A light-front coupled-cluster method for the nonperturbative solution of quantum field theories

We propose a new method for the nonperturbative solution of quantum field theories and illustrate its use in the context of a light-front analog to the Greenberg–Schweber model. The method is based on light-front quantization and uses the exponential-operator technique of the many-body coupled-cluster method. The formulation produces an effective Hamiltonian eigenvalue problem in the valence Fock sector of the system of interest, combined with nonlinear integral equations to be solved for the functions that define the effective Hamiltonian. The method avoids the Fock-space truncations usually used in nonperturbative light-front Hamiltonian methods and, therefore, does not suffer from the spectator dependence, Fock-sector dependence, and uncanceled divergences caused by such truncations.     

Spin correlations in nonperturbative electron–positron pair creation by petawatt laser pulses colliding with a TeV proton beam

The influence of the electron spin degree of freedom on nonperturbative electron–positron pair production by high-energy proton impact on an intense laser field of circular polarization is analyzed. Predictions from the Dirac and Klein–Gordon theories are compared and a spin-resolved calculation is performed. We show that the various spin configurations possess very different production probabilities and discuss the transfer of helicity in this highly nonlinear process. Our predictions could be tested by combining the few-TeV proton beam at CERN-LHC with an intense laser pulse from a table-top petawatt laser source.     

Extended Brueckner–Hartree–Fock theory with pionic correlation in finite nuclei

We formulate a nuclear many-body theory with explicit treatment of the strong tensor correlation caused by the pion-exchange interaction. To do this, we have to extend the Hartree–Fock variational model space to include 2-particle 2-hole (2p–2h) states, which are able to handle the tensor correlation and to contain high momentum components originating from its pseudo-scalar nature of the pion. We take the variational principle of the total energy, and obtain equations of motion for the variational parameters as the Hartree–Fock single particle states and 2p–2h states. As for the short range repulsion, we use the unitary correlation operator method (UCOM) to express the short range correlation in the ground state wave function. We then arrive at an extended Hartree–Fock equation with the inclusion of the effect of the pion exchange and short range repulsive interactions. We find this extended Hartree–Fock equation has a structure of the Brueckner theory. Thus, we name the present theoretical framework as an extended Brueckner–Hartree–Fock (EBHF) theory. We compare the EBHF theory with the Feshbach projection method and the Brueckner–Hartree–Fock theory.     

Resurgent transseries & Dyson–Schwinger equations

We employ resurgent transseries as algebraic tools to investigate two self-consistent Dyson–Schwinger equations, one in Yukawa theory and one in quantum electrodynamics. After a brief but pedagogical review, we derive fixed point equations for the associated anomalous dimensions and insert a moderately generic log-free transseries ansatz to study the possible strictures imposed. While proceeding in various stages, we develop an algebraic method to keep track of the transseries’ coefficients. We explore what conditions must be violated in order to stay clear of fixed point theorems to eschew a unique solution, if so desired, as we explain. An interesting finding is that the flow of data between the different sectors of the transseries shows a pattern typical of resurgence, i.e. the phenomenon that the perturbative sector of the transseries talks to the nonperturbative ones in a one-way fashion. However, our ansatz is not exotic enough as it leads to trivial solutions with vanishing nonperturbative sectors, even when logarithmic monomials are included. We see our result as a harbinger of what future work might reveal about the transseries representations of observables in fully renormalised four-dimensional quantum field theories and adduce a tentative yet to our mind weighty argument as to why one should not expect otherwise.     

Effective interaction in non-degenerate model space

The effective interaction in a model space has been calculated by the Krenciglowa–Kuo (KK) and the Lee–Suzuki (LS) iterative methods, both of which assume that the unperturbed energies in the model space are degenerate. We generalize these two methods in a natural and simple manner so that they apply also to non-degenerate model spaces. The key to the generalization is to use the effective hamiltonian instead of the effective interaction in the formulation of iterative schemes. Using test calculations in a simple model, we demonstrate that the new methods work excellently.     

Dynamical mean-field theory of transport of small polarons

We present a unified view of the transport properties of small polarons in the Holstein model at low carrier densities, based on the dynamical mean-field theory. The nonperturbative nature of the approach allows us to study the crossover from classical activated motion at high temperatures to coherent motion at low temperatures. Large quantitative discrepancies from the standard polaronic formulas are found. The scaling properties of the resistivity are analyzed, and a simple interpolation formula is proposed in the nonadiabatic regime.     

Effective field theories for the heavy quarkonium

We briefly review how nonrelativistic effective field theories give us a definition of the QCD potentials and a coherent field-theory-derived quantum-mechanical scheme to calculate the properties of bound states made by two or more heavy quarks. In this framework heavy quarkonium properties depend only on the QCD parameters (quark masses and α _s ) and nonpotential corrections are systematically accounted for. The relation between the form of the nonperturbative potentials and the low-energy QCD dynamics is also discussed.     

Two-boson truncation of Pauli-Villars-regulated Yukawa theory

We apply light-front quantization, Pauli-Villars regularization, and numerical techniques to the nonperturbative solution of the dressed-fermion problem in Yukawa theory in 3 + 1 dimensions. The solution is developed as a Fock-state expansion truncated to include at most one fermion and two bosons. The basis includes a negative-metric heavy boson and a negative-metric heavy fermion to provide the necessary cancellations of ultraviolet divergences. The integral equations for the Fock-state wave functions are solved by reducing them to effective one-boson-one-fermion equations for eigenstates with J_z = 1/2. The equations are converted to a matrix equation with a specially tuned quadrature scheme, and the lowest mass state is obtained by diagonalization. Various properties of the dressed-fermion state are then computed from the nonperturbative light-front wave functions. This work is a major step in our development of Pauli-Villars regularization for the nonperturbative solution of four-dimensional field theories and represents a significant advance in the numerical accuracy of such solutions.