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At least 127 records · Page 7
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2001

Semiclassical Models for Virtual Antiparticle Pairs, the Unit of Charge e, and the QCD Coupling alpha(sub s)

New semiclassical models of virtual antiparticle pairs are used to compute the pair lifetimes, and good agreement with the Heisenberg lifetimes from quantum field theory (QFT) is found. The modeling method applies to both the electromagnetic and color forces. Evaluation of the action integral of potential field fluctuation for each interaction potential yields approximately Planck's constant/2 for both electromagnetic and color fluctuations, in agreement with QFT. Thus each model is a quantized semiclassical representation for such virtual antiparticle pairs, to good approximation. When the results of the new models and QFT are combined, formulae for e and alpha(sub s)(q) are derived in terms of only Planck's constant and c.

Batchelor, David↗
DOE OSTI2021

Open quantum systems for quarkonia

I review recent applications of the open quantum system framework in the understanding of quarkonium suppression in heavy-ion collisions, which has been used as a probe of the quark–gluon plasma for decades. The derivation of the Lindblad equations for quarkonium in both the quantum Brownian motion and the quantum optical limits and their semiclassical counterparts is explained. The hierarchy of time scales assumed in the derivation is justified from the separation of energy scales in nonrelativistic effective field theories of QCD. Physical implications of the open quantum system approach are also discussed. Finally, I list some open questions for future studies.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2024

Islands far outside the horizon

Information located in an entanglement island in semiclassical gravity can be nonperturbatively reconstructed from distant radiation, implying a radical breakdown of effective field theory. We show that this occurs well outside of the black hole stretched horizon. We compute the island associated to large-angular momentum Hawking modes of a four-dimensional Schwarzschild black hole. These modes typically fall back into the black hole but can be extracted to infinity by relativistic strings or, more abstractly, by asymptotic boundary operators constructed using the timelike tube theorem. Remarkably, we find that their island can protrude a distance of order $\sqrt{\ell_p{r}_{\textrm{hor}}}$ outside the horizon. This is parametrically larger than the Planck scale ℓ p and is comparable to the Bohr radius for supermassive black holes. Therefore, in principle, a distant observer can determine experimentally whether the black hole information paradox is resolved by complementarity, or by a firewall.

AdS-CFT correspondence↗
DOE OSTI2022

Dynamical Scaling as a Signature of Multiple Phase Competition in Yb 2⁢ Ti 2 ⁢O 7

Yb 2 ⁢Ti 2 ⁢O 7 is a celebrated example of a pyrochlore magnet with highly frustrated, anisotropic exchange interactions. To date, attention has largely focused on its unusual, static properties, many of which can be understood as coming from the competition between different types of magnetic order. Here, in this work, we use inelastic neutron scattering with exceptionally high energy resolution to explore the dynamical properties of Yb 2 ⁢Ti 2 ⁢O 7 . We find that spin correlations exhibit dynamical scaling, analogous to behavior found near to a quantum critical point. We show that the observed scaling collapse can be explained within a phenomenological theory of multiple-phase competition, and confirm that a scaling collapse is also seen in semiclassical simulations of a microscopic model of Yb 2 ⁢Ti 2 ⁢O 7 . These results suggest that dynamical scaling may be general to systems with competing ground states.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Universal features of 2 → N scattering in QCD and gravity from shockwave collisions

A remarkable double-copy relation of Einstein gravity to QCD in Regge asymptotics is Γ μ ν = 1 2 C μ C ν − 1 2 N μ N ν , where Γ μ ν is the gravitational Lipatov vertex in the 2 → 3 graviton scattering amplitude, C μ its Yang-Mills counterpart, and N μ the QED bremsstrahlung vertex. In QCD, the Lipatov vertex is a fundamental building block of the BFKL equation describing the 2 → N scattering of gluons at high energies. Likewise, the gravitational Lipatov vertex is a key ingredient in a 2D effective field theory framework describing trans-Planckian 2 → N graviton scattering. We construct a quantitative correspondence between a semiclassical Yang-Mills framework for radiation in gluon shockwave collisions and its counterpart in general relativity. In particular, we demonstrate the Lipatov double copy in a dilute-dilute approximation corresponding to R S , L , R S , H ≪ b , where R S , L , R S , H are the respective emergent Schwarzchild radii generated in shockwave collisions and b is the impact parameter. We outline extensions of the correspondence developed here to the dilute-dense computation of gravitational wave radiation in the close vicinity of one of the black holes, the construction of graviton propagators in the shockwave background, and a renormalization group approach to compute 2 → N amplitudes that incorporates graviton Reggeization and coherent graviton multiple scattering. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Geometric entropies and their Hamiltonian flows

In holographic theories, the Hubeny-Rangamani-Takayanagi (HRT) area operator plays a key role in our understanding of the emergence of semiclassical Einstein-Hilbert gravity. When higher derivative corrections are included, the role of the area is instead played by a more general functional known as the geometric entropy. It is thus of interest to understand the flow generated by the geometric entropy on the classical phase space. In particular, the fact that the associated flow in Einstein-Hilbert or Jackiw-Teitelboim (JT) gravity induces a relative boost between the left and right entanglement wedges is deeply related to the fact that gravitational dressing promotes the von Neumann algebra of local fields in each wedge to type II. This relative boost is known as a boundary-condition-preserving (BCP) kink-transformation. In a general theory of gravity (with arbitrary higher-derivative terms), it is straightforward to show that the flow continues to take the above geometric form when acting on a spacetime where the HRT surface is the bifurcation surface of a Killing horizon. However, the form of the flow on other spacetimes is less clear. In this paper, we use the manifestly-covariant Peierls bracket to explore such flows in two-dimensional theories of JT gravity coupled to matter fields with higher derivative interactions. The results no longer take a purely geometric form and, instead, demonstrate new features that should be expected of such flows in general higher derivative theories. We also show how to obtain the above flows using Poisson brackets.

AdS-CFT correspondence↗
NASA NTRS2023

Experimental and Semiclassical Stark Widths and Shifts for Spectral Lines of Neutral and Ionized Atoms (A Critical Review of Experimental and Semiclassical Data for the Period 2008 through 2020)

This Review Article compares new experimental and corresponding semiclassical Stark broadened data for non-hydrogenic spectral lines of neutral atoms and positive ions. This Review covers the period 2008 until the end of 2020 and presents the continuation of previous critical reviews from 1976 (two), 1984 (two), 1990, 2002, and one from 2009. This Review reports the Stark broadening parameters of 1665 spectral lines belonging to 35 elements with 61 different atomic and ion species. The data are taken from 60 papers. Experimental data are arranged by elements and spectra, and these are reported in tables in alphabetical and numerical order, respectively. Each experimental Stark broadening parameter is followed with estimated accuracy. The experimental Stark broadening and shift data presented in the tables are compared with the corresponding semiclassical results available in the literature. In addition, for comparison experiments versus semiclassical theoretical Stark broadening parameters, a numerically improved theoretical approach developed based on Griem and co-workers’ theory is used to evaluate Stark widths and shifts of all studied lines whenever required atomic energy levels data and transition probabilities are available. At the end of the text report, for each analyzed neutral or ion species, the information about the location of the same species data in preceding reviews is given.

Plasma line broadening↗
DOE OSTI2023

Burns space and holography

We elaborate on various aspects of our top-down celestial holographic duality wherein the semiclassical bulk spacetime is a 4d asymptotically flat, self-dual Kähler geometry known as Burns space. The bulk theory includes an open string sector comprising a 4d WZW model and a closed string sector called “Mabuchi gravity” capturing fluctuations of the Kähler potential. Starting with the type I topological B-model on the twistor space of flat space, we obtain the twistor space of Burns space from the backreaction of a stack of N coincident D1 branes, while the chiral algebra is obtained from (a twist of) the brane worldvolume theory. One striking consequence of this duality is that all loop-level scattering amplitudes of the theory on Burns space can be expressed as correlation functions of an explicit 2d chiral algebra.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2025

An apologia for islands

Entanglement islands have played a key role in the recent derivation of the Page curve and other progress on the black hole information problem. Arising from the inclusion of connected wormhole saddles in a gravitational replica trick, islands signal that degrees of freedom in the black hole interior are not microscopically independent of the exterior Hawking radiation. Islands were originally discovered in the context of AdS/CFT coupled to an external, nongravitating reservoir, where the coupling gives graviton excitations an anomalous boundary scaling dimension (or “mass”). It has been claimed in the literature that this mass is crucial for the existence of islands and even the Page curve itself. In this paper, however, we explain how entanglement islands can also appear in setups with massless gravitons and no external reservoir, giving a number of examples including the entanglement wedges of boundary CFT regions, of radiation at null infinity in asymptotically flat spacetimes, and of radiation inside a semiclassical but gravitating spacetime. In each case, the Page curve is physically observable and can be determined with sufficiently careful experiments on many copies of the black hole. We give general arguments for the existence of gauge-invariant operators in gravity which are compactly supported to all orders in perturbation theory (whenever no isometries of the background spacetime exist) and refine a recently-proposed explicit construction of such operators. When applied to islands, these results — together with entanglement wedge reconstruction — guarantee that semiclassical operators in the island can be approximated by nonperturbative operators on the Hawking radiation.

AdS-CFT Correspondence↗
NASA NTRS1974

Vibration-translation energy transfer in anharmonic diatomic molecules. 1: A critical evaluation of the semiclassical approximation

The semiclassical approximation is applied to anharmonic diatomic oscillators in excited initial states. Multistate numerical solutions giving the vibrational transition probabilities for collinear collisions with an inert atom are compared with equivalent, exact quantum-mechanical calculations. Several symmetrization methods are shown to correlate accurately the predictions of both theories for all initial states, transitions, and molecular types tested, but only if coupling of the oscillator motion and the classical trajectory of the incident particle is considered. In anharmonic heteronuclear molecules, the customary semiclassical method of computing the classical trajectory independently leads to transition probabilities with anomalous low-energy resonances. Proper accounting of the effects of oscillator compression and recoil on the incident particle trajectory removes the anomalies and restores the applicability of the semiclassical approximation.

Mckenzie, R. L.↗
DOE OSTI2021

Predicting and Understanding Non-Covalent Interactions Using Novel Forms of Symmetry-Adapted Perturbation Theory

Although sometimes derided as “weak” interactions, non-covalent forces play a critical role in ligand binding and crystal packing and in determining the conformational landscape of flexible molecules. Symmetry-adapted perturbation theory (SAPT) provides a framework for accurate ab initio calculation of intermolecular interactions and furnishes a natural decomposition of the interaction energy into physically meaningful components: semiclassical electrostatics (rigorously obtained from monomer charge densities), Pauli or steric repulsion, induction (including both polarization and charge transfer), and dispersion. This decomposition helps to foster deeper understanding of non-covalent interactions and can be used to construct transferable, physics-based force fields. Separability of the SAPT interaction energy also provides the flexibility to construct composite methods, a feature that we exploit to improve the description of dispersion interactions. Furthermore, these are challenging to describe accurately because they arise from nonlocal electron correlation effects that appear for the first time at second order in perturbation theory but are not quantitatively described at that level.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗
NASA NTRS1975

Vibration-translation energy transfer in anharmonic diatomic molecules. I - A comparative evaluation of the semiclassical approximation

The semiclassical approximation (quantum oscillator, classical path) is applied to anharmonic diatomic oscillators in excited initial states. Multistate numerical solutions giving the vibrational transition probabilities for collinear collisions with an inert atom are compared with equivalent, exact quantum-mechanical calculations. Several symmetrization methods are shown to correlate accurately the predictions of both theories for all initial states, transitions, and molecular types tested, but only if coupling of the oscillator motion and the classical trajectory of the incident particle is considered. In anharmonic heteronuclear molecules, the customary semiclassical method of computing the classical trajectory independently leads to transition probabilities with anomalous low-energy resonances. Proper accounting of the effects of oscillator compression and recoil on the incident particle trajectory removes the anomalies and restores the applicability of the semiclassical approximation.

Mckenzie, R. L.↗
DOE OSTI2021

Semiclassical Trans-Series from the Perturbative Hopf-Algebraic Dyson-Schwinger Equations: $\phi$ 3 QFT in 6 Dimensions

We analyze the asymptotically free massless scalar $\phi$ 3 quantum field theory in 6 dimensions, using resurgent asymptotic analysis to find the trans-series solutions which yield the non-perturbative completion of the divergent perturbative solutions to the Kreimer–Connes Hopf-algebraic Dyson–Schwinger equations for the anomalous dimension. This scalar conformal field theory is asymptotically free and has a real Lipatov instanton. In the Hopf-algebraic approach we find a trans-series having an intricate Borel singularity structure, with three distinct but resonant non-perturbative terms, each repeated in an infinite series. These expansions are in terms of the renormalized coupling. The resonant structure leads to powers of logarithmic terms at higher levels of the trans-series, analogous to logarithmic terms arising from interactions between instantons and anti-instantons, but arising from a purely perturbative formalism rather than from a semi-classical analysis.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
NASA NTRS2001

Semi-Classical Models for Virtual Antiparticle Pairs

Virtual particle-antiparticle pairs of massive elementary particle& are predicted in Quantum Field Theory (QFT) to appear from the vacuum and annihilate each other again within their Heisenberg lifetimes h/4mc(exp 2). In this work, semiclassical models of this process - for the cases of massive leptons, quarks, and the massive weak bosons W and Z - are constructed. It is shown that the dynamical lifetime of the particle- antiparticle system in each case equals the Heisenberg lifetime to good approximation, and obeys appropriate quantization conditions on the field fluctuation action. In other words, the dynamical lifetime of the semiclassical model agrees with QED and QCD to good approximation. But the formula for the dynamical lifetime in each model includes the force strength coupling constant (e in the lepton case, alpha(sup s) (q(exp 2)) in the quark cases), while the Heisenberg lifetime formula does not. Observing the agreement of the Heisenberg and dynamical lifetimes, we may derive the QED and QCD coupling constants in terms of h, c, and numerical factors only.

Batchelor, David↗
DOE OSTI2021

Electric polarization in inhomogeneous crystals

In this work, we derive the charge density up to second order in spatial gradient in inhomogeneous crystals using the semiclassical coarse graining procedure based on the wave packet method. It can be recast as divergence of polarization, whose first-order contribution consists of three parts, a perturbative correction to the original Berry connection expression, a topological part that can be written as an integral of the Chern-Simons 3-form, and a previously-unknown, quadrupolelike contribution. The topological part can be related to the quantized fractional charge carried by a vortex in two-dimensional systems. We then generalize our results to the multiband case and show that the quadrupolelike contribution plays an important role, as it makes the total polarization gauge-independent. Finally, we verify our theory in several model systems.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Driven-dissipative phase transition in a Kerr oscillator: From semiclassical PT symmetry to quantum fluctuations

We study a minimal model that has a driven-dissipative quantum phase transition, namely a Kerr non-linear oscillator subject to driving and dissipation. Using mean-field theory, exact diagonalization, and the Keldysh formalism, we analyze the critical phenomena in this system, showing which aspects can be captured by each approach and how the approaches complement each other. Then critical scaling and finite-size scaling are calculated analytically using the quantum Langevin equation. Furthermore, the physics contained in this simple model is surprisingly rich: it includes a continuous phase transition, Z 2 symmetry breaking, PT symmetry, state squeezing, and critical fluctuations. Due to its simplicity and solvability, this model can serve as a paradigm for exploration of open quantum many-body physics.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2024

Celestial Dual for Maximal Helicity Violating Amplitudes

It is shown that a 2D conformal field theory consisting of a central charge c Liouville theory, a chiral level one, rank N Kac-Moody algebra, and a weight − 3 / 2 free fermion holographically generate 4D maximal helicity violating tree-level scattering amplitudes. The correlators of this 2D conformal field theory give directly the 4D leaf amplitudes associated to a single hyperbolic slice of flat space. The 4D celestial amplitudes arise in a large- N and semiclassical large- c limit, according to the holographic dictionary, as a translationally invariant combination of leaf amplitudes. A step in the demonstration is showing that the semiclassical limit of Liouville correlators are given by contact 3D anti–de Sitter Witten diagrams. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Physics↗