Matthew M. Roberts

Axion monodromy in a model of holographic gluodynamics

A bstractThe low energy field theory for N type IIA D4-branes at strong ’t Hooft coupling, wrapped on a circle with antiperiodic boundary conditions for fermions, is known to have a vacuum energy which depends on the θ angle for the gauge fields, and which is a multivalued function of this angle. This gives a field-theoretic realization of “axion monodromy” for a nondynamical axion. We construct the supergravity solution dual to the field theory in the metastable state which is the adiabatic continuation of the vacuum to large values of θ. We compute the energy of this state and show that it initially rises quadratically and then flattens out. We show that the glueball mass decreases with θ, becoming much lower than the 5d KK scale governing the UV completion of this model. We construct two different classes of domain walls interpolating between adjacent vacua. We identify a number of instability modes — nucleation of domain walls, bulk Casimir forces, and condensation of tachyonic winding modes in the bulk — which indicate that the metastable branch eventually becomes unstable. Finally, we discuss two phenomena which can arise when the axion is dynamical; axion-driven inflation, and axion strings.

Time evolution of entanglement entropy from a pulse

A bstractWe calculate the time evolution of the entanglement entropy in a 1+1 CFT with a holographic dual when there is a localized left-moving packet of energy density. We find the gravity result agrees with a field theory result derived from the transformation properties of Rényi entropy. We are able to reproduce behavior which qualitatively agrees with CFT results of entanglement entropy of a system subjected to a local quench. In doing so we construct a finite diffeomorphism which tales three-dimensional anti-de Sitter space in the Poincaré patch to a general solution, generalizing the diffeomorphism that takes the Poincaré patch a BTZ black hole. We briefly discuss the calculation of correlation functions in these backgrounds and give results at large operator dimension.

Curved non-relativistic spacetimes, Newtonian gravitation and massive matter

There is significant recent work on coupling matter to Newton-Cartan spacetimes with the aim of investigating certain condensed matter phenomena. To this end, one needs to have a completely general spacetime consistent with local non-relativisitic symmetries which supports massive matter fields. In particular, one can not impose a priori restrictions on the geometric data if one wants to analyze matter response to a perturbed geometry. In this paper we construct such a Bargmann spacetime in complete generality without any prior restrictions on the fields specifying the geometry. The resulting spacetime structure includes the familiar Newton-Cartan structure with an additional gauge field which couples to mass. We illustrate the matter coupling with a few examples. The general spacetime we construct also includes as a special case the covariant description of Newtonian gravity, which has been thoroughly investigated in previous works. We also show how our Bargmann spacetimes arise from a suitable non-relativistic limit of Lorentzian spacetimes. In a companion paper [arXiv:1503.02680] we use this Bargmann spacetime structure to investigate the details of matter couplings, including the Noether-Ward identities, and transport phenomena and thermodynamics of non-relativistic fluids.

Bose-Fermi duality and entanglement entropies

Entanglement (R?nyi) entropies of spatial regions are a useful tool for characterizing the ground states of quantum field theories. In this paper we investigate the extent to which these are universal quantities for a given theory, and to which they distinguish different theories, by comparing the entanglement spectra of the massless Dirac fermion and the compact free boson in two dimensions. We show that the calculation of R?nyi entropies via the replica trick for any orbifold theory includes a sum over orbifold twists on all cycles. In a modular-invariant theory of fermions, this amounts to a sum over spin structures. The result is that the R?nyi entropies respect the standard Bose?Fermi duality. Next, we investigate the entanglement spectrum for the Dirac fermion without a sum over spin structures, and for the compact boson at the self-dual radius. These are not equivalent theories; nonetheless, we find that (1)?their second R?nyi entropies agree for any number of intervals, (2)?their full entanglement spectra agree for two intervals, and (3)?the spectrum generically disagrees otherwise. These results follow from the equality of the partition functions of the two theories on any Riemann surface with imaginary period matrix. We also exhibit a map between the operators of the theories that preserves scaling dimensions (but not spins), as well as OPEs and correlators of operators placed on the real line. All of these coincidences can be traced to the fact that the momentum lattice for the bosonized fermion is related to that of the self-dual boson by a 45??rotation that mixes left- and right-movers.

Mutual information between thermo-field doubles and disconnected holographic boundaries

A bstractWe use mutual information as a measure of the entanglement between ‘physical’ and thermo-field double degrees of freedom in field theories at finite temperature. We compute this “thermo-mutual information” in simple toy models: a quantum mechanics two-site spin chain, a two dimensional massless fermion, and a two dimensional holographic system. In holographic systems, the thermo-mutual information is related to minimal surfaces connecting the two disconnected boundaries of an eternal black hole. We derive a number of salient features of this thermo-mutual information, including that it is UV finite, positive definite and bounded from above by the standard mutual information for the thermal ensemble. We relate the construction of the reduced density matrices used to define the thermo-mutual information to the Schwinger-Keldysh formalism, ensuring that all our objects are well defined in Euclidean and Lorentzian signature.

Fields and fluids on curved non-relativistic spacetimes

A bstractWe consider non-relativistic curved geometries and argue that the background structure should be generalized from that considered in previous works. In this approach the derivative operator is defined by a Galilean spin connection valued in the Lie algebra of the Galilean group. This includes the usual spin connection plus an additional “boost connection” which parameterizes the freedom in the derivative operator not fixed by torsion or metric compatibility. As an example we write down the most general theory of dissipative fluids consistent with the second law in curved non-relativistic geometries and find significant differences in the allowed transport coefficients from those found previously. Kubo formulas for all response coefficients are presented. Our approach also immediately generalizes to systems with independent mass and charge currents as would arise in multicomponent fluids. Along the way we also discuss how to write general locally Galilean invariant non-relativistic actions for multiple particle species at any order in derivatives. A detailed review of the geometry and its relation to non-relativistic limits may be found in a companion paper.

Higher-Spin Theory of the Magnetorotons

Fractional quantum Hall liquids exhibit a rich set of excitations, the lowest energy of which are the magnetorotons with dispersion minima at a finite momentum. We propose a theory of the magnetorotons on the quantum Hall plateaux near half filling, namely, at filling fractions ν=N/(2N+1) at large N. The theory involves an infinite number of bosonic fields arising from bosonizing the fluctuations of the shape of the composite Fermi surface. At zero momentum there are O(N) neutral excitations, each carrying a well-defined spin that runs integer values 2,3,…. The mixing of modes at nonzero momentum q leads to the characteristic bending down of the lowest excitation and the appearance of the magnetoroton minima. A purely algebraic argument shows that the magnetoroton minima are located at qℓ_{B}=z_{i}/(2N+1), where ℓ_{B} is the magnetic length and z_{i} are the zeros of the Bessel function J_{1}, independent of the microscopic details. We argue that these minima are universal features of any two-dimensional Fermi surface coupled to a gauge field in a small background magnetic field.

Effective field theory of relativistic quantum hall systems

A bstractMotivated by the observation of the fractional quantum Hall effect in graphene, we consider the effective field theory of relativistic quantum Hall states. We find that, beside the Chern-Simons term, the effective action also contains a term of topological nature, which couples the electromagnetic field with a topologically conserved current of 2 + 1 dimensional relativistic fluid. In contrast to the Chern-Simons term, the new term involves the spacetime metric in a nontrivial way. We extract the predictions of the effective theory for linear electromagnetic and gravitational responses. For fractional quantum Hall states at the zeroth Landau level, additional holomorphic constraints allow one to express the results in terms of two dimensionless constants of topological nature.

The Euler current and relativistic parity odd transport

A bstractFor a spacetime of odd dimensions endowed with a unit vector field, we introduce a new topological current that is identically conserved and whose charge is equal to the Euler character of the even dimensional spacelike foliations. The existence of this current allows us to introduce new Chern-Simons-type terms in the effective field theories describing relativistic quantum Hall states and (2 + 1) dimensional superfluids. Using effective field theory, we calculate various correlation functions and identify transport coefficients. In the quantum Hall case, this current provides the natural relativistic generalization of the Wen-Zee term, required to characterize the shift and Hall viscosity in quantum Hall systems. For the superfluid case this term is required to have nonzero Hall viscosity and to describe superfluids with non s-wave pairing.

Covariant effective action for a Galilean invariant quantum Hall system

A bstractWe construct effective field theories for gapped quantum Hall systems coupled to background geometries with local Galilean invariance i.e. Bargmann spacetimes. Along with an electromagnetic field, these backgrounds include the effects of curved Galilean spacetimes, including torsion and a gravitational field, allowing us to study charge, energy, stress and mass currents within a unified framework. A shift symmetry specific to single constituent theories constraints the effective action to couple to an effective background gauge field and spin connection that is solved for by a self-consistent equation, providing a manifestly covariant extension of Hoyos and Son’s improvement terms to arbitrary order in m.