arXiv subjects

Michael Mulligan

Publications and source records attributed to Michael Mulligan.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Compression is all you need: Modeling Mathematics

Human mathematics (HM), the mathematics humans discover and value, is a vanishingly small subset of formal mathematics (FM), the totality of all valid deductions. We argue that HM is distinguished by its compressibility through hierarchically nested definitions, lemmas, and theorems. We model this with monoids. A mathematical deduction is a string of primitive symbols; a definition or theorem is a named substring or macro whose use compresses the string. In the free abelian monoid $A_n$, a logarithmically sparse macro set achieves exponential expansion of expressivity. In the free non-abelian monoid $F_n$, even a polynomially-dense macro set only yields linear expansion; superlinear expansion requires near-maximal density. We test these models against MathLib, a large Lean~4 library of mathematics that we take as a proxy for HM. Each element has a depth (layers of definitional nesting), a wrapped length (tokens in its definition), and an unwrapped length (primitive symbols after fully expanding all references). We find unwrapped length grows exponentially with both depth and wrapped length; wrapped length is approximately constant across all depths. These results are consistent with $A_n$ and inconsistent with $F_n$, supporting the thesis that HM occupies a polynomially-growing subset of the exponentially growing space FM. We discuss how compression, measured on the MathLib dependency graph, and a PageRank-style analysis of that graph can quantify mathematical interest and help direct automated reasoning toward the compressible regions where human mathematics lives.

cs.AI↗

arXiv2025

Spontaneous Kolmogorov-Arnold Geometry in Shallow MLPs

The Kolmogorov-Arnold (KA) representation theorem constructs universal, but highly non-smooth inner functions (the first layer map) in a single (non-linear) hidden layer neural network. Such universal functions have a distinctive local geometry, a "texture," which can be characterized by the inner function's Jacobian $J({\mathbf{x}})$, as $\mathbf{x}$ varies over the data. It is natural to ask if this distinctive KA geometry emerges through conventional neural network optimization. We find that indeed KA geometry often is produced when training vanilla single hidden layer neural networks. We quantify KA geometry through the statistical properties of the exterior powers of $J(\mathbf{x})$: number of zero rows and various observables for the minor statistics of $J(\mathbf{x})$, which measure the scale and axis alignment of $J(\mathbf{x})$. This leads to a rough understanding for where KA geometry occurs in the space of function complexity and model hyperparameters. The motivation is first to understand how neural networks organically learn to prepare input data for later downstream processing and, second, to learn enough about the emergence of KA geometry to accelerate learning through a timely intervention in network hyperparameters. This research is the "flip side" of KA-Networks (KANs). We do not engineer KA into the neural network, but rather watch KA emerge in shallow MLPs.

cs.LG↗

arXiv2025

Interaction-enhanced quantum to classical transport crossover temperature in a Luttinger liquid

Strange metals are highly entangled gapless states of matter that exhibit anomalous transport, such as linear in temperature resistivity, over more than a decade of temperature. Why a single power law should be so robust is an open question. We propose a scenario in which interactions enhance the domain of certain scattering regimes, effectively suppressing other ``would-be regimes." We test this proposal in a one-dimensional Luttinger liquid coupled to a one-dimensional acoustic phonon. We use the memory matrix formalism to calculate the dc electrical and thermal conductivities at low and high temperatures, relative to the Debye cutoff on phonon frequencies, in both the ``clean" (umklapp scattering) and ``dirty" (disorder scattering) limits. We find the crossover temperature separating the low and high temperature regimes to be interaction-dependent, with repulsive interactions substantially increasing it, generally by more than an order of magnitude. This provides a concrete illustration for how interactions can extend a single transport regime over a wider temperature range.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

Topological orders with classical Lie group symmetries from coupling electron wires

We study the topological order that arises from chiral states with ${\rm SU}(N)$ or ${\rm SO}(N)$ edge-state symmetry. This extends our previous study of topological orders that descend from the bosonic $E_8$ quantum Hall state. We use exactly solvable models of coupled electron wires to construct states with ${\rm SU}(m)_n$, ${\rm SO}(m)_n$, or ${\rm Sp}(m)_n$ topological order for various levels $n$. We use our constructions to write down string operators for various non-Abelian anyons. We thereby provide a systematic, model derivation of quantum Hall states, topological superconductors, and spin liquids with emergent non-Abelian quasiparticle excitations, including those of Ising, metaplectic, and Fibonacci type.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2023

Weiss Oscillations in the Galilean-Invariant Dirac Composite Fermion Theory for Even-Denominator Filling Fractions of the Lowest Landau Level

Standard field theoretic formulations of composite fermion theories for the anomalous metals that form at or near even-denominator filling fractions of the lowest Landau level do not possess Galilei invariance. To restore Galilei symmetry, these theories must be supplemented by "correction" terms. We study the effect of the leading "correction" term, known as the dipole term, in the Dirac composite fermion theory (a theory that consists of a Dirac fermion coupled to an Abelian Chern-Simons gauge field) on quantum oscillations in the electrical resistivity due to a periodic scalar potential about even-denominator filling fractions. We find the dipole term to be insufficient to resolve the systematic discrepancy, discovered in [Kamburov et. al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 196801 (2014)], between the locations of the oscillation minima predicted by Dirac composite fermion theory without Galilei invariance and those observed in experiment. Further, in contrast to [Hossain et al., Phys. Rev. B 100, 041112 (2019)], we find the quantum oscillations about the half-filled and quarter-filled lowest Landau level to have qualitatively similar behavior. This analysis uses a mean-field approximation, in which gauge field fluctuations are neglected. Based on this and previous analyses, we speculate the discrepancy with experiment may be an indirect signature of the effect of gauge field fluctuations in composite fermion theory.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2023

Universal conductivity at a 2d superconductor-insulator transition: the effects of quenched disorder and Coulomb interaction

We calculate the zero-temperature universal electrical conductivity at a superconductor-insulator transition in two spatial dimensions. We focus on transitions in the universality class of the dirty 3d XY model. We use a dual model consisting of a single Dirac fermion at zero density coupled to a Chern-Simons gauge field in the presence of a quenched random mass, with or without an unscreened Coulomb interaction. Our calculation is performed in a $1/N_f$ expansion, where $N_f$ is the number of Dirac fermions. At zeroth order, the model exhibits particle-vortex self-dual electrical transport with $σ_{xx} \lesssim (2e)^2/h$ and small, but finite $σ_{xy}$. Corrections of $\mathcal{O}(1/N_f)$ due to fluctuations in the Chern-Simons gauge field and disorder produce violations of self-duality. We find these violations to be milder when the Coulomb interaction is present.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2023

Partial fillings of the bosonic $E_8$ quantum Hall state

We study bosonic topological phases constructed from electrons. In addition to a bulk excitation energy gap, these bosonic phases also have a fermion energy gap, below which all local excitations in the bulk and on the edge are even combinations of electrons. We focus on chiral phases, in which all low-energy edge excitations move in the same direction, that arise from the short-range entangled $E_8$ quantum Hall state, the bosonic analog of the filled lowest Landau level of electrons. The $E_8$ edge-state theory features an $E_8$ Kac-Moody symmetry that can be decomposed into ${\cal G}_A \times {\cal G}_B$ subalgebras, such as $SU(3) \times E_6$, $SO(M) \times SO(16-M)$, and $G_2 \times F_4$. (Here, $\{SO(M) \}$, $\{SU(N)\}$, and $\{E_8, G_2, F_4 \}$ denote orthogonal, unitary, and exceptional Lie algebras.) Using these symmetry decompositions, we construct exactly solvable coupled-wire model Hamiltonians for families of long-range entangled ${\cal G}_A$ or ${\cal G}_B$ bosonic fractional quantum Hall states that ``partially fill" the $E_8$ state and are pairwise related by a generalized particle-hole symmetry. These long-range entangled states feature either Abelian or non-Abelian topological order. Some support the emergence of non-local Dirac and Majorana fermions, Ising anyons, metaplectic anyons, Fibonacci anyons, as well as deconfined $\mathbb{Z}_2$ gauge fluxes and charges.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2022

Random Magnetic Field and the Dirac Fermi Surface

We study a single 2d Dirac fermion at finite density, subject to a quenched random magnetic field. At low energies and sufficiently weak disorder, the theory maps onto an infinite collection of 1d chiral fermions (associated to each point on the Fermi surface) coupled by a random vector potential. This low-energy theory exhibits an exactly solvable random fixed line, along which we directly compute various disorder-averaged observables without the need for the usual replica, supersymmetry, or Keldysh techniques. We find the longitudinal dc conductivity in the collisionless $\hbar ω/k_B T \rightarrow \infty$ limit to be nonuniversal and to vary continuously along the fixed line.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2022

Current Algebra Approach to 2d Chiral Metals

We reinterpret Balents and Fisher's free 2d chiral metal [Phys. Rev. Lett. 76, 2782 (1996)] as a chiral $U(N)$ Wess-Zumino-Witten model at level $k = 1$. Here, the $U(N)$ symmetry relates the $N \rightarrow \infty$ low-energy excitations about the chiral Fermi surface. We obtain non-Fermi liquid generalizations of the free chiral metal that maintain the $U(N)$ symmetry of the $k=1$ theory by taking the level to be a positive integer $k>1$. We calculate two-point correlation functions of the $U(1)$ number density and current operators in these theories for general $k$. We find $k$ to provide an overall rescaling of the amplitude of these correlation functions. This construction illustrates the ersatz Fermi liquid proposal of Else, Thorgren, and Senthil [Phys. Rev. X 11, 021005 (2021)].

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2021

Disentangling (2+1)d Topological States of Matter with the Entanglement Negativity

We use the entanglement negativity, a bipartite measure of entanglement in mixed quantum states, to study how multipartite entanglement constrains the real-space structure of the ground state wavefunctions of $(2+1)$-dimensional topological phases. We focus on the (Abelian) Laughlin and (non-Abelian) Moore-Read states at filling fraction $ν=1/m$. We show that a combination of entanglement negativities, calculated with respect to specific cylinder and torus geometries, determines a necessary condition for when a topological state can be disentangled, i.e., factorized into a tensor product of states defined on cylinder subregions. This condition, which requires the ground state to lie in a definite topological sector, is sufficient for the Laughlin state. On the other hand, we find that a general Moore-Read ground state cannot be disentangled even when the disentangling condition holds.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2021

Composite Fermion Nonlinear Sigma Models

We study the integer quantum Hall plateau transition using composite fermion mean-field theory. We show that the topological $θ= π$ term in the associated nonlinear sigma model [P. Kumar et al., Phys. Rev. B 100, 235124 (2019)] is stable against a certain particle-hole symmetry violating perturbation, parameterized by the composite fermion effective mass. This result, which applies to both the Halperin, Lee, and Read and Dirac composite fermion theories, represents an emergent particle-hole symmetry. For a disorder ensemble without particle-hole symmetry, we find that $θ$ can vary continuously within the diffusive regime. Our results call for further study of the universality of the plateau transition.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2020

Partial equilibration of anti-Pfaffian edge modes at $ν=5/2$

The thermal Hall conductance $K$ of the fractional quantum Hall state at filling fraction $ν=5/2$ has recently been measured to be $K=2.5 π^2k_B^2T/3h$ [M. Banerjee et al., Nature ${\bf 559}$, 205 (2018)]. The half-integer value of this result (in units of $π^2k_B^2T/3h$) provides strong evidence for the presence of a Majorana edge mode and a corresponding quantum Hall state hosting quasiparticles with non-Abelian statistics. Whether this measurement points to the realization of the PH-Pfaffian or the anti-Pfaffian state has been the subject of debate. Here we consider the implications of this measurement for anti-Pfaffian edge-state transport. We show that in the limit of a strong Coulomb interaction and an approximate spin degeneracy in the lowest Landau level, the anti-Pfaffian state admits low-temperature edge phases that are consistent with the Hall conductance measurements. These edge phases can exhibit fully-equilibrated electrical transport coexisting with partially-equilibrated heat transport over a range of temperatures. Through a study of the kinetic equations describing low-temperature electrical and heat transport of these edge states, we determine regimes of parameter space, controlling the interactions between the different edge modes, that agree with experiment.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2020

Scaling and Diffusion of Dirac Composite Fermions

We study the effects of quenched disorder and a dissipative Coulomb interaction on an anyon gas in a periodic potential undergoing a quantum phase transition. We use a $(2+1)$d low-energy effective description that involves $N_f = 1$ Dirac fermion coupled to a $U(1)$ Chern-Simons gauge field at level $(θ- 1/2)$. When $θ= 1/2$ the anyons are free Dirac fermions that exhibit an integer quantum Hall transition; when $θ= 1$ the anyons are bosons undergoing a superconductor-insulator transition in the universality class of the 3d XY model. Using the large $N_f$ approximation we perform a renormalization group analysis. The dissipative Coulomb interaction allows for two classes of IR stable fixed points: those with a finite, nonzero Coulomb coupling and dynamical critical exponent $z = 1$ and those with an effectively infinite Coulomb coupling and $1 < z < 2$. We find the Coulomb interaction to be an irrelevant perturbation of the clean fixed point for any $θ$. At $θ= 1/2$ the clean fixed point is stable to charge-conjugation preserving (random mass) disorder, while a line of diffusive fixed points obtains when the product of charge-conjugation and time-reversal symmetries is preserved. At $θ= 1$ we find a finite disorder fixed point with unbroken charge-conjugation symmetry whether or not the Coulomb interaction is present. Other cases result in runaway flows. We comment on the relation of our results to other theoretical studies and the relevancy to experiment.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2019

Fluctuations and magnetoresistance oscillations near the half-filled Landau level

We study theoretically the magnetoresistance oscillations near a half-filled lowest Landau level ($ν= 1/2$) that result from the presence of a periodic one-dimensional electrostatic potential. We use the Dirac composite fermion theory of Son [Phys. Rev. X 5 031027 (2015)], where the $ν=1/2$ state is described by a $(2+1)$-dimensional theory of quantum electrodynamics. We extend previous work that studied these oscillations in the mean-field limit by considering the effects of gauge field fluctuations within a large flavor approximation. A self-consistent analysis of the resulting Schwinger--Dyson equations suggests that fluctuations dynamically generate a Chern-Simons term for the gauge field and a magnetic field-dependent mass for the Dirac composite fermions away from $ν=1/2$. We show how this mass results in a shift of the locations of the oscillation minima that improves the comparison with experiment [Kamburov et. al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 196801 (2014)]. The temperature-dependent amplitude of these oscillations may enable an alternative way to measure this mass. This amplitude may also help distinguish the Dirac and Halperin, Lee, and Read composite fermion theories of the half-filled Landau level.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2019

Emergent reflection symmetry from non-relativistic composite fermions

A recent experimental study [Pan et al., arXiv: 1902.10262] has shown that fractional quantum Hall effect gaps are essentially consistent with particle-hole symmetry in the lowest Landau level. Motivated by this result, we consider a clean two dimensional electron system (2DES) from the viewpoint of composite fermion mean-field theory. In this short note, we show that while the experiment is manifestly consistent with a Dirac composite fermion theory proposed recently by Son, it can equally well be explained within the framework of non-relativistic composite fermions, first put forward by Halperin, Lee, and Read.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2019

Non-Abelian bosonization and modular transformation approach to superuniversality

Quantum Hall inter-plateaux transitions are physical exemplars of quantum phase transitions. Near each of these transitions, the measured electrical conductivity scales with the same correlation length and dynamical critical exponents, i.e., the critical points are superuniversal. In apparent contradiction to these experiments, prior theoretical studies of quantum Hall phase transitions within the framework of Abelian Chern-Simons theory coupled to matter found correlation length exponents that depend on the value of the quantum critical Hall conductivity. Here, we use non-Abelian bosonization and modular transformations to theoretically study the phenomenon of superuniversality. Specifically, we introduce a new effective theory that has an emergent $U(N)$ gauge symmetry with any $N > 1$ for a quantum phase transition between an integer quantum Hall state and an insulator. We then use modular transformations to generate from this theory effective descriptions for transitions between a large class of fractional quantum Hall states whose quasiparticle excitations have Abelian statistics. We find the correlation length and dynamical critical exponents are independent of the particular transition within a controlled 't Hooft large $N$ expansion, i.e., superuniversal! We argue that this superuniversality could survive away from this controlled large $N$ limit using recent duality conjectures.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2018

Composite fermion Hall conductivity and the half-filled Landau level

We consider the Hall conductivity of composite fermions in the theory of Halperin, Lee, and Read (HLR). We present a fully quantum mechanical numerical calculation that shows, under suitable conditions, the HLR theory exhibits a particle-hole symmetric dc electrical Hall response in the presence of quenched disorder. Remarkably, this response of the HLR theory remains robust even when the disorder range is of the order of the Fermi wavelength. We find that deviations from particle-hole symmetric response can appear in the ac Hall conductivity at frequencies sufficiently large compared to the inverse system size. Our results agree with a recent semi-classical analysis by Wang et al., Phys. Rev. X 7, 031029 (2017) and complement the arguments based on the fully quantum-mechanical model by Kumar et al., Phys. Rev. B 98, 11505 (2018). These results provide further evidence that the HLR theory is compatible with an emergent particle-hole symmetry.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2018

Why is the HLR theory particle-hole symmetric?

Long wavelength descriptions of a half-filled lowest Landau level ($ν= 1/2$) must be consistent with the experimental observation of particle-hole (PH) symmetry. The traditional description of the $ν=1/2$ state pioneered by Halperin, Lee and Read (HLR) naively appears to break PH symmetry. However, recent studies have shown that the HLR theory with weak quenched disorder can exhibit an emergent PH symmetry. We find that such inhomogeneous configurations of the $ν=1/2$ fluid, when described by HLR mean-field theory, are tuned to a topological phase transition between an integer quantum Hall state and an insulator of composite fermions with a dc Hall conductivity $σ_{xy}^{\rm (cf)} = - {1 \over 2} {e^2 \over h}$. Our observations help explain why the HLR theory exhibits PH symmetric dc response.

cond-mat.str-el↗