arXiv subjects

Denis Bernard

Publications and source records attributed to Denis Bernard.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2022

Bernoulli variables, classical exclusion processes and free probability

We present a new description of the known large deviation function of the classical symmetric simple exclusion process by exploiting its connection with the quantum symmetric simple exclusion processes and using tools from free probability. This may seem paradoxal as free probability usually deals with non commutative probability while the simple exclusion process belongs to the realm of classical probability. On the way, we give a new formula for the free energy -- alias the logarithm of the Laplace transform of the probability distribution -- of correlated Bernoulli variables in terms of the set of their cumulants with non-coinciding indices. This latter result is obtained either by developing a combinatorial approach for cumulants of products of random variables or by borrowing techniques from Feynman graphs.

math-ph↗

arXiv2022

MeV-GeV Polarimetry with $γ\to e^+e^-$: Asserting the Performance of Silicon Strip Detectors-Based Telescopes

The polarimetry of gamma rays converting to an $e^+e^-$ pair would open a new window on the high-energy gamma-ray sky by, among other things, providing insight into the radiation mechanism in pulsars (curvature or synchrotron) or deciphering the composition of the gamma-ray emitting jets in blazars (leptonic or lepto-hadronic). The performance of polarimeters based on homogeneous active targets (gas detectors (MeV, HARPO) or emulsions (GeV, GRAINE) has been studied both with simulation and by the analysis of data collected with telescope prototypes on linearly-polarised gamma-ray beams, and found to be excellent. The present (Fermi LAT), AGILE and future project (AMEGO, ASTROGAM) gamma-ray missions, though, are using active targets based on silicon strip detectors (SSD). No demonstration of a non-zero effective polarisation asymmetry with SSDs has been published to date, be it only with simulated data, and sensitivity estimations were obtained from an assumed value of the effective polarisation asymmetry. I present a characterisation of the potential of SSD-based active targets for polarimetry with gamma-ray conversions to pairs and the development of various methods to improve on the sensitivity. This work could pave the way to providing the polarimetry of the brightest gamma-ray sources of the sky from the decade of data collected by the Fermi LAT and by AGILE, and to guiding the design of future missions.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2022

Time projection chambers for gamma-ray astronomy

The detection of photons with energies greater than a few tenths of an MeV, interacting via Compton scattering and/or pair production, faces a number of difficulties. The reconstruction of single-scatter Compton events can only determine the direction of the incoming photon to a cone, or an arc thereof and the angular resolution of pair-conversion telescopes is badly degraded at low energies. Both of these difficulties are partially overcome if the density of the interaction medium is low. Also no precise polarization measurement on a cosmic source has been obtained in that energy range to date. We present the potential of low-density high-precision homogeneous active targets, such as time-projection chambers (TPC) to provide an unambiguous photon direction measurement for Compton events, an angular resolution down to the kinematic limit for pair events, and the polarimetry of linearly polarized radiation.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2022

Gamma-Ray Polarimetry

While the scientific potential of high-energy X-ray and gamma-ray polarimetry has long been recognized, measuring the polarization of high-energy photons is challenging. To date, there has been very few significant detections from an astrophysical source. However, recent technological developments raise the possibility that this may change in the not-too-distant future. Significant progress has been made in the development of Gamma-ray Burst (GRB) polarimeters and polarization sensitive Compton telescopes. A second-generation dedicated GRB polarimeter, POLAR-2, is under development for launch in 2024, and COSI a second-generation polarization sensitive Compton Telescope has been selected by NASA for launch in 2025. This chapter reviews basic concepts and experimental approaches of scattering polarimetry of hard X-rays to MeV γ-rays, and pair production polarimetry of higher-energy photons

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2022

The sinh-Gordon model beyond the self dual point and the freezing transition in disordered systems

The S-matrix of the well-studied sinh-Gordon model possesses a remarkable strong/weak coupling duality $b \to 1/b$. Since there is no understanding nor evidence for such a duality based on the quantum action of the model, it should be questioned whether the properties of the model for $b>1$ are simply obtained by analytic continuation of the weak coupling regime $0 1$. Namely, we propose that in this region one needs to introduce a background charge $Q_\infty = b + 1/b -2$ which differs from the Liouville background charge by the shift of $-2$. We propose that in this regime the model has non-trivial massless renormalization group flows between two different conformal field theories. This is in contrast to the weak coupling regime which is a theory of a single massive particle. Evidence for our proposal comes from higher order beta functions. We show how our proposal correctly reproduces the freezing transitions in the multi-fractal exponents of a Dirac fermion in $2+1$ dimensions in a random magnetic field, which provides a strong check since such transitions have several detailed features. We also point out a connection between a semi-classical version of this transition and the so-called Manning condensation phenomena in polyelectrolyte physics.

hep-th↗

arXiv2021

Dynamics of Fluctuations in Quantum Simple Exclusion Processes

We consider the dynamics of fluctuations in the quantum asymmetric simple exclusion process (Q-ASEP) with periodic boundary conditions. The Q-ASEP describes a chain of spinless fermions with random hoppings that are induced by a Markovian environment. We show that fluctuations of the fermionic degrees of freedom obey evolution equations of Lindblad type, and derive the corresponding Lindbladians. We identify the underlying algebraic structure by mapping them to non-Hermitian spin chains and demonstrate that the operator space fragments into exponentially many (in system size) sectors that are invariant under time evolution. At the level of quadratic fluctuations we consider the Lindbladian on the sectors that determine the late time dynamics for the particular case of the quantum symmetric simple exclusion process (Q-SSEP). We show that the corresponding blocks in some cases correspond to known Yang-Baxter integrable models and investigate the level-spacing statistics in others. We carry out a detailed analysis of the steady states and slow modes that govern the late time behaviour and show that the dynamics of fluctuations of observables is described in terms of closed sets of coupled linear differential-difference equations. The behaviour of the solutions to these equations is essentially diffusive but with relevant deviations, that at sufficiently late times and large distances can be described in terms of a continuum scaling limit which we construct. We numerically check the validity of this scaling limit over a significant range of time and space scales. These results are then applied to the study of operator spreading at large scales, focusing on out-of-time ordered correlators and operator entanglement.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2021

Universal out-of-equilibrium dynamics of 1D critical quantum systems perturbed by noise coupled to energy

We consider critical one dimensional quantum systems initially prepared in their groundstate and perturbed by a smooth noise coupled to the energy density. By using conformal field theory, we deduce a universal description of the out-of-equilibrium dynamics. In particular, the full time-dependent distribution of any $2$--pt chiral correlation function can be obtained from solving two coupled ordinary stochastic differential equations. In contrast with the general expectation of heating, we demonstrate that the system reaches a non-trivial and universal stationary state characterized by broad distributions. As an example, we analyse the local energy density: while its first moment diverges exponentially fast in time, the stationary distribution, which we derive analytically, is symmetric around a negative median and exhibits a fat tail with $3/2$ decay exponent. We obtain a similar result for the entanglement entropy production associated to a given interval of size $\ell$. The corresponding stationary distribution has a $3/2$ right tail for all $\ell$, and converges to a one-sided Levy stable for large $\ell$. Our results are benchmarked via analytical and numerical calculations for a chain of non-interacting spinless fermions with excellent agreement.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2021

Can the Macroscopic Fluctuation Theory be Quantized?

The Macroscopic Fluctuation Theory is an effective framework to describe transports and their fluctuations in classical out-of-equilibrium diffusive systems. Whether the Macroscopic Fluctuation Theory may be extended to the quantum realm and which form this extension may take is yet terra incognita but is a timely question. In this short introductory review, I discuss possible questions that a quantum version of the Macroscopic Fluctuation Theory could address and how analysing Quantum Simple Exclusion Processes yields pieces of answers to these questions.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2021

Entanglement distribution in the Quantum Symmetric Simple Exclusion Process

We study the probability distribution of entanglement in the Quantum Symmetric Simple Exclusion Process, a model of fermions hopping with random Brownian amplitudes between neighboring sites. We consider a protocol where the system is initialized in a pure product state of $M$ particles, and focus on the late-time distribution of Rényi-$q$ entropies for a subsystem of size $\ell$. By means of a Coulomb gas approach from Random Matrix Theory, we compute analytically the large-deviation function of the entropy in the thermodynamic limit. For $q>1$, we show that, depending on the value of the ratio $\ell/M$, the entropy distribution displays either two or three distinct regimes, ranging from low- to high-entanglement. These are connected by points where the probability density features singularities in its third derivative, which can be understood in terms of a transition in the corresponding charge density of the Coulomb gas. Our analytic results are supported by numerical Monte Carlo simulations.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2021

Recent BABAR results on measurement of exclusive hadronic cross sections

The measurement of exclusive $e^+e^-$ to hadrons processes is a significant part of the physics program of $BABAR$ experiment, aimed to improve the calculation of the hadronic contribution to the muon $g-2$ and to study the intermediate dynamics of the processes. We present the most recent results obtained by using the full data set of about 470\,fb$^{-1}$ collected by the BABAR detector at the PEP-II $e^+e^-$ collider at a center-of-mass energy of about 10.6 GeV. In particular, we report the results on $e^+e^-$ annihilation into six- and seven-pion final states. The study of the very rich dynamics of these processes can help to understand the difference seen between the QCD prediction and the sum of exclusive cross sections in the energy region around 2 GeV, thus improving the precision on the total hadronic cross section and of the $g-2$ calculation. Additionally, we report the results on a dedicated study to shed light on the resonant states production in the energy region around 2.2 GeV, which is presently rather unclear. We measure the reaction $e^+e^-\to K_SK_L$ with data collected with the $BABAR$ detector and analyse these data in conjunction with published BESIII data on $e^+e^-\to K^+K^-$ and $BABAR$ data on $e^+e^-\to K^+K^-$, $π^+π^-$, $π^+π^-η$, $π^+π^-ω$. This study supports the existence of an isovector resonance $ρ(2230)$ consistent with the resonance observed by BESIII.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2021

Solution to the Quantum Symmetric Simple Exclusion Process : the Continuous Case

The Quantum Symmetric Simple Exclusion Process (Q-SSEP) is a model for quantum stochastic dynamics of fermions hopping along the edges of a graph with Brownian noisy amplitudes and driven out-of-equilibrium by injection-extraction processes at a few vertices. We present a solution for the invariant probability measure of the one dimensional Q-SSEP in the infinite size limit by constructing the steady correlation functions of the system density matrix and quantum expectation values. These correlation functions code for a rich structure of fluctuating quantum correlations and coherences. Although our construction does not rely on the standard techniques from the theory of integrable systems, it is based on a remarkable interplay between the permutation groups and polynomials. We incidentally point out a possible combinatorial interpretation of the Q-SSEP correlation functions via a surprising connexion with geometric combinatorics and the associahedron polytopes.

math-ph↗

arXiv2021

Pair invariant mass spectrum and polarization asymmetry in the event generation of gamma-ray conversions

We examine the dielectron invariant mass spectrum and the variation of the polarization asymmetry as a function of that mass in the event generator of the five-dimensional Bethe-Heitler differential cross section of the conversion of linearly polarized photons that we have implemented recently as a Geant4 Physics Model. We compare the results obtained with simulated samples to analytical expressions. Studies of $b \to s γ$ decays at LHC and Belle II experiments could provide hints of physics beyond the standard model in flavor-changing neutral current processes; issues have been reported in the simulation of the properties of the background induced by genuine $γ$-ray conversions in their detectors. Our results demonstrate that using the five-dimensional model would help solve these issues.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2020

Heteroscedasticity and angle resolution in high-energy particle tracking: revisiting "Beyond the $\sqrt{\mathrm{N}}$ limit of the least squares resolution and the lucky model", by G. Landi and G. E. Landi

I re-examine a recent work by G. Landi and G. E. Landi. [arXiv:1808.06708 [physics.ins-det]], in which the authors claim that the resolution of a tracker ca vary linearly with the number of detection layers, $N$, that is, faster than the commonly known $\sqrt{N}$ variation, for a tracker of fixed length, in case the precision of the position measurement is allowed to vary from layer to layer, i.e. heteroscedasticity, and an appropriate analysis method, a weighted least squares fit, is used.

physics.data-an↗

arXiv2020

A Classification of Non-Hermitian Random Matrices

We present a classification of non-hermitian random matrices based on implementing commuting discrete symmetries. It contains 38 classes. This generalizes the classification of hermitian random matrices due to Altland-Zirnbauer and it also extends the Ginibre ensembles of non-hermitian matrices.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2020

A decade of multi-wavelength observations of the TeV blazar 1ES 1215+303: Extreme shift of the synchrotron peak frequency and long-term optical-gamma-ray flux increase

Blazars are known for their variability on a wide range of timescales at all wavelengths. Most studies of TeV gamma-ray blazars focus on short timescales, especially during flares. With a decade of observations from the Fermi-LAT and VERITAS, we present an extensive study of the long-term multi-wavelength radio-to-gamma-ray flux-density variability, with the addition of a couple of short-time radio-structure and optical polarization observations of the blazar 1ES 1215+303 (z=0.130), with a focus on its gamma-ray emission from 100 MeV to 30 TeV. Multiple strong GeV gamma-ray flares, a long-term increase in the gamma-ray and optical flux baseline and a linear correlation between these two bands are observed over the ten-year period. Typical HBL behaviors are identified in the radio morphology and broadband spectrum of the source. Three stationary features in the innermost jet are resolved by VLBA at 43.1, 22.2, and 15.3 GHz. We employ a two-component synchrotron self-Compton model to describe different flux states of the source, including the epoch during which an extreme shift in energy of the synchrotron peak frequency from infrared to soft X-rays is observed.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2020

From stochastic spin chains to quantum Kardar-Parisi-Zhang dynamics

We introduce the asymmetric extension of the Quantum Symmetric Simple Exclusion Process which is a stochastic model of fermions on a lattice hopping with random amplitudes. In this setting, we analytically show that the time-integrated current of fermions defines a height field which exhibits a quantum non-linear stochastic Kardar-Parisi-Zhang dynamics. Similarly to classical simple exclusion processes, we further introduce the discrete Cole-Hopf (or Gärtner) transform of the height field which satisfies a quantum version of the Stochastic Heat Equation. Finally, we investigate the limit of the height field theory in the continuum under the celebrated Kardar-Parisi-Zhang scaling and the regime of almost-commuting quantum noise.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

Entanglement entropy growth in stochastic conformal field theory and the KPZ class

We introduce a model of effective conformal quantum field theory in dimension $d=1+1$ coupled to stochastic noise, where Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) class fluctuations can be observed. The analysis of the quantum dynamics of the scaling operators reduces to the study of random trajectories in a random environment, modeled by Brownian vector fields. We use recent results on random walks in random environments to calculate the time-dependent entanglement entropy of a subsystem interval, starting from a factorized state. We find that the fluctuations of the entropy in the large deviation regime are governed by the universal Tracy-Widom distribution. This enlarges the KPZ class, previously observed in random circuit models, to a family of interacting many body quantum systems.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2019

All-sky Medium Energy Gamma-ray Observatory: Exploring the Extreme Multimessenger Universe

The All-sky Medium Energy Gamma-ray Observatory (AMEGO) is a probe class mission concept that will provide essential contributions to multimessenger astrophysics in the late 2020s and beyond. AMEGO combines high sensitivity in the 200 keV to 10 GeV energy range with a wide field of view, good spectral resolution, and polarization sensitivity. Therefore, AMEGO is key in the study of multimessenger astrophysical objects that have unique signatures in the gamma-ray regime, such as neutron star mergers, supernovae, and flaring active galactic nuclei. The order-of-magnitude improvement compared to previous MeV missions also enables discoveries of a wide range of phenomena whose energy output peaks in the relatively unexplored medium-energy gamma-ray band.

astro-ph.IM↗