<p>We present a comprehensive tensor network study of staggered, Wilson, and twisted mass fermions in the Hamiltonian formulation, using the massive two-flavor Schwinger model as a benchmark. Particular emphasis is placed on twisted mass fermions, whose properties in this context have not been systematically explored before. We confirm the expected <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mi mathvariant="script">O</mi><mo stretchy="false">(</mo><mi>a</mi><mo stretchy="false">)</mo></math> improvement in the free theory and observe that this improvement persists in the interacting case. By leveraging an electric-field-based method for mass renormalization, we reliably tune to maximal twist and establish the method’s applicability in the two-flavor model. Once mass renormalization is included, the pion mass exhibits rapid convergence to the continuum limit. Finite-volume effects are addressed using two complementary approaches: dispersion relation fits and finite-volume scaling. Our results show excellent agreement with semiclassical predictions and reveal a milder volume dependence for twisted mass fermions compared to staggered and Wilson discretizations. In addition, we observe clear isospin-breaking effects, suggesting intriguing parallels with lattice QCD. These findings highlight the advantages of twisted mass fermions for Hamiltonian simulations and motivate their further exploration—particularly in view of future applications to higher-dimensional lattice gauge theories.</p>

Germany

Tim Schwägerl

Cyprus

Karl Jansen

Stefan Kühn

Fermion discretization effects in the two-flavor lattice Schwinger model: A study with matrix product states

The SU(2)–gauged custodial two-Higgs-doublet model, which shares the same global-symmetry properties with the standard model, is studied non-perturbatively on the lattice. The additional Higgs doublet enlarges the scalar spectrum and opens the possibility for spontaneous breaking of the global symmetry. In this work we start by showing the occurrence of spontaneous breaking of the custodial symmetry in a region of the parameter space of the model. Following this, both the spectrum and the running of the gauge coupling of are examined at weak quartic couplings in the presence of the custodial symmetry. The calculations are performed with energy cutoffs ranging from 300 to 600 GeV on a line of constant standard model physics, obtained by tuning bare couplings to fix the ratio between the masses of the Higgs and the $\textit{W}$ bosons, as well as the value of the renormalized gauge coupling at the scale of the $\textit{W}$ boson mass. The realizable masses for the additional scalar states are explored. For the choice of bare quartic couplings in this work, the estimated lower bound of these masses is found to be well below the $\textit{W}$ boson mass, and independent of the cutoff. We also study the finite temperature electroweak transition along this line of constant standard model physics, revealing properties of a smooth crossover behavior.

Italy

Spain

Guilherme Catumba

Japan

Taiwan

Atsuki Hiraguchi

Wei-Shu Hou

Ying-Jer Kao

C.J. Lin

Alberto Ramos

Mugdha Sarkar

Lattice investigation of custodial two-Higgs-doublet model at weak quartic couplings

Matrix models, as quantum mechanical systems without explicit spatial dependence, provide valuable insights into higher-dimensional gauge and gravitational theories, especially within the framework of string theory, where they can describe quantum black holes via the holographic principle. Simulating these models allows for exploration of their kinematic and dynamic properties, particularly in parameter regimes that are analytically intractable. In this study, we examine the potential of tensor network techniques for such simulations. Specifically, we construct ground states as matrix product states and analyse features such as their entanglement structure.

Enrico Brehm

Yibin Guo

Enrico Rinaldi

Simulating matrix models with tensor networks

Quantum field theories treated as open quantum systems provide a crucial framework for studying realistic experimental scenarios, such as quarkonia traversing the quark-gluon plasma produced at the Large Hadron Collider. In such cases, capturing the complex thermalization process requires a detailed understanding of how particles evolve and interact with a hot medium. Considering the open lattice Schwinger model and using tensor network algorithms, we investigate the thermalization dynamics of mesonic particles in a hot medium, such as the Schwinger boson or the electric flux string. We simulate systems with up to 100 lattice sites, achieving accurate preservation of the electric field parity symmetry, demonstrating the algorithm’s robustness and scalability. Our results reveal that the thermalization time increases with stronger dissipation from the environment, increasing environment temperature, higher background electric field and heavier fermion masses. Further, we study the quantum mutual information between the two halves of the flux string connecting a meson’s constituent particles and analyze its relation to relevant dynamical observables.

Takis Angelides

Giuseppe Magnifico

Meson thermalization with a hot medium in the open Schwinger model

We propose an ansatz quantum circuit for the variational quantum eigensolver (VQE), suitable for exploring the phase structure of the multiflavor Schwinger model in the presence of a chemical potential. Our ansatz is capable of incorporating relevant model symmetries via constrains on the parameters, and can be implemented on circuit-based as well as measurement-based quantum devices. We show via classical simulation of the VQE that our ansatz is able to capture the phase structure of the model, and can approximate the ground state to a high level of accuracy. Moreover, we perform proof-of-principle simulations on superconducting, gate-based quantum hardware. Our results show that our approach is suitable for current gate-based quantum devices, and can be readily implemented on measurement-based quantum devices once available.

Stephan Schuster

Lena Funcke

United States

United Kingdom

Tobias Hartung

Marc-Oliver Pleinert

Joachim von Zanthier

Studying the phase diagram of the three-flavor Schwinger model in the presence of a chemical potential with measurement- and gate-based quantum computing

Staple-shaped Wilson line operators are necessary for the study of transverse momentum-dependent parton distribution functions (TMDPDFs) in lattice QCD and beyond. In this work, we study the renormalization of such operators in the general case of an asymmetric staple. We analyze the mixing pattern of these operators using their symmetry properties, where we find that the possible mixing is restricted within groups of four operators. We then present numerical results using the regularization independent momentum subtraction (RI/MOM) scheme to study the importance of mixing using one operator in particular, the <math><mrow><msub><mrow><mi>γ</mi></mrow><mrow><mn>0</mn></mrow></msub></mrow></math> operator. Based on these results, we consider the short distance ratio (SDR) scheme, which is desirable in the absence of mixing. Finally, we investigate a variant of the RI/MOM scheme, where the renormalization factors are computed at short distances.

Constantia Alexandrou

Simone Bacchio

Poland

Krzysztof Cichy

Martha Constantinou

China

Xu Feng

Chuan Liu

Aniket Sen

Gregoris Spanoudes

Fernanda Steffens

Jacopo Tarello

Nonperturbative renormalization of asymmetric staple-shaped operators in twisted mass lattice QCD

We study the consequences of mode-collapse of normalizing flows in the context of lattice field theory. Normalizing flows allow for independent sampling. For this reason, it is hoped that they can avoid the tunneling problem of local-update Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithms for multimodal distributions. In this work, we first point out that the tunneling problem is also present for normalizing flows but is shifted from the sampling to the algorithm’s training phase. Specifically, normalizing flows often suffer from mode-collapse for which the training process assigns vanishingly low probability mass to relevant modes of the physical distribution. This may result in a significant bias when the flow is used as a sampler in a Markov-Chain or with importance sampling. We propose a metric to quantify the degree of mode-collapse and derive a bound on the resulting bias. Furthermore, we propose various mitigation strategies in particular in the context of estimating thermodynamic observables, such as the free energy.

Kim A. Nicoli

Christopher J. Anders

Switzerland

Pan Kessel

Shinichi Nakajima

Detecting and mitigating mode-collapse for flow-based sampling of lattice field theories

We present a variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) algorithm for the efficient bootstrapping of the causal representation of multiloop Feynman diagrams in the loop-tree duality or, equivalently, the selection of acyclic configurations in directed graphs. A loop Hamiltonian based on the adjacency matrix describing a multiloop topology, and whose different energy levels correspond to the number of cycles, is minimized by VQE to identify the causal or acyclic configurations. The algorithm has been adapted to select multiple degenerated minima and thus achieves higher detection rates. A performance comparison with a Grover’s based algorithm is discussed in detail. The VQE approach requires, in general, fewer qubits and shorter circuits for its implementation, albeit with lesser success rates.

Giuseppe Clemente

Arianna Crippa

Mexico

Selomit Ramírez-Uribe

Andrés E. Rentería-Olivo

Germán Rodrigo

German F. R. Sborlini

Luiz Vale Silva

Variational quantum eigensolver for causal loop Feynman diagrams and directed acyclic graphs

We propose to use quantum information notions to characterize thermally induced melting of nonperturbative bound states at high temperatures. We apply tensor networks to investigate this idea in static and dynamical settings within the Ising quantum field theory, where bound states are confined fermion pairs—mesons. An equilibrium signature of meson melting is identified in the temperature dependence of the thermal-state second Rényi entropy, which varies from exponential to power-law scaling. Out of equilibrium, we identify as the relevant signature the transition from an oscillatory to a linear growing behavior of reflected entropy after a thermal quench. These analyses apply more broadly, which brings new ways of describing in-medium meson phenomena in quantum many-body and high-energy physics.

Mari Carmen Bañuls

Belgium

Michal P. Heller

Israel

Johannes Knaute

Sweden

Viktor Svensson

Quantum information perspective on meson melting

We calculate the double-virtual <math><mrow><mi>η</mi><mo>→</mo><msup><mrow><mi>γ</mi></mrow><mrow><mo>*</mo></mrow></msup><msup><mrow><mi>γ</mi></mrow><mrow><mo>*</mo></mrow></msup></mrow></math> transition form factor <math><mrow><msub><mrow><mi>F</mi></mrow><mrow><mi>η</mi><mo>→</mo><msup><mrow><mi>γ</mi></mrow><mrow><mo>*</mo></mrow></msup><msup><mrow><mi>γ</mi></mrow><mrow><mo>*</mo></mrow></msup></mrow></msub><mo>(</mo><msubsup><mrow><mi>q</mi></mrow><mrow><mn>1</mn></mrow><mrow><mn>2</mn></mrow></msubsup><mo>,</mo><msubsup><mrow><mi>q</mi></mrow><mrow><mn>2</mn></mrow><mrow><mn>2</mn></mrow></msubsup><mo>)</mo></mrow></math> from first principles using a lattice QCD simulation with <math><msub><mi>N</mi><mi>f</mi></msub><mo>=</mo><mn>2</mn><mo>+</mo><mn>1</mn><mo>+</mo><mn>1</mn></math> quark flavors at the physical pion mass and at one lattice spacing and volume. The kinematic range covered by our calculation is complementary to the one accessible from experiment and is relevant for the <math><mi>η</mi></math>-pole contribution to the hadronic light-by-light scattering in the anomalous magnetic moment <math><msub><mi>a</mi><mi>μ</mi></msub><mo>=</mo><mo>(</mo><mi>g</mi><mo>−</mo><mn>2</mn><mo>)</mo><mo>/</mo><mn>2</mn></math> of the muon. From the form factor calculation we extract the partial decay width <math><mrow><mi>Γ</mi><mo>(</mo><mi>η</mi><mo>→</mo><mi>γ</mi><mi>γ</mi><mo>)</mo><mo>=</mo><mn>338</mn><mo>(</mo><mn>87</mn><msub><mrow><mo>)</mo></mrow><mrow><mi>stat</mi></mrow></msub><mo>(</mo><mn>17</mn><msub><mrow><mo>)</mo></mrow><mrow><mi>syst</mi></mrow></msub><mtext> </mtext><mtext> </mtext><mi>eV</mi></mrow></math> and the slope parameter <math><mrow><msub><mrow><mi>b</mi></mrow><mrow><mi>η</mi></mrow></msub><mo>=</mo><mn>1.34</mn><mo>(</mo><mn>28</mn><msub><mrow><mo>)</mo></mrow><mrow><mi>stat</mi></mrow></msub><mo>(</mo><mn>14</mn><msub><mrow><mo>)</mo></mrow><mrow><mi>syst</mi></mrow></msub><mtext> </mtext><mtext> </mtext><msup><mrow><mi>GeV</mi></mrow><mrow><mo>−</mo><mn>2</mn></mrow></msup></mrow></math>. For the <math><mi>η</mi></math>-pole contribution to <math><msub><mi>a</mi><mi>μ</mi></msub></math> we obtain <math><mrow><msubsup><mrow><mi>a</mi></mrow><mrow><mi>μ</mi></mrow><mrow><mi>η</mi><mtext>-pole</mtext></mrow></msubsup><mo>=</mo><mn>13.8</mn><mo>(</mo><mn>5.2</mn><msub><mrow><mo>)</mo></mrow><mrow><mi>stat</mi></mrow></msub><mo>(</mo><mn>1.5</mn><msub><mrow><mo>)</mo></mrow><mrow><mi>syst</mi></mrow></msub><mo>×</mo><msup><mrow><mn>10</mn></mrow><mrow><mo>−</mo><mn>11</mn></mrow></msup></mrow></math>.

Sebastian Burri

Jacob Finkenrath

Andrew Gasbarro

Kyriakos Hadjiyiannakou

Gurtej Kanwar

Bartosz Kostrzewa

Konstantin Ottnad

Marcus Petschlies

Ferenc Pittler

Carsten Urbach

Urs Wenger

<math><mrow><mi>η</mi><mo>→</mo><msup><mrow><mi>γ</mi></mrow><mrow><mo>*</mo></mrow></msup><msup><mrow><mi>γ</mi></mrow><mrow><mo>*</mo></mrow></msup></mrow></math> transition form factor and the hadronic light-by-light <math><mi>η</mi></math>-pole contribution to the muon <math><mi>g</mi><mo>−</mo><mn>2</mn></math> from lattice QCD