Related papers: Parity odd bubbles in hot QCD
We calculate the $\theta$ dependence in a cousin of QCD, where the vacuum structure can be analyzed exactly. The theory is $\mathcal{N}=2$ $SU(2)$ gauge theory with $N_F=0,1,2,3$ flavors of fundamentals, explicitly broken to $\mathcal{N}=1$…
Some of the peculiar electrodynamical effects associated with gauged ``dimension bubbles'' are presented. Such bubbles, which effectively enclose a region of 5d spacetime, can arise from a 5d theory with a compact extra dimension. Bubbles…
The deconfinement transition in SU(4) lattice gauge theory is studied on N_s^3 X N_t lattices with N_s = 8-16 and N_t = 4-8 using a modified Wilson action which is expected to have no bulk transitions. The peak of susceptibility \chi_{|L|}…
We study the deconfining phase transition at nonzero temperature in a SU(N) gauge theory, using a matrix model which was analyzed previously at small N. We show that the model is soluble at infinite N, and exhibits a Gross-Witten-Wadia…
We investigate the possibility that an imaginary anomalous $tbW$ coupling can be measured in the process $e^-p \to \nu_e \overline t X$ by means of T-odd observables. One such observable considered here is the polarization of the top…
Decades of research have revealed a deep understanding of topological quantum matter with protected edge modes. We report that even richer physics emerges when tuning between two topological phases of matter whose respective edge modes are…
These days, as high energy particle colliders become unavailable for testing speculative theoretical ideas, physicists are looking to other environments that may provide extreme conditions where theory confronts physical reality. One such…
Distinguishability plays a major role in quantum and statistical physics. When particles are identical their wave function must be either symmetric or antisymmetric under permutations and the number of microscopic states, which determines…
The discovery of the pseudogap in the cuprates created significant excitement amongst physicists as it was believed to be a signature of pairing, in some cases well above the room temperature. In this "pre-formed pairs" scenario, the…
Gauge theories broken by a single Higgs field are known to have first-order phase transitions in temperature if $\lambda/g^2 \ll 1$, where $g$ is the gauge coupling and $\lambda$ the Higgs self-coupling. If the theory is extended from one…
In gauge theories with fundamental matter there is typically no sharp way to distinguish confining and Higgs regimes, e.g. using generalized global symmetries acting on loop order parameters. It is standard lore that these two regimes are…
One possible way in which phase transitions in the early universe may have ocurred is via nucleation of bubbles of the new phase (true vacuum) in the old phase (false vacuum). The technique most widely used to compute the probability of…
A topological superconductor ring is uniquely characterized by a switch in the ground state fermion number parity upon insertion of one superconducting flux quantum - a direct consequence of the topological `parity anomaly.' Despite the…
Two-level atoms interacting with a one mode cavity field at zero temperature have order parameters which reflect the presence of a quantum phase transition at a critical value of the atom-cavity coupling strength. Two popular examples are…
We consider SU(N) QCD in a new quadratic gauge which highlights certain characteristic of the theory in the non-perturbative sector. By considering natural hermiticity property of the ghost fields we cast this model as non-Hermtian but…
Little Higgs theories often rely on an internal parity ("T-parity'') to suppress non-standard electroweak effects or to provide a dark matter candidate. We show that such a symmetry is generally broken by anomalies, as described by the…
The pseudogap refers to an enigmatic state of matter with unusual physical properties found below a characteristic temperature $T^*$ in hole-doped high-temperature superconductors. Determining $T^*$ is critical for understanding this state.…
We discuss the instability of uniform superconducting states that contain the pairing correlations belonging to the odd-frequency symmetry class. The instability originates from the paramagnetic response of odd-frequency Cooper pairs and is…
There exist two deformations of standard electrodynamics that describe Lorentz symmetry violation in the photon sector: CPT-odd Maxwell-Chern-Simons theory and CPT-even modified Maxwell theory. In this article, we focus on the parity-odd…
We study O(N) symmetric supersymmetric models in three dimensions at finite temperature. These models are known to have an interesting phase structures. In particular, in the limit $N \to \infty$ one finds spontaneous breaking of scale…