Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “Time Evolution”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 901 records · Page 50

Manifestly causal in-in perturbation theory about the interacting vacuum

In-In perturbation theory is a vital tool for cosmology and nonequilibrium physics. Here, we reconcile an apparent conflict between two of its important aspects with particular relevance to De Sitter/inflationary contexts: (i) the need to slightly deform unitary time evolution with an iϵ prescription that projects the free (“Bunch-Davies”) vacuum onto the interacting vacuum and renders vertex integrals well-defined, and (ii) Weinberg’s “nested commutator” reformulation of in-in perturbation theory which makes manifest the constraints of causality within expectation values of local operators, assuming exact unitarity. We show that a modified iϵ prescription maintains the exact unitarity on which the derivation of (ii) rests, while nontrivially agreeing with (i) to all orders of perturbation theory.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Energy conservation and axion back-reaction in a magnetic field

Axion clumps in an external magnetic field can emit electromagnetic radiation which causes them to decay. In the presence of a plasma, such radiation can become resonant if the clump frequency matches the plasma frequency. Typically, the decay or back-reaction of the clump is ignored in the literature when analyzing such radiation. In this paper we present a self consistent, semi-analytic approach which captures axion backreaction using energy conservation. We find that inclusion of back-reaction changes the clump frequency over time enabling clumps with a range of different initial frequencies to become resonant at some point in their time evolution.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Wrong signs are alright

It has been shown that some Lorentz-invariant quantum field theories, such as those with higher-dimensional operators with negative coefficients, lead to superluminality on some classical backgrounds. While superluminality by itself is not logically inconsistent, these theories also predict the formation of closed time-like curves at the classical level, starting from initial conditions without such curves. This leads to the formation of a Cauchy Horizon which prevents a complete description of the time evolution of such systems. Inspired by the chronology protection arguments of General Relativity, we show that quantum mechanical effects from low energy quanta strongly backreact on such configurations, exciting unknown short-distance degrees of freedom and invalidating the classical predictions. Thus, there is no obvious low-energy obstruction to the existence of these operators.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Time dependence of reflected entropy in rational and holographic conformal field theories

We calculate the time dependence of the reflected entropy of two disconnected regions after a global quench in (1 + 1)-dimensional conformal field theories and in large temperature limit. For rational conformal field theories, we find that the time evolution of the reflected entropy is the same as that of the mutual information. We get the same result for holographic theories in the limit where the separation between disconnected regions is much smaller than their respective sizes. We discuss how this result is consistent with the quasi-particle picture of Calabrese and Cardy.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Jet thermalization in QCD kinetic theory

We perform numerical studies in the framework of QCD kinetic theory to investigate the energy and angular profiles of a high energy parton — as a proxy for a jet produced in heavy ion collisions — passing through a Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP). We find that the fast parton loses energy to the plasma mainly via a radiative turbulent quark and gluon cascade that transports energy locally from the jet down to the temperature scale where dissipation takes place. In this first stage of the system time evolution, the angular structure of the turbulent cascade is found to be relatively collimated. However, when the lost energy reaches the plasma temperature it is rapidly transported to large angles w.r.t. the jet axis and thermalizes. We investigate the contribution of the soft jet constituents to the total jet energy. We show that for jet opening angles of about 0.3 rad or smaller, the effect is negligible. Conversely, larger opening angles become more and more sensitive to the thermal component of the jet and thus to medium response. Our result showcases the importance of the jet cone size in mitigating or enhancing the details of dissipation in jet quenching observables.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Quasi-single field inflation in the non-perturbative regime

In quasi-single field inflation there are massive fields that interact with the inflaton field. If these other fields are not much heavier than the Hubble constant during inflation ( H ) these interactions can lead to important consequences for the cosmological energy density perturbations. The simplest model of this type has a real scalar inflaton field that interacts with another real scalar S (with mass m). In this model there is a mixing term of the form μ ∙ π S , where π is the Goldstone fluctuation that is associated with the breaking of time translation invariance by the time evolution of the inflaton field during the inflationary era. In this paper we study this model in the region ( μ / H ) 2 + (m/ H ) 2 > 9/4 and m/ H ~O(1) or less. For a large part of the parameter space in this region standard perturbative methods are not applicable. In conclusion using numerical and analytic methods we study how large μ / H has to be for the large μ / H effective field theory approach to be applicable.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Bulk reconstruction and non-isometry in the backwards-forwards holographic black hole map

The backwards-forwards map, introduced as a generalization of the non-isometric holographic maps of the black hole interior of Akers, Engelhardt, Harlow, Penington, and Vardhan to include non-trivial dynamics in the effective description, has two possible formulations differing in when the post-selection is performed. While these two forms are equivalent on the set of dynamically generated states — states formed from unitary time evolution acting on well-defined initial configurations of infalling matter — they differ on the generic set of states necessary to describe the apparent world of the infalling observer. We show that while both versions successfully reproduce the Page curve, the version involving post-selection as the final step, dubbed the backwards-forwards-post-selection (BFP) map, has the desirable properties of being non-isometric but isometric on average and providing state-dependent reconstruction of bulk operators, while the other version does not. Thus the BFP map is a suitable non-isometric code describing the black hole interior including interior interactions.

3-D Image Reconstruction↗

Entanglement conservation, ER=EPR, and a new classical area theorem for wormholes

We consider the question of entanglement conservation in the context of the ER=EPR correspondence equating quantum entanglement with wormholes. In quantum mechanics, the entanglement between a system and its complement is conserved under unitary operations that act independently on each; ER=EPR suggests that an analogous statement should hold for wormholes. We accordingly prove a new area theorem in general relativity: for a collection of dynamical wormholes and black holes in a spacetime satisfying the null curvature condition, the maximin area for a subset of the horizons (giving the largest area attained by the minimal cross section of the multi-wormhole throat separating the subset from its complement) is invariant under classical time evolution along the outermost apparent horizons. The evolution can be completely general, including horizon mergers and the addition of classical matter satisfying the null energy condition. In conclusion, this theorem is the gravitational dual of entanglement conservation and thus constitutes an explicit characterization of the ER=EPR duality in the classical limit.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Spread of entanglement and causality

Here, we investigate causality constraints on the time evolution of entanglement entropy after a global quench in relativistic theories. We first provide a general proof that the so-called tsunami velocity is bounded by the speed of light. We then generalize the free particle streaming model of to general dimensions and to an arbitrary entanglement pattern of the initial state. In more than two spacetime dimensions the spread of entanglement in these models is highly sensitive to the initial entanglement pattern, but we are able to prove an upper bound on the normalized rate of growth of entanglement entropy, and hence the tsunami velocity. The bound is smaller than what one gets for quenches in holographic theories, which highlights the importance of interactions in the spread of entanglement in many-body systems. We propose an interacting model which we believe provides an upper bound on the spread of entanglement for interacting relativistic theories. In two spacetime dimensions with multiple intervals, this model and its variations are able to reproduce intricate results exhibited by holographic theories for a significant part of the parameter space. For higher dimensions, the model bounds the tsunami velocity at the speed of light. Finally, we construct a geometric model for entanglement propagation based on a tensor network construction for global quenches.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Entanglement Renormalization for Quantum Field Theories with Discrete Wavelet Transforms

We propose an adaptation of Entanglement Renormalization for quantum field theories that, through the use of discrete wavelet transforms, strongly parallels the tensor network architecture of the Multiscale Entanglement Renormalization Ansatz (a.k.a. MERA). Our approach, called wMERA, has several advantages of over previous attempts to adapt MERA to continuum systems. In particular, (i) wMERA is formulated directly in position space, hence preserving the quasi-locality and sparsity of entanglers; and (ii) it enables a built-in RG flow in the implementation of real-time evolution and in computations of correlation functions, which is key for efficient numerical implementations. As examples, we describe in detail two concrete implementations of our wMERA algorithm for free scalar and fermionic theories in (1+1) spacetime dimensions. Possible avenues for constructing wMERAs for interacting field theories are also discussed.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Hadronic vacuum polarization using gradient flow

The gradient-flow operator product expansion for QCD current correlators including operators up to mass dimension four is calculated through NNLO. This paves an alternative way for efficient lattice evaluations of hadronic vacuum polarization functions. In addition, flow-time evolution equations for flowed composite operators are derived. Their explicit form for the non-trivial dimension-four operators of QCD is given through order $\alpha_s^3$.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

What can solve the strong CP problem?

Three possible strategies have been advocated to solve the strong CP problem. The first is the axion, a dynamical mechanism that relaxes any initial value of the CP violating angle $\overline{θ}$ to zero. The second is the imposition of new symmetries that are believed to set $\overline{θ}$ to zero in the UV. The third is the acceptance of the fine tuning of parameters. We argue that the latter two solutions do not solve the strong CP problem. The θ term of QCD is not a parameter — it does not exist in the Hamiltonian. Rather, it is a property of the quantum state that our universe finds itself in, arising from the fact that there are CP violating states of a CP preserving Hamiltonian. It is not eliminated by imposing parity as a symmetry since the underlying theory is already parity symmetric and that does not preclude the existence of CP violating states. Moreover, since the value of θ realized in our universe is a consequence of measurement, it is inherently random and cannot be fine tuned by choice of parameters. Rather any fine tuning would require a tuning between parameters in the theory and the random outcome of measurement. Our results considerably strengthen the case for the existence of the axion and axion dark matter. The confusion around θ arises from the fact that unlike classical mechanics, the Hamiltonian and Lagrangian are not equivalent in quantum mechanics. The Hamiltonian defines the differential time evolution, whereas the Lagrangian is a solution to this evolution. Consequently, initial conditions could in principle appear in the Lagrangian but not in the Hamiltonian. This results in aspects of the initial condition such as θ misleadingly appearing in the Lagrangian as parameters. We comment on the similarity between the θ vacua and the violations of the constraint equations of classical gauge theories in quantum mechanics.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

The complex heavy-quark potential in an anisotropic quark-gluon plasma — Statics and dynamics

We generalize a complex heavy-quark potential model from an isotropic QCD plasma to an anisotropic one by replacing the Debye mass m> D with an anisotropic screening mass depending on the quark pair alignment with respect to the direction of anisotropy. Such an angle-dependent mass is determined by matching the perturbative contributions in the potential model to the exact result obtained in the Hard-Thermal-Loop resummed perturbation theory. An advantage of the resulting potential model is that its angular dependence can be effectively described by using a set of angle-averaged screening masses as proposed in our previous work. Consequently, one could solve a one-dimensional Schrödinger equation with a potential model built by changing the anisotropic screening masses into the corresponding angle-averaged ones, and reproduce the full three-dimensional results for the binding energies and decay widths of low-lying quarkonium bound states to very high accuracy. Finally, turning to dynamics, we demonstrate that the one-dimensional effective potential can accurately describe the time evolution of the vacuum overlaps obtained using the full three-dimensional anisotropic potential. This includes the splitting of different p-wave polarizations.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Non-isometric codes for the black hole interior from fundamental and effective dynamics

We introduce a new holographic map for encoding black hole interiors by including both fundamental and effective dynamics. This holographic map is constructed by evolving a state in the effective, semiclassical gravity description of the interior backwards in time to pull the degrees of freedom outside the black hole, before evolving forwards in time in the fundamental description. We show this “backwards-forwards” map is equivalent to a post-selection map of the type introduced by Akers, Engelhardt, Harlow, Penington, and Vardhan, and in the case of trivial effective interactions reduces to their model, while providing a suitable generalization when those interactions are nontrivial. We show the map is equivariant with respect to time evolution, and independent of any interactions outside the black hole. This construction includes interactions with an infaller in a way that preserves the unitarity of black hole evolution exactly and does not allow for superpolynomial computational complexity.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Segmented strings in AdS 3

We study segmented strings in flat space and in AdS 3 . In flat space, these well known classical motions describe strings which at any instant of time are piecewise linear. In AdS 3 , the worldsheet is composed of faces each of which is a region bounded by null geodesics in an AdS 2 subspace of AdS 3 . The time evolution can be described by specifying the null geodesic motion of kinks in the string at which two segments are joined. The outcome of collisions of kinks on the worldsheet can be worked out essentially using considerations of causality. We study several examples of closed segmented strings in AdS 3 and find an unexpected quasi-periodic behavior. Here, we also work out a WKB analysis of quantum states of yo-yo strings in AdS 5 and find a logarithmic term reminiscent of the logarithmic twist of string states on the leading Regge trajectory.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Causal diamonds, cluster polytopes and scattering amplitudes

The “amplituhedron” for tree-level scattering amplitudes in the bi-adjoint φ 3 theory is given by the ABHY associahedron in kinematic space, which has been generalized to give a realization for all finite-type cluster algebra polytopes, labelled by Dynkin diagrams. In this letter we identify a simple physical origin for these polytopes, associated with an interesting (1 + 1)-dimensional causal structure in kinematic space, along with solutions to the wave equation in this kinematic “spacetime” with a natural positivity property. The notion of time evolution in this kinematic spacetime can be abstracted away to a certain “walk”, associated with any acyclic quiver, remarkably yielding a finite cluster polytope for the case of Dynkin quivers. The A n–3 , B n–1 /C n–1 and D n polytopes are the amplituhedra for n-point tree amplitudes, one-loop tadpole diagrams, and full integrand of one-loop amplitudes. We also introduce a polytope D¯ n , which chops the D n polytope in half along a symmetry plane, capturing one-loop amplitudes in a more efficient way.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Emergent unitarity in de Sitter from matrix integrals

We study Jackiw-Teitelboim gravity with positive cosmological constant as a model for de Sitter quantum gravity. We focus on the quantum mechanics of the model at past and future infinity. There is a Hilbert space of asymptotic states and an infinite-time evolution operator between the far past and far future. This evolution is not unitary, although we find that it acts unitarily on a subspace up to non-perturbative corrections. These corrections come from processes which involve changes in the spatial topology, including the nucleation of baby universes. There is significant evidence that this 1+1 dimensional model is dual to a 0+0 dimensional matrix integral in the double-scaled limit. So the bulk quantum mechanics, including the Hilbert space and approximately unitary evolution, emerge from a classical integral. We find that this emergence is a robust consequence of the level repulsion of eigenvalues along with the double scaling limit, and so is rather universal in random matrix theory.

2D gravity↗

Multi-component Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes simulations of Richtmyer–Meshkov instability and mixing induced by reshock at different times

Turbulent mixing generated by shock-driven acceleration of a perturbed interface is simulated using a new multi-component Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) model closed with a two-equation K–ϵ model. Here, the model is implemented in a hydrodynamics code using a third-order weighted essentially non-oscillatory finite-difference method for the advection terms and a second-order central difference method for the gradients in the source and diffusion terms. In the present reshocked Richtmyer–Meshkov instability and mixing study, an incident shock with Mach number Ma s = 1.20 is generated in air and progresses into a sulfur hexafluoride test section. The time evolution of the predicted mixing layer widths corresponding to six shock tube test section lengths are compared with experimental measurements and three-dimensional multi-mode numerical simulations. The mixing layer widths are also compared with the analytical self-similar power-law solution of the simplified model equations prior to reshock. A set of model coefficients and initial conditions specific to these six experiments is established, for which the widths before and after reshock agree very well with experimental and numerical simulation data. A second set of general coefficients that accommodates a broader range of incident shock Mach numbers, Atwood numbers, and test section lengths is also established by incorporating additional experimental data for Ma s = 1.24, 1.50, and 1.98 with At = 0.67 and Ma s = 1.45 with At = –0.67 and previous RANS modeling. Terms in the budgets of the turbulent kinetic energy and dissipation rate equations are examined to evaluate the relative importance of turbulence production, dissipation and diffusion mechanisms during mixing. Convergence results for the mixing layer widths, mean fields, and turbulent fields under grid refinement are presented for each of the Ma s = 1.20 cases.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗