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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 271 records · Page 15
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DOE OSTI2022

Transient phenomena in the axion assisted Schwinger effect

Particle production induced by a time-dependent background is well understood as the projection of the time-evolved initial state onto a set of final states. While the asymptotic initial and final states are well defined in the usual way, the definition of particles and antiparticles at intermediate times in the presence of external fields is ambiguous. These external fields moreover induce divergences which require regularization. In this paper we clarify some subtleties in the computation of transient effects in physical quantities for fermions in a homogeneous axion background, including Schwinger production in background electromagnetic fields. The presence of the axion requires particular care as well as knowledge of the UV theory when regulating the theory and computing the vacuum contribution to the fermion energy.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2020

AdS 5 black hole entropy near the BPS limit

We analyze AdS 5 black holes that are nearly supersymmetric. They depart from the BPS limit in two distinct ways: a temperature takes them above extremality and a potential maintains extremality but violates a certain constraint. We study the thermodynamics of these deformations and their interplay in detail. We discuss recent microscopic computations of BPS black hole entropy in N = 4 SYM and generalize the arguments to the nearBPS regime by relaxing constraints imposed by supersymmetry. Our methods recover gravitational results from microscopic theory also for nearBPS black holes.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Celestial holography meets twisted holography: 4d amplitudes from chiral correlators

We propose a new program for computing a certain integrand of scattering amplitudes of four-dimensional gauge theories which we call the form factor integrand, starting from 6d holomorphic theories on twistor space. We show that the form factor integrands can be expressed as sums of products of 1.) correlators of a 2d chiral algebra, related to the algebra of asymptotic symmetries uncovered recently in the celestial holography program, and 2.) OPE coefficients of a 4d non-unitary CFT. We prove that conformal blocks of the chiral algebras are in one-to-one correspondence with local operators in 4d. We use this bijection to recover the Parke-Taylor formula, the CSW formula, and certain one-loop scattering amplitudes. Along the way, we explain and derive various aspects of celestial holography, incorporating techniques from the twisted holography program such as Koszul duality. This perspective allows us to easily and efficiently recover the infinite-dimensional chiral algebras of asymptotic symmetries recently extracted from scattering amplitudes of massless gluons and gravitons in the celestial basis. We also compute some simple one-loop corrections to the chiral algebras and derive the three-dimensional bulk theories for which these 2d algebras furnish an algebra of boundary local operators.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Analyticity and the Unruh effect: a study of local modular flow

The Unruh effect can be formulated as the statement that the Minkowski vacuum in a Rindler wedge has a boost as its modular flow. In recent years, other examples of states with geometrically local modular flow have played important roles in understanding energy and entropy in quantum field theory and quantum gravity. Here I initiate a general study of the settings in which geometric modular flow can arise, showing (i) that any geometric modular flow must be a conformal symmetry of the background spacetime, and (ii) that in a well behaved class of “weakly analytic” states, geometric modular flow must be future-directed. I further argue that if a geometric transformation is conformal but not isometric, then it can only be realized as modular flow in a conformal field theory. Finally, I discuss a few settings in which converse results can be shown — i.e., settings in which a state can be constructed whose modular flow reproduces a given vector field.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2022

A precision test of averaging in AdS/CFT

We reconsider the role of wormholes in the AdS/CFT correspondence. We focus on Euclidean wormholes that connect two asymptotically AdS or hyperbolic regions with $\mathbb{S}$ 1 × $\mathbb{S}$ d-1 boundary. There is no solution to Einstein’s equations of this sort, as the wormholes possess a modulus that runs to infinity. To find on-shell wormholes we must stabilize this modulus, which we can do by fixing the total energy on the two boundaries. Such a wormhole gives the saddle point approximation to a non-standard problem in quantum gravity, where we fix two asymptotic boundaries and constrain the common energy. Crucially the dual quantity does not factorize even when the bulk is dual to a single CFT, on account of the fixed energy constraint. From this quantity we extract a smeared version of the microcanonical spectral form factor. For a chaotic theory this quantity is self-averaging, i.e. well-approximated by averaging over energy windows, or over coupling constants. We go on to give a precision test involving the microcanonical spectral form factor where the two replicas have slightly different coupling constants. In chaotic theories this form factor is known to smoothly decay at a rate universally predicted in terms of one replica physics, provided that there is an average either over a window or over couplings. We compute the expected decay rate for holographic theories, and the form factor from a wormhole, and the two exactly agree for a wide range of two-derivative effective field theories in AdS. This gives a precision test of averaging in AdS/CFT. Our results interpret a number of confusing facts about wormholes and factorization in AdS and suggest that we should regard gravitational effective field theory as a mesoscopic description, analogous to semiclassical mesoscopic descriptions of quantum chaotic systems.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2023

(2+1)-dimensional compact Lifshitz theory, tensor gauge theory, and fractons

The (2+1)-dimensional continuum Lifshitz theory of a free compact scalar field plays a prominent role in a variety of quantum systems in condensed matter physics and high energy physics. It is known that in compact space, it has an infinite ground-state degeneracy. In order to understand this theory better, we consider two candidate lattice regularizations of it using the modified Villain formalism. We show that these two lattice theories have significantly different global symmetries (including a dipole global symmetry), anomalies, ground-state degeneracies, and dualities. In particular, one of them is self-dual. Given these theories and their global symmetries, we can couple them to corresponding gauge theories. Here, these are two different U(1) tensor gauge theories. The resulting models have excitations with restricted mobility, i.e., fractons. Finally, we give an exact lattice realization of the fracton and lineon-elasticity dualities for the Lifshitz theory, and scalar and vector charge gauge theories.

2-dimensional systems↗
DOE OSTI2022

Inconsistency of islands in theories with long-range gravity

In ordinary gravitational theories, any local bulk operator in an entanglement wedge is accompanied by a long-range gravitational dressing that extends to the asymptotic part of the wedge. Islands are the only known examples of entanglement wedges that are disconnected from the asymptotic region of spacetime. In this paper, we show that the lack of an asymptotic region in islands creates a potential puzzle that involves the gravitational Gauss law, independently of whether or not there is a non-gravitational bath. In a theory with long-range gravity, the energy of an excitation localized to the island can be detected from outside the island, in contradiction with the principle that operators in an entanglement wedge should commute with operators from its complement. In several known examples, we show that this tension is resolved because islands appear in conjunction with a massive graviton. We also derive some additional consistency conditions that must be obeyed by islands in decoupled systems. Our arguments suggest that islands might not constitute consistent entanglement wedges in standard theories of massless gravity where the Gauss law applies.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Convolutional double copy in (anti) de Sitter space

The double copy is a remarkable relationship between gauge theory and gravity that has been explored in a number of contexts, most notably scattering amplitudes and classical solutions. The convolutional double copy provides a straightforward method to bridge the two theories via a precise map for the fields and symmetries at the linearised level. This method has been thoroughly investigated in flat space, offering a comprehensive dictionary both with and without fixing the gauge degrees of freedom. In this paper, we extend this to curved space with an (anti) de Sitter background metric. We work in the temporal gauge, and employ a modified convolution that involves the Mellin transformation in the time direction. As an example, we show that the point-like charge in gauge theory double copies to the (dS-) Schwarzschild black hole solution.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2020

$\mathcal{N}$ = (1, 0) anomaly multiplet relations in six dimensions

We consider conformal and ’t Hooft anomalies in six-dimensional $\mathcal{N}$ = (1, 0) superconformal field theories, focusing on those conformal anomalies that determine the two- and three-point functions of conserved flavor and SU(2) R currents, as well as stress tensors. By analyzing these correlators in superspace, we explain why the number of independent conformal anomalies is reduced in supersymmetric theories. For instance, non- supersymmetric CFTs in six dimensions have three independent conformal c-anomalies, which determine the stress-tensor two- and three-point functions, but in superconformal theories the three c-anomalies are subject to a linear constraint. We also describe anomaly multiplet relations, which express the conformal anomalies of a superconformal theory in terms of its ’t Hooft anomalies. Following earlier work on the conformal a-anomaly, we argue for these relations by considering the supersymmetric dilaton effective action on the tensor branch of such a theory. We illustrate the utility of these anomaly multiplet relations by presenting exact results for conformal anomalies, and hence current and stress-tensor correlators, in several interacting examples.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Universal behavior of entanglement entropies in interface CFTs from general holographic spacetimes

In previous work universal behavior was conjectured for the behavior of the logarithmic terms in the entanglement entropy of intervals in 1+1 dimensional interface conformal field theories (ICFTs). These putative universal terms were exhibited both in free field theories as well as a large class of holographic models. In this work we demonstrate that this same behavior in fact is realized in any holographic ICFT, significantly strengthening the case for the conjecture.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Generalized global symmetries of T[ M ] theories. Part I

We study reductions of 6d theories on a d-dimensional manifold Md, focusing on the interplay between symmetries, anomalies, and dynamics of the resulting (6 – d)-dimensional theory T[M d ]. We refine and generalize the notion of “polarization” to polarization on Md, which serves to fix the spectrum of local and extended operators in T[M d ]. Another important feature of theories T[M d ] is that they often possess higher-group symmetries, such as 2-group and 3-group symmetries. We study the origin of such symmetries as well as physical implications including symmetry breaking and symmetry enhancement in the renormalization group flow. To better probe the IR physics, we also investigate the ’t Hooft anomaly of 5d Chern-Simons matter theories. The present paper focuses on developing the general framework as well as the special case of d = 0 and 1, while an upcoming paper will discuss the case of d = 2, 3 and 4.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2020

The UV fate of anomalous U(1)s and the Swampland

Massive U(1) gauge theories featuring parametrically light vectors are suspected to belong in the Swampland of consistent EFTs that cannot be embedded into a theory of quantum gravity. We study four-dimensional, chiral U(1) gauge theories that appear anomalous over a range of energies up to the scale of anomaly-cancelling massive chiral fermions. We show that such theories must be UV-completed at a finite cutoff below which a radial mode must appear, and cannot be decoupled — a Stückelberg limit does not exist. When the infrared fermion spectrum contains a mixed U(1)-gravitational anomaly, this class of theories provides a toy model of a boundary into the Swampland, for sufficiently small values of the vector mass. In this context, we show that the limit of a parametrically light vector comes at the cost of a quantum gravity scale that lies parametrically below MP1, and our result provides field theoretic evidence for the existence of a Swampland of EFTs that is disconnected from the subset of theories compatible with a gravitational UV-completion. Moreover, when the low energy theory also contains a U(1) 3 anomaly, the Weak Gravity Conjecture scale makes an appearance in the form of a quantum gravity cutoff for values of the gauge coupling above a certain critical size.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Microscopic entropy of rotating electrically charged AdS 4 black holes from field theory localization

We employ supersymmetric localization to determine the exact partition function of 3d N = 2 gauge theories on a background given by a round S 2 fibered over a circle and certain complexified background fields. The Coulomb branch localization locus includes monopole configurations, and the partition function reduces to a matrix model. We consider the partition function of the ABJM theory on this background as an explicit case. We verify that the large-N limit of the ABJM theory partition function produces, in the Cardy limit, the entropy function of the dual rotating, electrically charged asymptotically AdS 4 supersymmetric black holes and thus provides a microscopic explanation for the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Global symmetry, Euclidean gravity, and the black hole information problem

In this paper we argue for a close connection between the non-existence of global symmetries in quantum gravity and a unitary resolution of the black hole information problem. In particular we show how the essential ingredients of recent calculations of the Page curve of an evaporating black hole can be used to generalize a recent argument against global symmetries beyond the AdS/CFT correspondence to more realistic theories of quantum gravity. We also give several low-dimensional examples of quantum gravity theories which do not have a unitary resolution of the black hole information problem in the usual sense, and which therefore can and do have global symmetries. Motivated by this discussion, we conjecture that in a certain sense Euclidean quantum gravity is equivalent to holography.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Effective description of sub-maximal chaos: stringy effects for SYK scrambling

It has been proposed that the exponential decay and subsequent power law saturation of out-of-time-order correlation functions can be universally described by collective ‘scramblon’ modes. We develop this idea from a path integral perspective in several examples, thereby establishing a general formalism. After reformulating previous work on the Schwarzian theory and identity conformal blocks in two-dimensional CFTs relevant for systems in the infinite coupling limit with maximal quantum Lyapunov exponent, we focus on theories with sub-maximal chaos: we study the large-q limit of the SYK quantum dot and chain, both of which are amenable to analytical treatment at finite coupling. In both cases we identify the relevant scramblon modes, derive their effective action, and find bilocal vertex functions, thus constructing an effective description of chaos. The final results can be matched in detail to stringy corrections to the gravitational eikonal S-matrix in holographic CFTs, including a stringy Regge trajectory, bulk to boundary propagators, and multi-string effects that are unexplored holographically.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Tori, Klein bottles, and modulo 8 parity/time-reversal anomalies of 2+1d staggered fermions

We study the symmetries of lattice staggered fermions in 2+1d. Using the symmetries, we can place the system on any sheared torus or Klein bottle. These different backgrounds provide diagnostics of various ’t Hooft anomalies associated with the crystalline symmetries. We then compare the lattice model to its continuum limit. The symmetries of the lattice system are mapped in a nontrivial way to the symmetries of the continuum theories. Using this map, we match the ’t Hooft anomalies on the lattice and the continuum. Along the way, we develop a general formalism to study Hamiltonian lattice models on nontrivial, compact, flat spaces.

Algorithms and Theoretical Developments↗
DOE OSTI2023

One-loop corrections to the celestial chiral algebra from Koszul Duality

We consider self-dual Yang-Mills theory (SDYM) in four dimensions and its lift to holomorphic BF theory on twistor space. Following the work of Costello and Paquette, we couple SDYM to a quartic axion field, which guarantees associativity of the (extended) celestial chiral algebra at the quantum level. We demonstrate how to reproduce their one-loop quantum deformation to the chiral algebra using Koszul duality.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗