arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Aleksey Cherman.
In Euclidean path integrals, quantum mechanical tunneling amplitudes are associated with instanton configurations. We explain how tunneling amplitudes are encoded in real-time Feynman path integrals. The essential steps are borrowed from Picard-Lefschetz theory and resurgence theory.
We point out the presence of a $T \to -T$ temperature-reflection ($T$-reflection) symmetry for the partition functions of many physical systems. Without knowledge of the origin of the symmetry, we have only been able to test the existence of $T$-reflection symmetry in systems with exactly-calculable partition functions. We show that $T$-reflection symmetry is present in a variety of conformal and non-conformal field theories and statistical mechanics models with known partition functions. For example, all minimal model partition functions in two-dimensional conformal field theories are invariant under $T$-reflections. An interesting property of the $T$-reflection symmetry is that it can be broken by shifts of the vacuum energy.
The exploration of strongly-interacting finite-density states of matter has been a major recent application of gauge-gravity duality. When the theories involved have a known Lagrangian description, they are typically deformations of large $N$ supersymmetric gauge theories, which are unusual from a condensed-matter point of view. In order to better interpret the strong-coupling results from holography, an understanding of the weak-coupling behavior of such gauge theories would be useful for comparison. We take a first step in this direction by studying several simple supersymmetric and non-supersymmetric toy model gauge theories at zero temperature. Our supersymmetric examples are $\mathcal{N}=1$ super-QED and $\mathcal{N}=2$ super-QED, with finite densities of electron number and R-charge respectively. Despite the fact that fermionic fields couple to the chemical potentials we introduce, the structure of the interaction terms is such that in both of the supersymmetric cases the fermions do not develop a Fermi surface. One might suspect that all of the charge in such theories would be stored in the scalar condensates, but we show that this is not necessarily the case by giving an example of a theory without a Fermi surface where the fermions still manage to contribute to the charge density.
Large-N volume independence in circle-compactified QCD with N_f \geq 1 adjoint Weyl fermions implies the absence of any phase transitions as the radius is dialed to arbitrarily small values. This class of theories are believed to possess a Hagedorn density of hadronic states. It turns out that these properties are in apparent tension with each other, because a Hagedorn density of states typically implies a phase transition at some finite radius. This tension is resolved if there are degeneracies between the spectra of bosonic and fermionic states, as happens in the N_f=1 supersymmetric case. Resolution of the tension for N_f>1 then suggests the emergence of a fermionic symmetry at large N, where there is no supersymmetry. We can escape the Coleman-Mandula theorem since the N=\infty theory is free, with a trivial S-matrix. We show an example of such a spectral degeneracy in a non-supersymmetric toy example which has a Hagedorn spectrum.
We explain the physical role of non-perturbative saddle points of path integrals in theories without instantons, using the example of the asymptotically free two-dimensional principal chiral model (PCM). Standard topological arguments based on homotopy considerations suggest no role for non-perturbative saddles in such theories. However, resurgence theory, which unifies perturbative and non-perturbative physics, predicts the existence of several types of non-perturbative saddles associated with features of the large-order structure of perturbation theory. These points are illustrated in the PCM, where we find new non-perturbative `fracton' saddle point field configurations, and give a quantum interpretation of previously discovered `uniton' unstable classical solutions. The fractons lead to a semi-classical realization of IR renormalons in the circle-compactified theory, and yield the microscopic mechanism of the mass gap of the PCM.
In the large Nc limit, gauge theories with different gauge groups and matter content sometimes turn out to be `large Nc equivalent', in the sense of having a set of coincident correlation functions. Large Nc equivalence has mainly been explored in the glueball and meson sectors. However, a recent proposal to dodge the fermion sign problem of QCD with a quark-number chemical potential using large Nc equivalence motivates investigating the applicability of large Nc equivalence to correlation functions involving baryon operators. Here we present evidence that large Nc equivalence extends to the baryon sector, under the same type of symmetry-realization assumptions as in the meson sector, by adapting the classic Witten analysis of large Nc baryons.
Bosonization is normally thought of as a purely two-dimensional phenomenon, and generic field theories with fermions in D>2 are not expected be describable by local bosonic actions, except in some special cases. We point out that 3D SU(N) gauge theories on R^{1,1} x S^{1}_{L} with adjoint fermions can be bosonized in the large N limit. The key feature of such theories is that they enjoy large N volume independence for arbitrary circle size L. A consequence of this is a large N equivalence between these 3D gauge theories and certain 2D gauge theories, which matches a set of correlation functions in the 3D theories to corresponding observables in the 2D theories. As an example, we focus on a 3D SU(N) gauge theory with one flavor of adjoint Majorana fermions and derive the large-N equivalent 2D gauge theory. The extra dimension is encoded in the color degrees of freedom of the 2D theory. We then apply the technique of non-Abelian bosonization to the 2D theory to obtain an equivalent local theory written purely in terms of bosonic variables. Hence the bosonized version of the large N three-dimensional theory turns out to live in two dimensions.
A combined expansion in the number of QCD colors 1/N_c and SU(3) flavor breaking parameter epsilon has long been known to provide an excellent accounting for the mass spectrum of the lightest spin-1/2, 3/2 baryons when the quarks are taken to transform under the fundamental SU(N_c) representation, and in the final step N_c \to 3 and epsilon is set to its physical value ~0.3. Subsequent work shows that placing quarks in the two-index antisymmetric SU(N_c) representation leads to quantitatively equally successful mass relations. Recent lattice simulations allow for varying the value of epsilon and confirm the robustness of the original 1/N_c relations. In this paper we show that the same conclusion holds for the antisymmetric quarks, and demonstrate that the mass relations also hold under alternate prescriptions for identifying physical baryons with particular members of the large N_c multiplets.
The possibility that ions in a helium white dwarf star are in a Bose-Einstein condensed state has been explored recently. In particular, it has been argued that the resulting novel quantum liquid has a new kind of quasiparticle excitation with a phonon-like dispersion relation. We investigate the neutrino emission rate due to this gapless state and the resulting impact on the total luminosity of helium white dwarf stars, as a possible observable way of detecting this exotic phase. If the condensation temperature for the quantum liquid state, which is currently not known very precisely, turns out to be high enough, our calculations indicate that neutrino emission due to the gapless mode would make a large contribution to the total luminosity of the helium white dwarf stars.
There has been a controversial recent claim that the standard result on the Higgs to two photon decay rate is incorrect, with the use of dimensional regularization fingered as the alleged culprit. Given the great importance of the $H\to γγ$ process as a possible Standard Model Higgs discovery channel at the LHC if the Higgs mass is light, it is critical to find a way to check the correctness of the results of dimensional regularization for this process. Here we report the results of a perturbative calculation of the $H\to γγ$ decay amplitude using a spacetime lattice as a UV regulator, which is the only known gauge-invariant regulator for non-Abelian gauge theories other than dimensional regularization. We find that the decay amplitude calculated using lattice-regularized perturbation theory is consistent to very high statistical accuracy with the decay amplitude obtained using dimensional regularization.
We reconsider the realization of baryons in the Sakai-Sugimoto model. In this theory, which is the gravity dual of a QCD-like theory, baryons appear as soliton solutions. These solitons were approximated as flat-space instantons in previous studies. However, with this approximation, it has been shown that one does not reproduce some model-independent predictions for the behavior of baryon electromagnetic form factors which are connected with long-range pion physics. This made it appear that the long-range pion physics of baryons may be hidden in (intractable) α' corrections in the gravity dual. In this paper, we study the long-range properties of baryons in the Sakai-Sugimoto model without relying on the flat-space instanton approximation. The solution we obtain gives the correct result for the model-independent ratio of form factors, implying that the model captures the expected infrared properties of baryons without the need to go beyond the leading order in the α' expansion.
We consider a high density region of the helium phase diagram, where the nuclei form a Bose-Einstein condensate rather than a classical plasma or a crystal. Helium in this phase may be present in helium-core white dwarfs. We show that in this regime there is a new gapless quasiparticle not previously noticed, arising when the constraints imposed by gauge symmetry are taken into account. The contribution of this quasiparticle to the specific heat of a white dwarf core turns out to be comparable in a range of temperatures to the contribution from the particle-hole excitations of the degenerate electrons. The specific heat in the condensed phase is two orders of magnitude smaller than in the uncondensed plasma phase, which is the ground state at higher temperatures, and four orders of magnitude smaller than the specific heat that an ion lattice would provide, if formed. Since the specific heat of the core is an important input for setting the rate of cooling of a white dwarf star, it may turn out that such a change in the thermal properties of the cores of helium white dwarfs has observable implications.
The study of QCD at finite baryon density is severely hampered by the so-called fermion sign problem. As a result, we have no known first principles approach to study nuclear matter, or neutron stars from QCD. On the surface, the large Nc limit does not seem to simplify matters. In this limit, however, one can exploit dualities that exist between strongly coupled gauge theories. Our focus will be on some rather novel orbifold equivalences that have recently been discovered at finite density. These equivalences relate strongly coupled theories plagued by a sign problem, to strongly coupled theories free of sign problems. As a result, such dualities give deeper insight into the nature of the sign problem and possibly provide a way to simulate QCD at finite density in the large Nc limit.
We point out that SO(2N_{c}) gauge theory with N_{f} fundamental Dirac fermions does not have a sign problem at finite baryon number chemical potential μ_{B}. One can thus use lattice Monte Carlo simulations to study this theory at finite density. The absence of a sign problem in the SO(2N_{c}) theory is particularly interesting because a wide class of observables in the SO(2N_{c}) theory coincide with observables in QCD in the large N_{c} limit, as we show using the technique of large N_{c} orbifold equivalence. We argue that the orbifold equivalence between the two theories continues to hold at μ_{B} \neq 0 provided one adds appropriate deformation terms to the SO(2N_{c}) theory. This opens up the prospect of learning about QCD at μ_{B} \neq 0 using lattice studies of the SO(2N_{c}) theory.
In the large N_c limit, some apparently different gauge theories turn out to be equivalent due to large N_c orbifold equivalence. We use effective field theory techniques to explore orbifold equivalence, focusing on the specific case of a recently discovered relation between an SO(2N_c) gauge theory and QCD. The equivalence to QCD has been argued to hold at finite baryon chemical potential, μ_B, so long as one deforms the SO(2N_c) theory by certain "double-trace" terms. The deformed SO(2N_c) theory can be studied without a sign problem in the chiral limit, in contrast to SU(N_c) QCD at finite μ_B. The purpose of the double-trace deformation in the SO(2N_c) theory is to prevent baryon number symmetry from breaking spontaneously at finite density, which is necessary for the equivalence to large N_c QCD to be valid. The effective field theory analysis presented here clarifies the physical significance of double-trace deformations, and strongly supports the proposed equivalence between the deformed SO(2N_c) theory and large N_c QCD at finite density.
At large baryon number density, it is likely that the ground state of QCD is a color-flavor-locked phase with a K0 condensate. The CFL+K0 phase is known to support superconducting vortex strings, and it has been previously suggested that it may also support vortons, which are superconducting vortex rings. We reexamine the question of the stability of vortons, taking into account electromagnetic effects, which make leading-order contributions to vorton dynamics but were not investigated in previous work. We find that current-carrying and electrically charged vortons can be stabilized either by their angular momentum, by Coulomb repulsion, or by a combination of both effects.
We consider deuterium compressed to higher than atomic, but lower than nuclear densities. At such densities deuterium is a superconducting quantum liquid. Generically, two superconducting phases compete, a "ferromagnetic" and a "nematic" one. We provide a power counting argument suggesting that the dominant interactions in the deuteron liquid are perturbative (but screened) Coulomb interactions. At very high densities the ground state is determined by very small nuclear interaction effects that probably favor the ferromagnetic phase. At lower densities the symmetry of the theory is effectively enhanced to SU(3), and the quantum liquid enters a novel phase, neither ferromagnetic nor nematic. Our results can serve as a starting point for investigations of the phase dynamics of deuteron liquids, as well as exploration of the stability and dynamics of the rich variety of topological objects that may occur in phases of the deuteron quantum liquid, which range from Alice strings to spin skyrmions to Z_2 vortices.
Bottom-up holographic models of QCD, inspired by the AdS/CFT correspondence, have shown a remarkable degree of phenomenological success. However, they rely on a number of bold assumptions. We investigate the reliability of one of the key assumptions, which involves matching the parameters of these models to QCD at high 4D momentum $q^2$ and renormalization scale $μ^2$. We show that this leads to phenomenological and theoretical inconsistencies for scale-dependent quantities such as $\bra \bar{q}q\ket$