arXiv subjects

Javier Mas

Publications and source records attributed to Javier Mas.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Size Operator and Spectral Clustering in the Two Coupled SYK Model

At large $N$, two coupled Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev models realize an eternal traversable wormhole with a discrete spectrum. We show that at finite $N$ the spectrum organizes into clusters labeled by operator size. Low-size clusters evolve into the conformal towers and define a weak-ergodicity-breaking subspace responsible for the long-lived wormhole revival dynamics. Moreover, the competition between size energy and size entropy provides a microscopic interpretation of the wormhole-black hole transition. These results reveal operator size as the bridge between the finite-$N$ spectrum and the emergent gravitational physics at large $N$.

hep-th↗

arXiv2025

Chiral symmetry breaking and restoration by helical magnetic fields in AdS/CFT

We study the effects of helical magnetic fields on chiral symmetry breaking within the AdS/QCD framework using the D3/D7-brane model. By analyzing the brane embeddings, we obtain three types of massless solutions, corresponding to three phases with different behavior in the dual field theory. From the study of quark condensates, free energy, and electric currents, we find that helical magnetic fields can counteract uniform-field-induced symmetry breaking, driving the system towards symmetry restoration. We also find an effect analog to the chiral magnetic effect whereby the current is parallel to the magnetic field. We further study the massive case, and find that the helical configuration is less effective in erasing the first order phase transition that is present in the case of a constant magnetic field.

hep-th↗

arXiv2025

Hot wormholes and chaos dynamics in a two-coupled SYK model

We study the dynamics of chaos across the phase transition in a 2-coupled Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model, with a focus on the unstable "hot wormhole" phase. Using the Schwinger-Keldysh formalism, we employ two non-equilibrium protocols that allow access to this phase, which is inaccessible through equilibrium simulations: one involves cooling the system via a coupling to a thermal bath, while in the other we periodically drive the coupling parameter between the two sides. We numerically compute the Lyapunov exponents of the hot wormhole for the two cases. Our results uncover a rich structure within this phase, including both thermal and non-thermal solutions. These behaviors are analyzed in detail, with partial insights provided by the Schwarzian approximation, which captures certain but not all aspects of the observed dynamics.

hep-th↗

arXiv2024

Multitrace deformations and the nonlinear stability of Anti-de Sitter space

We investigate the nonlinear stability of global Anti-de Sitter space in the presence of multitrace deformations utilizing an Einstein-Klein-Gordon system with a top-down scalar potential. Our numerical simulations show that marginal and irrelevant deformations retain the nonlinear instability originally found by Bizo\'n and Rostworowski, while relevant deformations disrupt it. We show that the nonlinear impact of multitrace deformations is in one-to-one correspondence with how they affect the resonant character of the global Anti-de Sitter normal mode eigenfrequency spectrum.

hep-th↗

arXiv2024

Floquet SYK wormholes

We study the non-equilibrium dynamics of two coupled SYK models, conjectured to be holographically dual to an eternal traversable wormhole in AdS$_2$. We consider different periodic drivings of the parameters of the system. We analyze the energy flows in the wormhole and black hole phases of the model as a function of the driving frequency. Our numerical results show a series of resonant frequencies in which the energy absorption and heating are enhanced significantly and the transmission coefficients drop, signalling a closure of the wormhole. These frequencies correspond to part of the conformal tower of states and to the boundary graviton of the dual gravitational theory. Furthermore, we provide evidence supporting the existence of a hot wormhole phase between the black hole and wormhole phases. When driving the strength of the separate SYK terms we find that the transmission can be enhanced by suitably tuning the driving.

hep-th↗

arXiv2023

Hamiltonian Forging of a Thermofield Double

We address the variational preparation of the Thermofield Double as the ground state of a suitably engineered Hamiltonian acting on the doubled Hilbert space. Through the use of the Entanglement Forging ansatz, we propose a solution that involves only circuits of width $N$. We illustrate the method with generic fermionic Hamiltonians. The free fermion case can be solved in closed form, and yields a warm start state for the variational circuits whenever interactions are present. As an important side product, this method returns the complete energy spectrum and eigenbasis of the system.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Resonant Drivings in Global AdS

We revisit the case of a real scalar field in global AdS$_4$ subject to a periodic driving. We address the issue of adiabatic preparation and deformation of a time-periodic solution dual to a Floquet condensate. Then we carefully study the case of driving close to the normal mode resonant frequencies. We examine different slow protocols that adiabatically change the amplitude and/or the frequency of the driving. Traversing a normal mode frequency has very different results depending upon the sense of the frequency modulation. Generally, in the growing sense, the geometry reaches a periodically-modulated state, whereas in the opposite one, it collapses into a black hole. We study the suppression points. These are periodic solutions that are dual to a scalar field with vanishing $v.e.v., \langle \phi\rangle = 0$, instead of vanishing source. We also investigate quasi-periodic solutions that are prepared by driving with a combination of two normal resonant frequencies. We observe that, while the driving is on, the non-linear cascading towards higher frequencies is strongly suppressed. However, once the driving is switched off, the cascading takes over again, and in some cases, it eventually brings the solution to a collapse. Finally, we study the driving by a non-coherent thermal ensemble of resonant drivings that model stochastic noise. Our numerical results suggest the existence of stable regular solutions at sufficiently low temperature and a transition to collapse above some threshold.

hep-th↗

arXiv2022

Holographic Floquet states in low dimensions (II)

We continue the study in [1] of a strongly coupled (2+1)-dimensional gauge theory subject to an external rotating electric field. The system is modelled holographically as a D3/D5 probe intersection. We add temperature to the D3 background and analyze the phase diagram. Also here, the conductive phase extends down to vanishing external electric field at discrete values of the frequencies where vector meson Floquet condensates form. For all temperatures, at given intercalated frequencies, we find new dual states that we name Floquet suppression points, where the vacuum polarization vanishes even in the presence of an electric field. From the data we infer that these states exist both in the conductive and insulating phases. In the massless limit we find a linear and instantaneous conductivity law, recovering known general results in 2+1 dimensions. We also examine the photovoltaic AC and DC current as the response to an oscillating probe electric field and see that rising the temperature suppresses the photovoltaic Hall current. All the results obtained carry over qualitatively unaltered to the case of D3/D7.

hep-th↗

arXiv2020

Hermitian Matrix Definiteness from Quantum Phase Estimation

An algorithm to classify a general Hermitian matrix according to its signature (positive semi-definite, negative or indefinite) is presented. It builds on the Quantum Phase Estimation algorithm, which stores the sign of the eigenvalues of a Hermitian matrix in one ancillary qubit. The signature of the matrix is extracted from the mean value of a spin operator in this single ancillary qubit. The algorithm is probabilistic, but it shows good performance, achieving 97% of correct classifications with few qubits. The computational cost scales comparably to the classical one in the case of a generic matrix, but improves significantly for restricted classes of matrices like $k$-local or sparse hamiltonians.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2020

Holographic Floquet states in low dimensions (I)

We study the response of a (2+1)-dimensional gauge theory to an external rotating electric field. In the strong coupling regime such system is formulated holographically in a top-down model constructed by intersecting D3- and D5-branes along 2+1 dimensions, in the quenched approximation, in which the D5-brane is a probe in the AdS_5 x S^5 geometry. The system has a non-equilibrium phase diagram with conductive and insulator phases. The external driving induces a rotating current due to vacuum polarization (in the insulator phase) and to Schwinger effect (in the conductive phase). For some particular values of the driving frequency the external field resonates with the vector mesons of the model and a rotating current can be produced even in the limit of vanishing driving field. These features are in common with the (3+1) dimensional setup based on the D3-D7 brane model and hint on some interesting universality. We also compute the conductivities paying special attention to the photovoltaic induced Hall effect, which is only present for massive charged carriers. In the vicinity of the Floquet condensate the optical Hall coefficient persists at zero driving field, signalling time reversal symmetry breaking.

hep-th↗

arXiv2019

Gravitational wave driving of a gapped holographic system

This work addresses the response of a holographic conformal field theory to a homogeneous gravitational periodic driving. The dual geometry is the AdS-soliton, which models a strongly coupled quantum system in a gapped phase, on a compact domain. The response is a time-periodic geometry up to a driving amplitude threshold which decreases with the driving frequency. Beyond that, collapse to a black hole occurs, signaling decoherence and thermalization in the dual theory. At some frequencies, we also find a resonant coupling to the gravitational normal modes of the AdS-soliton, yielding a nonlinearly bound state. We also speculate on the possible uses of quantum strongly coupled systems to build resonant gravitational wave detectors.

hep-th↗

arXiv2017

Floquet Scalar Dynamics in Global AdS

We study periodically driven scalar fields and the resulting geometries with global AdS asymptotics. These solutions describe the strongly coupled dynamics of dual finite-size quantum systems under a periodic driving which we interpret as Floquet condensates. They span a continuous two-parameter space that extends the linearized solutions on AdS. We map the regions of stability in the solution space. In a significant portion of the unstable subspace, two very different endpoints are reached depending upon the sign of the perturbation. Collapse into a black hole occurs for one sign. For the opposite sign instead one attains a regular solution with periodic modulation. We also construct quenches where the driving frequency and amplitude are continuously varied. Quasistatic quenches can interpolate between pure AdS and sourced solutions with time periodic vev. By suitably choosing the quasistatic path one can obtain boson stars dual to Floquet condensates at zero driving field. We characterize the adiabaticity of the quenching processes. Besides, we speculate on the possible connections of this framework with time crystals.

hep-th↗

arXiv2016

Adiabatic pumping solutions in global AdS

We construct a family of very simple stationary solutions to gravity coupled to a massless scalar field in global AdS. They involve a constantly rising source for the scalar field at the boundary and thereby we name them pumping solutions. We construct them numerically in $D=4$. They are regular and, generically, have negative mass. We perform a study of linear and nonlinear stability and find both stable and unstable branches. In the latter case, solutions belonging to different sub-branches can either decay to black holes or to limiting cycles. This observation motivates the search for non-stationary exactly time-periodic solutions which we actually construct. We clarify the role of pumping solutions in the context of quasistatic adiabatic quenches. In $D=3$ the pumping solutions can be related to other previously known solutions, like magnetic or translationally-breaking backgrounds. From this we derive an analytic expression.

hep-th↗

arXiv2016

Delayed collapses of BECs in relation to AdS gravity

We numerically investigate spherically symmetric collapses in the Gross-Pitaevskii equation with attractive nonlinearity in a harmonic potential. Even below threshold for direct collapse, the wave function bounces off from the origin and may eventually become singular after a number of oscilla- tions in the trapping potential. This is reminiscent of the evolution of Einstein gravity sourced by a scalar field in Anti-de Sitter space where collapse corresponds to black hole formation. We carefully examine the long time evolution of the wave function for continuous families of initial states in order to sharpen out this qualitative coincidence which may bring new insights in both directions. On one hand, we comment on possible implications for the so-called Bosenova collapses in cold atom Bose-Einstein condensates. On the other hand, Gross-Pitaevskii provides a toy model to study the relevance of either the resonance conditions or the nonlinearity for the problem of Anti-de Sitter instability.

nlin.PS↗

arXiv2016

Stability of Charged Global AdS$_4$ Spacetimes

We study linear and nonlinear stability of asymptotically AdS$_4$ solutions in Einstein-Maxwell-scalar theory. After summarizing the set of static solutions we first examine thermodynamical stability in the grand canonical ensemble and the phase transitions that occur among them. In the second part of the paper we focus on nonlinear stability in the microcanonical ensemble by evolving radial perturbations numerically. We find hints of an instability corner for vanishingly small perturbations of the same kind as the ones present in the uncharged case. Collapses are avoided, instead, if the charge and mass of the perturbations come to close the line of solitons. Finally we examine the soliton solutions. The linear spectrum of normal modes is not resonant and instability turns on at extrema of the mass curve. Linear stability extends to nonlinear stability up to some threshold for the amplitude of the perturbation. Beyond that, the soliton is destroyed and collapses to a hairy black hole. The relative width of this stability band scales down with the charge Q, and does not survive the blow up limit to a planar geometry.

hep-th↗

arXiv2016

Holographic Quenches with a Gap

In order to holographically model quenches with a gapped final hamiltonian, we consider a gravity-scalar theory in anti-de Sitter space with an infrared hard wall. We allow a time dependent profile for the scalar field at the wall. This induces an energy exchange between bulk and wall and generates an oscillating scalar pulse. We argue that such backgrounds are the counterpart of quantum revivals in the dual field theory. We perform a qualitative comparison with the quench dynamics of the massive Schwinger model, which has been recently analyzed using tensor network techniques. Agreement is found provided the width of the oscillating scalar pulse is inversely linked to the energy density communicated by the quench. We propose this to be a general feature of holographic quenches.

hep-th↗

arXiv2015

Oscillating Shells in Anti-de Sitter Space

We study the dynamics of a spherically symmetric thin shell of perfect fluid embedded in d-dimensional Anti-de Sitter space-time. In global coordinates, besides collapsing solutions, oscillating solutions are found where the shell bounces back and forth between two radii. The parameter space where these oscillating solutions exist is scanned in arbitrary number of dimensions. As expected AdS3 appears to be singled out.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2014

Collapse and Revival in Holographic Quenches

We study holographic models related to global quantum quenches in finite size systems. The holographic set up describes naturally a CFT, which we consider on a circle and a sphere. The enhanced symmetry of the conformal group on the circle motivates us to compare the evolution in both cases. Depending on the initial conditions, the dual geometry exhibits oscillations that we holographically interpret as revivals of the initial field theory state. On the sphere, this only happens when the energy density created by the quench is small compared to the system size. However on the circle considerably larger energy densities are compatible with revivals. Two different timescales emerge in this latter case. A collapse time, when the system appears to have dephased, and the revival time, when after rephasing the initial state is partially recovered. The ratio of these two times depends upon the initial conditions in a similar way to what is observed in some experimental setups exhibiting collapse and revivals.

hep-th↗