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Ofri Telem

Publications and source records attributed to Ofri Telem.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2026

Analytical Fluxes from Generic Schwarzschild Geodesics

We present an analytic method for computing gravitational-wave fluxes from bound Schwarzschild geodesics with arbitrary eccentricity. Our approach systematically expands the Fourier coefficients of the emitted radiation in a Chebyshev basis, allowing them to be reduced to sums of Keplerian-like Fourier coefficients previously derived in the Quantum Spectral Method. Because the construction does not rely on a small-eccentricity expansion, it applies to a broad range of bound eccentric orbits. As an illustration, we implement the method using a $15$PN-expanded input and find that it reproduces the total flux for the case $(p,e)=(12.5,0.5)$ to relative accuracy $10^{-5}$, while for the stronger-field case $(p,e)=(10,0.8)$ it yields weighted mode-by-mode errors below $10^{-6}$ for the selected dominant modes analyzed. These results provide an analytic route to frequency-domain flux calculations relevant to extreme-mass-ratio inspirals.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2026

Dissipative Losses In Black Hole-Induced Vacuum Decay

We address the long-standing puzzle of false vacuum decay catalyzed by black holes. Naively, small black holes with large Hawking temperatures can generate highly-boosted true vacuum bubbles in the early universe and trigger vacuum decay without any exponential suppression. Working in the thin-wall regime of the $\phi^4$ and sine-Gordon models, we show that radiative losses play a crucial role in decelerating these bubbles and preventing runaway vacuum decay. We find that while the production rate is enhanced compared with vacuum tunneling in some parts of the parameter space, it is always exponentially suppressed.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2026

Non-Abelian and Type-A Conformal Anomalies from Euler Descent

We classify the non-Abelian anomaly of the Euclidean conformal group $SO(2n+1,1)$ in $2n$ dimensions via Stora-Zumino descent from its Euler invariant polynomial in $2n+2$ dimensions. In this way, we place the conformal anomaly on the same footing as ordinary perturbative 't Hooft anomalies. We also explore the relation of the non-Abelian anomaly to the known \textit{type-A Weyl anomaly}, which involves projecting into a Weyl cocycle. We discuss implications for anomaly inflow, and 't Hooft anomaly matching for the full conformal group with a Wess-Zumino-Witten term. In 4d, this enables the construction of a dilaton effective action matching the full non-Abelian $SO(5,1)$ conformal anomaly.

hep-th↗
arXiv2025

Phase Transitions at Unusual Values of $\theta$

We calculate the $\theta$ dependence in a cousin of QCD, where the vacuum structure can be analyzed exactly. The theory is $\mathcal{N}=2$ $SU(2)$ gauge theory with $N_F=0,1,2,3$ flavors of fundamentals, explicitly broken to $\mathcal{N}=1$ via an adjoint superpotential, and coupled to anomaly mediated supersymmetry breaking (AMSB). The hierarchy $m_{AMSB}\ll \mu_{\mathcal{N}=1}\ll \Lambda$ ensures the validity of our IR analysis. As expected from ordinary QCD, the vacuum energy is a function of $\theta$ which undergoes 1st order phase transitions between different vacua where the various dyons condense. For $N_F=0$ we find the expected phase transition at $\theta=\pi$, while for $N_F=1,2,3$ we find phase transitions at fractional values of $\pi$.

hep-th↗
arXiv2025

Bound-Unbound Universality and the All-Order Semi-Classical Wave Function in Schwarzschild

We present a systematic method for analytically computing time-dependent observables for a relativistic probe particle in Coulomb and Schwarzschild backgrounds. The method generates expressions valid both in the bound and unbound regimes, namely bound-unbound universal expressions. To demonstrate our method we compute the time-dependent radius and azimuthal angle for relativistic motion in a Coulomb background (relativistic Keplerian motion), as well as the electromagnetic field radiated by a relativistic Keplerian source. All of our calculations exhibit bound-unbound universality. Finally, we present an exact expression for the semi-classical wave function in Schwarzschild. The latter is crucial in applying our method to any time-dependent observable for probe-limit motion in Schwarzschild, to any desired order in velocity and the gravitational constant $G$.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2024

The Seiberg-Witten Axion

We present a fully calculable UV complete toy model of a Peccei-Quinn (PQ) axion coupled to magnetic monopoles as well as electric charges. The theory has manifest electric-magnetic duality built in. We find that the axion-photon coupling contains the usual anomaly term, plus periodic corrections which can also become large if the monopole is light, without violating the discrete axion shift symmetry. These additional periodic terms can be identified as the non-perturbative corrections due to the monopoles (and other BPS states), but can also be interpreted as a sum over instanton corrections. The key aspect helping reconcile axion coupling quantization with electric-magnetic duality is the fact that the axion itself undergoes a non-linear transformation under electric-magnetic duality. The theory analyzed here is just the original $N=2$ supersymmetric $SU(2)$ Seiberg-Witten theory, which contains a PQ axion due to an anomalous spontaneously broken global $R$-symmetry, as well as massless fermionic monopoles and dyons at special points in the moduli space. Hence the entire machinery of the Seiberg-Witten solution can be applied to reliably calculate the photon-axion coupling in different duality frames. We show explicitly that the physically observable axion-photon amplitude is duality invariant, as it had to be.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2024

Abelian Instantons and Monopole Scattering

It is usually assumed that $4D$ instantons can only arise in non-Abelian theories. In this paper we re-examine this conventional wisdom by explicitly constructing instantons in an Abelian gauge theory: ${\rm QED}_4$ with $N_f$ flavors of Dirac fermions, in the background of a Dirac monopole. This is the low-energy effective field theory for fermions interacting with a 't Hooft-Polyakov monopole, in the limit where the monopole is infinitely heavy (hence pointlike) and static. This theory, whose non-topological sectors were studied by Rubakov and Callan, has a far richer structure than previously explored. We show how to calculate the topological instanton number, demonstrate the existence of 't Hooft zero modes localized around such instantons, and show how instantons in the path integral provide the underlying mechanism for the Callan-Rubakov process: monopole-catalyzed baryon decay with a cross section that saturates the unitarity bound. Our computation relies on correctly identifying the relevant $2D$ EFT for monopole catalysis as Axial ${\rm QED}_2$ in an effective $AdS_2$ metric.

hep-th↗
arXiv2023

The Radial Action from Probe Amplitudes to All Orders

We extract the relativistic classical radial action from scattering amplitudes, to all orders in perturbation theory, in the probe limit. Our sources include point charges and monopoles, as well as the Schwarzschild and pure-NUT gravitational backgrounds. A characteristic relativistic effect, that scattering trajectories may wind around these sources any number of times, can be recovered when all-order amplitudes are available. We show that the amplitude for scattering a probe off a pure NUT is given by the solution of a transcendental equation involving continued fractions, and explain how to solve this equation to any desired loop order.

hep-th↗
arXiv2023

The Quantum Spectral Method: From Atomic Orbitals to Classical Self-Force

Can classical systems be described analytically at all orders in their interaction strength? For periodic and approximately periodic systems, the answer is yes, as we show in this work. Our analytical approach, which we call the \textit{Quantum Spectral Method}, is based on a novel application of Bohr's correspondence principle, obtaining non-perturbative classical dynamics as the classical limit of \textit{quantum matrix elements}. A major application of our method is the calculation of self-force as the classical limit of atomic radiative transitions. We demonstrate this by calculating an adiabatic electromagnetic inspiral, along with its associated radiation, at all orders in the multipole expansion. Finally, we propose a future application of the Quantum Spectral Method to compute scalar and gravitational self-force in Schwarzschild, analytically.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2022

Partially Celestial States and Their Scattering Amplitudes

We study representations of the Poincaré group that have a privileged transformation law along a p-dimensional hyperplane, and uncover their associated spinor helicity variables in D spacetime dimensions. Our novel representations generalize the recently introduced celestial states and transform as conformal primaries of SO(p,1), the symmetry group of the p-hyperplane. We will refer to our generalized states as ``partially celestial." Following Wigner's method, we find the induced representations, including spin degrees of freedom. Defining generalized spinor helicity variables for every D and p, we are able to construct the little group covariant part of partially celestial amplitudes. Finally, we briefly examine the application of the pairwise little group to partially celestial states with mutually non-local charges.

hep-th↗
arXiv2022

A Guide to AMSB QCD

We present a careful study of the chiral symmetry breaking minima and the baryonic directions in supersymmetric QCD ($SU(N_c)$ with $N_f$ flavors) perturbed by Anomaly Mediated Supersymmetry Breaking (AMSB). For the s-confining case of $N_f = N_c + 1$ and most of the free-magnetic phase ($N_f \leq 1.43 N_c$) we find that naive tree level baryonic runaways are stabilized by loop effects. Runaways are present, however, for the upper end of the free magnetic phase ($N_f \gtrsim 1.43 N_c$) and into conformal window, signaling the existence of incalculable minima at large field values of ${\cal O} (Λ)$. Nevertheless, the chiral symmetry breaking points are locally stable, and are expected to continuously connect to the vacua of QCD for large SUSY breaking. The case of $N_f = N_c$ requires particular care due to the inherently strongly coupled nature of the quantum modified moduli space. Due to the incalculability of critical Kähler potential terms, the stability of the chiral symmetry breaking point along baryonic directions cannot be determined for $N_f=N_c$. With the exception of this case, all theories to which AMSB can be applied ($N_f < 3 N_c$) possess stable chiral symmetry breaking minima, and all theories with $N_f \lesssim 1.43 N_c$ (aside from $N_f = N_f$) are protected from runaways to incalculable minima.

hep-th↗
arXiv2022

Dressed vs. Pairwise States, and the Geometric Phase of Monopoles and Charges

We construct the Faddeev-Kulish dressed multiparticle states of electrically and magnetically charged particles, incorporating the effects of real and virtual soft photons. We calculate the properties of such dressed states under Lorentz transformations, and find that they can be identified with the pairwise multi-particle states that transform under the pairwise little group. The shifts in the dressing factors under Lorentz transformations are finite and have a simple geometric interpretation. Using the transformation properties of the dressed states we also present a novel, fully quantum field theoretic derivation of the geometric (Berry) phase obtained by an adiabatic rotation of the Dirac string, and also of the Dirac quantization condition. For half integer pairwise helcity, we show that these multiparticle states have flipped spin-statistics, reproducing the surprising fact that fermions can be made out of bosons.

hep-th↗
arXiv2021

The Phases of Non-supersymmetric Gauge Theories: the $SO(N_c)$ Case Study

We investigate the IR phases of non-supersymmetric (non-SUSY) $SO(N_c)$ gauge theories with $N_F$ fermions in the vector representation obtained by perturbing the SUSY theory with anomaly mediated SUSY breaking (AMSB). We find that of the wide variety of phases appearing in the SUSY theory only two survive: for $N_F<\frac{3}{2} (N_c-2)$ the theory confines, breaking the $SU(N_F)$ global symmetry to $SO(N_F)$, while for $\frac{3}{2} (N_c-2)<N_F<3(N_c-2)$ the theory flows to a (super)-conformal fixed point. The abelian Coulomb and free magnetic phases do not survive and collapse to the confining phase. We also investigate the behavior of loop operators in order to provide a clear distinction between the confining and screened phases. With the choice of $Spin(N_c)$ for the global structure of the gauge group, we find that the electric Wilson loop indeed obeys an area law, providing one of the first demonstrations of true confinement with chiral symmetry breaking in a non-SUSY theory. We identify monopole condensation as the dynamics underlying confinement. These monopoles arise naturally for $N_F=N_c-2$. The case with smaller number of flavors can be obtained by integrating out flavors, and we confirm numerically that the monopole condensate persists in the presence of AMSB and mass perturbations.

hep-th↗
arXiv2021

Monopoles Entangle Fermions

We resolve the decades old mystery of what happens when a positron scatters off a minimal GUT monopole in an s-wave, first discussed by Callan in 1983. Using the language of on-shell amplitudes and pairwise helicity we show that the final state contains two up quarks and a down quark entangled with angular momentum stored in the gauge fields, which is the only particle final state that satisfies angular momentum and gauge charge conservation. The cross section for this process is as large as in the original Rubakov-Callan effect, only suppressed by the QCD scale. The final state we find cannot be seen in Callan's truncated 2D theory, since our entanglement requires more than 2 dimensions.

hep-th↗
arXiv2021

Multi-particle Representations of the Poincaré Group

In this work we extend the definition of asymptotic multi-particle states of the $S$-matrix, beyond the direct products of one-particle states. We identify new quantum numbers which we call pairwise helicities, or $q_{ij}$, associated with asymptotically separated pairs of particles. These signal the appearance of a new source of angular momentum, beyond the orbital and spin contributions. The essence of our construction is to first treat all single particles as well as all particle pairs independently, ultimately projecting onto the physical states. The resulting representations reproduce the usual direct product states for vanishing $q_{ij}$, while for vanishing spins they reproduce Zwanziger's electric-magnetic multi-particle states. Pairwise helicity then appears as a label for the extra little group phase for our quantum states, in addition to their standard little group transformation. Our newly defined multi-particle states are the correct asymptotic states for the scattering of electric and magnetic charges, with pairwise helicity identified as $q_{ij}=e_i g_j-e_j g_i$.

hep-th↗
arXiv2021

Axion strings are superconducting

We explore the cosmological consequences of the superconductivity of QCD axion strings. Axion strings can support a sizeable chiral electric current and charge, which alters their early universe dynamics. Shrinking axion string loops can become effectively stable remnants called vortons, supported by the electromagnetic force of the string current. Generically, vortons produced by axion strings overclose the universe, unless there are efficient current leakage processes. Furthermore, if a primordial magnetic field (PMF) exists in the early universe, a large current is induced on axion strings, creating a significant drag force from interactions with the surrounding plasma. As a result, the strings are slowed down, which leads to an orders of magnitude enhancement in the number of strings per Hubble volume. Finally, we study the implications for the QCD axion relic abundance. The QCD axion window is shifted by orders of magnitude in some parts of our parameter space.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2021

Some Exact Results in Chiral Gauge Theories

We analyze dynamics of chiral gauge theories based on the $SU(N)$ gauge group with one anti-symmetric tensor $A$ and $(N-4)$ anti-fundamentals $F_{i}$ when $N$ is odd. Based on the continuity to the supersymmetric gauge theories with anomaly-mediated supersymmetry breaking, we claim that the global $SU(N-4)$ symmetry is spontaneously broken to $Sp(N-5)$. There are $N-5$ massless fermions as a fundamental representation of $Sp(N-5)$, and another massless fermion, together saturating the anomaly matching conditions. When $N$ is even, the unbroken flavor symmetry is $Sp(N-4)$ while there are no massless fermions. Our result is different from the dynamics suggested by tumbling where the full $SU(N-4)$ symmetry is unbroken, but the tumbling picture can be modified via the addition of a second condensate to produce the symmetry breaking pattern predicted from our method.

hep-th↗