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Results for “Classical solutions in field theory”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

Geometric origin of the energy-momentum tensor improvement terms

In a flat background, the canonical energy momentum tensor of Lorentz and conformally invariant matter field theories can be improved to a symmetric and traceless tensor that gives the same conserved charges. We argue that the geometric origin of this improvement process is unveiled when the matter theory is coupled to metric-affine gravity. In particular, we show that the Belinfante-Rosenfeld improvement terms correspond to the matter theory’s hypermomentum. The improvement terms in conformally invariant matter theories are also related to the hypermomentum; however, a general proof would require an extended investigation. We demonstrate our results through various examples, such as the free massless scalar, the Maxwell field, Abelian p-forms, the Dirac field, and a nonunitary massless scalar field. Possible applications of our method for theories that break Lorentz or special conformal invariance are briefly discussed.

classical solutions in field theory↗
DOE OSTI2025

6D large charge and 2D Virasoro blocks

We compute observables in the interacting rank-one 6D 𝒩 =(2,0) superconformal field theory (SCFT) at large 𝑅-charge. We focus on correlators involving Φ 𝑛 , namely symmetric products of the bottom component of the supermultiplet containing the stress tensor. By using the moduli space effective action and methods from the large-charge expansion, we compute the operator product expansion coefficients ⟨Φ 𝑛 ⁢Φ 𝑚 ⁢Φ 𝑛+𝑚 ⟩ in an expansion in 1/𝑛. The coefficients of the expansion are only partially determined from the 6D perspective, but we manage to fix them order-by-order in 1/𝑛 numerically by utilizing the 6⁢D/2⁢D correspondence. This is made possible by the fact that this 6D observable can be extracted in 2D from a specific double-scaling limit of the vacuum Virasoro block, which can be efficiently computed numerically. We also extend the computation to higher-rank SCFTs, and discuss various applications of our results to 6D as well as 2D.

classical solutions in field theory↗
DOE OSTI2024

Effective Field Theory for Extreme Mass Ratio Binaries

We derive an effective field theory describing a pair of gravitationally interacting point particles in an expansion in their mass ratio, also known as the self-force (SF) expansion. The 0SF dynamics are trivially obtained to all orders in Newton’s constant by the geodesic motion of the light body in a Schwarzschild background encoding the gravitational field of the heavy body. The corrections at 1SF and higher are generated by perturbations about this configuration—that is, the geodesic deviation of the light body and the fluctuation graviton—but crucially supplemented by an operator describing the recoil of the heavy body as it interacts with the smaller companion. Using this formalism we compute new results at third post-Minkowskian order for the conservative dynamics of a system of gravitationally interacting massive particles coupled to a set of additional scalar and vector fields.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2025

Tomography of pions and kaons in the QCD vacuum: Transverse momentum dependent parton distribution functions

We evaluate the pion and kaon transverse momentum dependent parton distribution functions in the instanton liquid model, a model of the QCD vacuum at low resolution. The relevant transverse momentum distributions (TMDs) are factored into a constituent quark distribution times a rapidity dependent soft factor from staple-shaped Wilson lines, for fixed parton longitudinal momentum and transverse separation. The results are evolved to higher rapidities using the Collins-Soper kernel and higher resolution using renormalization group evolution. The comparison to existing extractions of pion TMDs from Drell-Yan data is briefly discussed.

classical solutions in field theory↗
DOE OSTI2025

Zero curvature is a necessary and sufficient condition for a spin-orbital decomposition

There has been an extended debate regarding the existence of a spin-orbital decomposition of the angular momentum of photons and other massless particles. It was recently shown that there are both geometric and topological obstructions preventing any such decomposition. Here we show that any geometric connection on a particle’s state space induces a splitting of the angular momentum into two operators. These operators are well-defined angular momentum operators if and only if the connection has zero curvature. Massive particles have two canonical curved connections corresponding to boosts and rotations, respectively. Furthermore, these can be uniquely combined to produce a flat connection, and this gives a novel derivation of the Newton-Wigner position operator and the corresponding spin and orbital angular momenta for relativistic massive particles. When the mass is taken to zero, transverse boosts and rotations degenerate, leaving only a single connection for massless particles. This connection produces a commonly proposed splitting of the massless angular momentum into two operators. However, the connection is not flat, explaining why these operators do not satisfy the angular momentum commutation relations and are thus not true spin and orbital angular momentum operators.

Angular momentum↗
DOE OSTI2024

Creating kinks with quantum mediation

We consider the creation of kink-antikink pairs of a scalar field ϕ by the scattering of classical wave packets of a second scalar field ψ when there are no direct interactions between ϕ and ψ . The creation becomes possible only due to a quantum field that interacts with both ϕ and ψ . We scan parameter space and find it favorable for kink production when the initial wave packets have large total energy and wide spatial extent but scatter at low velocities. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2024

Anomalous interactions between mesons with nonzero spin and glueballs

Topologically nontrivial fluctuations control the anomalous interactions for the η and η ′ pseudoscalar mesons. We consider the anomalous interactions for mesons with higher spin, the heterochiral nonets with J P C = 1 + − and 2 − + . Under the approximation of a dilute gas of instantons, the mixing angle between nonstrange and strange mesons decreases strongly as J increases, and oscillates in sign. Anomalous interactions also open up new, rare decay channels. For glueballs, anomalous interactions indicate that the X ( 2600 ) state is primarily gluonic. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Quasiclassical Gluon Fields and Low’s Soft Theorem at Small Momentum-Fraction x

In the high-energy limit, soft gluons can be approximately described by quasiclassical gluon fields. It is well known that the gluon field is a pure gauge field on the transverse plane at eikonal order. We derived the complete next-to-eikonal order solutions of the classical Yang-Mills equations for soft gluons in the dense nuclear regime. Utilizing these solutions, it is shown that Low’s soft theorem at small x can be obtained by considering off-diagonal matrix elements of quasiclassical chromoelectric field between single-gluon states in the dilute regime. We further propose on extending Low’s soft theorem at small x to incorporate the effects of gluon saturation in the dense regime.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2026

Energy-momentum tensor in a classical model of the electron

We show that the leading nonanalytic terms in the small-𝑡 expansion of the energy-momentum tensor form factors of an electrically charged particle in QED can be correctly derived in a classical model of the electron by Białynicki-Birula. Based on the lucidity of the employed exactly solvable model, we comment also on the recently proposed concept of a regularized proton 𝐷-term.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2024

Nonperturbative resolution of strong coupling singularities in 4D 𝒩 = 1 heterotic M-theory

We investigate the interior of the moduli space of four-dimensional 𝒩 = 1 theories of gravity arising from compactifications of the 𝐸 8 × 𝐸 8 heterotic string on Calabi-Yau threefolds. By studying the threshold corrections to the coupling of the heterotic gauge groups, we infer the existence of a strong coupling singularity for one of the perturbative heterotic gauge groups, which effectively yields an additional finite distance boundary of the classical scalar field space. In heterotic M-theory, this boundary maps to a domain wall solution for which the gauge coupling and the warp factor on one of the Horava-Witten 9-branes diverge, thus highlighting the gravitational origin of the classical strong coupling singularity. The divergence of the warp factor is, however, regulated once nonperturbative effects are taken into account, as we demonstrate by studying the instanton corrections to the 5D BPS domain wall equations. This regularization implies that the classical strong coupling boundary of the scalar field 4D 𝒩 = 1 heterotic M-theory is resolved, indicating that, at the quantum level, the field space can be extended beyond this classical boundary.

Cvetič, Mirjam↗
DOE OSTI2024

Quantum field theory, worldline theory, and spin magnitude change in orbital evolution

A previous paper [Z. Bern et al., Binary dynamics through the fifth power of spin at 𝑂⁡(𝐺 2 ), Phys. Rev. Lett. 130, 201402 (2023)] identified a puzzle stemming from the amplitudes-based approach to spinning bodies in general relativity: additional Wilson coefficients appear compared to current worldline approaches to conservative dynamics of generic astrophysical objects, including neutron stars. In this paper we clarify the nature of analogous Wilson coefficients in the simpler theory of electrodynamics. We analyze the original field-theory construction, identifying definite-spin states some of which have negative norms, and relating the additional Wilson coefficients in the classical theory to transitions between different quantum spin states. We produce a new version of the theory which also has additional Wilson coefficients, but no negative-norm states. We match, through 𝒪⁡(𝛼 2 ) and 𝒪⁡(𝑆 2 ), the Compton amplitudes of these field theories with those of a modified worldline theory with extra degrees of freedom introduced by releasing the spin supplementary condition. We build an effective two-body Hamiltonian that matches the impulse and spin kick of the modified field theory and of the worldline theory, displaying additional Wilson coefficients compared to standard worldline approaches. The results are then compactly expressed in terms of an eikonal formula. Our key conclusion is that, contrary to standard approaches, while the magnitude of the spin tensor is still conserved, the magnitude of the spin vector can change under conserved Hamiltonian dynamics and this change is governed by the additional Wilson coefficients. For specific values of Wilson coefficients the results are equivalent to those from a definite spin obeying the spin supplementary condition, but for generic values they are physically inequivalent. These results warrant detailed studies of the corresponding issues in general relativity.

classical black holes↗
DOE OSTI2024

Convolutional double copy in (anti) de Sitter space

The double copy is a remarkable relationship between gauge theory and gravity that has been explored in a number of contexts, most notably scattering amplitudes and classical solutions. The convolutional double copy provides a straightforward method to bridge the two theories via a precise map for the fields and symmetries at the linearised level. This method has been thoroughly investigated in flat space, offering a comprehensive dictionary both with and without fixing the gauge degrees of freedom. In this paper, we extend this to curved space with an (anti) de Sitter background metric. We work in the temporal gauge, and employ a modified convolution that involves the Mellin transformation in the time direction. As an example, we show that the point-like charge in gauge theory double copies to the (dS-) Schwarzschild black hole solution.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Wormholes with ends of the world

We study classical wormhole solutions in 3D gravity with end-of-the-world (EOW) branes, conical defects, kinks, and punctures. These solutions compute statistical averages of an ensemble of boundary conformal field theories (BCFTs) related to universal asymptotics of OPE data extracted from the 2D conformal bootstrap. Conical defects connect BCFT bulk operators; branes join BCFT boundary intervals with identical boundary conditions; kinks (1D defects along branes) link BCFT boundary operators; and punctures (0D defects) are endpoints where conical defects terminate on branes. We provide evidence for a correspondence between the gravity theory and the ensemble. In particular, the agreement of the g-function dependence results from an underlying topological aspect of the on-shell EOW brane action, from which a BCFT analog of the Schlenker-Witten theorem also follows.

AdS-CFT Correspondence↗
DOE OSTI2026

Quantum solver for single-impurity Anderson models with particle-hole symmetry

Quantum embedding methods, such as dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT), provide a powerful framework for investigating strongly correlated materials. A central computational bottleneck in DMFT is in solving the Anderson impurity model (AIM), whose exact solution is classically intractable for large bath sizes. In this work, we benchmark a quantum-classical hybrid solver tailored for particle-hole symmetric AIMs, using the variational quantum eigensolver to prepare the ground state of the model with shallow quantum circuits. The solver uses shallow quantum ansätze and one set of variational parameters to prepare the ground state and its particle and hole excitations, enabling the construction of the impurity Green’s function through a continued-fraction expansion. We evaluate the performance of this approach across a few bath sizes and interaction strengths under noisy, shot-limited conditions. We compare three optimization routines (COBYLA, Adam, and L-BFGS-B) in terms of convergence and fidelity, assess the benefits of estimating a quantum-computed moment correction to the variational energies, and benchmark the approach by comparing the density of states computed from the impurity Green’s function against that obtained using a classical pipeline. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of Green’s function construction on near-term devices and establish practical benchmarks for quantum impurity solvers embedded within self-consistent DMFT loops.

Karabin, Mariia [ORNL]↗
DOE OSTI2023

Halo formation from Yukawa forces in the very early Universe

If long-range attractive forces exist and are stronger than gravity then cosmic halo formation can begin in the radiation-dominated era. We study a simple realization of this effect in a system where dark matter fermions have Yukawa interactions mediated by scalar particles, analogous to the Higgs boson in the standard model. We develop a self-consistent description of the system including exact background dynamics of the scalar field, and precise modeling of the fermion density fluctuations. For the latter, we provide accurate approximations for the linear growth as well as quantitative modeling of the nonlinear evolution using N-body simulations. We find that halo formation occurs exponentially fast and on scales substantially larger than simple estimates predict. Here, the final fate of these halos remains uncertain, but could be annihilation, dark stars, primordial black holes, or even the existence of galaxy-sized halos at matter-radiation equality. More generally, our results demonstrate the importance of mapping scalar-mediated interactions onto structure formation outcomes and constraints for beyond the standard model theories.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Perturbative stability of non-Abelian electric field solutions

We consider SU(2) gauge theory with a scalar field in the fundamental representation. The model is known to contain electric field solutions sourced by the scalar field that are distinct from embedded Maxwell electric fields. We examine the perturbative stability of the solution and identify a region of parameter space where the solution is stable. In the regime where the scalar field has a negative mass squared, the solution has two branches, and we identify an instability in one of the branches.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2024

Analytic bounds on late-time axion-scalar cosmologies

The cosmological dynamics of multiple scalar/pseudoscalar fields are difficult to solve, especially when the field-space metric is curved. This presents a challenge in determining whether a given model can support cosmic acceleration, without solving for the on-shell solution. In this work, we present bounds on late-time FLRW-cosmologies in classes of theories that involve arbitrary numbers of scalar and pseudoscalar fields coupled both kinetically (leading to a curved field space metric) and through scalar potentials. Such bounds are proven analytically, independently of initial conditions, with no approximation in the field equations and without referring to explicit solutions. Besides their broad applications to cosmological model building, our bounds can be applied to studying asymptotic cosmologies of certain classes of string compactifications.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Improved algorithm for dynamical triangulations and simulations of finer lattices

We introduce a new algorithm for the simulation of Euclidean dynamical triangulations that mimics the Metropolis-Hastings algorithm, but where all proposed moves are accepted. This rejection-free algorithm allows for the factorization of local and global terms in the action, a condition needed for efficient simulation of theories with global terms, while still maintaining detailed balance. We test our algorithm on the 2 d Ising model, and against results for EDT obtained with standard Metropolis. Our new algorithm allows us to simulate EDT at finer lattice spacings than previously possible, and we find geometries that resemble semiclassical Euclidean de Sitter space in agreement with earlier results at coarser lattices. The agreement between lattice data and the classical de Sitter solution continues to get better as the lattice spacing decreases. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗