By converting the Asymptotic Bethe Ansatz (ABA) of ${\cal N}=4$ SYM into non-linear integral equations, we find 2D scattering amplitudes of excitations on top of the GKP vacuum. We prove that this is a suitable and powerful set-up for the understanding and computation of the whole S-matrix. We show that all the amplitudes depend on the fundamental scalar-scalar one.
We compute the one-loop S-matrix for the light bosonic excitations of the GKP string at strong coupling. These correspond, on the gauge theory side, to gluon insertions in the GKP vacuum. We perform the calculation by Feynman diagrams in the worldsheet theory and we compare the result to the integrability prediction, finding perfect agreement for the scheme independent part. For scheme dependent rational terms we test different schemes and find that a recent proposal reproduces exactly the integrability prediction.
We initiate the perturbative study of the S-matrix for the excitations on top of the GKP vacuum at strong coupling. Using the string sigma model action expanded around the null cusp classical solution, we compute the tree-level S-matrix elements and compare them with the predictions from the asymptotic Bethe Ansatz. We also check the factorization of the three-body S-matrix for various bosonic processes, finding precise agreement with the constraints imposed by integrability.
Moving from Beisert-Staudacher equations, the complete set of Asymptotic Bethe Ansatz equations and $S$-matrix for the excitations over the GKP vacuum is found. The resulting model on this new vacuum is an integrable spin chain of length $R=2\ln s$ ($s=$ spin) with particle rapidities as inhomogeneities, two (purely transmitting) defects and $SU(4)$ (residual R-)symmetry. The non-trivial dynamics of ${\cal N}=4$ SYM appears in elaborated dressing factors of the 2D two-particle scattering factors, all depending on the 'fundamental' one between two scalar excitations. From scattering factors we …
Adapting the powerful integrability-based formalism invented previously for the calculation of gluon scattering amplitudes at strong coupling, we develop a method for computing the holographic three point functions for the large spin limit of Gubser-Klebanov- Polyakov (GKP) strings. Although many of the ideas from the gluon scattering problem can be transplanted with minor modifications, the fact that the information of the external states is now encoded in the singularities at the vertex insertion points necessitates several new techniques. Notably, we develop a new generalized Riemann biline…
Studying the scattering of excitations around a dynamical background has a long history in the context of integrable models. The Gubser-Klebanov-Polyakov string solution provides such a background for the string/gauge correspondence. Taking the conjectured all-loop asymptotic equations for the AdS_4/CFT_3 correspondence as the starting point, we derive the S-matrix and a set of spectral equations for the lowest-lying excitations. We find that these equations resemble closely the analogous equations for AdS_5/CFT_4, which are also discussed in this paper. At large values of the coupling constan…
Scattering amplitudes in maximally supersymmetric gauge theory are dual to super-Wilson loops on null polygonal contours. The operator product expansion for the latter revealed that their dynamics is governed by the evolution of multiparticle GKP excitations. They were shown to emerge from the spectral problem of an underlying open spin chain. In this work we solve this model with the help of the Baxter Q-operator and Sklyanin's Separation of Variables methods. We provide an explicit construction for eigenfunctions and eigenvalues of GKP excitations. We demonstrate how the former define the so…
We study scalar excitations of high spin operators in N=4 super Yang-Mills theory, which are dual to solitons propagating on a long folded string in AdS_3 x S^1. In the spin chain description of the gauge theory, these are associated to holes in the magnon distribution in the sl(2,R) sector. We compute the all-loop hole S-matrix from the asymptotic Bethe ansatz, and expand in leading orders at weak and strong coupling. The worldsheet S-matrix of solitonic excitations on the GKP string is calculated using semiclassical quantization. We find an exact agreement between the gauge theory and string…
Integrable boundary Toda theories are considered. We use boundary one-point functions and boundary scattering theory to construct the explicit solutions corresponding to classical vacuum configurations. The boundary ground state energies are conjectured.
In this work we consider kink-antikink and antikink-kink collisions in a modified $ϕ^4$ model with a false vacuum characterized by a dimensionless parameter $ε$. The usual $ϕ^4$ model is recovered for $ε=0$. We investigate the $ε<<1$ regime where the kink in the presence of false vacuum can be understood as a small deformation of the standard kink for the $ϕ^4$ model. We show that the attractive interaction between the kink-antikink pair leads to a rich scattering pattern, in some cases delaying considerably the false vacuum decay.
The parametric families of integrable boundary affine Toda theories are considered. We calculate boundary one-point functions and propose boundary S-matrices in these theories. We use boundary one-point functions and S-matrix amplitudes to derive boundary ground state energies and exact solutions describing classical vacuum configurations.
We study stationary and axially symmetric two solitonic solutions of five dimensional vacuum Einstein equations by using the inverse scattering method developed by Belinski and Zakharov. In this generation of the solutions, we use five dimensional Minkowski spacetime as a seed. It is shown that if we restrict ourselves to the case of one angular momentum component, the generated solution coincides with a black ring solution with a rotating two sphere which was found by Mishima and Iguchi recently.
Particle scattering and vacuum instability in a constant inhomogeneous electric field of particular peak configuration that consists of two (exponentially increasing and exponentially decreasing) independent parts are studied. It presents a new kind of external field where exact solutions of the Dirac and Klein-Gordon equations can be found. We obtain and analyze in- and out-solutions of the Dirac and Klein-Gordon equations in this configuration. By their help we calculate probabilities of particle scattering and characteristics of the vacuum instability. In particular, we consider in details …
For Schwinger pair production with background electric fields varying only in time, it is shown that the quantum kinetic approach, based on the quantum Vlasov equation, and the quantum mechanical scattering approach, are completely equivalent. This different perspective on the quantum kinetic approach suggests new approximation methods, which are tested in detail using a soluble pulse-like field configuration, and may give useful insight for generalization to more general electric fields, varying in more than 1 dimension.
Scattering in 3+1-dimensional QED is believed to give rise to transitions between different photon vacua. We show that these transitions can be removed by taking into account off-shell modes which correspond to Liénard-Wiechert fields of asymptotic states. This makes it possible to formulate scattering in 3+1-dimensional QED on a Hilbert space which furnishes a single representation of the canonical commutation relations (CCR). Different QED selection sectors correspond to inequivalent representations of the photon CCR and are stable under the action of an IR finite, unitary S-matrix. Infrared…
In this work we consider the scalar field model with a false vacuum proposed by A. T. Avelar, D. Bazeia, L. Losano and R. Menezes, Eur. Phys. J. C 55, 133-143 (2008). The model depends on a parameter $s>0$. The model has unstable nontopological lump solutions with a bell shape for small $s$, acquiring a flat plateau around the maximum for large $s$. For $s\to\infty$ the $ϕ^4$ model is recovered. We show that for $s\gtrsim 2$ the lump is metastable with the only negative mode very close to zero. Metastable lumps can propagate and survive long enough to produce dynamical effects. Due to their si…
Using the quantum field theory approach developed in Phys. Rev. D. 93, 045002 (2016), we consider particle scattering and vacuum instability in the so-called L-constant electric field, which is a constant electric field confined between two capacitor plates separated by a finite distance L. We obtain and analyze special sets of stationary solutions of the Dirac and Klein-Gordon equations with the L-constant electric field. Then, we represent probabilities of particle scattering and characteristics of the vacuum instability (related to pair creation) in terms of the introduced solutions. From e…
In this paper we study various aspects of classical solutions to the affine Toda equations on a half-line with integrable boundary conditions. We begin by finding conditions that the theory has a stable vacuum by finding a Bogomolny bound on the energy, and analysing the possible singularities of the field at the boundary. Using these constraints and extensive numerical investigations we classify the vacuum configurations and reflection factors for A_r^(1) Toda theories up to r=5.
The vacuum energy of a scalar field in a spherically symmetric background field is considered. It is expressed through the Jost function of the corresponding scattering problem. The renormalization is discussed in detail and performed using the uniform asymptotic expansion of the Jost function. The method is demonstrated in a simple explicit example.
Vacuum polarization in external fields is treated by way of calculating - exactly and then perturbatively - the phase of the quantum scattering matrix in the Shale-Stinespring approach to field theory. The link between the Shale-Stinespring method and the Epstein-Glaser renormalization procedure is highlighted.
We investigate the decay of quantum electrodynamical (QED) vacuum in arbitrary space-dependent electric fields. In particular, we analyze the resonance peaks of the positron emission spectrum for the external fields with subcycle structure. For this, we study the transmission probability in the framework of scattering approach to vacuum pair production. In under-the-barrier scattering regime, we show that the width of a transmission resonance can be enhanced when the effective scattering potential contains multiple wells. Such a broadening in the resonance width corresponds to a decrease in th…
We study kink-antikink scattering in the sine-Gordon model in the presence of interactions with an additional scalar field, $ψ$, that is in its quantum vacuum. In contrast to the classical scattering, now there is quantum radiation of $ψ$ quanta and the kink-antikink may form bound states that resemble breathers of the sine-Gordon model. We quantify the rate of radiation and map the parameters for which bound states are formed. Even these bound states radiate and decay, and eventually there is a transition into long-lived oscillons.
We compute the ground state energy of a massive scalar field in the background of a cylindrical shell whose potential is given by a delta function. The zero point energy is expressed in terms of the Jost function of the related scattering problem, the renormalization is performed with the help of the heat kernel expansion. The energy is found to be negative for attractive and for repulsive backgrounds as well.
Using the inverse scattering method in six dimensions we construct the dipole black ring of five dimensional Einstein-Maxwell-dilaton theory with dilaton coupling a = 2(2/3)^(1/2).The 5d theory can be thought of as the NS sector of low energy string theory in Einstein frame. It can also be obtained by dimensionally reducing six-dimensional vacuum gravity on a circle. Our new approach uses GL(4, R) integrability structure of the theory inherited from six-dimensional vacuum gravity. Our approach is also general enough to potentially generate dipole black objects carrying multiple rotations as we…
A. I. Alikhanyan National Science Laboratory (Yerevan Physics Institute)(阿·伊·阿里哈尼扬国家科学实验室(叶里万物理研究所));Departamento de Física de Partículas, Universidad de Santiago de Compostela(圣地亚哥-德孔波斯特拉大学粒子物理学系);Instituto Galego de Física de Altas Enerxias (IGFAE)(加利西亚高能物理研究所)
In quantum gravity, fields may lose quantum coherence by scattering off vacuum fluctuations in which virtual black hole pairs appear and disappear. Although it is not possible to properly compute the scattering off such fluctuations, we argue that one can get useful qualitative results, which provide a guide to the possible effects of such scattering, by considering a quantum field on the $C$ metric, which has the same topology as a virtual black hole pair. We study a scalar field on the Lorentzian $C$ metric background, with the scalar field in the analytically-continued Euclidean vacuum stat…
Motivated by recent experimental initiatives, such as at the Helmholtz International Beamline for Extreme Fields (HIBEF) at the European X-ray Free Electron Laser (XFEL), we calculate the birefringent scattering of x-rays at the combined field of two optical (or near-optical) lasers and compare various scenarios. In order to facilitate an experimental detection of quantum vacuum diffraction and birefringence, special emphasis is placed on scenarios where the difference between the initial and final x-ray photons is maximized. Apart from their polarization, these signal and background photons m…
We present a (1+1)-dimensional fermionic QFT with non-local couplings between currents. This model describes an ensemble of spinless fermions interacting through forward, backward and umklapp scattering processes. We express the vacuum to vacuum functional in terms of a non trivial fermionic determinant. Using path-integral methods we find a bosonic representation for this determinant. Thus we obtain an effective action depending on three scalar fields, two of which correspond to the physical collective excitations whereas the third one is an auxiliary field that is left to be integrated by me…
Recently it has been shown that the vacuum state in QED is infinitely degenerate. Moreover a transition among the degenerate vacua is induced in any nontrivial scattering process and determined from the associated soft factor. Conventional computations of scattering amplitudes in QED do not account for this vacuum degeneracy and therefore always give zero. This vanishing of all conventional QED amplitudes is usually attributed to infrared divergences. Here we show that if these vacuum transitions are properly accounted for, the resulting amplitudes are nonzero and infrared finite. Our construc…
The tremendous progress in high-intensity laser technology and the establishment of dedicated high-field laboratories in recent years have paved the way towards a first observation of quantum vacuum nonlinearities at the high-intensity frontier. We advocate a particularly prospective scenario, where three synchronized high-intensity laser pulses are brought into collision, giving rise to signal photons, whose frequency and propagation direction differ from the driving laser pulses, thus providing various means to achieve an excellent signal to background separation. Based on the theoretical co…