arXiv subjects

Dhagash Mehta

Publications and source records attributed to Dhagash Mehta.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

arXiv2013

Tumbling through a landscape: Evidence of instabilities in high-dimensional moduli spaces

We argue that a generic instability afflicts vacua that arise in theories whose moduli space has large dimension. Specifically, by studying theories with multiple scalar fields we provide numerical evidence that for a generic local minimum of the potential the usual semiclassical bubble nucleation rate, Gamma = A e^{-B}, increases rapidly as function of the number of fields in the theory. As a consequence, the fraction of vacua with tunneling rates low enough to maintain metastability appears to fall exponentially as a function of the moduli space dimension. We discuss possible implications for the landscape of string theory. Notably, if our results prove applicable to string theory, the landscape of metastable vacua may not contain sufficient diversity to offer a natural explanation of dark energy.

hep-th↗

arXiv2013

Energy Landscape of the Finite-Size Mean-field 3-Spin Spherical Model

We study the 3-spin spherical model with mean-field interactions and Gaussian random couplings. For moderate system sizes of up to 20 spins, we obtain all stationary points of the energy landscape by means of the numerical polynomial homotopy continuation method. On the basis of these stationary points, we analyze the complexity and other quantities related to the glass transition of the model and compare these finite-system quantities to their exact counterparts in the thermodynamic limit.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2013

Certifying the Potential Energy Landscape

It is highly desirable for a numerical approximation of a stationary point for a potential energy landscape to lie in the quadratic convergence basin of that stationary point. However, it is possible that an approximation may lie only in the linear convergence basin, or even in a chaotic region, and hence not converge to the actual stationary point when further optimization is attempted. Proving that a numerical approximation will quadratically converge to the associated stationary point is termed certifying the numerical approximation. We employ Smale's α-theory to stationary points, providing a certification that serves as a mathematical proof that the numerical approximation does indeed correspond to an actual stationary point, independent of the precision employed. As a practical example, employing recently developed certification algorithms, we show how the α-theory can be used to certify all the known minima and transition states of Lennard-Jones LJ$_{N}$ atomic clusters for N = 7, ...,14.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2013

Enumerating Gribov copies on the lattice

In the modern formulation of lattice gauge-fixing, the gauge fixing condition is written in terms of the minima or stationary points (collectively called solutions) of a gauge-fixing functional. Due to the non-linearity of this functional, it usually has many solutions called Gribov copies. The dependence of the number of Gribov copies, n[U] on the different gauge orbits plays an important role in constructing the Faddeev-Popov procedure and hence in realising the BRST symmetry on the lattice. Here, we initiate a study of counting n[U] for different orbits using three complimentary methods: 1. analytical results in lower dimensions, and some lower bounds on n[U] in higher dimensions, 2. the numerical polynomial homotopy continuation method, which numerically finds all Gribov copies for a given orbit for small lattices, and 3. numerical minimisation ("brute force"), which finds many distinct Gribov copies, but not necessarily all. Because n for the coset SU(N_c)/U(1) of an SU(N_c) theory is orbit-independent, we concentrate on the residual compact U(1) case in this article and establish that n is orbit-dependent for the minimal lattice Landau gauge and orbit-independent for the absolute lattice Landau gauge. We also observe that contrary to a previous claim, n is not exponentially suppressed for the recently proposed stereographic lattice Landau gauge compared to the naive gauge in more than one dimension.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2013

Exploring the Potential Energy Landscape Over a Large Parameter-Space

Solving large polynomial systems with coefficient parameters are ubiquitous and constitute an important class of problems. We demonstrate the computational power of two methods--a symbolic one called the Comprehensive Gröbner basis and a numerical one called the cheater's homotopy-applied to studying both potential energy landscapes and a variety of questions arising from geometry and phenomenology. Particular attention is paid to an example in flux compactification where important physical quantities such as the gravitino and moduli masses and the string coupling can be efficiently extracted.

hep-th↗

arXiv2013

Numerical Analyses on Moduli Space of Vacua

We propose a new computational method to understand the vacuum moduli space of (supersymmetric) field theories. By combining numerical algebraic geometry (NAG) and elimination theory, we develop a powerful, efficient, and parallelizable algorithm to extract important information such as the dimension, branch structure, Hilbert series and subsequent operator counting, as well as variation according to coupling constants and mass parameters. We illustrate this method on a host of examples from gauge theory, string theory, and algebraic geometry.

hep-th↗

arXiv2012

Finding all flux vacua in an explicit example

We explicitly construct all supersymmetric flux vacua of a particular Calabi-Yau compactification of type IIB string theory for a small number of flux carrying cycles and a given D3-brane tadpole. The analysis is performed in the large complex structure region by using the polynomial homotopy continuation method, which allows to find all stationary points of the polynomial equations that characterize the supersymmetric vacuum solutions. The number of vacua as a function of the D3 tadpole is in agreement with statistical studies in the literature. We calculate the available tuning of the cosmological constant from fluxes and extrapolate to scenarios with a larger number of flux carrying cycles. We also verify the range of scales for the moduli and gravitino masses recently found for a single explicit flux choice giving a Kähler uplifted de Sitter vacuum in the same construction.

hep-th↗

arXiv2012

Exploring the energy landscape of XY models

We investigate the energy landscape of two- and three-dimensional XY models with nearest-neighbor interactions by analytically constructing several classes of stationary points of the Hamiltonian. These classes are analyzed, in particular with respect to possible signatures of the thermodynamic phase transitions of the models. We find that, even after explicitly breaking the global O(2) symmetry of the XY spins, an exponentially large class of stationary points are singular and occur in continuous one-parameter families. This property may complicate the use of theoretical tools developed for the investigation of phase transitions based on stationary points of the energy landscape, and we discuss strategies to avoid these difficulties.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2012

Phase Structure of Lattice N=4 Super Yang-Mills

We make a first study of the phase diagram of four-dimensional N=4 super Yang-Mills theory regulated on a space-time lattice. The lattice formulation we employ is both gauge invariant and retains at all lattice spacings one exactly preserved supersymmetry charge. Our numerical results are consistent with the existence of a single deconfined phase at all observed values of the bare coupling.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2012

Phase structure of QC2D at high temperature and density

We study two-color QCD with two flavors of Wilson fermion as a function of quark chemical potential mu and temperature T. We find evidence of a superfluid phase at intermediate mu and low T where the quark number density and diquark condensate are both very well described by a Fermi sphere of nearly-free quarks disrupted by a BCS condensate. This gives way to a region of deconfined quark matter at higher T and mu, with the deconfinement temperature decreasing only very slowly with increasing chemical potential. We find that heavy quarkonium bound states persist in the S-wave channels at all T and mu, with an energy reflecting the phase structure. P-wave states appear not to survive in the quarkyonic region.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2012

Energy landscape analysis of the two-dimensional nearest-neighbor ϕ^4 model

The stationary points of the potential energy function of the ϕ^4 model on a two-dimensional square lattice with nearest-neighbor interactions are studied by means of two numerical methods: a numerical homotopy continuation method and a globally-convergent Newton-Raphson method. We analyze the properties of the stationary points, in particular with respect to a number of quantities that have been conjectured to display signatures of the thermodynamic phase transition of the model. Although no such signatures are found for the nearest-neighbor ϕ^4 model, our study illustrates the strengths and weaknesses of the numerical methods employed.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2012

Non-abelian gauged NJL models on the lattice

We use Monte Carlo simulation to probe the phase structure of a SU(2) gauge theory containing $N_f$ Dirac fermion flavors transforming in the fundamental representation of the group and interacting through an additional four fermion term. Pairs of physical flavors are implemented using the two tastes present in a reduced staggered fermion formulation of the theory. The resultant lattice theory is invariant under a set of shift symmetries which correspond to a discrete subgroup of the continuum chiral-flavor symmetry. The pseudoreal character of the representation guarantees that the theory has no sign problem. For the case of $N_f=4$ we observe a crossover in the behavior of the chiral condensate for strong four fermi coupling associated with the generation of a dynamical mass for the fermions. At weak gauge coupling this crossover is consistent with the usual continuous phase transition seen in the pure (ungauged) NJL model. However, if the gauge coupling is strong enough to cause confinement we observe a much more rapid crossover in the chiral condensate consistent with a first order phase transition

hep-lat↗

arXiv2012

Numerical Algebraic Geometry: A New Perspective on String and Gauge Theories

The interplay rich between algebraic geometry and string and gauge theories has recently been immensely aided by advances in computational algebra. However, these symbolic (Gröbner) methods are severely limited by algorithmic issues such as exponential space complexity and being highly sequential. In this paper, we introduce a novel paradigm of numerical algebraic geometry which in a plethora of situations overcomes these short-comings. Its so-called 'embarrassing parallelizability' allows us to solve many problems and extract physical information which elude the symbolic methods. We describe the method and then use it to solve various problems arising from physics which could not be otherwise solved.

hep-th↗

arXiv2012

Minimizing Higgs Potentials via Numerical Polynomial Homotopy Continuation

The study of models with extended Higgs sectors requires to minimize the corresponding Higgs potentials, which is in general very difficult. Here, we apply a recently developed method, called numerical polynomial homotopy continuation (NPHC), which guarantees to find all the stationary points of the Higgs potentials with polynomial-like nonlinearity. The detection of all stationary points reveals the structure of the potential with maxima, metastable minima, saddle points besides the global minimum. We apply the NPHC method to the most general Higgs potential having two complex Higgs-boson doublets and up to five real Higgs-boson singlets. Moreover the method is applicable to even more involved potentials. Hence the NPHC method allows to go far beyond the limits of the Gröbner basis approach.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2012

Investigating the sign problem for two-dimensional $\mathcal{N}=(2,2)$ and $\mathcal{N}=(8,8)$ lattice super Yang--Mills theories

Recently there has been some controversy in the literature concerning the existence of a fermion sign problem in the $\mathcal{N}=(2,2)$ supersymmetric Yang--Mills (SYM) theories on the lattice. In this work, we address this issue by conducting Monte Carlo simulations not only for $\mathcal{N}=(2,2)$ but also for $\mathcal{N}=(8,8)$ SYM in two dimensions for the U(N) theories with N=2, using the new ideas derived from topological twisting followed by geometric discretization. Our results from simulations provide the evidence that these theories do {\it not} suffer from a sign problem as the continuum limit is approached. These results thus boost confidence that these new lattice formulations can be used successfully to explore the nonperturbative aspects of the four-dimensional $\mathcal{N}=4$ SYM theory.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2011

Supersymmetric gauge theories on the lattice: Pfaffian phases and the Neuberger 0/0 problem

Recently a class of supersymmetric gauge theories have been successfully implemented on the lattice. However, there has been an ongoing debate on whether lattice versions of some of these theories suffer from a sign problem, with independent simulations for the ${\cal N} = (2, 2)$ supersymmetric Yang-Mills theories in two dimensions yielding seemingly contradictory results. Here, we address this issue from an interesting theoretical point of view. We conjecture that the sign problem observed in some of the simulations is related to the so called Neuberger 0/0 problem, which arises in ordinary non-supersymmetric lattice gauge theories, and prevents the realization of Becchi-Rouet-Stora-Tyutin symmetry on the lattice. After discussing why we expect a sign problem in certain classes of supersymmetric lattice gauge theories far from the continuum limit, we argue that these problems can be evaded by use of a non-compact parametrization of the gauge link fields.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2011

On the sign problem in 2D lattice super Yang--Mills

In recent years a new class of supersymmetric lattice theories have been proposed which retain one or more exact supersymmetries for non-zero lattice spacing. Recently there has been some controversy in the literature concerning whether these theories suffer from a sign problem. In this paper we address this issue by conducting simulations of the N=(2, 2) and N=(8, 8) supersymmetric Yang--Mills theories in two dimensions for the U(N) theories with N=2,3,4, using the new twisted lattice formulations. Our results provide evidence that these theories do not suffer from a sign problem in the continuum limit. These results thus boost confidence that the new lattice formulations can be used successfully to explore non-perturbative aspects of four-dimensional N=4 supersymmetric Yang--Mills theory.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2011

Numerical Polynomial Homotopy Continuation Method and String Vacua

Finding vacua for the four dimensional effective theories for supergravity which descend from flux compactifications and analyzing them according to their stability is one of the central problems in string phenomenology. Except for some simple toy models, it is, however, difficult to find all the vacua analytically. Recently developed algorithmic methods based on symbolic computer algebra can be of great help in the more realistic models. However, they suffer from serious algorithmic complexities and are limited to small system sizes. In this article, we review a numerical method called the numerical polynomial homotopy continuation (NPHC) method, first used in the areas of lattice field theories, which by construction finds \textit{all} of the vacua of a given potential that is known to have only isolated solutions. The NPHC method is known to suffer from no major algorithmic complexities and is \textit{embarrassingly parallelizable}, and hence its applicability goes way beyond the existing symbolic methods. We first solve a simple toy model as a warm up example to demonstrate the NPHC method at work and compare the results with the available results from the symbolic methods. We then show that all the vacua of a more complicated model of M theory compactified on the coset $\frac{SU(3)\times U(1)}{U(1)\times U(1)}$, which has an SU(3) structure, can be obtained by the NPHC method using a desktop machine in just about one hour, a feat which was reported to be prohibitively difficult by the existing symbolic methods. Finally, we compare the various technicalities between the two methods.

hep-th↗