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High Energy Theory Seminar

Friday, April 14, 2023
11:00am to 12:00pm
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Online and In-Person Event
Thermalization and Chaos from Energy Eigenstates in QFT
Liam Fitzpatrick, Boston University,

We describe recent progress on applying Hamiltonian Truncation methods to do nonperturbative computations in relativistic Quantum Field Theory in infinite volume.  We use these methods to study the high energy eigenstates of 1+1d scalar phi^4 theory, and study signatures of chaos and thermalization.  Specifically, we compare the energy eigenstates with the predictions of random matrix theory, and we compare the expectation values of local operators in high energy eigenstates with the predictions of the Eigenstate Thermalization Hypothesis.  We find that these predictions are satisfied by the majority of eigenstates, and comment on the interpretation of several "scar" states where they are violated.

In person attendees (469 Lauritsen) must have a valid Caltech ID.

Contact theoryinfo@caltech.edu for Zoom information.