Fluids in Random Media and Dimensional Augmentation.

We propose a solution to the puzzle of dimensional reduction in the random field Ising model, asking the following: To what random problem in D=d+2 dimensions does a pure system in d dimensions correspond? For a continuum binary fluid and an Ising lattice gas, we prove that the mean density and other observables equal those of a similar model in D dimensions, but with infinite range interactions and correlated disorder in the extra two dimensions. There is no conflict with rigorous results that the finite range model orders in D=3. Our arguments avoid the use of replicas and perturbative field theory, being based on convergent cluster expansions, which, for the lattice gas, may be extended to the critical point by the Lee-Yang theorem.

Thermalization and revivals after a quantum quench in conformal field theory.

We consider a quantum quench in a finite system of length L described by a 1+1-dimensional conformal field theory (CFT), of central charge c, from a state with finite energy density corresponding to an inverse temperature β≪L. For times t such that ℓ/2 View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Universal thermal corrections to single interval entanglement entropy for two dimensional conformal field theories.

We consider single interval Rényi and entanglement entropies for a two dimensional conformal field theory on a circle at nonzero temperature. Assuming that the finite size of the system introduces a unique ground state with a nonzero mass gap, we calculate the leading corrections to the Rényi and entanglement entropy in a low temperature expansion. These corrections have a universal form for any two dimensional conformal field theory that depends only on the size of the mass gap and its degeneracy.

Entanglement negativity in quantum field theory.

We develop a systematic method to extract the negativity in the ground state of a 1+1 dimensional relativistic quantum field theory, using a path integral formalism to construct the partial transpose ρ(A)(T(2) of the reduced density matrix of a subsystem [formula: see text], and introducing a replica approach to obtain its trace norm which gives the logarithmic negativity E=ln//ρ(A)(T(2))//. This is shown to reproduce standard results for a pure state. We then apply this method to conformal field theories, deriving the result E~(c/4)ln[ℓ(1)ℓ(2)/(ℓ(1)+ℓ(2))] for the case of two adjacent intervals of lengths ℓ(1), ℓ(2) in an infinite system, where c is the central charge.

Measuring entanglement using quantum quenches.

We show that block entanglement entropies in one-dimensional systems close to a quantum critical point can, in principle, be measured in terms of the population of low-lying energy levels following a certain type of local quantum quench.

Time dependence of correlation functions following a quantum quench.

We show that the time dependence of correlation functions in an extended quantum system in d dimensions, which is prepared in the ground state of some Hamiltonian and then evolves without dissipation according to some other Hamiltonian, may be extracted using methods of boundary critical phenomena in d + 1 dimensions. For d = 1 particularly powerful results are available using conformal field theory. These are checked against those available from solvable models.

Morphogen gradient from a noisy source.

We investigate the effect of time-dependent noise on the shape of a morphogen gradient in a developing embryo. Perturbation theory is used to calculate the deviations from deterministic behavior in a simple reaction-diffusion model of robust gradient formation, and the results are confirmed by numerical simulation. It is shown that such deviations can disrupt robustness for sufficiently high noise levels, and the implications of these findings for more complex models of gradient-shaping pathways are discussed.