arXiv subjects

Benjamin Doyon

Publications and source records attributed to Benjamin Doyon.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources

arXiv2013

Energy flow and fluctuations in non-equilibrium conformal field theory on star graphs

We consider non-equilibrium quantum steady states in conformal field theory (CFT) on star-graph configurations, with a particular, simple connection condition at the vertex of the graph. These steady states occur after a large time as a result of initially thermalizing the legs of the graph at different temperatures, and carry energy flows. Using purely Virasoro algebraic calculations we evaluate the exact long-time cumulant generating function for these flows. We show that this function satisfies a generalization of the usual non-equilibrium fluctuation relations. This extends the results by two of the authors (J. Phys. A 45: 362001, 2012; arXiv:1302.3125) to the cases of more than two legs. It also provides an alternative derivation centered on Virasoro algebra operators rather than local fields, hence an alternative regularization scheme, thus confirming the validity and universality of the long-time cumulant generating function. Our derivation shows how the usual Virasoro algebra leads, in large volumes, to a continuous-index Virasoro algebra for which we develop diagramatic principles, which may be of interest in other non-equilibrium contexts as well. Finally, our results shed light on the Poisson process interpretation of the long-time energy transfer in CFT.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2013

Non-equilibrium thermal transport in the quantum Ising chain

We consider two quantum Ising chains initially prepared at thermal equilibrium but with different temperatures and coupled at a given time through one of their end points. In the long-time limit the system reaches a non-equilibrium steady state. We discuss properties of this non-equilibrium steady state, and characterize the convergence to the steady regime. We compute the mean energy flux through the chain and the large deviation function for the quantum and thermal fluctuations of this energy transfer.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2013

Thermodynamic Bethe ansatz for non-equilibrium steady states: exact energy current and fluctuations in integrable QFT

We evaluate the exact energy current and scaled cumulant generating function (related to the large-deviation function) in non-equilibrium steady states with energy flow, in any integrable model of relativistic quantum field theory (IQFT) with diagonal scattering. Our derivations are based on various recent results of D. Bernard and B. Doyon. The steady states are built by connecting homogeneously two infinite halves of the system thermalized at different temperatures $T_l$, $T_r$, and waiting for a long time. We evaluate the current $J(T_l,T_r)$ using the exact QFT density matrix describing these non-equilibrium steady states and using Al.B. Zamolodchikov's method of the thermodynamic Bethe ansatz (TBA). The scaled cumulant generating function is obtained from the extended fluctuation relations which hold in integrable models. We verify our formula in particular by showing that the conformal field theory (CFT) result is obtained in the high-temperature limit. We analyze numerically our non-equilibrium steady-state TBA equations for three models: the sinh-Gordon model, the roaming trajectories model, and the sine-Gordon model at a particular reflectionless point. Based on the numerics, we conjecture that an infinite family of non-equilibrium $c$-functions, associated to the scaled cumulants, can be defined, which we interpret physically. We study the full scaled distribution function and find that it can be described by a set of independent Poisson processes. Finally, we show that the "additivity" property of the current, which is known to hold in CFT and was proposed to hold more generally, does not hold in general IQFT, that is $J(T_l,T_r)$ is not of the form $f(T_l)-f(T_r)$.

hep-th↗

arXiv2013

Time-reversal symmetry and fluctuation relations in non-equilibrium quantum steady states

In this note, we present a simple derivation, from time-reversal symmetry, of fluctuation relations for steady-state large deviation functions in non-equilibrium quantum systems. We further show that a condition of pure transmission implies extended fluctuation relations, connecting large deviation functions to mean currents at shifted temperatures and chemical potentials. We illustrate these concepts in various examples, including the interacting resonant level model and conformal or integrable models.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2013

Universal corrections to the entanglement entropy in gapped quantum spin chains: a numerical study

We carry out a numerical study of the bi-partite entanglement entropy in the gapped regime of two paradigmatic quantum spin chain models: the Ising chain in an external magnetic field and the anti-ferromagnetic XXZ model. The universal scaling limit of these models is described by the massive Ising field theory and the SU(2)-Thirring (sine-Gordon) model, respectively. We may therefore exploit quantum field theoretical results to predict the behaviour of the entropy. We numerically confirm that, in the scaling limit, corrections to the saturation of the entropy at large region size are proportional to the Bessel function K0(2mr) where m is a mass scale (the inverse correlation length) and r the length of the region under consideration. The proportionality constant is simply related to the number of particle types in the universal spectrum. This was originally predicted in publications involving two of the current authors for two-dimensional quantum field theories. Away from the universal region our numerics suggest an entropic behaviour following quite closely the quantum field theory prediction, except for extra dependencies on the correlation length.

hep-th↗

arXiv2012

Nonequilibrium density matrix for thermal transport in quantum field theory

In these notes I explain how to describe one-dimensional quantum systems that are simultaneously near to, but not exactly at, a critical point, and in a far-from-equilibrium steady state. This description uses a density matrix on scattering states (of the type of Hershfield's density matrix), or equivalently a Gibbs-like ensemble of scattering states. The steady state I am considering is one where there is a steady flow of energy along the chain, coming from the steady draining / filling of two far-away reservoirs put at different temperatures. The context I am using is that of massive relativistic quantum field theory, which is the framework for describing the region near quantum critical points in any universality class with translation invariance and with dynamical exponent z equal to 1. I show, in this completely general setup, that a particular steady-state density matrix occurs naturally from the physically motivated Keldysh formulation of the steady state. In this formulation the steady state occurs as a result of a large-time evolution from an initial state where two halves of the system are separately thermalized. I also show how this suggests a particular dependence (a "factorization") of the average current on the left and right temperatures. The idea of this density matrix was proposed already in a recent publication with my collaborator Denis Bernard, where we studied it in the context of conformal field theory.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2012

Entanglement in permutation symmetric states, fractal dimensions, and geometric quantum mechanics

We study the von Neumann and Rényi bipartite entanglement entropies in the thermodynamic limit of many-body quantum states with spin-s sites, that possess full symmetry under exchange of sites. It turns out that there is essentially a one-to-one correspondence between such thermodynamic states and probability measures on CP^{2s}. Let a measure be supported on a set of possibly fractal real dimension d with respect to the Study-Fubini metric of CP^{2s}. Let m be the number of sites in a subsystem of the bipartition. We give evidence that in the limit where m goes to infinity, the entanglement entropy diverges like (d/2)log(m). Further, if the measure is supported on a submanifold of CP^{2s} and can be described by a density f with respect to the metric induced by the Study-Fubini metric, we give evidence that the correction term is simply related to the entropy associated to f: the geometric entropy of geometric quantum mechanics. This extends results obtained by the authors in a recent letter where the spin-1/2 case was considered. Here we provide more examples as well as detailed accounts of the ideas and computations leading to these general results. For special choices of the state in the spin-s situation, we recover the scaling behaviour previously observed by Popkov et al., showing that their result is but a special case of a more general scaling law.

math-ph↗

arXiv2012

Hypotrochoids in conformal restriction systems and Virasoro descendants

A conformal restriction system is a commutative, associative, unital algebra equipped with a representation of the groupoid of univalent conformal maps on connected open sets of the Riemann sphere, and a family of linear functionals on subalgebras, satisfying a set of properties including conformal invariance and a type of restriction. This embodies some expected properties of expectation values in conformal loop ensembles CLE. In the context of conformal restriction systems, we study certain algebra elements associated with hypotrochoid simple curves (including the ellipse). These have the CLE interpretation of being "renormalized random variables" that are nonzero only if there is at least one loop of hypotrochoid shape. Each curve has a center w, a scale ε and a rotation angle θ, and we analyze the renormalized random variable as a function of u=εe^{iθ} and w. We find that it has an expansion in positive powers of u and u*, and that the coefficients of pure u (u*) powers are holomorphic in w (w*). We identify these coefficients (the "hypotrochoid fields") with certain Virasoro descendants of the identity field in conformal field theory, thereby showing that they form part of a vertex operator algebraic structure. This largely generalizes works by the author (in CLE), and the author with his collaborators V. Riva and J. Cardy (in SLE 8/3 and other restriction measures), where the case of the ellipse, at the order u^2, led to the stress-energy tensor of CFT. The derivation uses in an essential way the Virasoro vertex operator algebra structure of conformal derivatives established recently by the author. The results suggest in particular the exact evaluation of CLE expectations of products of hypotrochoid fields as well as non-trivial relations amongst them through the vertex operator algebra, and further shed light onto the relationship between CLE and CFT.

math-ph↗

arXiv2012

Conformal loop ensembles and the stress-energy tensor

We give a construction of the stress-energy tensor of conformal field theory (CFT) as a local "object" in conformal loop ensembles CLE_κ, for all values of κin the dilute regime 8/3 < κ<= 4 (corresponding to the central charges 0 < c <= 1, and including all CFT minimal models). We provide a quick introduction to CLE, a mathematical theory for random loops in simply connected domains with properties of conformal invariance, developed by Sheffield and Werner (2006). We consider its extension to more general regions of definition, and make various hypotheses that are needed for our construction and expected to hold for CLE in the dilute regime. Using this, we identify the stress-energy tensor in the context of CLE. This is done by deriving its associated conformal Ward identities for single insertions in CLE probability functions, along with the appropriate boundary conditions on simply connected domains; its properties under conformal maps, involving the Schwarzian derivative; and its one-point average in terms of the "relative partition function." Part of the construction is in the same spirit as, but widely generalizes, that found in the context of SLE_{8/3} by the author, Riva and Cardy (2006), which only dealt with the case of zero central charge in simply connected hyperbolic regions. We do not use the explicit construction of the CLE probability measure, but only its defining and expected general properties.

math-ph↗

arXiv2012

Energy flow in non-equilibrium conformal field theory

We study the energy current and its fluctuations in quantum gapless 1d systems far from equilibrium modeled by conformal field theory, where two separated halves are prepared at distinct temperatures and glued together at a point contact. We prove that these systems converge towards steady states, and give a general description of such non-equilibrium steady states in terms of quantum field theory data. We compute the large deviation function, also called the full counting statistics, of energy transfer through the contact. These are universal and satisfy fluctuation relations. We provide a simple representation of these quantum fluctuations in terms of classical Poisson processes whose intensities are proportional to Boltzmann weights.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2012

Calculus on manifolds of conformal maps and CFT

In conformal field theory (CFT) on simply connected domains of the Riemann sphere, the natural conformal symmetries under self-maps are extended, in a certain way, to local symmetries under general conformal maps, and this is at the basis of the powerful techniques of CFT. Conformal maps of simply connected domains naturally have the structure of an infinite-dimensional groupoid, which generalizes the finite-dimensional group of self-maps. We put a topological structure on the space of conformal maps on simply connected domains, which makes it into a topological groupoid. Further, we (almost) extend this to a local manifold structure based on the infinite-dimensional Frechet topological vector space of holomorphic functions on a given domain A. From this, we develop the notion of conformal A-differentiability at the identity. Our main conclusion is that quadratic differentials characterizing cotangent elements on the local manifold enjoy properties similar to those of the holomorphic stress-energy tensor of CFT; these properties underpin the local symmetries of CFT. Applying the general formalism to CFT correlation functions, we show that the stress-energy tensor is exactly such a quadratic differential. This is at the basis of constructing the stress-energy tensor in conformal loop ensembles. It also clarifies the relation between Cardy's boundary conditions for CFT on simply connected domains, and the expression of the stress-energy tensor in terms of metric variations.

math-ph↗

arXiv2012

Entanglement entropy of highly degenerate states and fractal dimensions

We consider the bipartite entanglement entropy of ground states of extended quantum systems with a large degeneracy. Often, as when there is a spontaneously broken global Lie group symmetry, basis elements of the lowest-energy space form a natural geometrical structure. For instance, the spins of a spin-1/2 representation, pointing in various directions, form a sphere. We show that for subsystems with a large number m of local degrees of freedom, the entanglement entropy diverges as (d/2) log m, where d is the fractal dimension of the subset of basis elements with nonzero coefficients. We interpret this result by seeing d as the (not necessarily integer) number of zero-energy Goldstone bosons describing the ground state. We suggest that this result holds quite generally for largely degenerate ground states, with potential applications to spin glasses and quenched disorder.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2011

Arguments towards a c-theorem from branch-point twist fields

A fundamental quantity in 1+1 dimensional quantum field theories is Zamolodchikov's c-function. A function of a renormalization group distance parameter r that interpolates between UV and IR fixed points, its value is usually interpreted as a measure of the number of degrees of freedom of a model at a particular energy scale. The c-theorem establishes that c(r) is a monotonically decreasing function of r and that its derivative may only vanish at quantum critical points. At those points c(r) becomes the central charge of the conformal field theory which describes the critical point. In this letter we argue that a different function proposed by Calabrese and Cardy, defined in terms of the two-point function of a branch point twist field and the trace of the stress-energy tensor, has exactly the same qualitative features as c(r).

hep-th↗

arXiv2011

Higher conformal variations and the Virasoro vertex operator algebra

We develop a calculus of variations for functionals on certain spaces of conformal maps. Such a space Ω is composed of all maps that are conformal on domains containing a fix compact annular set of the Riemann sphere, and that are "sense-preserving". The calculus of variations is based on describing infinitesimal variations of such maps using vector fields. We show that derivatives of all orders with respect to such conformal maps, upon conjugation by an appropriate functional, give rise to the structure of the Virasoro vertex operator algebra. Our construction proceeds in three steps. We first put a natural topology on Ω and define smooth paths and an operation of differentiation to all orders ("conformal derivatives"). We then study certain second-order variational equations and their solutions. We finally show that such solutions give rise to representations of the Virasoro algebra in terms of conformal derivatives, from which follows constructions for the Virasoro vertex operator algebra. It turns out that series expansions of multiple covariant conformal derivatives are equal to products of multiple vertex operators. This paper extends a recent work by the author, where first-order conformal derivatives were associated with the stress-energy tensor of conformal field theory.

math-ph↗

arXiv2011

Factorisation of conformal maps on finitely connected domains

Let $U$ be a multiply connected domain of the Riemann sphere $\hat{C}$ whose complement $\hat{C}\setminus U$ has $N<\infty$ components. We show that every conformal map on $U$ can be written as a composition of $N$ maps conformal on simply connected domains. This improves on a recent result of D.E. Marshall, but our proof uses different ideas, and involves the uniformisation theorem for Riemann surfaces.

math.CV↗

arXiv2011

Full Counting Statistics in the Resonant-Level Model

We derive the large deviation function, which provides the large-time full counting statistics for the charge transfer, in the non-equilibrium steady state of the resonant-level model. The general form of this function in free fermion models, in terms of transmission coefficients, was proposed by Levitov and Lesovik in 1993 using a particular measurement set-up involving an interacting spin. It was later suggested to hold as well for a proper quantum mechanical measurement of the transferred charge. We give a precise proof of both statements in the resonant-level model. We first give a full description of the model and its steady state. That is, we explain how the decoupled system prepared with a charge differential evolves, with the impurity coupling, towards the Hershfield non-equilibrium density matrix, in the sense of averages of finitely-supported operators. We describe how this holds both for the usual resonant-level model with a point-like impurity, and for a regularised model with an impurity spread on a finite region, shedding light on subtleties associated to the point-like impurity. We then prove Levitov-Lesovik formula by recasting the problem into calculating averages of finitely-supported operators.

math-ph↗

arXiv2011

Correlation functions of twist fields from Ward identities in the massive Dirac theory

We derive non-linear differential equations for correlation functions of U(1) twist fields in the two-dimensional massive Dirac theory. Primary U(1) twist fields correspond to exponential fields in the sine-Gordon model at the free-fermion point, and it is well-known that their vacuum two-point functions are determined by integrable differential equations. We extend part of this result to more general quantum states (pure or mixed) and to certain descendents, showing that some two-point functions are determined by the sinh-Gordon differential equations whenever there is translation and parity invariance, and the density matrix is the exponential of a bilinear expression in fermions. We use methods involving Ward identities associated to the copy-rotation symmetry in a model with two independent, anti-commuting copies. Such methods were used in the context of the thermally perturbed Ising quantum field theory model. We show that they are applicable to the Dirac theory as well, and we suggest that they are likely to have a much wider applicability to free fermion models in general. Finally, we note that our form-factor study of descendents twist fields combined with a CFT analysis provides a new way of evaluating vacuum expectation values of primary U(1) twist fields: by deriving and solving a recursion relation.

hep-th↗

arXiv2011

Permutation operators, entanglement entropy, and the XXZ spin chain in the limit Δ-> -1

In this paper we develop a new approach to the investigation of the bi-partite entanglement entropy in integrable quantum spin chains. Our method employs the well-known replica trick, thus taking a replica version of the spin chain model as starting point. At each site i of this new model we construct an operator T_i which acts as a cyclic permutation among the n replicas of the model. Infinite products of T_i give rise to local operators, precursors of branch-point twist fields of quantum field theory. The entanglement entropy is then expressed in terms of correlation functions of such operators. Employing this approach we investigate the von Neumann and Rényi entropies of a particularly interesting quantum state occurring as a limit (in a compact convergence topology) of the antiferromagnetic XXZ quantum spin chain. We find that, for large sizes, the entropy scales logarithmically, but not conformally.

hep-th↗