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In arXiv:2306.17553 a new supersymmetric integrable QFT was constructed from the relativistic limit of the worlsdheet theory of AdS$_3 \times$ S$^3\times $T$^4$ superstrings with mixed Ramond-Ramond and Neveu-Schwarz-Neveu-Schwarz flux. The model is closely reminiscent of one previously considered by Fendley and Intriligator, though it enjoys twice as many supersymmetries. In this paper we study its finite-volume and finite-temperature properties. We formulate the string hypothesis for the Bethe--Yang equations, write down the thermodynamic Bethe ansatz equations, and simplify them in the form of a Y-system. We obtain three decoupled sectors associated with massive, massless-chiral and massless-antichiral particles, for which we compute the UV central charge. We illustrate the similarities and differences between this model and the one of Fendley and Intriligator., Comment: 41 pages

A global scale-invariant Dark Energy model based on Induced Gravity with the addition of a small $R^2$ contribution is examined. The scalar field (quintessence), playing the role of Dark Energy, has a quartic potential and generates Newton's constant with its non-minimal coupling (after introducing a suitable symmetry breaking). Even when small, the $R^2$ contribution significantly modifies the cosmological evolution of the matter-gravity system. The solutions to this model are obtained analytically through a perturbative expansion and oscillate with transplanckian frequency. They are then compared with similar solutions found for $\Lambda$CDM cosmology plus $R^2$. Finally scalar field production is perturbatively taken into account in a simple model and the resulting effects illustrated., Comment: 24 pages, 1 figure, invited contribution to the Starobinsky Memorial Volume, Springer 2025

We construct families of integrable deformations that interpolate between the $AdS_3\times S^3\times S^3\times S^1$ and either $AdS_3\times S^3\times S^2\times T^2$ or $AdS_3\times S^2\times S^2\times T^3$. They preserve half of the supersymmetry of the original background, namely one copy of the $\mathfrak{d}(2,1;\alpha)$ algebra. From this it follows a similar integrable interpolation between $AdS_3\times S^3\times T^4$ and $AdS_3\times S^2\times T^5$, which also preserves half of the supersymmetry, namely a copy of the $\mathfrak{psu}(1,1|2)$ algebra. In all cases, the interpolating backgrounds are constructed by using TsT transformations, which makes it easy to implement them in the integrability formalism in the full quantum theory. To illustrate this point, we discuss the lightcone gauge fixing of the models and compute their pp-wave Hamiltonian., Comment: 27 pages

Microcausality -- the vanishing of commutators outside the lightcone -- is a fundamental property of relativistic quantum field theories. We derive its implications for two-point functions of scalar operators on {\it Lorentz-breaking} states. We restrict to spatially homogeneous and isotropic states, at zero and finite temperature, such as finite-density states of matter and primordial inflationary states. In a mixed $(t, \vec k \, )$ representation, we find certain analyticity and exponential boundedness conditions, which we verify in a variety of examples. Crucially, we discuss how our conditions can be tested within the regime of validity of Lorentz-breaking low-energy effective field theories, clarifying the role of the group velocity of low-energy excitations. In the cosmological case, we derive a positivity condition on an EFT coefficient in an inflationary background. Lastly, we comment on how microcausality can be used to constrain higher-point correlation functions, via suitable nested commutators., Comment: 45 pages, 3 figures

We discuss minimal covariant quantum space-time ${\cal M}^{1,3}_0$, which is defined through the minimal doubleton representation of $\mathfrak{so}(4,2)$. An elementary definition in terms of generators and relations is given. This space is shown to admit a semi-classical interpretation as quantized twistor space ${\mathbb C} P^{1,2}$, viewed as a quantized $S^2$-bundle over a 3+1-dimensional $k=-1$ FLRW space-time. In particular we find an over-complete set of (quasi-) coherent states, with a large hierarchy between the uncertainty scale and the geometric curvature scale. This provides an interesting background for the IKKT model, leading to a $\mathfrak{hs}$-extended gravitational gauge theory, which is free of ghosts due to the constraints on phase space arising from the doubleton representation., Comment: 29 pages, 5 figures

We study two- and three-point correlation functions of chiral primary half-BPS operators in four-dimensional $\mathcal{N}=2$ superconformal circular, cyclic symmetric quiver theories. Using supersymmetric localization, these functions can be expressed as matrix integrals which, in the planar limit, reduce to Fredholm determinants of certain semi-infinite matrices. This powerful representation allows us to investigate the correlation functions across the parameter space of the quiver theory, including both weak and strong coupling regimes and various limits of the number of nodes and the operator scaling dimensions. At strong coupling, the standard semiclassical AdS/CFT expansion diverges in the long quiver limit. However, by incorporating both perturbative corrections (in negative powers of the 't Hooft coupling) and an infinite tower of nonperturbative, exponentially suppressed contributions, we derive a remarkably simple expression for the correlation functions in this limit. These functions exhibit exponential decay with increasing node separation and admit an interpretation within a five-dimensional effective theory. We determine the mass spectrum of excitations propagating along the emergent fifth dimension within this theory, finding it to be given by the zeros of Bessel functions., Comment: 39 pages, 4 figures

We study the equation of state of three-dimensional compact U(1) gauge theory on the lattice by means of numerical simulations, and discuss the implications of our results for the spectrum of the theory, in connection with previous results from the literature. We also compare our findings to the case of non-Abelian gauge theories and comment on the continuum limit., Comment: 1+16 pages, 4 figures

Long-lived heavy particles present during the big bang could have a decay channel opened by gravitons. Such decays can produce gravitational waves with large enough abundance to be detectable, and a peculiar narrow spectrum peaked today around optical frequencies. We identify which particles can decay in one or two gravitons. The maximal gravitational wave abundance arises from theories with extra hidden strong gauge dynamics, such as a confining pure-glue group. An interesting abundance also arises in theories with perturbative couplings. Future observation might shed light on early cosmology and allow some spectroscopy of sub-Planckian gravitationally-decaying particles, plausibly present in a variety of theories such as gauge unification, supersymmetry, extra dimensions, strings., Comment: 22 pages. Webinar presentation at https://youtu.be/GUndxZChJY8

Core-collapse supernovae (SNe) provide a unique environment to study Feebly Interacting Particles (FIPs) such as Axion-Like Particles (ALPs), sterile neutrinos, and Dark Photons (DPs). This paper focuses on heavy FIPs produced in SNe, whose decay produces electrons and positrons, generating observable secondary signals during their propagation and annihilation. We focus on the In-flight Annihilation (IA) of positrons, which emerge as the most significant contribution to the resulting gamma-ray spectrum. Using data from COMPTEL and EGRET we derive the most stringent bounds on the FIP-electron couplings for heavy ALPs, sterile neutrinos, and DPs. These results strenghten existing bounds of one or two orders of magnitude, depending on the FIP model., Comment: 15 figures, 10 pages. Comments are welcome

We follow up on our proposal for dressing factors for the mixed-flux $AdS_3\times S^3\times T^4$ background presented in arXiv:2402.11732. We discuss in detail the analytic properties of the dressing factors in the string and mirror kinematics for fundamental massive particles and bound states. We prove that the dressing factors are unitary and CP-invariant in the string kinematics, parity invariant in the mirror, and solve the crossing equations in both kinematics. In the limit of pure Ramond-Ramond flux they reduce to the known ones. Finally, we present their expansion at strong tension, as well as in the (small-RR-flux) relativistic limit, finding agreement with the literature., Comment: 47 pages + appendices

We propose a dephasing-tolerant protocol for quantum sensing of transverse magnetic fields which exploits spin qudit sensors with embedded fault-tolerant (FT) quantum error correction. By exploiting longitudinal drives, the transverse field induces logical Rabi oscillations between encoded states, whose frequency is linear in the transverse field to be probed. Numerical simulations show that the present FT protocol enables the detection of very small fields, orders of magnitudes below the limit imposed by the coherence time., Comment: Published open-access version. Matteo Mezzadri and Luca Lepori contributed equally to the present work

Effective String Theory (EST) is a powerful tool used to study confinement in pure gauge theories by modeling the confining flux tube connecting a static quark-anti-quark pair as a thin vibrating string. Recently, flow-based samplers have been applied as an efficient numerical method to study EST regularized on the lattice, opening the route to study observables previously inaccessible to standard analytical methods. Flow-based samplers are a class of algorithms based on Normalizing Flows (NFs), deep generative models recently proposed as a promising alternative to traditional Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods in lattice field theory calculations. By combining NF layers with out-of-equilibrium stochastic updates, we obtain Stochastic Normalizing Flows (SNFs), a scalable class of machine learning algorithms that can be explained in terms of stochastic thermodynamics. In this contribution, we outline EST and SNFs, and report some numerical results for the shape of the flux tube., Comment: 1+ 10 pages, 2 figures, contribution for the 41st International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory (Lattice 2024), 28 July - 3 August 2024, Liverpool, UK; v2: 1+ 10 pages, 2 figures, reference added

We propose a method to perform an exact calculation of one-loop quantum corrections to black hole entropy in terms of Virasoro semiclassical blocks. We analyse in detail four-dimensional Kerr black hole and show that in the near-extremal limit a branch of long-lived modes arises. We prove that the contribution of these modes accounts for a $(s-1/2)\log T_{\text{Hawking}}$ correction to the entropy for massless particles of spin $s=1,2$. We show that in the full calculation performed in the exact Kerr background the leading contribution actually is sourced by the near-horizon region only, and as such has a universal validity for any asymptotic behavior at infinity., Comment: 7+3 pages. Comments welcome

Recent measurements of the galaxy 4-Point Correlation Function (4PCF) have seemingly detected non-zero parity-odd modes at high significance. Since gravity, the primary driver of galaxy formation and evolution is parity-even, any parity violation, if genuine, is likely to have been produced by some new parity-violating mechanism in the early Universe. Here we investigate an inflationary model with a Chern-Simons interaction between an axion and a $U(1)$ gauge field, where the axion itself is the inflaton field. Evaluating the trispectrum (Fourier-space analog of the 4PCF) of the primordial curvature perturbations is an involved calculation with very high-dimensional loop integrals. We demonstrate how to simplify these integrals and perform all angular integrations analytically by reducing the integrals to convolutions and exploiting the Convolution Theorem. This leaves us with low-dimensional radial integrals that are much more amenable to efficient numerical evaluation. This paper is the first in a series in which we will use these results to compute the full late-time 4PCF for axion inflation, thence enabling constraints from upcoming 3D spectroscopic surveys such as Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), Euclid, or Roman., Comment: 60 pages, 14 figures, submitted

We study the effective bosonic string that describes confining flux tubes in three-dimensional SU(N) Yang--Mills theories. Although the low-energy properties are universal and well described by the Nambu--Got\=o action, the subtle dependence on the gauge group is embedded in a series of corrections, which remain undetermined, appearing in the expansion around the limit of an infinitely long string. We extract the first two of these corrections from a set of high-precision Monte Carlo simulations of Polyakov loop correlators at finite temperatures close to the deconfinement transition. We present and compare the results of new lattice simulations for theories with N=3 and N=6 color charges, along with an improved estimate for the N=2 case, discussing the approach to the large-N limit. We show that our results are compatible with analytical bounds derived from the S-matrix bootstrap approach. Additionally, we present a new test of the Svetitsky--Yaffe conjecture for the SU(3) theory in three dimensions, showing that our results for the correlator of Polyakov loops perfectly agree with the predictions obtained using a conformal perturbation approach to the two-dimensional three-state Potts model, Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:2407.10678

We uncover late-time gravitational-wave tails in fully nonlinear 3+1 dimensional numerical relativity simulations of merging black holes, using the highly accurate SpEC code. We achieve this result by exploiting the strong magnification of late-time tails due to binary eccentricity, recently observed in perturbative evolutions, and showcase here the tail presence in head-on configurations for several mass ratios close to unity. We validate the result through a large battery of numerical tests and detailed comparison with perturbative evolutions, which display striking agreement with full nonlinear ones. Our results offer yet another confirmation of the highly predictive power of black hole perturbation theory in the presence of a source, even when applied to nonlinear solutions. The late-time tail signal is much more prominent than anticipated until recently, and possibly within reach of gravitational-wave detectors measurements, unlocking observational investigations of an additional set of general relativistic predictions on the long-range gravitational dynamics., Comment: 5+7 pages, 2+5 figures, 1+1 tables

We analytically determine the large central charge asymptotic expansion of the Virasoro conformal blocks entering in four-point functions with external degenerate operators on a sphere in $2d$ CFTs, and study its resurgence properties as a function of the conformal cross-ratio $z$. We focus on the cases of four heavy $(2,1)$ degenerate operators, and two $(2,1)$ heavy degenerate ones plus two arbitrary light operators. The $1/c$ asymptotic series is Borel summable for generic values of $z$, but it jumps when a Stokes line is crossed. Starting from the $1/c$ series of the identity block, we show how a resurgent analysis allows us to completely determine the other Virasoro block and in fact to reconstruct the full correlator. We also show that forbidden singularities, known to exist in correlators with two heavy and two light operators, appear with four heavy operators as well. In both cases, they are turning points emanating Stokes lines, artefacts of the asymptotic expansion, and we show how they are non perturbatively resolved. More general correlators and implications for gravitational theories in $\text{AdS}_{3}$ are briefly discussed. Our results are based on new asymptotic expansions for large parameters $(a,b,c)$ of certain hypergeometric functions $\,_2 F_1(a,b,c;z)$ which can be useful in general., Comment: 32+28 pages, 13 figures

We study the canonical quantization of a massive scalar field on a five dimensional, rotating black hole space-time. We focus on the case where the space-time is asymptotically anti-de Sitter and the black hole's two angular momentum parameters are equal. In this situation the geometry possesses additional symmetries which simplify both the mode solutions of the scalar field equation and the stress-energy tensor. When the angular momentum of the black hole is sufficiently small that there is no speed-of-light surface, there exists a Killing vector which is time-like in the region exterior to the event horizon. In this case classical superradiance is absent and we construct analogues of the usual Boulware and Hartle-Hawking quantum states for the quantum scalar field. We compute the differences in expectation values of the square of the quantum scalar field operator and the stress-energy tensor operator between these two quantum states., Comment: 36 pages, 12 figures

We study $\frac{1}{4}$-BPS Wilson loops in four-dimensional SU$(N$) ${\cal N}=2$ super-Yang-Mills theories with conformal matter in an arbitrary representation $\mathcal{R}$. These operators are special examples of loops consisting of two meridians on the two-sphere separated by an arbitrary opening angle. We conjecture an exact expression for the observable based on Pestun's matrix model and show that it perfectly reproduces the perturbative calculations at three loops in the theories under examination and at four loops in special setups characterized by hypermultiplets in the (rank-2) symmetric and antisymmetric representation of the gauge group. Moreover, we show that our conjecture is consistent with the known expression for the Bremsstrahlung function of ${\cal N}=2$ SYM theories. Finally, exploiting the matrix model representation of these Wilson loops, we study the large-$N$ limit at strong coupling of $\mathcal{N}=2$ superconformal QCD, finding a surprising transition in the vacuum expectation value for a critical opening angle., Comment: 32 pages + appendices

A surprising relation between 4d $\mathcal{N}=2$ class $\mathcal{S}$ superconformal field theories of Type-$A$ and 6d $\mathcal{N}=(1,0)$ orbi-instanton theories is investigated. We find that all of the theories in the former class can be obtained by a series of deformations of the 4d theories arising from compactifying the latter on a torus. This is demonstrated by examining Fayet--Iliopoulos (FI) deformations of the $E_8$-shaped magnetic quivers of the orbi-instanton theories whose body fits into the affine $E_8$ Dynkin diagram with a tail attached. Turning on FI parameters at the appropriate gauge groups leads, in stages, to $E_7$-shaped, $E_6$-shaped, and general star-shaped quivers, where the latter are magnetic quivers for the class $\mathcal{S}$ theory of Type-$A$ on a sphere with punctures. Deforming a suitable star-shaped quiver, one obtains a magnetic quiver of the Type-$A$ class $\mathcal{S}$ theory with general genus and an arbitrary number of punctures. Given such a theory, we also propose the inverse algorithm, thereby determining a parent orbi-instanton theory. This is achieved by uplifting the corresponding magnetic quiver step by step to the star-shaped, $E_6$-shaped, $E_7$-shaped, and $E_8$-shaped quivers, where at each step all of the underbalanced nodes, possessing non-zero FI parameters, are dualized. The latter $E_8$-shaped quiver then characterizes the 6d orbi-instanton theory from which the class $\mathcal{S}$ theory in question originates., Comment: v2: 63 pages + appendices, JHEP accepted

We elaborate further on the one-loop effective action of the IKKT model on 3 + 1 dimensional covariant quantum spacetime in the presence of fuzzy extra dimensions. In particular, we describe the one-loop effective action in terms of a remarkable $SO(1, 9)$ character, which allows to evaluate the pertinent traces over the internal modes explicitly. This also allows to estimate the higher-order contributions (in the internal flux $\mathcal{F}_{\mathtt{IJ}}$) to the one-loop effective action in a systematic way. We show that all higher-order contributions are generally suppressed and UV finite, which justifies the previous treatment of the induced gravitational action. We also obtain explicit expressions for the effective Newton constant, and determine the dynamics of the Kaluza-Klein scale $\Delta_{\mathcal{K}}$ of the fuzzy extra dimensions $\mathcal{K}$., Comment: 2 figures

Stars have been recognized as optimal laboratories to probe axion properties. In the last decades there have been significant advances in this field due to a better modelling of stellar systems and accurate observational data. In this work we review the current status of constraints on axions from stellar physics. We focus in particular on the Sun, globular cluster stars, white dwarfs and (proto)-neutron stars., Comment: 127 pages, 59 figures, 9 tables. Prepared for the submission to Physics Reports. Comments are welcome!

We present some addition theorems for spin-weighted spherical harmonics, generalizing previous results for scalar (spin-zero) spherical harmonics. These addition theorems involve sums over the azimuthal quantum number of products of two spin-weighted spherical harmonics at different points on the two-sphere, either (or both) of which are differentiated with respect to one of their arguments., Comment: 12 pages, added discussion of physical applications, other minor changes, version accepted for publication

We performed a series of 739 full numerical simulations of high energy collision of black holes to search for the maximum gravitational energy emitted $E_{rad}$, during their merger. We consider equal mass binaries with spins pointing along their orbital angular momentum $\vec{L}$ and perform a search over impact parameters $b$ and initial linear momenta $p/m=\gamma v$ to find the maximum $E_{rad}$ for a given spin $\vec{S}$. The total radiated energy proves to have a weak dependence on the intrinsic spin $s$ of the holes, for the sequence $s=+0.8, 0.0, -0.8$ studied here. We thus estimate the maximum $E_{rad}^{max}/M_{ADM}\approx25\%\pm2\%$ for these direct merger encounters. We also explore the radiated angular momentum and the maximum spin of the merger remnant (within these configurations), finding $\alpha_f^{max}=0.987$. We then use the zero frequency limit expansion to analytically model the radiated energy in the small impact parameter and large initial linear momentum regime., Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, 4 tables

We study BPS surface observables of $\mathcal{N}=2$ four dimensional $SU(2)$ gauge theory in gravitational $\Omega$-background at perturbative and at Argyres-Douglas superconformal fixed points. This is done by formulating the equivariant gauge theory on the blow-up of $\mathbb{C}^2$ and considering the decoupling Nekrasov-Shatashvili limit. We show that in this limit the blow-up equations are solved by corresponding Painlev\'e $\mathcal{T}$-functions and exploit operator/state correspondence to compute their expansion in an integer basis, given in terms of the moduli of the quantum Seiberg-Witten curve. We study the modular properties of these solutions and show that they do directly lead to BCOV holomorphic anomaly equations for the corresponding topological string partition function. The resulting $\mathcal{T}$-functions are holomorphic and modular and as such they provide a natural non-perturbative completion of topological strings partition functions., Comment: 67 pages, 2 figures

We consider the four-dimensional $\mathcal{N}=2$ quiver gauge theory arising from a $\mathbb{Z}_2$ orbifold of $\mathcal{N}=4$ super Yang-Mills with gauge group $SU(2N)$. We study the integrated correlator between a half-BPS Wilson line and two Higgs branch operators of conformal dimension 2. Using supersymmetric localization, we resum the perturbative series for this observable and obtain exact expressions for both the planar and next-to-planar terms of its large $N$ expansion, valid for arbitrary values of the 't Hooft coupling. Finally, through a combination of analytical and numerical methods, we determine the leading terms of the corresponding strong-coupling expansions., Comment: 21 pages

We study the 1/2 BPS circular Wilson loop in four-dimensional SU(N), $N = 2$ SYM theories with massless hypermultiplets and non-vanishing $\beta$-function. Using super-symmetric localization on $S_4$ , we map the path-integral associated with this observable onto an interacting matrix model. Despite the breaking of conformal symmetry at the quantum level, we show that, within a specific regime, the matrix model predictions remain consistent with the perturbative results in flat space up to order $g^6$ . At this order, our analysis reveals that the reorganization of Feynman diagrams based on the matrix model interaction potential, widely tested in (super)conformal models, also applies to these non-conformal set-ups and is realized by interference mechanisms., Comment: 56 pages

In these lecture notes, we provide an introduction to the moduli space of Riemann surfaces, a fundamental concept in the theories of 2D quantum gravity, topological string theory, and matrix models. We begin by reviewing some basic results concerning the recursive boundary structure of the moduli space and the associated cohomology theory. We then present Witten's celebrated conjecture and its generalisation, framing it as a recursive computation of cohomological field theory correlators via topological recursion. We conclude with a discussion of JT gravity in relation to hyperbolic geometry and topological strings. These lecture notes accompanied a series of lectures at the Les Houches school "Quantum Geometry (Mathematical Methods for Gravity, Gauge Theories and Non-Perturbative Physics)" in Summer 2024., Comment: 46 pages; comments, suggestions and corrections are welcome and encouraged!

Astrophysical environments are ubiquitous in the Universe; from accretion disks around black holes to galactic dark matter halos, distributions of astrophysical material veil the vast majority of Cosmos. Including environmental effects in strong-field gravity and astrophysics is, therefore, a rather tantalizing task in the quest for novel gravitational-wave phenomena. Here, we examine how environments affect the high-energy process of superradiance. In particular, we study the amplification of charged scalar waves under the expense of the electrostatic energy contained in a charged black hole that is embedded in an observationally-motivated, and qualitatively generic, dark matter halo. We find that the superradiant amplification of massless charged scalar fields scattering off environmentally-enriched charged black holes can be equally efficient to those occurring in vacuum charged black holes. This occurs due to the fact that the sole interplay between the scalar wave and the black hole is the electromagnetic interaction. The addition of mass on the charged scalar waves leads to a rapid suppression of superradiant amplification. This transpires to a great extent due to the `friction' that the mass introduces to the black hole potential. Nevertheless, for sufficiently large scalar masses, the amplification factors can be also subdominantly affected by the compactness of the halo. This occurs because the gravitational interaction between the dense halo and the wave's mass grows, thus further suppressing the superradiant amplification., Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in PRD

Recently, possible hints of parity violation have been observed in the connected galaxy four-point correlation function. Although the true origin of the signal from the analysis has been debated, should they have a physical origin, they might point to primordial non-Gaussianity and would be evidence of new physics. In this work, we examine the single-field slow-roll model of inflation within chiral scalar-tensor theories of modified gravity. These theories extend the Chern-Simons one by including parity-violating operators containing first and second derivatives of the non-minimally coupled scalar (inflaton) field. This model is capable of imprinting parity-violating signatures in late-time observables, such as the galaxy four-point correlation function. We perform an analysis of the graviton-mediated scalar trispectrum of the gauge-invariant curvature perturbation $\zeta(t,\mathbf{x})$. We estimate that for a set of parameters of the theory it is possible to produce a signal-to-noise ratio for the parity-violating part of the trispectrum of order one without introducing modifications to the single-field slow-roll setup. Even if the signal found in the analysis turns out to be spurious or if no parity violation is ever detected in the galaxy four-point correlation function, our analysis can be used to constrain the free parameters of these theories., Comment: 30 pages, 4 figures

The detailed structure of the peaks appearing in the density-density correlation function for an acoustic black hole formed by a Bose-Einstein condensate is analytically discussed for a particular, but physically meaningful, sound velocity profile that allows the field modes to be exactly computed., Comment: 22 pages, 5 figures. Final version, published as Phys. Rev. D110 (2024), 125024

Renaud Parentani was one of the leading figures in Quantum Field Theory in curved spacetime, in particular concerning its applications to Hawking-like radiation in analogue models. In this paper dedicated to him, we discuss the features of the characteristic peaks appearing in the correlation functions in an acoustic black hole formed by a Bose-Einstein condensate, considered as signature of the presence of Hawking radiation in this system., Comment: 19 pages, 14 figures. Paper written in memory of Renaud Parentani

The Phase-Space approach (PSA), which was originally introduced in [Lacroix et al., Phys. Rev. D 106, 123006 (2022)] to describe neutrino flavor oscillations for interacting neutrinos emitted from stellar objects is extended to describe arbitrary numbers of neutrino beams. The PSA is based on mapping the quantum fluctuations into a statistical treatment by sampling initial conditions followed by independent mean-field evolution. A new method is proposed to perform this sampling that allows treating an arbitrary number of neutrinos in each neutrino beam. We validate the technique successfully and confirm its predictive power on several examples where a reference exact calculation is possible. We show that it can describe many-body effects, such as entanglement and dissipation induced by the interaction between neutrinos. Due to the complexity of the problem, exact solutions can only be calculated for rather limited cases, with a limited number of beams and/or neutrinos in each beam. The PSA approach considerably reduces the numerical cost and provides an efficient technique to accurately simulate arbitrary numbers of beams. Examples of PSA results are given here, including up to 200 beams with time-independent or time-dependent Hamiltonian. We anticipate that this approach will be useful to bridge exact microscopic techniques with more traditional transport theories used in neutrino oscillations. It will also provide important reference calculations for future quantum computer applications where other techniques are not applicable to classical computers.

We compute the real corrections to the impact factor for the production of a forward Higgs boson, retaining full top-mass dependence. We demonstrate that the rapidity divergence is the one predicted by the BFKL factorization and perform the explicit subtraction in the BFKL scheme. We show that the IR-structure of the impact factor is the expected one and that, in the infinite-top-mass approximation, the previously known result is recovered. We also verify that the impact factor vanishes when the transverse momenta of the $t$-channel Reggeon goes to zero, in agreement with its gauge-invariant definition, exploiting the $m_t \rightarrow \infty$ expansion up to the next-to-next-to-leading order., Comment: 29 pages, 6 figures

Flow-based architectures have recently proved to be an efficient tool for numerical simulations of Effective String Theories regularized on the lattice that otherwise cannot be efficiently sampled by standard Monte Carlo methods. In this work we use Stochastic Normalizing Flows, a state-of-the-art deep-learning architecture based on non-equilibrium Monte Carlo simulations, to study different effective string models. After testing the reliability of this approach through a comparison with exact results for the Nambu-Got\={o} model, we discuss results on observables that are challenging to study analytically, such as the width of the string and the shape of the flux density. Furthermore, we perform a novel numerical study of Effective String Theories with terms beyond the Nambu-Got\={o} action, including a broader discussion on their significance for lattice gauge theories. These results establish the reliability and feasibility of flow-based samplers for Effective String Theories and pave the way for future applications on more complex models., Comment: 1+28 pages, 11 figures, 8 tables

Quantum field theories with quenched disorder are so hard to study that even exactly solvable free theories present puzzling aspects. We consider a free scalar field $\phi$ in $d$ dimensions coupled to a random source $h$ with quenched disorder. Despite the presence of a mass scale governing the disorder distribution, we derive a new description of the theory that allows us to show that the theory is gapless and invariant under conformal symmetry, which acts in a non-trivial way on $\phi$ and $h$. This manifest CFT description reveals the presence of exotic continuous symmetries, such as nilpotent bosonic ones, in the quenched theory. We also reconsider Cardy's CFT description defined through the replica trick. In this description, the nilpotent symmetries reveal a striking resemblance with Parisi-Sourlas supersymmetries. We provide explicit maps of correlation functions between such CFTs and the original quenched theory. The maps are non-trivial and show that conformal behaviour is manifest only when considering suitable linear combinations of averages of products of correlators. We also briefly discuss how familiar notions like normal ordering of composite operators and OPE can be generalized in the presence of the more complicated local observables in the quenched theory., Comment: 52 pages

The construction of general amplitudes satisfying symmetries and $S$-matrix constraints has been the primary tool in studying the spectrum of hadrons for over half a century. In this work, we present a new parameterization, which can fulfill many expectations of $S$-matrix and Regge theory and connects the essential physics of hadron scattering in the resonance region and in asymptotic limits. In this construction, dynamical information is entirely contained in Regge trajectories that generalize resonance poles in the complex energy plane to moving poles in the angular momentum plane. We highlight the salient features of the model, compare with existing literature on dispersive and dual amplitudes, and benchmark the formalism with an initial numerical application to the $\rho$ and $\sigma/f_0(500)$ mesons in $\pi\pi$ scattering., Comment: 27 pages, 10 figures

In this thesis, we investigate the implications of Lorentz-violating (LV) theories, focusing on Very Special Relativity (VSR) and its phenomenological consequences. Initially presented as an alternative mechanism for neutrino masses, VSR has since become a significant part of the general LV framework, distinguished by its unique group structure and non-local operators. After a comprehensive introduction to the principles of LV and VSR, we present the corresponding modifications to the Dirac equation. A significant part of the thesis is dedicated to the development of a Hamiltonian formalism within the VSR context, addressing its inherent non-localities. This approach is further extended to the non-relativistic limit, connecting it to the conventional Schr\"odinger picture. We then set upper bounds on the VSR parameters by examining its corrections to a wide range of physical systems and scenarios, such as Landau levels of charged particles, the $\mathsf g-$factor of electrons, the energy spectrum of ultracold neutrons in Earth's gravitational field, and the gravitational emission from binary stars. The latter analysis led us to the construction of a VSR field theory for spin-2 fields in flat space, which was surprisingly found to accommodate a gauge-invariant graviton mass. Through this comprehensive study, we bridged theoretical predictions with experimental data, paving the way for future explorations in Lorentz-violating theories and highlighting their potential to address unresolved questions in modern physics.

We initiate a numerical conformal bootstrap study of CFTs with $S_n \ltimes (S_Q)^n$ global symmetry. These include CFTs that can be obtained as coupled replicas of two-dimensional critical Potts models. Particular attention is paid to the special case $S_3 \ltimes (S_3)^3$, which governs the critical behaviour of three coupled critical 3-state Potts models, a multi-scalar realisation of a (potentially) non-integrable CFT in two dimensions. The model has been studied in earlier works using perturbation theory, transfer matrices, and Monte Carlo simulations. This work represents an independent non-perturbative analysis. Our results are in agreement with previous determinations: we obtain an allowed peninsula within parameter space for the scaling dimensions of the three lowest-lying operators in the theory, which contains the earlier predictions for these scaling dimensions. Additionally, we derive numerous bounds on admissible scaling dimensions in the theory, which are compatible with earlier results. Our work sets the necessary groundwork for a future precision study of these theories in the conformal bootstrap., Comment: 47 pages, 19 figures

The growth of the entanglement between a disjoint subsystem and its complement after a quantum quench is regarded as a dynamical chaos indicator. Namely, it is expected to show qualitatively different behaviours depending on whether the underlying microscopic dynamics is chaotic or integrable. So far, however, this could only be verified in the context of conformal field theories. Here we present an exact confirmation of this expectation in a class of interacting microscopic Floquet systems on the lattice, i.e., dual-unitary circuits. These systems can either have zero or a super extensive number of conserved charges: the latter case is achieved via fine-tuning. We show that, for almost all dual unitary circuits the asymptotic entanglement dynamics agrees with what is expected for chaotic systems. On the other hand, if we require the systems to have conserved charges, we find that the entanglement displays the qualitatively different behaviour expected for integrable systems. Interestingly, despite having many conserved charges, charge-conserving dual-unitary circuits are in general not Yang-Baxter integrable., Comment: 6+5 pages, 4 figures; v2 11 pages, 4 figures presentation improved

We construct the boundary algebraic Bethe Ansatz for the AdS3 X S3 X T4 integrable reflection problem restricted to the massless sector. We derive the double-row monodromy and find the appropriate formulation of the dual equation of Sklyanin's. We perform the algebraic Bethe ansatz and obtain the RTT (more properly the RTRT) relations, from which the spectrum is obtained by repeated action of the B operator on the pseudovacuum. We obtain the Bethe equations by cancelling the unwanted terms, and prove the exact formulae for any number of quantum particles and magnonic excitations., Comment: 28 pages, LaTeX; v2: added details and proofs following referee report

Motivated by the recent advances in the understanding of integrability for $AdS_3$ backgrounds, we present a lightning review of this approach, with particular attention to the "tensionless" limits (with zero and one unit of NSNS flux), and to the many integrable deformations of the supergravity backgrounds. Our aim is to concisely but comprehensively take stock of the state of the art in the field, in a way accessible to non-experts, and to highlight outstanding challenges. Along the way we reference where the various derivation of these results, which we mostly omit, can be found in full detail., Comment: Review prepared for the MATRIX Annals; 54 pages, 4 figures (3 of which from 2308.11576); v2

We study a model for the initial state of the universe based on a gravitational path integral that includes connected geometries which simultaneously produce bra and ket of the wave function. We argue that a natural object to describe this state is the Wigner distribution, which is a function on a classical phase space obtained by a certain integral transform of the density matrix. We work with Lorentzian de Sitter Jackiw-Teitelboim gravity in which we find semiclassical saddle-points for pure gravity, as well as when we include matter components such as a CFT and a classical inflaton field. We also discuss different choices of fixing time reparametrizations. In the regime of large universes our connected geometry dominates over the Hartle-Hawking saddle and gives a distribution that has a meaningful probabilistic interpretation for local observables. It does not, however, give a normalizable probability measure on the entire phase space of the theory., Comment: Version 2: typos, comments added

Cosmological collider signals of primordial non-Gaussianity arise at tree level when an extra scalar has Hubble mass during inflation. We critically review the formalism finding that a large class of inflationary theories, based on Planck-scale physics, predict a scalar bi-spectrum around the gravitational floor level. This mild signal arises for example in $R^2$ gravity, in the regime where its gravitational scalar has Hubble-scale mass. Signals much above the gravitational floor arise in theories where scalars undergo multiple turns during inflation, thanks to sub-Planckian physics., Comment: 33 pages, 7 figures. v2: version to appear on JHEP, references added. Webinar presentation: https://youtu.be/KweuhqBxhuE

In this work we address partial wave decompositions of thermal one-point functions in conformal field theories on $S^1 \times S^{d-1}$. With the help of Casimir differential equations we develop efficient algorithms to compute the relevant conformal blocks for an external field of arbitrary spin and with any spin exchange along the thermal circle, at least in three dimensions. This is achieved by identifying solutions to the Casimir equations with a special class of spherical functions in the harmonic analysis of the conformal group. The resulting blocks are then applied to study the decomposition of one-point functions of the scalar $\phi^2$ and the stress tensor $T$ for a three-dimensional free scalar field $\phi$. We are able to read off averaged OPE coefficients into exchanged fields of high weight and spin for a complete set of tensor structures. We also extract an asymptotic behaviour of conformal blocks and use it to analyse the density of heavy-heavy-light OPE coefficients for spinning operators, comparing it with semi-classical predictions, such as the dimensions of operators at large charge.

In this review, a pedagogical introduction to the concepts of slow-roll inflationary Universe and number of $e$-folds is provided. In particular, the differences between the basic notion of number of $e$-folds ($N_e$), total number of $e$-folds ($N_T$) and number of $e$-folds before the end of inflation ($N$), are outlined. The proper application of the number of $e$-folds before the end of inflation is discussed both as a time-like variable for the scalar field evolution and as a key parameter for computing inflationary predictions., Comment: 23 pages, Review for the Special Issue Universe: Feature Papers 2024 - 'Cosmology'

The interplay between symmetries and entanglement in out-of-equilibrium quantum systems is currently at the centre of an intense multidisciplinary research effort. Here we introduce a setting where these questions can be characterised exactly by considering dual-unitary circuits with an arbitrary number of $U(1)$ charges. After providing a complete characterisation of these systems we show that one can introduce a class of solvable states, which extends that of generic dual unitary circuits, for which the non-equilibrium dynamics can be solved exactly. In contrast to the known class of solvable states, which relax to the infinite temperature state, these states relax to a family of non-trivial generalised Gibbs ensembles. The relaxation process of these states can be simply described by a linear growth of the entanglement entropy followed by saturation to a non-maximal value but with maximal entanglement velocity. We then move on to consider the dynamics from non-solvable states, combining exact results with the entanglement membrane picture we argue that the entanglement dynamics from these states is qualitatively different from that of the solvable ones. It shows two different growth regimes characterised by two distinct slopes, both corresponding to sub-maximal entanglement velocities. Moreover, we show that non-solvable initial states can give rise to the quantum Mpemba effect, where less symmetric initial states restore the symmetry faster than more symmetric ones., Comment: 31 pages, 8 figures; v2 improved presentation

We study the anomalies of two-dimensional BPS defects in six-dimensional $\mathcal{N}=(1,0)$ superconformal field theories. Using a holographic description of these defects furnished by probe D4-branes in AdS${}_7$ solutions of ten-dimensional type IIA supergravity, we compute the two independent defect Weyl anomalies from the on-shell action for a spherical defect and defect sphere entanglement entropy. We find agreement between the holographic prediction for the defect A-type anomaly coming from the defect sphere free energy and the leading large $N$ contribution to the defect `t Hooft anomaly found using anomaly inflow. We also find agreement between the holographic computation of the expectation value of a surface operator wrapping a torus and the supersymmetric localization computation for a circular Wilson loop in $\mathcal{N}=1$ super Yang-Mills theory on $S^5$. Lastly, we holographically compute the defect gravitational anomaly from the Wess-Zumino action of the probe D4-brane, which provides a subleading large $N$ correction to the defect A-type anomaly., Comment: 35 pages, 3 figures

We examine the relation between supersymmetric localization on $\mathbb{S}^4$ and standard QFT results for non-conformal theories in flat space. Specifically, we consider 1/2 BPS circular Wilson loops in four-dimensional SU($N$) $\mathcal{N}$= 2 SYM theories with massless hypermultiplets in an arbitrary representation $\mathcal{R}$ such that the $\beta$-function is non-vanishing. On $\mathbb{S}^4$, localization maps this observable into an interacting matrix model. Although conformal symmetry is broken at the quantum level, we show that within a specific regime of validity the matrix model predictions are consistent with perturbation theory in flat space up to order $g^6$. In particular, at this order, localization predicts two classes of corrections proportional to $\zeta(3)$ whose diagrammatic origins in field theory are remarkably different. One class of $\zeta(3)$-like corrections emerges via interference effects between evanescent terms and the ultraviolet (UV) poles associated with the bare coupling constant, while the second one stems from a Feynman integral which retains the same form in flat space and on the sphere., Comment: 7 pages. V2: reference added, minor improvements in the presentation

We carry out a systematic study of the effective bosonic string describing confining flux tubes in $\mathrm{SU}(N)$ Yang--Mills theories in three spacetime dimensions. While their low-energy properties are known to be universal and are described well by the Nambu--Got\=o action, a non-trivial dependence on the gauge group is encoded in a series of undetermined subleading corrections in an expansion around the limit of an arbitrarily long string. We quantify the first two of these corrections by means of high-precision Monte Carlo simulations of Polyakov-loop correlators in the lattice regularization. We compare the results of novel lattice simulations for theories with $N=3$ and $6$ color charges, and report an improved estimate for the $N=2$ case, discussing the approach to the large-$N$ limit. Our results are compatible with analytical bounds derived from the S-matrix bootstrap approach. In addition, we also present a new test of the Svetitsky--Yaffe conjecture for the $\mathrm{SU}(3)$ theory in three dimensions, finding that the lattice results for the Polyakov-loop correlation function are in excellent agreement with the predictions of the Svetitsky--Yaffe mapping, which are worked out quantitatively applying conformal perturbation theory to the three-state Potts model in two dimensions. The implications of these results are discussed., Comment: 35 pages, 14 figures, 17 tables