arXiv subjects

Guido Franchetti

Publications and source records attributed to Guido Franchetti.

15 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

The $L^2$ metric for hyperbolic 2-monopoles

It has been recently shown that the notoriously divergent $L ^2 $ metric on the moduli space of hyperbolic monopoles can be made finite by the introduction of a modified gauge fixing condition \cite{franchetti:2024}. In this paper we compute this modified $L ^2 $ metric for the mass $\tfrac{1}{2}$ 2-monopoles. The resulting metric is actually a complex non-degenerate bilinear form, which restricts to a Riemannian metric on the 4-dimensional subspace of inversion symmetric 2-monopoles. Remarkably, we have been able to compute the $L ^2 $ form explicitly in terms of elementary functions and elliptic integrals. Its asymptotic form matches what was expected on the basis of previous results in the literature.

math.DG↗

arXiv2024

$L^2$ geometry of hyperbolic monopoles

It is well-known that the $L^2$ metric on the moduli space of hyperbolic monopoles, defined using the Coulomb gauge-fixing condition, diverges. This article shows that an alternative gauge-fixing condition inspired by supersymmetry cures this divergence. The resulting geometry is a hyperbolic analogue of the hyperk\"ahler geometry of Euclidean monopole moduli spaces.

math.DG↗

arXiv2023

Eguchi-Hanson harmonic spinors revisited

We revisit the problem of determining the zero modes of the Dirac operator on the Eguchi-Hanson space. It is well known that there are no normalisable zero modes, but such zero modes do appear when the Dirac operator is twisted by a $U(1)$ connection with $L^2$ normalisable curvature. The novelty of our treatment is that we use the formalism of spin-$c$ spinors (or spinors as differential forms), which makes the required calculations simpler. In particular, to compute the Dirac operator we never need to compute the spin connection. As a result, we are able to reproduce the known normalisable zero modes of the twisted Eguchi-Hanson Dirac operator by relatively simple computations. We also collect various different descriptions of the Eguchi-Hanson space, including its construction as a hyperk\"ahler quotient of $\mathbb{C}^4$ with the flat metric. The latter illustrates the geometric origin of the connection with $L^2$ curvature used to twist the Dirac operator. To illustrate the power of the formalism developed, we generalise the results to the case of Dirac zero modes on the Ricci-flat K\"ahler manifolds obtained by applying Calabi's construction to the canonical bundle of $\mathbb{C} P^n $.

math.DG↗

arXiv2023

The Asymptotic Structure of the Centred Hyperbolic 2-Monopole Moduli Space

We construct an asymptotic metric on the moduli space of two centred hyperbolic monopoles by working in the point particle approximation, that is treating well-separated monopoles as point particles with an electric, magnetic and scalar charge and re-interpreting the dynamics of the 2-particle system as geodesic motion with respect to some metric. The corresponding analysis in the Euclidean case famously yields the negative mass Taub-NUT metric, which asymptotically approximates the $L^2$ metric on the moduli space of two Euclidean monopoles, the Atiyah-Hitchin metric. An important difference with the Euclidean case is that, due to the absence of Galilean symmetry, in the hyperbolic case it is not possible to factor out the centre of mass motion. Nevertheless we show that we can consistently restrict to a 3-dimensional configuration space by considering antipodal configurations. In complete parallel with the Euclidean case, the metric that we obtain is then the hyperbolic analogue of negative mass Taub-NUT. We also show how the metric obtained is related to the asymptotic form of a hyperbolic analogue of the Atiyah-Hitchin metric constructed by Hitchin.

hep-th↗

arXiv2022

Kaluza-Klein reductions of maximally supersymmetric five-dimensional lorentzian spacetimes

A recent study of filtered deformations of (graded subalgebras of) the minimal five-dimensional Poincar\'e superalgebra resulted in two classes of maximally supersymmetric spacetimes. One class are the well-known maximally supersymmetric backgrounds of minimal five-dimensional supergravity, whereas the other class does not seem to be related to supergravity. This paper is a study of the Kaluza--Klein reductions to four dimensions of this latter class of maximally supersymmetric spacetimes. We classify the lorentzian and riemannian Kaluza--Klein reductions of these backgrounds, determine the fraction of the supersymmetry preserved under the reduction and in most cases determine explicitly the geometry of the four-dimensional quotient. Among the many supersymmetric quotients found, we highlight a number of novel non-homogeneous four-dimensional lorentzian spacetimes admitting $N=1$ supersymmetry, whose supersymmetry algebra is not a filtered deformation of any graded subalgebra of the four-dimensional $N=1$ Poincar\'e superalgebra. Any of these four-dimensional lorentzian spacetimes may serve as the arena for the construction of new rigidly supersymmetric field theories.

hep-th↗

arXiv2022

Harmonic forms on asymptotically AdS metrics

In this paper we study the rotationally invariant harmonic cohomology of a 2-parameter family of Einstein metrics $g$ which admits a cohomogeneity one action of $SU (2) \times U (1) $ and has AdS asymptotics. Depending on the values of the parameters, $g$ is either of NUT type, if the fixed-point locus of the $U (1) $ action is 0-dimensional, or of bolt type, if it is 2-dimensional. We find that if $g$ is of NUT type then the space of $SU (2) $-invariant harmonic 2-forms is 3-dimensional and consists entirely of self-dual forms; if $g$ is of bolt type it is 4-dimensional. In both cases we explicitly determine a basis. The pair $(g,F)$ for $F$ a self-dual harmonic 2-form is also a solution of the bosonic sector of $4D $ supergravity. We determine for which choices it is a supersymmetric solution and the amount of preserved supersymmetry.

hep-th↗

arXiv2018

Harmonic Forms and Spinors on the Taub-bolt Space

This paper studies the space of $L ^2 $ harmonic forms and $L ^2 $ harmonic spinors on Taub-bolt, a Ricci-flat Riemannian 4-manifold of ALF type. We prove that the space of harmonic square-integrable 2-forms on Taub-bolt is 2-dimensional and construct a basis. We explicitly find a 2-parameter family of $L ^2 $ zero modes of the Dirac operator twisted by an arbitrary $L ^2 $ harmonic connection. We also show that the number of zero modes found is equal to the index of the Dirac operator. We compare our results with those known in the case of Taub-NUT and Euclidean Schwarzschild as these manifolds present interesting similarities with Taub-bolt. In doing so, we slightly generalise known results on harmonic spinors on Euclidean Schwarzschild.

hep-th↗

arXiv2017

Harmonic Spinors on a Family of Einstein Manifolds

The purpose of this paper is to study harmonic spinors defined on a 1-parameter family of Einstein manifolds which includes Taub-NUT, Eguchi-Hanson and $P^2(C)$ with the Fubini-Study metric as particular cases. We discuss the existence of and explicitly solve for spinors harmonic with respect to the Dirac operator twisted by a geometrically preferred connection. The metrics examined are defined, for generic values of the parameter, on a non-compact manifold with the topology of $C^2$ and extend to $P^2(C)$ as edge-cone metrics. As a consequence, the subtle boundary conditions of the Atiyah-Patodi-Singer index theorem need to be carefully considered in order to show agreement between the index of the twisted Dirac operator and the result obtained by counting the explicit solutions.

hep-th↗

arXiv2016

Adiabatic dynamics of instantons on $S ^4 $

We define and compute the $L^2$ metric on the framed moduli space of circle invariant 1-instantons on the 4-sphere. This moduli space is four dimensional and our metric is $SO(3) \times U(1)$ symmetric. We study the behaviour of generic geodesics and show that the metric is geodesically incomplete. Circle-invariant instantons on the 4-sphere can also be viewed as hyperbolic monopoles, and we interpret our results from this viewpoint. We relate our results to work by Habermann on unframed instantons on the 4-sphere and, in the limit where the radius of the 4-sphere tends to infinity, to results on instantons on Euclidean 4-space.

hep-th↗

arXiv2016

Monopoles, instantons and the Helmholtz equation

In this work we study the dimensional reduction of smooth circle invariant Yang-Mills instantons defined on 4-manifolds which are non-trivial circle fibrations over hyperbolic 3-space. A suitable choice of the 4-manifold metric within a specific conformal class gives rise to singular and smooth hyperbolic monopoles. A large class of monopoles is obtained if the conformal factor satisfies the Helmholtz equation on hyperbolic 3-space. We describe simple configurations and relate our results to the JNR construction, for which we provide a geometric interpretation.

hep-th↗

arXiv2014

Time evolution in a geometric model of a particle

We analyse the properties of a (4+1)-dimensional Ricci-flat spacetime which may be viewed as an evolving Taub-NUT geometry, and give exact solutions of the Maxwell and gauged Dirac equation on this background. We interpret these solutions in terms of a geometric model of the electron and its spin, and discuss links between the resulting picture and Dirac's Large Number Hypothesis.

hep-th↗

arXiv2014

Harmonic forms on ALF gravitational instantons

We study the space of square-integrable harmonic forms over ALF gravitational instantons of type $A _{ K -1 } $ and of type $D _K $. We first calculate its dimension making use of a result by Hausel, Hunsicker and Mazzeo which relates the Hodge cohomology of a gravitational instanton $M$ to the singular cohomology of a particular compactification $X _M $ of $M$. We then exhibit an explicit basis, exact for $A _{ K -1 } $ and approximate for $D _K $, and interpret geometrically the relations between $M$, $X _M $ and their cohomologies.

hep-th↗

arXiv2013

Gravitational instantons as models for charged particle systems

In this paper we propose ALF gravitational instantons of types A_k and D_k as models for charged particle systems. We calculate the charges of the two families. These are -(k +1) for A_k, which is proposed as a model for k+1 electrons, and 2-k for D_k, which is proposed as a model for either a particle of charge +2 and k electrons or a proton and k-1 electrons. Making use of preferred topological and metrical structures of the manifolds, namely metrically preferred representatives of middle dimension homology classes, we construct two different energy functionals which reproduce the Coulomb interaction energy for a system of charged particles.

hep-th↗

arXiv2012

Exploiting quantum coherence of polaritons for ultra sensitive detectors

Besides being superfluids, microcavity exciton-polariton condensates are capable of spontaneous pattern formation due to their forced-dissipative dynamics. Their macroscopic and easily detectable response to small perturbations can be exploited to create sensitive devices. We show how controlled pumping in the presence of a peak-dip shaped potential can be used to detect small externally applied velocities which lead to the formation of traveling holes in one dimension and vortex pairs in two dimensions. Combining an annulus geometry with a weak link, the set up that we describe can be used to create a sensitive polariton gyroscope.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2012

Robustness and observability of rotating vortex-lattices in an exciton-polariton condensate

Exciton-polariton condensates display a variety of intriguing pattern-forming behaviors, particularly when confined in potential traps. It has previously been predicted that triangular lattices of vortices of the same sign will form spontaneously as the result of surface instabilities in a harmonic trap. However, natural disorder, deviation of the external potential from circular symmetry, or higher-order terms modifying the dynamical equations may all have detrimental effects and destabilize the circular trajectories of vortices. Here we address these issues, by characterizing the robustness of the vortex lattice against disorder and deformations of the trapping potential. Since most experiments use time integrated measurements it would be hard to observe directly the rotating vortex lattices or distinguish them from vortex-free states. We suggest how these difficulties can be overcome and present an experimentally viable interference-imaging scheme that would allow the detection of rotating vortex lattices.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗