary kicks, and other local operations has the potential to produce pathological causality violations in the relativistic setting of quantum field theory (QFT). While there are some operations that do not violate causality, those that do cannot be physically realisable. For local observables in QFT it is an open question whether the projection postulate, or more specifically the associated ideal measurement operation, is consistent with causality, and hence whether it is physically realisable in principle.

In this talk I will recap a criteria that distinguishes causal and acausal operations in real scalar QFT. I will then focus on operations constructed from smeared field operators - the basic local observables of the theory. For this simple class of operations we can write down a more practical causality criteria. With this we find that, under certain assumptions - such as there being a continuum spacetime - ideal measurements of smeared fields are acausal, despite prior heuristic arguments to the contrary. For a discrete spacetime (e.g. a causal set), however, one can evade this result in a ‘natural’ way, and thus uphold causality while retaining the projection postulate.

Zoom link:  https://pitp.zoom.us/j/94464896161?pwd=UkhPQnJONmlxYy9pQXJINThpY3l4QT09