Condensed Matter

It has recently been shown that quenched randomness, via the phenomenon of many-body localization, can stabilize dynamical phases of matter in periodically driven (Floquet) systems, with one example being discrete time crystals. This raises the question: what is the nature of the transitions between these Floquet many-body-localized phases, and how do they differ from equilibrium? We argue that such transitions are generically controlled by infinite randomness fixed points. By introducing a real-space renormalization group procedure for Floquet systems, asymptotically exact in the strong-disorder limit, we characterize the criticality of the periodically driven interacting quantum Ising model, finding forms of (multi-)criticality novel to the Floquet setting. We validate our analysis via numerical simulations of free-fermion models sufficient to capture the critical physics.

It has been realized that anomalies can be classified by topological phases in one higher dimension. Previous studies focus on ’t Hooft anomalies of a theory with a global symmetry that correspond to invertible topological orders and/or symmetry protected topological orders in one higher dimension. In this talk, I will introduce an anomaly that appears on the boundaries of (non-invertible) topological order with anyonic excitations [1]. The anomalous boundary theory is no longer invariant under a re-parametrization of the same spacetime manifold. The anomaly is matched by simple universal topological data in the bulk, essentially the statistics of anyons. The study of non-invertible anomalies opens a systematic way to determine all gapped and gapless boundaries of topological orders, by solving simple eigenvector problems. As an example, we find all conformal field theories (CFT) of so-called ``minimal models’’, except four cases, can be the critical boundary theories of Z_2 topological order (toric code). The matching of non-invertible anomaly have wide applications. For example, we show that the gapless boundary of double-semion topological order must have central charge c_L=c_R >= 25/28. And the gapless boundary of the non-Abelian topological order described by S_3 topological quantum field theory can be three-state Potts CFT, su(2)_4 CFT, etc. [1] WJ, Xiao-Gang Wen, arXiv: 1905.13279, Phys. Rev. Research 1,033054

Many of the most mysterious phenomena in condensed matter physics involve systems near quantum phase transitions where the interplay of quenched disorder and strong interactions likely plays an essential role. Examples include the appearance of "anomalous" 2d metallic phases and the sharing of critical exponents between seemingly different quantum Hall plateau transitions. However, few organizing principles have been developed for understanding quantum critical systems with interactions and disorder, and analytically tractable models have proven rare. In this talk, I will describe some of the first examples of quantum critical theories in 2d characterized by finite disorder and interaction strengths, focusing on particular examples of quenched disorder in systems of (i) Dirac fermions coupled to an emergent gauge field (QED3) and (ii) scalar bosons at their Wilson-Fisher fixed point. Both of these examples exhibit universal features not found together in systems with interactions or disorder alone, such as vanishing density of states, finite DC conductivities, and novel critical exponents.

Solving classical and quantum physics many-body systems are amongst the hardest problems in the natural sciences, but also of fundamental importance for applications such as material and drug design. In this talk, I will give a an overview of fundamental physics problems at multiple time- and lengthscales and describe deep learning methods to address them: 1) solving the quantum-chemical electronic Schrödinger equation with deep variational Monte Carlo, 2) learning to coarse-grain many-body systems, and 3) sampling equilibrium states of classical many-body systems with generative learning.