Papers

In this paper, we analyze the double Wick rotation of a rotating BTZ black hole and the entanglement entropy. We derive the transition matrix dual to the double Wick-rotated BTZ black hole, which has the usual shape at an imaginary chemical potential. In the dual gravity side, the double Wick rotated BTZ black hole, which is obtained as a quotient, is equal to a rotating BTZ black hole after the coordinate transformation and the identification of periodicity. The geometric entropy and time-like entanglement entropy are reproduced by the identification. New Lorentzian entanglement growth is defined by the coefficient of linear growth of time-like entanglement entropy.

At finite $N$ the ring of gauge invariant operators is not freely generated. For problems of interest in physics, these rings are Cohen–Macaulay and admit a Hironaka decomposition, in which the full invariant ring is a free module over a polynomial ring generated by the primary invariants. The module basis is given by finitely many secondary invariants. This motivates a physical picture in which the primary invariants are regarded as perturbative degrees of freedom while the secondary invariants are associated with distinguished non-perturbative states or sectors. The purpose of this study is to show that a concrete algebraic version of this picture is visible in simple zero-dimensional matrix integrals.

We ask whether a local symmetry can organize both classical degeneracy and perturbative stability in DHOST theories. An AI-assisted search finds a candidate in a constant-disformal image of Einstein gravity. We identify it as a field-dependent diffeomorphism plus a vertical translation of a spectator scalar and extend it to every regular first-derivative map $\widetilde g_{\mu\nu}=C(\phi,X)g_{\mu\nu}-D(\phi,X)\nabla_\mu\phi\nabla_\nu\phi$, which pulls the spectator translation back to an exact local gauge redundancy. We derive its closed generator and show that $\mathcal J=C-XC_X+X^2D_X$ controls kinetic invertibility, the generator denominator and the metric-map determinant. This regular ($\mathcal J\neq0$) construction is distinct from non-invertible mimetic symmetry. We prove that a same-field sector $K(\phi,\widetilde X)$ preserves the local shift exactly when its scalar density is variationally trivial. For one scalar on a generic branch this requires constant $K$; nonconstant $K(\widetilde X)$ leaves only a global shift. The multi-field extension has local group $\mathbb R^n$ and admits determinant-type topological exceptions for $n\geq d$. Under standard local BV hypotheses, the spectator, its ghost and their antifields form a contractible quartet, so the spectator fibre adds no independent local counterterm, gauge deformation or anomaly class. The constant-map Einstein image is a special two-mode quartic-Horndeski subclass, while regular nonconstant $K$ restores one scalar. Finally, the complete canonical Einstein–scalar one-loop divergence shows that $(\widetilde\Box\phi)^2$ is equation-of-motion redundant at first loop order. The essential $\widetilde X^2$ pole pulls back to a first-derivative counterterm throughout the regular orbit and introduces no additional perturbative mode at $O(\hbar)$ within the stated hyperbolic EFT domain.

We study the one-loop correction to the near-extremal quantum entropy of the charged two-dimensional black hole introduced in \cite{McGuigan:1992}. In target space this background can be understood as arising from the dimensional reduction of a three-dimensional solution of the low-energy string effective action. On the other hand, its worldsheet description is provided by the dimensionally reduced $\frac{SL(2, \mathbb{R}) \times U(1)}{U(1)}$ WZW model. Using this latter formulation, we compute the torus partition function to extract the temperature dependence of the one-loop stringy correction to the quantum entropy arising from the short-string sector. We show that this result is under control as long as the black hole temperature satisfies the condition $T \gtrsim \frac{1}{4 \pi \sqrt{k}}$, where the saturation of this bound corresponds to the long-string contribution to the free energy becoming divergent. We speculate that this threshold behavior of the partition function can be interpreted as a signature of the black hole/string transition.

We formulate a covariant version of Maxwell-like fracton electrodynamics in six dimensions using a symmetric tensor gauge field with scalar gauge symmetry $\delta A_{\mu\nu}=\partial_\mu\partial_\nu\Lambda$. This provides a relativistic setting in which the characteristic fractonic restriction on mobility follows directly from gauge invariance and the allowed coupling to matter. We construct the stress–energy tensor and show that its trace has a universal dimension-dependent structure that becomes a total derivative in $d=6$. In the presence of sources, the theory enforces conservation of charge and dipole moment, capturing the immobility of isolated charges and the mobility of dipolar bound states. This structure can also be viewed as a higher-moment form of generalized global symmetry.

We study the Hamiltonian formulation of a gravity model obtained from a Yang–Mills theory for a one-parameter family of (A)dS Lie algebras parametrized by $\alpha$, when the family of algebras is contracted to the Poincaré algebra in the limit $\alpha \to 0$. We derive the canonical structure and first-class constraints and analyze the resulting algebra in the contraction limit. In this limit, the constraints generate the residual Lorentz gauge invariance, and the components of the AdS potential transform as tetrads and Lorentz connection. Finally, we determine the number of physical degrees of freedom, showing that in the non-propagating torsion sector - selected by a Lorentz-covariant gauge condition preserved under dynamical evolution - the theory exhibits only two propagating degrees of freedom.

We analyze the two-dimensional Palatini Gauss-Bonnet theory on an infinite strip (product of a finite interval with the infinite line, corresponding to “time"). The theory has only boundary degrees of freedom. Its phase space is the cotangent bundle to the group manifold of $SL(2,\mathbf{R})$, subject to a (first-class) constraint quadratic in the momenta. With the simplest choice of boundary Hamiltonian, namely $H = 0$, the theory is shown to describe geodesics on the group manifold of $SL(2,\mathbf{R})$, with a “mass" determined by the Palatini Gauss-Bonnet coupling constant. Other choices of boundary Hamiltonians compatible with gauge invariance are also possible. The symmetry group contains (left and right) group translations on $SL(2,\mathbf{R})$. These are “boundary symmetries" from the bulk point of view, one copy acting on one end of the interval, the other copy acting on the other end. Comments on the quantum theory are also given.

We introduce a novel regularization scheme: Systematic Analytic Regularization (SAR). SAR regularizes a theory at the level of the action by analytically continuing the power of the kinetic operator, ensuring that the theory is formally finite before any terms in the Dyson series are evaluated. We demonstrate that SAR fully and self-consistently regularizes $\varphi^4$ and Yukawa theories at NLO.

We propose a manifestly supersymmetric formulation of the Symmetry Topological Field Theory (SuSymTFT) for theories with supersymmetry. The SymTFT is a framework that helps organizing symmetries and anomalies of a QFT. Albeit a lot of activity in the field has been devoted to the construction of the SymTFT for the bosonic symmetry structure, the fermionic case has not been analyzed in detail. Here, we consider the most prominent example of theories exhibiting fermionic symmetries, that is supersymmetric models. These are most naturally formulated on supermanifolds, where the supergeometry approach allows for a manifest organization of the symmetries according to their fermionic grading. We provide the general construction of the SuSymTFT as a super-BF theory living in a (n|m)-dimensional supermanifold and check our proposal in two particular examples, the compact and the chiral super-bosons in two dimensions.

We show that the tree-level spectrum of heavy particles can be directly extracted from the Wilson coefficients of the corresponding effective field theory at low energies. This procedure is exact when the number of resonances is finite, and otherwise approximate. Our results are derived from a new class of analytic dispersion relations that depend nonlinearly on the scattering amplitude and apply to an exceedingly broad class of theories and kinematics.

We study cusped Wilson line operators in the Abelian Higgs model in $ d = 4 - \epsilon $ at large external charges. Using a double-scaling limit $ Q \to \infty $, $ \epsilon \to 0 $ with $ Q\epsilon $ fixed, we develop a semiclassical framework that provides analytic control beyond fixed-order perturbation theory. We compute the cusp anomalous dimension for arbitrary charges up to next-to-next-to-leading order in the gauge coupling, while resumming scalar self-interactions to all orders. Our results interpolate between perturbative and large-charge regimes, accessing domains that are invisible in fixed-order perturbation theory. As an application, we provide new predictions for various defect CFT observables, including the Mandelstam-Schwinger-dressed two-point function characterizing the superconducting phase transition.

Many CFTs can be extended to lines of nonlocal CFTs parametrised by the scaling dimension $\Delta$ of the fundamental field appearing in the action. $\Delta=\frac{d}{2}-\zeta$ is set by the exponent of the kinetic term $(-\partial^2)^{\zeta}$, which is nonlocal for noninteger $\zeta$. If $\Delta$ is tuned to $\Delta_\mathrm{local}$, the scaling dimension of the fundamental field in the local CFT, arXiv:1703.05325 showed that we recover the conformal data of that CFT (plus a decoupled sector). One natural question is: how is the local point special on this line of nonlocal CFTs? We prove that these local CFTs lie at the extrema of the (universal part of the) sphere free energy $\tilde{F}(\Delta)=\sin(\frac{\pi d}{2}) \log Z_{S^d}$ of the long-range CFTs: $d\tilde{F}/d\Delta|_{\Delta=\Delta_\mathrm{local}}=0$; and for unitary CFTs they locally maximise it. The simple proof uses the fact that the derivative of $\tilde{F}$ with respect to $\Delta$ receives contributions only from the nonlocal terms in the action. The nonlocal terms must be absent in the limit $\Delta \to \Delta_\mathrm{local}$, and hence the derivative is zero. Demonstrating maximisation then requires a proof of the generalised $F$-theorem in conformal perturbation theory to subleading order. We check our result with the O$(N)$ $\phi^4$ and cubic CFTs in the $\epsilon$ expansion and the large-$N$ limit. This result provides a minimal encoding of the scaling dimension of the fundamental field in many CFTs, and also explains the curious derivative structure of the large-$N$ expansion of $\Delta_\phi$ in the O$(N)$ model. Finally, this nonlocal $F$-extremisation can be viewed as a non-supersymmetric version of the known $c,F,a$-extremisation mechanisms.

We study conformal quantum mechanics by first considering the perturbative $S$-matrix in various dimensions. The model has two couplings and we study perturbatively the degree of ultraviolet divergences arising in the interplay between the two couplings. We then focus on the inverse square potential in one spatial dimension and compute the beta function to arbitrarily perturbative and non-perturbative orders. This we do in both the bound state sector and scattering sector. We provide explicit, exact and infinite series results of the first few non-perturbative orders.

Stationary black hole geometries with non-degenerate Cauchy horizons are classically unstable due to mass inflation. At extremality, mass inflation is absent, but a different dynamical instability arises: the Aretakis instability. In this work, we investigate the properties of degenerate horizons and their associated Aretakis instabilities. By studying examples with increasingly higher-order horizon degeneracy, we show that the Aretakis instability weakens as the degree of degeneracy grows. Motivated by these results, we propose a new black hole geometry characterized by an infinitely degenerate horizon, which we argue is stable under Aretakis-type perturbations and may therefore provide a concrete realization of a "graveyard" end state for these objects.

In this work, we build a novel frequency-momentum space for $(d+1)$-dimensional de Sitter (dS) correlators from first principles. This construction follows directly from the decomposition into unitary irreducible representations (UIRs) of the spacetime isometry group $\mathrm{SO}(1,d+1)$. While the spatial momentum space is given by the standard $d$-dimensional Fourier transform, the frequency space arises from diagonalising the quadratic Casimir operator, leading to the $(d+1)$-dimensional Kontorovich-Lebedev-Fourier (KLF) transform. We show that square-integrable functions decompose only along the principal series, whereas more general functions can receive discrete contributions from other UIRs. Applying this framework to the bulk CFT two-point function reproduces its Källén-Lehmann representation. Using the path integral formulation, we derive the Feynman rules for in-in perturbation theory in KLF space, leading to the introduction of KLF-space correlators, which are simply related to late-time correlation functions through a reduction formula. Furthermore, the KLF-space formulation sheds light on the simple mathematical structure of perturbative computations. In particular, the propagators take the form of simple rational functions, and tree-level diagrams can be written as spectral integrals over known meromorphic functions, as demonstrated in the example of the single-exchange four-point function. At the loop level, we show, through the example of the self-energy correction to the scalar propagator, that the group-theoretical nature of the construction allows the momentum integral to be recast as an orthogonality relation among $\mathrm{SO}(1,d+1)$ Clebsch-Gordan coefficients.

We develop a primal bootstrap framework for effective field theories in the presence of a graviton pole, based on finite-resolution sampling rather than smearing, while also allowing direct control over the number of subtractions. We show that this approach reproduces the known projective bounds obtained from smearing in $D{\ge}6$, while yielding slightly stronger bounds in $D{=}5$. This method also makes it straightforward to impose linearized unitarity directly and provides an access to the extremal spectra. Applying the method to crossing-symmetric dispersion relations, we derive new non-projective bounds that fix the overall scale of the EFT couplings. In $D{=}5$, for example, we find that $\frac{M}{M_{\rm P}}{\lesssim}7.8$, showing that the EFT cutoff cannot be taken parametrically larger than the Planck scale. At the extremal values of the couplings, the spectra exhibit a surprising structure: for projective bounds, they exhibit peaks around quadratic Regge-like trajectories, while for the non-projective bounds they form sharp quadratic bands. In the latter case, the leading coefficients further display an inverse-quadratic dependence on the band number.

Inflationary models that contain a transient ultra-slow-roll phase can exhibit strong non-perturbative dynamics, making the usual perturbative treatment of cosmological fluctuations incomplete. In such regimes, quantum diffusion and the nonlinear gravitational response of the background can both play important roles, motivating a framework that treats them systematically within quantum field theory in curved spacetime. In this work, we derive the first-order stochastic equations in quasi-de Sitter spacetime from the Schwinger-Keldysh formalism and develop a practical procedure to obtain compact stochastic equations that consistently incorporate metric perturbations via the classical Arnowitt-Deser-Misner equations. Our approach systematically captures classical non-perturbative effects while retaining the leading first-order quantum diffusion. We apply the formalism to two inflationary scenarios with an ultra-slow-roll phase, namely the Starobinsky piecewise-linear model and critical Higgs inflation. For the Starobinsky model, numerical lattice simulations validate the stochastic description and agree well with analytical results. For critical Higgs inflation, we find that the dynamics lead to a minor suppression of the power spectrum with an additional oscillation feature. Throughout, our analysis is restricted to the regime of small metric perturbations, ensuring the self-consistency of the perturbative stochastic treatment. These results establish a concrete bridge between first-principles quantum field theory in curved spacetime and the stochastic-$\delta N$ formalism for investigating non-perturbative inflationary dynamics.

We revisit static tidal perturbations of relativistic stars with emphasis on two technical issues in the standard quadrupolar formulation. First, we derive the regular-center Frobenius expansion of the interior even-parity master function and obtain a corrected subleading coefficient, which differs from the expression commonly used in the literature. Second, we derive the static even-parity master equation on a Schwarzschild-de Sitter background, extending the usual asymptotically flat problem to a two-horizon geometry. To place these results on a common footing, we also show how the general interior even-parity system in Regge-Wheeler gauge reduces to the standard quadrupolar equation used in Love-number calculations. Numerical integrations for polytropic equations of state show that the corrected center coefficient affects only subleading initial data and leaves the extracted Love number $k_2$ unchanged within numerical accuracy. Taken together, these results fix the regular-center input to the standard quadrupolar problem and extend the static even-parity formalism to Schwarzschild-de Sitter backgrounds.

Interacting fermions exhibit a rich landscape of surface defects and associated critical phenomena. We investigate novel surface critical behavior in the three-dimensional Gross-Neveu-Yukawa model. For a class of defect renormalization group flows, we obtain exact infrared solutions and show how fermionic anomalies are encoded in the resulting surface dynamics. We further uncover emergent topological and geometric structures in the defect coupling space, and comment on their relation to a defect analogue of the CFT distance conjecture.

We establish existence and uniqueness results for asymptotically locally Euclidean (ALE) and asymptotically locally flat (ALF) gravitational instantons. In particular, we prove the existence of a unique, Ricci-flat, toric ALE and ALF gravitational instanton, for every admissible rod structure, that is smooth up to possible conical singularites. We also give an elementary proof that any toric ALE or ALF self-dual instanton is a multi-Eguchi-Hanson or multi-Taub-NUT solution.

We present a minimal implementation of SU($N$) pure Yang-Mills theory in $3+1$ dimensions for digital quantum simulation, designed to enable quantum advantage. Building on the orbifold lattice simulation protocol with logarithmic scaling in the local Hilbert-space truncation, we introduce further simplified Hamiltonians. Furthermore, we test simple methods that improve the convergence to the infinite mass limit, thereby removing the requirement of a large scalar mass to obtain the Kogut-Susskind Hamiltonian. For the SU(2) theory, we can cut the resource requirement further by utilizing the embedding of $\mathrm{SU}(2)\cong\mathrm{S}^3$ into $\mathbb{R}^4$. Monte Carlo simulations of the Euclidean path integral were used to benchmark the accuracy of these new analytical improvements to the theory. These results provide further support for the noncompact-variable-based approach as a practical framework for quantum simulation of non-Abelian gauge theories.

We present an updated overview of the symmetry preserving Contact Interaction model in hadronic physics, developed a little over a decade ago to describe the mass spectrum and internal structure of mesons and diquarks composed of light and heavy quarks. Over the years, the Contact Interaction has evolved into a framework capable of treating both ground and excited states, providing a simple yet consistent approach to nonperturbative QCD. In this review, we examine the mass spectrum and elastic form factors of forty mesons with different spins and parities, together with their corresponding diquark partners. Importantly, we update the comparison of Contact Interaction predictions using recent results from the literature, offering a fresh perspective on the model's performance, strengths, and limitations. The analysis presented here refines previous conclusions and supports the Contact Interaction as a practical tool for hadron structure studies, with potential applications to baryons and multiquark states. We also present comparisons with other theoretical models and approaches, including lattice quantum chromodynamics, and comment on future prospects in view of ongoing and planned hadron structure experimental programs. In particular, forthcoming measurements at FAIR, together with future studies at Jefferson Lab and the Electron Ion Collider, are expected to provide key insights into hadron structure, with FAIR offering indirect constraints via hadron spectroscopy, hadronic interactions, and in-medium properties, while high-precision data on meson structure and form factors from Jefferson Lab and the Electron Ion Collider will provide valuable benchmarks to confront Contact Interaction based predictions.

In this note we explore monodromy defects for non-invertible symmetries in Maxwell theory, exploiting the conformal mapping to $AdS_{3} \times S^{1}$. With this approach we recover the spectrum of the defect conformal primaries. We also dedicate some time discussing the behaviour of Wilson/'t Hooft lines in the presence of such a monodromy defect, and highlight the following aspects of their behaviour: i) the lines can terminate on the defect, ii) lines of the unit electric (magnetic) charge may seize to be indecomposable, and can be represented as integer powers of some more elementary lines, and iii) they behave as topological objects when brought close to the defect, and this behaviour is governed by a Chern-Simons theory.

The Wilson line defect half-indices for 3d $\mathcal{N}=2$ gauge theories with boundary confining phases admit a formulation in terms of the Askey-Wilson type moments. In the dual Landau-Ginzburg description the dual line operators can be realized as vortex line defects which induce singular behavior of chiral multiplets associated with the minimal monopole operators, together with additional one-dimensional degrees of freedom. By incorporating such a singular structure as an effective spin shift into the index computation, we obtain exact closed-form expressions for the line defect half-indices which are Askey-Wilson type moments.

In the present work we investigate the phenomenological implications of a vanishing effective Majorana neutrino mass within a $3+1$ neutrino framework adding a eV-scale sterile neutrino beside three active neutrino states in light of latest cosmology driven bounds on sum of neutrino masses ($\sum_{i}m_i$). We explore the parameter space where the destructive interference between active and sterile states leads to vanishing amplitude, $M_{ee}$, of neutrinoless double beta ($0\nu\beta\beta$) decay. The allowed parameter space has been identified and predictions have been obtained taking into account the latest Planck and DESI+CMB bound on $\sum_{i}m_i$. We find that these bounds restrict the sterile mixing angle $\theta_{14}$ and the lightest active neutrino mass. Furthermore, we incorporate the refined precision data from JUNO experiment regarding solar oscillation parameters ($\theta_{12}, \Delta m_{21}^2$). We find that the sterile neutrino parameters like $\theta_{14}$ may not be sensitive to the JUNO precision measurements as the constraint imposed by precise $\theta_{12}$ is washed out by new cancellations driven through additional CP violating phases leading to vanishing $|M_{ee}|$.

Quasi-primary correlators in two-dimensional conformal field theories deformed simultaneously by $T\bar T$ and root-$T\bar T$ are studied. A path-integral formulation motivated by the geometric realization of the combined deformation is used to develop a geometric framework for evaluating the deformed correlators. Within this framework, the two-point function is obtained to all orders in the $T\bar T$ coupling and to leading order in the root-$T\bar T$ coupling, while the leading correction to the three-point function is computed. It is further shown that the deformed two-point correlator admits a kernel representation as a weighted average of undeformed CFT correlators over conformal dimensions. This representation is derived explicitly for both the pure $T\bar T$ deformation and the combined flow. In this way, the mixed $T\bar T$/root-$T\bar T$ deformation is incorporated into the geometric description of irrelevant deformations, and the structure of local correlators beyond the pure $T\bar T$ case is characterized more explicitly.

We study the ODE/IM correspondence between the linear problem associated with the supersymmetric affine Toda field equation for the twisted affine Lie superalgebra $C(2)^{(2)} = \mathfrak{osp}(2|2)^{(2)}$ and two-dimensional $\mathcal{N}=1$ superconformal field theories (SCFTs). On the ODE side, we introduce a boundary condition more suitable for the conformal limit and the subsequent WKB analysis and diagonalize the resulting Lax operator. This leads to a WKB expansion from which we extract the WKB periods and semi-local conserved quantities up to tenth order. On the IM side, we compute the eigenvalues of the local integrals of motion on the cylinder in both the Neveu-Schwarz and Ramond sectors of 2d $\mathcal{N}=1$ SCFTs. We then compare the two sides and verify, up to sixth order, that the WKB periods coincide with the eigenvalues of the local integrals of motion for highest-weight states in the Neveu-Schwarz sector.

We analytically study the effect of backreaction from analog Hawking radiation on its entanglement entropy in the Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC). The backreaction is expected to play an essential role in the decrease of the entanglement entropy and in realizing the Page curve. Since the BEC theory has microscopic Hamiltonian and thus exhibits unitarity, it is desirable to reproduce the Page curve explicitly by using the Hamiltonian. As the first step towards this goal, we concretely study the BEC with a step-like configuration that has been extensively studied in the literature. By using the microscopic theory, we derive an explicit form of backreaction from analog Hawking radiation. Combining it with the known results of the Bogoliubov coefficients, we analytically compute the entanglement entropy of the Hawking radiation, and show that the backreaction reduces the growth of the entanglement entropy as expected for sufficiently low energy modes over a wide range of the parameter characterizing the step-like configuration.

Operator mixing is a generic and unavoidable feature in realistic quantum field theories, including QCD and effective field theories. Yet existing methods for computing anomalous dimensions in the presence of mixing remain limited by intricate sub-divergence subtractions and escalating computational complexity. In this work, we extend the recently developed OPE-based renormalization algorithm to systematically handle operator mixing. The key innovation is a recursive framework built on a strategically chosen basis of lower-dimensional symmetric traceless tensor operators as “soft” operators, which uniquely and fully determines the $Z$-factors of higher-dimensional “hard” operators from their lower-dimensional counterparts. This approach entirely eliminates the need for sub-divergence subtraction that burdens traditional methods such as the $R^{*}$ operation, thereby achieving a substantial reduction in computational complexity. As the first application of this framework, we obtain the five-loop anomalous dimensions for operators with $\Delta\leq 5$ in the $\phi^{4}$ model and the two-loop anomalous dimensions for operators with $\Delta\leq 10$ in the $\phi^{3}$ model.

This article argues that the most important significance of the AI revolution, especially the rise of large language models, lies not simply in automation, but in a fundamental change in how complex information and human know-how are carried, replicated, and shared. From this perspective, AI for Science is especially important because it may transform not only the efficiency of research, but also the structure of scientific collaboration, discovery, publishing, and evaluation. The article outlines a gradual path from AI as a research tool to AI as a scientific collaborator, and discusses how AI is likely to fundamentally reshape scientific publication. It also argues that continuous learning and diversity of ideas are essential if AI is to play a meaningful role in original scientific discovery.