arXiv subjects

Shimon Yankielowicz

Publications and source records attributed to Shimon Yankielowicz.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Revisiting the $U(1)$-$CP$ tension in QCD from a 1PI-action perspective

We discuss the tension one encounters in trying to solve, simultaneously, the $U(1)$ and strong-$CP$ problems in QCD with light quarks and a small $\bar{\theta}$ angle within QCD itself. We do so by considering the low-energy expansion of a $1$PI effective action $\Gamma$, a functional of a properly chosen set of gauge-invariant (composite) operators. After enforcing Ward-identity constraints on $\Gamma$, we prove, under minor assumptions, that $CP$ violation at small non-vanishing $\bar{\theta}$ can be avoided only if the anomaly-induced contribution to the pseudoscalar mass matrix is completely negligible when compared to its non-anomalous counterpart - that is, only if the $U(1)$ problem is not solved. The topological susceptibility in QCD and a precise generalization of the one in pure Yang-Mills theory emerge as the most important players in establishing the above tension and in determining the corrections to various known results at leading order in $\bar{\theta}$.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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arXiv2020

From 3d dualities to hadron physics

When one of the space-time dimension is compactified on $S^1$, the QCD exhibits the chiral phase transition at some critical radius. When we further turn on a background $θ$ term which depends on the $S^1$ compactified coordinate, a topological ordered phase appears at low energy via the winding of $θ$. We discuss what kind of theories can describe the physics near the critical point by requiring the matching of topological field theories in the infrared. As one of the possibilities, we propose a scenario where the $ρ$ and $ω$ mesons form a $U(N_f)$ gauge theory near the critical point. In the phase where the chiral symmetry is restored, they become the dual gauge boson of the gluon related by the level-rank duality between the three dimensional gauge theories, $SU(N)_{N_f}$ and $U(N_f)_{-N}$.

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arXiv2020

The scattering amplitude of stringy hadrons I: Strings with opposite charges on their endpoints

In this note we describe hadrons: mesons and baryons as strings with electric charges on their endpoints. We consider here only the neutral system with opposite charges coupled to an external constant electric and magnetic fields. We derive certain classical solutions including rotating folded open strings. We write down the mode expansion and canonically quantize the system. The OPEs associated with such strings are determined. We re-derive the non-commutativity of the zero modes and the fact that the charges modify the spacetime metric. We show that the quantum worldsheet energy momentum tensor on the boundary is affected by the endpoint charges and differs from the corresponding Noether current. We determine the generalization of the Veneziano scattering amplitude for such strings in the critical dimension. Phenomenological implications are addressed and in particular we show that the external magnetic field can be tuned so that the amplitude vanishes for particular kinematic setups. We discuss the generalization of such strings to non-critical four dimensional spacetime. In particular we renormalize the divergence of the Polchinski-Strominger effective action associated with the rotating folded string.

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arXiv2017

Spontaneous $CP$ breaking in QCD and the axion potential: an effective Lagrangian approach

Using the well-known low-energy effective Lagrangian of QCD --valid for small (non-vanishing) quark masses and a large number of colors-- we study in detail the regions of parameter space where $CP$ is spontaneously broken/unbroken for a vacuum angle $θ= π$. In the $CP$-broken region there are first order phase transitions as one crosses $θ=π$, while on the (hyper)surface separating the two regions, there are second order phase transitions signaled by the vanishing of the mass of a pseudo Nambu-Goldstone boson and by a divergent QCD topological susceptibility. The second order point sits at the end of a first order line associated with the $CP$ spontaneous breaking, in the appropriate complex parameter plane. When the effective Lagrangian is extended by the inclusion of an axion these features of QCD imply that standard calculations of the axion potential have to be revised when the QCD parameters fall in the above mentioned $CP$-broken region, in spite of the fact that the axion solves the strong-$CP$ problem. These latter results could be of interest for axionic dark matter calculations if the topological susceptibility of pure Yang-Mills theory falls off sufficiently fast when temperature is increased towards the QCD deconfining transition.

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arXiv2017

Supersymmetric Renyi Entropy and Anomalies in Six-Dimensional (1,0) Superconformal Theories

A closed formula of the universal part of supersymmetric Rényi entropy $S_q$ for six-dimensional $(1,0)$ superconformal theories is proposed. Within our arguments, $S_q$ across a spherical entangling surface is a cubic polynomial of $ν=1/q$, with $4$ coefficients expressed as linear combinations of the 't Hooft anomaly coefficients for the $R$-symmetry and gravitational anomalies. As an application, we establish linear relations between the $c$-type Weyl anomalies and the 't Hooft anomaly coefficients. We make a conjecture relating the supersymmetric Rényi entropy to an equivariant integral of the anomaly polynomial in even dimensions and check it against known data in four dimensions and six dimensions.

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arXiv2017

A model for pion-pion scattering in large-N QCD

Following up on recent work by Caron-Huot et al. we consider a generalization of the old Lovelace-Shapiro model as a toy model for Pi-Pi scattering satisfying (most of) the properties expected to hold in ('t Hooft's) large-N limit of massless QCD. In particular, the model has asymptotically linear and parallel Regge trajectories at positive t, a positive leading Regge intercept $α_0 < 1$, and an effective bending of the trajectories in the negative-t region producing a fixed branch point at J=0 for $t < t_0 < 0$. Fixed (physical) angle scattering can be tuned to match the power-like (including logarithmic corrections) behavior predicted by perturbative QCD: $A(s,t) ~ s^{-β} \log(s)^{-γ} F(θ)$. Tree-level unitarity (i.e. positivity of residues for all values of s and J) imposes strong constraints on the allowed region in the alpha_0-beta-gamma parameter space, which nicely includes a physically interesting region around $α_0 = 0.5$, $β= 2$ and $γ= 3$. The full consistency of the model would require an extension to multi-pion processes, a program we do not undertake in this paper.

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arXiv2015

Entanglement and RG in the $O(N)$ vector model

We consider the large $N$ interacting vector $O(N)$ model on a sphere in $4-ε$ Euclidean dimensions. The Gaussian theory in the UV is taken to be either conformally or non-conformally coupled. The endpoint of the RG flow corresponds to a conformally coupled scalar field at the Wilson-Fisher fixed point. We take a spherical entangling surface in de Sitter space and compute the entanglement entropy everywhere along the RG trajectory. In $4$ dimensions, a free non-conformal scalar has a universal area term scaling with the logarithm of the UV cutoff. In $4-ε$ dimensions, such a term scales as $1/ε$. For a non-conformal scalar, a $1/ε$ term is present both at the UV fixed point, and its vicinity. For flow between two conformal fixed points, $1/ε$ terms are absent everywhere. Finally, we make contact with replica trick calculations. The conical singularity gives rise to boundary terms residing on the entangling surface, which are usually discarded. Consistency with our results requires they be kept. We argue that, in fact, this conclusion also follows from the work of Metlitski, Fuertes, and Sachdev, which demonstrated that such boundary terms will be generated through quantum corrections.

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arXiv2015

Disorder in Large-N Theories

We consider Euclidean Conformal Field Theories perturbed by quenched disorder, namely by random fluctuations in their couplings. Such theories are relevant for second-order phase transitions in the presence of impurities or other forms of disorder. Theories with quenched disorder often flow to new fixed points of the renormalization group. We begin with disorder in free field theories. Imry and Ma showed that disordered free fields can only exist for d>4. For d>4 we show that disorder leads to new fixed points which are not scale-invariant. We then move on to large-N theories (vector models or gauge theories in the `t Hooft limit). We compute exactly the beta function for the disorder, and the correlation functions of the disordered theory. We generalize the results of Imry and Ma by showing that such disordered theories exist only when disorder couples to operators of dimension Δ> d/4. Sometimes the disordered fixed points are not scale-invariant, and in other cases they have unconventional dependence on the disorder, including non-trivial effects due to irrelevant operators. Holography maps disorder in conformal theories to stochastic differential equations in a higher-dimensional space. We use this dictionary to reproduce our field theory results. We also study the leading 1/N corrections, both by field theory methods and by holography. These corrections are particularly important when disorder scales with the number of degrees of freedom.

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arXiv2013

The holographic dilaton

We study a set of examples of holographic duals to theories with spontaneous breaking of conformal invariance in different dimensions. The geometries are domain walls interpolating between two AdS spaces, with a non-trivial background scalar field dual to a relevant operator. We comment on a subtlety in the low momentum expansion pointed out in arXiv:1304.3051 for the case of background gravity and revise the dynamical gravity results of arXiv:1207.0006, where the dilaton pole was missing in the scalar-scalar and tensor-tensor two-point functions. We compute the energy-momentum tensor and scalar two-point functions and show that there is indeed a massless dilaton pole.

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arXiv2013

Conformal Anomalies in Hydrodynamics

We study the effect of conformal anomalies on the hydrodynamic description of conformal field theories in even spacetime dimensions. We consider equilibrium curved backgrounds characterized by a time-like Killing vector and construct a local low energy effective action that captures the conformal anomalies. Using as a special background the Rindler spacetime we derive a formula for the anomaly effect on the hydrodynamic pressure. We find that this anomalous effect is only due to the Euler central charge.

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arXiv2013

The a-theorem and conformal symmetry breaking in holographic RG flows

We study holographic models describing an RG flow between two fixed points driven by a relevant scalar operator. We show how to introduce a spurion field to restore Weyl invariance and compute the anomalous contribution to the generating functional in even dimensional theories. We find that the coefficient of the anomalous term is proportional to the difference of the conformal anomalies of the UV and IR fixed points, as expected from anomaly matching arguments in field theory. For any even dimensions the coefficient is positive as implied by the holographic a-theorem. For flows corresponding to spontaneous breaking of conformal invariance, we also compute the two-point functions of the energy-momentum tensor and the scalar operator and identify the dilaton mode. Surprisingly we find that in the simplest models with just one scalar field there is no dilaton pole in the two-point function of the scalar operator but a stronger singularity. We discuss the possible implications.

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arXiv2012

Confinement in Anti-de Sitter Space

Four dimensional gauge theories in anti-de Sitter space, including pure Yang-Mills theory, exhibit a quantum phase transition between a deconfined phase and a confined phase as the gauge coupling is varied. We explore various mechanisms by which this may occur, both in a fixed background and in the presence of gravity. We also make a number of observations on the dynamics of four dimensional supersymmetric gauge theories in anti-de Sitter space.

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arXiv2010

Holographic MQCD

We study a brane configuration of D4-branes and NS5-branes in weakly coupled type IIA string theory, which describes in a particular limit d=4 N=1 SU(N+p) supersymmetric QCD with 2N flavors and a quartic superpotential. We describe the geometric realization of the supersymmetric vacuum structure of this gauge theory. We focus on the confining vacua of the gauge theory, whose holographic description is given by the MQCD brane configuration in the near-horizon geometry of N D4-branes. This description, which gives an embedding of MQCD into a field theory decoupled from gravity, is valid for 1 << p << N, in the limit of large five dimensional `t Hooft couplings for the color and flavor groups. We analyze various properties of the theory in this limit, such as the spectrum of mesons, the finite temperature behavior, and the quark-anti-quark potential. We also discuss the same brane configuration on a circle, where it gives a geometric description of the moduli space of the Klebanov-Strassler cascading theory, and some non-supersymmetric generalizations.

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arXiv2008

Gluon Scattering in Deformed N=4 SYM

We consider gluon and gluino scattering amplitudes in large N beta-deformed N=4 SYM with real beta. A direct inspection of the planar diagrams shows that the scattering amplitudes to all orders in perturbation theory are the same as in the undeformed N=4 SYM theory. Using the dual sigma-model description, we find the same equality at strong coupling to all orders in the sigma-model loop expansion. Finally, we show that the same analysis holds for gluon scattering amplitudes in a three-parameter deformation of planar N=4 SYM that breaks all the supersymmetry.

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arXiv2007

Supersymmetry Breaking Vacua from M Theory Fivebranes

We consider intersecting brane configurations realizing N=2 supersymmetric gauge theories broken to N=1 by multitrace superpotentials, and softly to N=0. We analyze, in the framework of M5-brane wrapping a curve, the supersymmetric vacua and the analogs of spontaneous supersymmetry breaking and soft supersymmetry breaking in gauge theories. We show that the M5-brane does not exhibit the analog of metastable spontaneous supersymmetry breaking, and does not have non-holomorphic minimal volume curves with holomorphic boundary conditions. However, we find that any point in the N=2 moduli space can be rotated to a non-holomorphic minimal volume curve, whose boundary conditions break supersymmetry. We interpret these as the analogs of soft supersymmetry breaking vacua in the gauge theory.

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