Related papers: Winding theta and destructive interference of inst…
The mechanism of the transition of a dynamical system from quantum to classical mechanics is one of the remaining challenges of quantum theory. Currently, it is considered to occur via decoherence caused by entanglement and/or stochastic…
We explore the deformation theory of instantons on locally conformal (LC) $Spin(7)$ manifolds. These structures, characterized by a non-parallel fundamental 4-form $\Phi$ satisfying $d\Phi = \theta \wedge \Phi$, represent a significant, yet…
We study infinite-distance limits in the moduli space of perturbative string vacua. The remarkable interplay of string dualities seems to determine a highly non-trivial dichotomy, summarized by the emergent string conjecture, by which in…
Instantons are tunneling solutions that connect two vacua, and under a small change in the potential, instantons sometimes disappear. We classify these disappearances as smooth (decay rate goes to 0 at disappearance) or abrupt (decay rate…
Bions are multiple fractional instanton configurations with zero instanton charge playing important roles in quantum field theories on a compactified space with a twisted boundary condition. We classify fractional instantons and bions in…
The results obtained by Seiberg and Witten for the low-energy Wilsonian effective actions of N=2 supersymmetric theories with gauge group SU(2) are in agreement with instanton computations carried out for winding numbers one and two. This…
It is believed that in $SU(N)$ Yang-Mills theory observables are $N$-branched functions of the topological $\theta$ angle. This is supposed to be due to the existence of a set of locally-stable candidate vacua, which compete for global…
N=1^* gauge theories are believed to have fractional instanton contributions in the confining vacua. D3 brane probe computations in gravitation dual of large-N N=2^* gauge theories point to the absence of such contributions in the low…
Some time ago, Atiyah showed that there exists a natural identification between the k-instantons of a Yang-Mills theory with gauge group $G$ and the holomorphic maps from $CP_1$ to $\Omega G$. Since then, Nair and Mazur, have associated the…
Unconstrained partial-wave amplitudes obtained at discrete energies from fits to complete sets of experimental data may not vary smoothly with energy, and are in principle non-unique. We demonstrate how this behavior can be ascribed to the…
We propose and investigate a simple one-dimensional model for a single-channel quantum wire hosting electrons that interact repulsively and are subject to a significant spin-orbit interaction. We show that an external Zeeman magnetic field,…
Instantons and their quantisation in pure Yang-Mills theory formulated in the background of de Sitter spacetime represented by spatially-closed ($k = 1$) Friedmann-Robertson-Walker metric are discussed. As for the classical treatment of the…
Coherent control has enabled various novel phenomena in wave scattering. We introduce an effect called coherent orthogonal scattering, where the output wave becomes orthogonal to the reference output state without scatterers. This effect…
I show that under certain conditions it is possible to define consistent irrelevant deformations of interacting conformal field theories. The deformations are finite or have a unique running scale ("quasi-finite"). They are made of an…
We argue that the world-sheet dynamics of magnetic k-strings in the Higgs phase of the mass-deformed N=4 theory, is controlled by a bosonic O(3) sigma model with anisotropy and a topological theta term. The theory interpolates between a…
Motivated by possible implications on the problem of moduli stabilization and other phenomenological aspects, we study D-brane instanton effects in flux compactifications. We focus on a local model and compute non-perturbative interactions…
The boundary modes of one dimensional quantum systems can play host to a variety of remarkable phenomena. They can be used to describe the physics of impurities in higher dimensional systems, such as the ubiquitous Kondo effect or can…
The Gaussian-time-dependent variational equations are used to explored the physics of $(\phi^4)_{3+1}$ field theory. We have investigated the static solutions and discussed the conditions of renormalization. Using these results and…
There is considerable evidence, based on large $N_c$ chiral dynamics, holographic QCD, and Monte Carlo studies, that the QCD vacuum is permeated by discrete quasivacua separated by domain walls across which the local value of the…
We investigate the role of gauge and gravitational instantons in the context of the Swampland program. Our focus is on the global symmetry breaking they induce, especially in the presence of fermions. We first recall and make more precise…