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Distinguishing whether a system supports alternate low-energy (locally stable) states -- stable (true vacuum) versus metastable (false vacuum) -- by direct observation can be difficult when the lifetime of the state is very long but otherwise unknown. Here we demonstrate, in a tractable model system, that there are physical phenomena on much shorter time scales that can diagnose the difference. Specifically, we study the time evolution of the magnetization following a quench in the tilted quantum Ising model, and show that its magnitude spectrum is an effective diagnostic. Small transition bubbles are more common than large ones, and we see characteristic differences in the size dependence of bubble lifetimes even well below the critical size for false vacuum decay. We expect this sort of behavior to be generic in systems of this kind. We show such signatures persist in a continuum field theory. This also opens the possibility of similar signatures of the potential metastable false vacuum of our universe well before the beginning of a decay process to the true vacuum., Comment: 8+8 pages, 3+3 figures

We show that NV centers could provide distinct signatures of emergent gauge fields in certain phase transitions in spin liquids. We consider the relaxation rate $1/T_1$ of a diamond NV center placed a distance $z_0$ above a crystal consisting of two dimensional layers which hosts a $U(1)$ quantum spin liquid with spinon Fermi surface. We show that during a spinon pairing transition from a $U(1)$ to a $\mathbb{Z}_2$ spin liquid, the relaxation rate exhibits a rapid fall just below the pairing transition. The drop is much faster than what can be accounted for by the opening of the energy gap. Instead, the rapid fall with a unique $z_0$ dependence of its height and width, is the signature of the Meissner effect of the gauge field. We identify the organic ET compound which has a phase transition at 6K as a candidate for the experimental observation of this phenomenon., Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure

We summarise the recent progress of the Axion Longitudinal Plasma HAloscope (ALPHA) Consortium, a new experimental collaboration to build a plasma haloscope to search for axions and dark photons. The plasma haloscope is a novel method for the detection of the resonant conversion of light dark matter to photons. ALPHA will be sensitive to QCD axions over almost a decade of parameter space, potentially discovering dark matter and resolving the Strong CP problem. Unlike traditional cavity haloscopes, which are generally limited in volume by the Compton wavelength of the dark matter, plasma haloscopes use a wire metamaterial to create a tuneable artificial plasma frequency, decoupling the wavelength of light from the Compton wavelength and allowing for much stronger signals. We develop the theoretical foundations of plasma haloscopes and discuss recent experimental progress. Finally, we outline a baseline design for ALPHA and show that a full-scale experiment could discover QCD axions over almost a decade of parameter space., Comment: Endorsers: Jens Dilling, Michael Febbraro, Stefan Knirck, and Claire Marvinney. 26 pages, 17 figures, version accepted in Physical Review D, typo corrected

We show that interactions in quantum spin liquids can result in non-Hermitian phenomenology that differs qualitatively from mean-field expectations. We demonstrate this in two prominent cases through the effects of phonons and disorder on a Kitaev honeycomb model. Using analytic and numerical calculations, we show the generic appearance of exceptional points and rings depending on the symmetry of the system. Their existence is reflected in dynamical observables including the dynamic structure function measured in neutron scattering. The results point to new phenomenological features in realizable spin liquids that must be incorporated into the analysis of experimental data and also indicate that spin liquids could be generically stable to wider classes of perturbations., Comment: 6+10 pages, 3+4 figure, MIT-CTP/5402