Synthetic non-Abelian anyons in fractional Chern insulators and beyond
Xiaoliang Qi Stanford University
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Kicking Chameleons: Early Universe Challenges for Chameleon Gravity
Adrienne Erickcek University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
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Astrophysical Searches for Quantum Gravity Signals
Jonathan Granot University of Hertfordshire
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An informal discussion about topological gauge theory
Xiao-Gang Wen Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Department of Physics
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Self-localization of a single hole in Mott antiferromagnets
Zheng-Yu Weng Tsinghua University
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Towards an Asymptotically AdS Description of Heavy Ion Collisions
Hans Bantilan Princeton University
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Constraining RG flow in three-dimensional field theory
Benjamin Safdi Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
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Synthetic non-Abelian anyons in fractional Chern insulators and beyond
Xiaoliang Qi Stanford University
An exciting new prospect in condensed matter physics is the possibility of realizing fractional quantum Hall states in simple lattice models without a large external magnetic field, which are called fractional Chern insulators. A fundamental question is whether qualitatively new states can be realized on the lattice as compared with ordinary fractional quantum Hall states. Here we propose new symmetry-enriched topological states, topological nematic states, which are a dramatic consequence of the interplay between the lattice translational symmetry and topological properties of these fractional Chern insulators. The topological nematic states are realized in a partially filled flat band with a Chern number N, which can be mapped to an N-layer quantum Hall system on a regular lattice. However, in the topological nematic states the lattice dislocations become non-Abelian defects which create "worm holes" connecting the effective layers, and effectively change the topology of the space. Such topology-changing defects, which we name as "genons", can also be defined in other physical systems. We develop methods to compute the projective non-abelian braiding statistics of the genons, and we find the braiding is given by adiabatic modular transformations, or Dehn twists, of the topological state on the effective genus g surface. We find situations where the > genons have quantum dimension 2 and can be used for universal topological quantum computing (TQC), while the host topological state is by itself non-universal for TQC. -
Kicking Chameleons: Early Universe Challenges for Chameleon Gravity
Adrienne Erickcek University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chameleon gravity is a scalar-tensor theory that mimics general relativity in the Solar System. The scalar degree of freedom is hidden in high-density environments because the effective mass of the chameleon scalar depends on the trace of the stress-energy tensor. In the early Universe, when the trace of the stress-energy tensor is nearly zero, the chameleon is very light and Hubble friction prevents it from reaching its potential minimum. Whenever a particle species becomes non-relativistic, however, the trace of the stress-energy tensor is temporarily nonzero, and the chameleon begins to roll. I will show that these "kicks" to the chameleon field have catastrophic consequences for chameleon gravity. The velocity imparted to the chameleon is sufficiently large that the chameleon's mass changes rapidly as it slides past its potential minimum. This nonadiabatic process shatters the chameleon field by generating extremely high-energy perturbations, casting doubt on chameleon gravity's viability as an alternative to general relativity.
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Astrophysical Searches for Quantum Gravity Signals
Jonathan Granot University of Hertfordshire
Some recent searches for quantum gravity signatures using observations of distant astrophysical sources will be discussed, focusing on the search for Lorentz invariance violation (LIV) in the form of a dependence of the photon propagation speed on its energy. Fermi gamma-ray space telescope observations of ~8 keV to ~30 GeV photons from a short (< 1 s) gamma-ray burst (GRB 090510) at a cosmological distance (z = 0.903), enabled for the first time to put a direct time of flight limit on a possible linear variation of the speed of light with photon energy that is beyond the Planck scale. Parameterizing |v/c-1| = E/E_{QG} our most conservative limits are E_{QG}/E_{Planck} > 1.2, while less conservative limits are up to 1-2 orders of magnitude stricter. Other types of astrophysical searches for LIV will be briefly outlined, along with some prospects for the future. -
Thermodynamics of correlated quantum systems and a generalized exchange fluctuation theorem.
David Jennings Imperial College London
I will discuss the central role of correlations in thermodynamic directionality, how strong correlations can distort the thermodynamic arrow and contrast these distortions in both the classical and quantum regimes. These distortions constitute non-linear entanglement witnesses, and give rise to a rich information-theoretic structure. I shall explain how these results are then cast into the language of fluctuation theorems to derive a generalized exchange fluctuation theorem, and discuss the limitations of such a framework. -
From Effective Strings to the Simplest theory of Quantum Gravity
String-like objects arise in many quantum field theories. Well known examples include flux tubes in QCD and cosmic strings. To a first approximation, their dynamics is governed by the Nambu-Goto action, but for QCD flux tubes numerical calculations of the energy levels of these objects have become so accurate that a systematic understanding of corrections to this simple description is desirable. In the first part of my talk, I discuss an effective field theory describing long relativistic strings. The construction parallels that of the chiral Lagrangian in that it is based on the pattern of symmetry breaking. To compare with previous works, I will present the results of the calculation of the S-matrix describing the scattering of excitations on the string worldsheet. In the second part of my talk, I will discuss critical strings from the same point of view and show that the worldsheet S-matrix in this case is non-trivial but can be calculated exactly. I will show that it encodes the familiar square-root formula for the energy levels of the string, the Hagedorn behavior of strings, and argue that the theory on the string worldsheet behaves like a 1+1 dimensional theory of quantum gravity rather than a field theory. If time permits, I will return to the task of computing the energy levels of flux-tubes using lessons learned from the second part of my talk. -
New Results in Jet Substructure
We present new results on the performance of jet substructure techniques and their use in distinguishing the signatures of new boosted massive particles from the QCD background. Advanced approaches to jet reconstruction using jet grooming algorithms such as filtering, trimming, and pruning are compared. Measurements of the jet invariant mass for each jet algorithm are compared both at the particle level to multiple Monte Carlo event generators and at the detector level for several configurations of the jet grooming algorithms. The performance of these strategies and improvements in search sensitivity for new boosted hadronic particles are compared. Recent results using these techniques for both boosted RPV gluinos and top quark pairs from new particles are presented. The result is a comprehensive foundation for the use of substructure algorithms in the search for new physics at the LHC -
An informal discussion about topological gauge theory
Xiao-Gang Wen Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Department of Physics
Reference:
Topological gauge theories and group cohomology
Robbert Dijkgraaf and Edward Witten
http://projecteuclid.org/DPubS?service=UI&version=1.0&verb=Display&handle=euclid.cmp/1104180750
Braiding statistics approach to symmetry-protected topological phases
Michael Levin, Zheng-Cheng Gu
http://arxiv.org/abs/1202.3120
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Self-localization of a single hole in Mott antiferromagnets
Zheng-Yu Weng Tsinghua University
Anderson localization - quantum suppression of carrier diffusion due to disorders - is a basic notion of modern condensed matter physics. Here I will talk about a novel localization phenomenon totally contrary to this common wisdom. Strikingly, it is purely of strong interaction origin and occurs without the assistance of disorders. Specifically, by combined numerical (density matrix renormalization group) method and analytic analysis, we show that a single hole injected in a quantum antiferromagnetic ladder is generally self-localized even though the system respects the translational symmetry. The localization length is found to monotonically decrease with the increase of leg number, indicating stronger self-localization in the two-dimensional limit. We find that a peculiar coupling between the doped charge and the quantum spin background causes quantum interference among different hole paths. The latter brings the hole's itinerant motion to a halt, a phenomenological analogy to Anderson localization. Our findings are opposite to the common belief of the quasiparticle picture for the doped hole and unveil a completely new paradigm for lightly doped Mott insulators. -
Understanding black hole entropy through the renormalization group
PIRSA:12100053It is known that the entanglement entropy of quantum fields on the black hole background contributes to the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy,and that its divergences can be absorbed into the renormalization of gravitational couplings. By introducing a Wilsonian cutoff scale and the concepts of the renormalization group, we can expand this observation into a broader framework for understanding black hole entropy. At a given RG scale, two contributions to the black hole entropy can be identified: the "gravitational" contribution coming from the running effective gravitational action, and the entanglement entropy of the quantum degrees of freedom below the cutoff scale. At different RG scales the balance is different, though the total black hole entropy is invariant. I will describe this picture for free fields, considering both minimal and non-mininal coupling, and discuss the extension to interacting fields and the difficulties it raises. -
Towards an Asymptotically AdS Description of Heavy Ion Collisions
Hans Bantilan Princeton University
I will discuss recent work in simulating asymptotically anti-de Sitter spacetimes, and its relation to heavy ion collider physics. For this purpose, I intend to focus on a class of oblately deformed black hole spacetime solutions. For each of these solutions, I will map the gravitational metric in the spacetime bulk to a stress tensor one-point function of the conformal field theory defined on the spacetime boundary. During the ring-down process, wherein the deformed black hole settles down to the AdS analog of the Schwarzschild solution, I will exhibit evidence that the dual CFT stress tensor on the boundary is that of an N=4 SYM fluid, even for black holes of significant deformation well outside the perturbative regime. We will conformally map the boundary fluid onto a real-world fluid in Minkowski space, and discover a temperature profile which can be thought of as approximating that of a head-on heavy ion collision at its moment of impact. I will close with a description of recent parallel explorations. -
Astrophysical shear-driven turbulence
Jeremy Goodman Princeton University
PIRSA:12100043Astronomical hydrodynamics is usually almost ideal in the sense that the Reynolds number (Re) is enormous and any effective viscosity must be due to shocks or turbulence. Astronomical magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) is often also nearly ideal, so that magnetic fields and plasma are well coupled. In particular, dissipation of orbital energy in accretion disks around black holes is readily explained by MHD turbulence. On the other hand, the planet-bearing disks around protostars are magnetically far from ideal because of very low fractional ionization. MHD turbulence is at best marginal in these disks, yet accretion is observed. The Reynolds numbers based on orbital-velocity gradients are enormous, so by analogy with high-Re terrestrial flows, one might expect hydrodynamic (i.e., unmagnetized) turbulence. Direct numerical simulations indicate that such turbulence is somehow suppressed by keplerian rotation, though the mechanism is
unclear and the simulations are limited in Re. Recently, a few groups have studied the question via Taylor-Couette experiments at somewhat higher Re, obtaining conflicting results. Complicating and enriching this debate is the recent discovery that turbulence tends to have a finite lifetime in shear flows that admit a formally linearly stable laminar solution: this includes flow in smooth pipes and probably also unmagnetized keplerian disks. Some suggestions will be offered as to how these open questions might be resolved. -
Constraining RG flow in three-dimensional field theory
Benjamin Safdi Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
The entanglement entropy S(R) across a circle of radius R has been invoked recently in deriving general constraints on renormalization group flow in three-dimensional field theory. At conformal fixed points, the negative of the finite part of the entanglement entropy, which is called F, is equal to the free energy on the round three-sphere. The F-theorem states that F decreases under RG flow. Along the RG flow it has recently been shown that the renormalized entanglement entropy {\cal F}(R) = -S(R) + R S'(R), which is equal to F at the fixed points, is a monotonically decreasing function. I will review various three-dimensional field theories where we can calculate F on the three-sphere and compute its change under RG flow, including free field theories, perturbative fixed points, large N field theories with double trace deformations, gauge theories with large numbers of flavors, and supersymmetric theories with at least {\cal N} = 2 supersymmetry. I will also present calculations of the renormalized entanglement entropy along the RG flow in free massive field theory and in holographic examples.