Soluble Model of a Nonequilibrium Steady State: The Van Kampen Objection and Other Lessons.

A simple model of charge transport is provided by a classical particle in a random potential and a dissipative coupling to the environment. The corresponding nonequilibrium steady state (NESS) can be determined analytically when both the disorder and dissipation are weak. We use it to illuminate some foundational issues in nonequilibrium statistical mechanics.

Absence of Energy Currents in an Equilibrium State and Chiral Anomalies.

A long time ago, Bloch showed that in a system of interacting nonrelativistic particles the net particle-number current must vanish in any equilibrium state. Bloch's argument does not generalize easily to the energy current. We devise an alternative argument which proves the vanishing of the net energy currents in equilibrium states of lattice systems as well as systems of nonrelativistic particles with finite-range potential interactions.

Anomalous discrete symmetries in three dimensions and group cohomology.

We study 't Hooft anomalies for a global discrete internal symmetry G. We construct examples of bosonic field theories in three dimensions with a nonvanishing 't Hooft anomaly for a discrete global symmetry. We also construct field theories in three dimensions with a global discrete internal symmetry G(1) × G(2) such that gauging G(1) necessarily breaks G(2) and vice versa.