Publications related to Two-dimensional O(n) models and logarithmic CFTs

Bootstrapping smooth conformal defects in Chern-Simons-matter theories

The expectation value of a smooth conformal line defect in a CFT is a conformal invariant functional of its path in space-time. For example, in large N holographic theories, these fundamental observables are dual to the open-string partition function in Ad ...

Springer Nature2024

Null energy constraints on two-dimensional RG flows

Grégoire Olivier Mathys

We study applications of spectral positivity and the averaged null energy condition (ANEC) to renormalization group (RG) flows in two-dimensional quantum field theory. We find a succinct new proof of the Zamolodchikov c-theorem, and derive further independ ...

Springer Nature2024

Flux correlators and semiclassics

Riccardo Rattazzi, Alexander Monin, Eren Clément Firat, Matthew Thomas Walters

We consider correlators for the flux of energy and charge in the background of operators with large global U(1) charge in conformal field theory (CFT). It has recently been shown that the corresponding Euclidean correlators generically admit a semiclassica ...

Springer Nature2024

Bootstrapping amplitudes of scalar particles

Jan Krzysztof Marucha

Quantum Field Theories are a central object of interest of modern physics, describing fundamental interactions of matter. However, current methods give limited insight into strongly coupling theories. S-matrix bootstrap program, described in this thesis, a ...

EPFL2024

Holography and localization of information in quantum gravity

Kyriakos Papadodimas, Alexandre Mathieu Frédéric Belin

Within the AdS/CFT correspondence, we identify a class of CFT operators which represent diff-invariant and approximately local observables in the gravitational dual. Provided that the bulk state breaks all asymptotic symmetries, we show that these operator ...

Springer Nature2024

Primary and secondary order parameters in the fully frustrated transverse-field Ising model on the square lattice

Frédéric Mila

Using quantum Monte Carlo simulations and field-theory arguments, we study the fully frustrated transversefield Ising model on the square lattice for the purpose of quantitatively relating two different order parameters to each other. We consider a "primar ...

Amer Physical Soc2024

Topological photonic transport in disordered scattering networks

Zhechen Zhang

This Ph.D. thesis unveils the unique topological phenomena occurring in such networks, focusing on the intricate interplay between their Floquet topology, the presence of disorder, and their unitary scattering at microscopic and macroscopic scales. Using t ...

EPFL2024

Anomaly-free scale symmetry and gravity

Mikhail Chapochnikov, Anna Tokareva

In this Letter, we address the question of whether the conformal invariance can be considered as a global symmetry of a theory of fundamental interactions. To describe Nature, this theory must contain a mechanism of spontaneous breaking of the scale symmet ...

ELSEVIER2023

Exact quantum conformal symmetry, its spontaneous breakdown, and gravitational Weyl anomaly

Mikhail Chapochnikov, Anna Tokareva

The classical Lagrangian of the Standard Model enjoys the symmetry of the full conformal group if the mass of the Higgs boson is put to zero. This is a hint that conformal symmetry may play a fundamental role in the ultimate theory describing nature. The o ...

American Physical Society2023

Nonperturbative aspects of scattering amplitudes

Miguel Alexandre Ribeiro Correia

In this thesis we study how physical principles imposed on the S-matrix, such as Lorentz invariance, unitarity, crossing symmetry and analyticity constrain quantum field theories at the nonperturbative level. We start with a pedagogical introduction to the ...

EPFL2023

Identifying Large Charge operators

Riccardo Rattazzi, Alexander Monin, Gil Badel

The Large Charge sector of Conformal Field Theory (CFT) can generically be described through a semiclassical expansion around a superfluid background. In this work, focussing on U(1) invariant Wilson-Fisher fixed points, we study the spectrum of spinning l ...

Springer Nature2023

Twist Accumulation in Conformal Field Theory: A Rigorous Approach to the Lightcone Bootstrap

Jiaxin Qiao

We prove that in any unitary CFT, a twist gap in the spectrum of operator product expansion (OPE) of identical scalar quasiprimary operators (i.e. phi x phi) implies the existence of a family of quasiprimary operators O t,l with spins l ->.infinity and twi ...

SPRINGER2023

The Källén-Lehmann representation in de Sitter spacetime

João Miguel Augusto Penedones Fernandes, Kamran Salehi Vaziri, Manuel Loparco

We study two-point functions of symmetric traceless local operators in the bulk of de Sitter spacetime. We derive the Kallen-Lehmann spectral decomposition for any spin and show that unitarity implies its spectral densities are nonnegative. In addition, we ...

Springer Nature2023

Bootstrapping traceless symmetric O(N) scalars

Alessandro Vichi, Maria Refinetti, Marten Jan Reehorst

We use numerical bootstrap techniques to study correlation functions of traceless sym-metric tensors of O(N) with two indices ti j. We obtain upper bounds on operator dimen-sions for all the relevant representations and several values of N. We discover sev ...

SCIPOST FOUNDATION2023

Critical properties of the quantum Ashkin-Teller chain with chiral perturbations

Frédéric Mila, Natalia Chepiga

We investigate the nature of the phase transitions in the quantum Ashkin-Teller chain in the presence of chiral perturbations. We locate the Lifshitz line separating a region of direct chiral transitions from the region where the transition is through an i ...

Amer Physical Soc2023

Anomalies from the covariant derivative expansion

Timothy Cohen

We revisit the calculation of chiral anomalies for global and gauge symmetries in the framework of the covariant derivative expansion (CDE). Due to the presence of UV divergences, the result is an ambiguous quantity that depends on the regularization proce ...

American Physical Society2023

Metastability of the Potts Ferromagnet on Random Regular Graphs

Jean Bernoulli Ravelomanana

We study the performance of Markov chains for the q-state ferromagnetic Potts model on random regular graphs. While the cases of the grid and the complete graph are by now well-understood, the case of random regular graphs has resisted a detailed analysis ...

SPRINGER2023

Benchmark exercise on image-based permeability determination of engineering textiles: Microscale predictions

Véronique Michaud, Baris Çaglar, Guillaume Clément Broggi

Permeability measurements of engineering textiles exhibit large variability as no standardization method currently exists; numerical permeability prediction is thus an attractive alternative. It has all advantages of virtual material characterization, incl ...

2023

Scale invariant Einstein-Cartan gravity and flat space conformal symmetry

Mikhail Chapochnikov, Georgios Karananas, Sebastian Zell

We find the conditions under which scale-invariant Einstein-Cartan gravity with scalar matter fields leads to an approximate conformal invariance of the flat space particle theory up to energies of the order of the Planck mass. In the minimal setup, these ...

Springer Nature2023

Semiclassical methods in conformal field theories scrutinized by the epsilon-expansion

Gil Badel

Conformal Field Theories (CFTs) are crucial for our understanding of Quantum Field Theory (QFT). Because of their powerful symmetry properties, they play the role of signposts in the space of QFTs. Any method that gives us information about their structure ...

EPFL2022