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We solve for the decoherence dynamics of two models in which a simple qubit or Central Spin couples to a bath of spins; the bath is made from a chain of spins. In model 1, the bath spins are Ising spins; in Model 2, they are coupled by…
We extend our earlier work on anomalies in the space of coupling constants to four-dimensional gauge theories. Pure Yang-Mills theory (without matter) with a simple and simply connected gauge group has a mixed anomaly between its one-form…
In a recent paper [1], it was introduced a new class of gravitational theories with two local degrees of freedom. The existence of these theories apparently challenges the distinctive role of general relativity as the unique non-linear…
Gravitational interactions of higher spin fields are generically plagued by inconsistencies. We present a simple framework that couples higher spins to a broad class of gravitational backgrounds (including Ricci flat and Einstein)…
We construct a spin foam model of Yang-Mills theory coupled to gravity by using a discretized path integral of the BF theory with polynomial interactions and the Barret-Crane ansatz. In the Euclidian gravity case we obtain a vertex…
The scattering-matrix for planar Yang-Mills with N=4 supersymmetry relies on the assumption that integrability holds to all orders in perturbation theory. In this note we define a map from the spectral variables x^{\pm}, parameterizing the…
By considering specific limits in the gauge coupling constant of pure Yang--Mills dynamics, it is shown how there exist topological quantum field theory sectors in such systems defining nonperturbative topological configurations of the…
We investigate the phase structure of four-dimensional quantum gravity coupled to Ising spins or Gaussian scalar fields by means of numerical simulations. The quantum gravity part is modelled by the summation over random simplicial…
In this work, we review a plethora of modified theories of gravity with generalized curvature-matter couplings. The explicit nonminimal couplings, for instance, between an arbitrary function of the scalar curvature $R$ and the Lagrangian…
We study a model of quantum Yang-Mills theory with a finite number of gauge invariant degrees of freedom. The gauge field has only a finite number of degrees of freedom since we assume that space-time is a two dimensional cylinder. We…
The unification of gauge and top Yukawa couplings is an attractive feature of gauge-Higgs unification models in extra-dimensions. This feature is usually considered difficult to obtain based on simple group theory analyses. We reconsider a…
A number of recent proposals for a quantum theory of gravity are based on the idea that spacetime geometry and gravity are derivative concepts and only apply at an approximate level. There are two fundamental challenges to any such…
We consider quantum rotors or Ising spins in a transverse field on a $d$-dimensional lattice, with random, frustrating, short-range, exchange interactions. The quantum dynamics are associated with a finite moment of inertia for the rotors,…
Coherent many-body quantum dynamics lies at the heart of quantum simulation and quantum computation. Both require coherent evolution in the exponentially large Hilbert space of an interacting many-body system. To date, trapped ions have…
In the generalized matter-geometry coupling theory, we investigate the physical characteristics and causality of some new cosmological models for a flat, homogeneous, and isotropic spacetime filled with stiff, radiation, dust, and curvature…
Loop quantum gravity has provided us with a canonical framework especially devised for background independent and diffeomorphism invariant gauge field theories. In this quantization the fundamental excitations are called spin network…
We introduce simple generic models of surface dynamics in loop quantum gravity (LQG). A quantum surface is defined as a set of elementary patches of area glued together. We provide it with an extra structure of locality (nearest neighbors),…
The coupling between matter and gravity in General Relativity is given by a proportionality relation between the stress tensor and the geometry. This is an oriented assumption driven by the fact that both the stress tensor and the Einstein…
The cutoff phenomenon describes a sharp transition in the convergence of a Markov chain to equilibrium. In recent work, the authors established cutoff and its location for the stochastic Ising model on the $d$-dimensional torus $(Z/nZ)^d$…
We explore the paradigm according to which inflation is driven by a four-dimensional strongly coupled dynamics coupled non-minimally to gravity. We start by introducing the general setup, both in the metric and Palatini formulation, for…