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At least 973 records · Page 54
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DOE OSTI2026

Can black holes preserve 𝒩 > 4 supersymmetry?

The dynamics of near-BPS black holes are governed by the breaking of the conformal symmetry that emerges near their horizons. Using the classification of superconformal symmetries, we systematically classify and quantize all effective theories that can arise in the near-BPS limit of black holes. Using these results, we argue — under certain physical assumptions — that BPS black holes cannot preserve more than four supercharges. This conclusion is consistent with existing constructions in string theory.

Black Holes in String Theory↗
DOE OSTI2015

Type IIB supergravity solutions with AdS 5 from Abelian and non-Abelian T dualities

Here, we present a large class of new backgrounds that are solutions of type IIB supergravity with a warped AdS 5 factor, non-trivial axion-dilaton, B-field and three-form Ramond-Ramond flux but yet have no five-form flux. We obtain these solutions and many of their variations by judiciously applying non-Abelian and Abelian T-dualities, as well as coordinate shifts to AdS 5 × X 5 IIB supergravity solutions with X 5 = S 5 , T 1,1 , Y p,q . We address a number of issues pertaining to charge quantization in the context of non-Abelian T-duality. We comment on some properties of the expected dual super conformal field theories by studying their CFT central charge holographically. We also use the structure of the supergravity Page charges, central charges and some probe branes to infer aspects of the dual super conformal field theories.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2018

Geometric constraints on the space of N = 2 SCFTs. Part I: physical constraints on relevant deformations

We initiate a systematic study of four dimensional N = 2 superconformal field theories (SCFTs) based on the analysis of their Coulomb branch geometries. Because these SCFTs are not uniquely characterized by their scale-invariant Coulomb branch geometries we also need information on their deformations. We construct all inequivalent such deformations preserving N = 2 supersymmetry and additional physical consistency conditions in the rank 1 case. These not only include all the ones previously predicted by S-duality, but also 16 additional deformations satisfying all the known N = 2 low energy consistency conditions. All but two of these additonal deformations have recently been identified with new rank 1 SCFTs; these identifications are briefly reviewed. Some novel ingredients which are important for this study include: a discussion of RG-flows in the presence of a moduli space of vacua; a classification of local N = 2 supersymmetry-preserving deformations of unitary N = 2 SCFTs; and an analysis of charge normalizations and the Dirac quantization condition on Coulomb branches. With this being said, this paper is the first in a series of three. The second paper [1] gives the details of the explicit construction of the Coulomb branch geometries discussed here, while the third [2] discusses the computation of central charges of the associated SCFTs.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2018

Experimental targets for photon couplings of the QCD axion

The QCD axion’s coupling to photons is often assumed to lie in a narrow band as a function of the axion mass. We demonstrate that several simple mechanisms, in addition to the photophilic clockwork axion already in the literature, can significantly extend the allowed range of couplings. Some mechanisms we present generalize the KNP alignment scenario, widely studied as a model of inflation, to the phenomenology of a QCD axion. In particular we present KSVZ-like realizations of two-axion KNP alignment and of the clockwork mechanism. Such a “confinement tower” realization of clockwork may prove useful in a variety of model-building contexts. We also show that kinetic mixing of the QCD axion with a lighter axion-like particle can dramatically alter the QCD axion’s coupling to photons, differing from the other models we present by allowing non-quantized couplings. The simple models that we present fully cover the range of axion-photon couplings that could be probed by experiments. They motivate growing axion detection efforts over a wide space of masses and couplings.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2019

A theory of reparameterizations for AdS 3 gravity

We rewrite the Chern-Simons description of pure gravity on global AdS 3 and on Euclidean BTZ black holes as a quantum field theory on the AdS boundary. The resulting theory is (two copies of) the path integral quantization of a certain coadjoint orbit of the Virasoro group, and it should be regarded as the quantum field theory of the boundary gravitons. This theory respects all of the conformal field theory axioms except one: it is not modular invariant. The coupling constant is 1/c with c the central charge, and perturbation theory in 1/c encodes loop contributions in the gravity dual. The QFT is a theory of reparametrizations analogous to the Schwarzian description of nearly AdS2 gravity, and has several features including: (i) it is ultraviolet-complete; (ii) the torus partition function is the vacuum Virasoro character, which is one-loop exact by a localization argument; (iii) it reduces to the Schwarzian theory upon compactification; (iv) it provides a powerful new tool for computing Virasoro blocks at large c via a diagrammatic expansion. We use the theory to compute several observables to one-loop order in the bulk, including the “heavy-light” limit of the identity block. We also work out some generalizations of this theory, including the boundary theory which describes fluctuations around two-sided eternal black holes.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2023

Dressed vs. pairwise states, and the geometric phase of monopoles and charges

We construct the Faddeev-Kulish dressed multiparticle states of electrically and magnetically charged particles, incorporating the effects of real and virtual soft photons. We calculate the properties of such dressed states under Lorentz transformations, and find that they can be identified with the pairwise multi-particle states that transform under the pairwise little group. The shifts in the dressing factors under Lorentz transformations are finite and have a simple geometric interpretation. Using the transformation properties of the dressed states we also present a novel, fully quantum field theoretic derivation of the geometric (Berry) phase obtained by an adiabatic rotation of the Dirac string, and also of the Dirac quantization condition. For half integer pairwise helicity, we show that these multiparticle states have flipped spin-statistics, reproducing the surprising fact that fermions can be made out of bosons.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2015

Deformed twistors and higher spin conformal (super-)algebras in four dimensions

Massless conformal scalar field in d = 4 corresponds to the minimal unitary representation (minrep) of the conformal group SU(2, 2) which admits a one-parameter family of deformations that describe massless fields of arbitrary helicity. The minrep and its deformations were obtained by quantization of the nonlinear realization of SU(2, 2) as a quasiconformal group in arXiv:0908.3624. We show that the generators of SU(2,2) for these unitary irreducible representations can be written as bilinears of deformed twistorial oscillators which transform nonlinearly under the Lorentz group and apply them to define and study higher spin algebras and superalgebras in AdS 5 . The higher spin (HS) algebra of Fradkin-Vasiliev type in AdS 5 is simply the enveloping algebra of SU(2, 2) quotiented by a two-sided ideal (Joseph ideal) which annihilates the minrep. We show that the Joseph ideal vanishes identically for the quasiconformal realization of the minrep and its enveloping algebra leads directly to the HS algebra in AdS 5 . Furthermore, the enveloping algebras of the deformations of the minrep define a one parameter family of HS algebras in AdS 5 for which certain 4d covariant deformations of the Joseph ideal vanish identically. These results extend to superconformal algebras SU(2, 2|N) and we find a one parameter family of HS superalgebras as enveloping algebras of the minimal unitary supermultiplet and its deformations. Our results suggest the existence of a family of (supersymmetric) HS theories in AdS 5 which are dual to free (super)conformal field theories (CFTs) or to interacting but integrable (supersymmetric) CFTs in 4d. We also discuss the corresponding picture in HS algebras in AdS 4 where the corresponding 3d conformal group Sp(4,R) admits only two massless representations (minreps), namely the scalar and spinor singletons.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2019

Resolving the Weinberg paradox with topology

Long ago Weinberg showed, from first principles, that the amplitude for a single photon exchange between an electric current and a magnetic current violates Lorentz invariance. The obvious conclusion at the time was that monopoles were not allowed in quantum field theory. Since the discovery of topological monopoles there has thus been a paradox. On the one hand, topological monopoles are constructed in Lorentz invariant quantum field theories, while on the other hand, the low-energy effective theory for such monopoles will reproduce Weinberg’s result. We examine a toy model where both electric and magnetic charges are perturbatively coupled and show how soft-photon resummation for hard scattering exponentiates the Lorentz violating pieces to a phase that is the covariant form of the Aharonov-Bohm phase due to the Dirac string. The modulus of the scattering amplitudes (and hence observables) are Lorentz invariant, and when Dirac charge quantization is imposed the amplitude itself is also Lorentz invariant. For closed paths there is a topological component of the phase that relates to aspects of 4D topological quantum field theory.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2021

Covariant phase space and soft factorization in non-Abelian gauge theories

We perform a careful study of the infrared sector of massless non-abelian gauge theories in four-dimensional Minkowski spacetime using the covariant phase space formalism, taking into account the boundary contributions arising from the gauge sector of the theory. Upon quantization, we show that the boundary contributions lead to an infinite degeneracy of the vacua. The Hilbert space of the vacuum sector is not only shown to be remarkably simple, but also universal. We derive a Ward identity that relates the n-point amplitude between two generic in- and out-vacuum states to the one computed in standard QFT. In addition, we demonstrate that the familiar single soft gluon theorem and multiple consecutive soft gluon theorem are consequences of the Ward identity.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Exact WKB and the quantum Seiberg-Witten curve for 4d $N$ = 2 pure SU(3) Yang-Mills. Abelianization

We investigate the exact WKB method for the quantum Seiberg-Witten curve of 4d N = 2 pure SU(3) Yang-Mills in the language of abelianization. The relevant differential equation is a third-order equation on $\mathbb{CP}^1$ with two irregular singularities. We employ the exact WKB method to study the solutions to such a third-order equation and the associated Stokes phenomena. We also investigate the exact quantization condition for a certain spectral problem. Moreover, exact WKB analysis leads us to consider new Darboux coordinates on a moduli space of flat SL(3,$\mathbb{C}$)-connections. In particular, in the weak coupling region we encounter coordinates of the higher length-twist type generalizing Fenchel-Nielsen coordinates. The Darboux coordinates are conjectured to admit asymptotic expansions given by the formal quantum periods series and we perform numerical analysis supporting this conjecture.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2018

Coulomb branch operators and mirror symmetry in three dimensions

We develop new techniques for computing exact correlation functions of a class of local operators, including certain monopole operators, in three-dimensional N = 4 abelian gauge theories that have superconformal infrared limits. These operators are position-dependent linear combinations of Coulomb branch operators. They form a one-dimensional topological sector that encodes a deformation quantization of the Coulomb branch chiral ring, and their correlation functions completely fix the (n ≤ 3)-point functions of all half-BPS Coulomb branch operators. Using these results, we provide new derivations of the conformal dimension of half-BPS monopole operators as well as new and detailed tests of mirror symmetry. Our main approach involves supersymmetric localization on a hemisphere HS 3 with half-BPS boundary conditions, where operator insertions within the hemisphere are represented by certain shift operators acting on the HS 3 wavefunction. By gluing a pair of such wavefunctions, we obtain correlators on S 3 with an arbitrary number of operator insertions. Lastly, we show that our results can be recovered by dimensionally reducing the Schur index of 4D N=2 theories decorated by BPS ’t Hooft-Wilson loops.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Quantum geometry of resurgent perturbative/nonperturbative relations

For a wide variety of quantum potentials, including the textbook ‘instanton’ examples of the periodic cosine and symmetric double-well potentials, the perturbative data coming from fluctuations about the vacuum saddle encodes all non-perturbative data in all higher non-perturbative sectors. Here we unify these examples in geometric terms, arguing that the all-orders quantum action determines the all-orders quantum dual action for quantum spectral problems associated with a classical genus one elliptic curve. Furthermore, for a special class of genus one potentials this relation is particularly simple: this class includes the cubic oscillator, symmetric double-well, symmetric degenerate triple-well, and periodic cosine potential. These are related to the Chebyshev potentials, which are in turn related to certain N = 2 supersymmetric quantum field theories, to mirror maps for hypersurfaces in projective spaces, and also to topological c = 3 Landau-Ginzburg models and ‘special geometry’. These systems inherit a natural modular structure corresponding to Ramanujan’s theory of elliptic functions in alternative bases, which is especially important for the quantization. Insights from supersymmetric quantum field theory suggest similar structures for more complicated potentials, corresponding to higher genus. Lastly, our approach is very elementary, using basic classical geometry combined with all-orders WKB.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Nonperturbative dynamics of (2+1)d φ 4 -theory from Hamiltonian truncation

We use Lightcone Conformal Truncation (LCT) - a version of Hamiltonian truncation - to study the nonperturbative, real-time dynamics of φ 4 -theory in 2+1 dimensions. This theory has UV divergences that need to be regulated. We review how, in a Hamiltonian framework with a total energy cutoff, renormalization is necessarily state-dependent, and UV sensitivity cannot be canceled with standard local operator counter-terms. To overcome this problem, we present a prescription for constructing the appropriate state-dependent counterterms for (2+1)d φ 4 -theory in lightcone quantization. We then use LCT with this counterterm prescription to study φ 4 -theory, focusing on the $\mathbb{Z}$ 2 symmetry-preserving phase. Specifically, we compute the spectrum as a function of the coupling and demonstrate the closing of the mass gap at a (scheme-dependent) critical coupling. We also compute Lorentz-invariant two-point functions, both at generic strong coupling and near the critical point, where we demonstrate IR universality and the vanishing of the trace of the stress tensor.

field theories in lower dimensions↗
DOE OSTI2023

S-duality in $ T\overline{T} $-deformed CFT

$ T\overline{T} $ deformed conformal field theories can be reformulated as worldsheet theories of non-critical strings. We use this correspondence to compute and study the $ T\overline{T} $ deformed partition sum of a symmetric product CFT. We find that it takes the form of a partition sum of a second quantized string theory with a worldsheet given by the product of the seed CFT and a gaussian sigma model with the two-torus as target space. We show that deformed symmetric product theory admits a natural UV completion that exhibits a strong weak coupling Z 2 duality that interchanges the momentum and winding numbers and maps the $ T\overline{T} $-coupling λ to its inverse 1/λ. The Z 2 duality is part of a full O(2, 2, Z)-duality group that includes a PSL(2, Z) acting on the complexified $ T\overline{T} $ coupling. The duality symmetry eliminates the appearance of complex energies at strong coupling for all seed CFTs with central charge c ≤ 6.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Light-front representation of chiral dynamics with Δ isobar and large-N c relations

Transverse densities describe the spatial distribution of electromagnetic current in the nucleon at fixed light-front time. At peripheral distances b = O(M π –1 ) the densities are governed by chiral dynamics and can be calculated model-independently using chiral effective field theory (EFT). Recent work has shown that the EFT results can be represented in first-quantized form, as overlap integrals of chiral light-front wave functions describing the transition of the nucleon to soft-pion-nucleon intermediate states, resulting in a quantum-mechanical picture of the peripheral transverse densities. We now extend this representation to include intermediate states with Δ isobars and implement relations based on the large-N c limit of QCD. We derive the wave function overlap formulas for the Δ contributions to the peripheral transverse densities by way of a three-dimensional reduction of relativistic chiral EFT expressions. Our procedure effectively maintains rotational invariance and avoids the ambiguities with higher-spin particles in the light-front time-ordered approach. We study the interplay of πN and πΔ intermediate states in the quantum-mechanical picture of the densities in a transversely polarized nucleon. We show that the correct N c -scaling of the charge and magnetization densities emerges as the result of the particular combination of currents generated by intermediate states with degenerate N and Δ. The off-shell behavior of the chiral EFT is summarized in contact terms and can be studied easily. As a result, the methods developed here can be applied to other peripheral densities and to moments of the nucleon's generalized parton distributions.

1/N expansion↗
DOE OSTI2019

The bulk-to-boundary propagator in black hole microstate backgrounds

First-quantized propagation in quantum gravitational AdS 3 backgrounds can be exactly reconstructed using CFT 2 data and Virasoro symmetry. We develop methods to compute the bulk-to-boundary propagator in a black hole microstate, ⟨ϕ L O L O H O H ⟩, at finite central charge. As a first application, we show that the semiclassical theory on the Euclidean BTZ solution sharply disagrees with the exact description, as expected based on the resolution of forbidden thermal singularities, though this effect may appear exponentially small for physical observers.

1/N expansion↗
DOE OSTI2020

Low-dimensional de Sitter quantum gravity

We study aspects of Jackiw-Teitelboim (JT) quantum gravity in two-dimensional nearly de Sitter (dS) spacetime, as well as pure de Sitter quantum gravity in three dimensions. These are each theories of boundary modes, which include a reparameterization field on each connected component of the boundary as well as topological degrees of freedom. In two dimensions, the boundary theory is closely related to the Schwarzian path integral, and in three dimensions to the quantization of coadjoint orbits of the Virasoro group. Using these boundary theories we compute loop corrections to the wavefunction of the universe, and investigate gravitational contributions to scattering. Along the way, we show that JT gravity in dS2 is an analytic continuation of JT gravity in Euclidean AdS2, and that pure gravity in dS3 is a continuation of pure gravity in Euclidean AdS3. We define a genus expansion for de Sitter JT gravity by summing over higher genus generalizations of surfaces used in the Hartle-Hawking construction. Assuming a conjecture regarding the volumes of moduli spaces of such surfaces, we find that the de Sitter genus expansion is the continuation of the recently discovered AdS genus expansion. Then both may be understood as coming from the genus expansion of the same double-scaled matrix model, which would provide a non-perturbative completion of de Sitter JT gravity.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2023

von Neumann algebras in JT gravity

We quantize JT gravity with matter on the spatial interval with two asymptotically AdS boundaries. We consider the von Neumann algebra generated by the right Hamiltonian and the gravitationally dressed matter operators on the right boundary. We prove that the commutant of this algebra is the analogously defined left boundary algebra and that both algebras are type II ∞ factors. These algebras provide a precise notion of the entanglement wedge away from the semiclassical limit. We comment on how the factorization problem differs between pure JT gravity and JT gravity with matter.

2D Gravity↗