Center for Theoretical Physics

Topological magnetic structures are promising candidates for resilient information storage. An elementary example are spin helices in one-dimensional easy-plane quantum magnets. To quantify their stability, we numerically implement the stochastic Schrödinger equation and time-dependent perturbation theory for spin chains with fluctuating local magnetic fields. We find two classes of quantum spin helices that can reach and even exceed ground-state stability: Spin-current-maximizing helices and, for fine-tuned boundary conditions, the recently discovered "phantom helices". Beyond that, we show that the helicity itself (left- or right-rotating) is even more stable. We explain these findings by separated helical sectors and connect them to topological sectors in continuous spin systems. The resulting helical protection mechanism is a promising phenomenon towards stabilizing helical quantum structures, e.g., in ultracold atoms and solid state systems. We also identify an - up to our knowledge - previously unknown new type of phantom helices.

These notes provide an explanation of the type classification of von Neumann algebras, which has made many appearances in recent work on entanglement in quantum field theory and quantum gravity. The goal is to bridge a gap in the literature between resources that are too technical for the non-expert reader, and resources that seek to explain the broad intuition of the theory without giving precise definitions. Reading these notes will provide you with: (i) an argument for why "factors" are the fundamental von Neumann algebras that one needs to study; (ii) an intuitive explanation of the type classification of factors in terms of renormalization schemes that turn unnormalizable positive operators into "effective density matrices;" (iii) a mathematical explanation of the different types of renormalization schemes in terms of the allowed traces on a factor; (iv) an intuitive characterization of type I and II factors in terms of their "standard forms;" and (v) a list of some interesting connections between type classification and modular theory, including the argument for why type III\(_1\) factors are believed to be the relevant ones in quantum field theory. None of the material is new, but the pedagogy is different from other sources I have read; it is most similar in spirit to the recent work on gravity and the crossed product by Chandrasekaran, Longo, Penington, and Witten.

In these proceedings, we review recent advances in applying quantum computing to lattice field theory. Quantum computing offers the prospect to simulate lattice field theories in parameter regimes that are largely inaccessible with the conventional Monte Carlo approach, such as the sign-problem afflicted regimes of finite baryon density, topological terms, and out-of-equilibrium dynamics. First proof-of-concept quantum computations of lattice gauge theories in (1+1) dimensions have been accomplished, and first resource-efficient quantum algorithms for lattice gauge theories in (1+1) and (2+1) dimensions have been developed. The path towards quantum computations of (3+1)-dimensional lattice gauge theories, including Lattice QCD, requires many incremental steps of improving both quantum hardware and quantum algorithms. After reviewing these requirements and recent advances, we discuss the main challenges and future directions.

We present an update of the Fermilab Lattice and MILC Collaborations project to compute the form factors for semileptonic \(B_{(s)}\)-meson decays. Our calculation uses the highly improved staggered quark (HISQ) action for sea and valence quarks, and ensembles with up, down, strange, and charm quarks in the sea. Using a highly improved action with the MILC Collaboration's gauge ensembles with lattice spacings down to \(a\approx0.03\) fm, allows the heavy valence quarks to be treated with the same discretization as the light and strange quarks. This unified treatment of the valence quarks allows for absolutely normalized vector currents, bypassing the need for perturbative matching, which has been a source of uncertainty in previous calculations of \(B\)-meson decay form factors by our collaboration. All preliminary form-factor results are blinded.