The simulation of various properties of quantum field theories is rapidly becoming a testing ground for demonstrating the prowess of quantum algorithms. Some examples include the preparation of ground states, as well as the investigation of various simple wave packets relevant for scattering phenomena. In this work, we study the ability of quantum algorithms to prepare ground states in a matter-free non-Abelian $SO(3)$ lattice gauge theory in $2+1$D in a phase where the global charge conjugation symmetry is spontaneously broken. This is challenging for two reasons: the necessity of dealing with a large Hilbert space for gauge theories compared to that of quantum spin models, and the closing of the gap between the two ground states which becomes exponentially small as a function of the volume. To deal with the large Hilbert space of gauge fields, we demonstrate how the exact imposition of the non-Abelian Gauss Law in the rishon representation of the quantum link operator significantly reduces the degrees of freedom. Further, to resolve the gap, we introduce symmetry-guided ans\"{a}tze in the Gauss-Law-resolved basis for trial states as the starting point for the quantum algorithms to prepare the two lowest energy states. In addition to simulation results for a range of two-dimensional system sizes, we also provide experimental results from the trapped-ion-based quantum hardware, IonQ, when working on systems with four quantum links. The experimental/simulation results derived from our theoretical developments indicate the role of metrics--such as the energy and the infidelity--to assess the obtained results.

Over the past decade and more, S-matrix-based calculational methods have experienced a resurgence, proving to be both an elegant and powerful tool for extracting physical quantities without the need for an underlying Lagrangian formulation. In this work, we critically review and further develop the formalism introduced by Dashen, Ma, and Bernstein, which connects the thermodynamics of relativistic systems to the information contained in their scattering amplitudes. As a demonstration, we revisit the computation of the QCD equation of state to leading order in the strong coupling, showcasing the advantages of this method over traditional Thermal Field Theory techniques. Additionally, we apply these tools to the effective theory of a long confining Flux Tube in D dimensions, analyzing thermal effects up to and including NNLO contributions. Our results are compared with those obtained using the Thermodynamic Bethe Ansatz method. We also discuss how these techniques enable the inclusion of non-universal effects in the study of Flux Tubes, while relying solely on the S-matrix as input.

Topological semimetals are some of the topological phases of matter most intensely-studied experimentally. The Weyl semimetal phase, in particular, has garned tremendous, sustained interest given fascinating signatures such as the Fermi arc surface states and the chiral anomaly, as well as the minimal requirements to protect this three-dimensional topological phase. Here, we show that thin films of Weyl semimetals (which we call quasi-(3-1)-dimensional, or q(3-1)d) generically realize finite-size topological phases distinct from 3d and 2d topological phases of established classification schemes: response signatures of the 3d bulk topology co-exist with topologically-protected, quasi-(3-2)d Fermi arc states or chiral boundary modes due to a second, previously-unidentified bulk-boundary correspondence. We show these finite-size topological semimetal phases are realized by Hamiltonians capturing the Fermiology of few-layer Van der Waals material MoTe2 in experiment. Given the broad experimental interest in few-layer Van der Waals materials and topological semimetals, our work paves the way for extensive future theoretical and experimental characterization of finite-size topological phases.

We perform an analysis of a number of approximations and methods used in numerical simulations of real-time Kadanoff-Baym equations based on truncations of the 2PI effective action. We compare the loop expansion to the 1/N expansion and compare their classical limit to classical-statistical simulations. We also compare implementations based on a space-time lattice discretization at the level of the action to an ad hoc momentum discretization at the level of the equations of motions. We extract some rules of thumb for performing 2PI-simulations of out-of-equilibrium systems.

We compute the next-to-leading correction to the scaling dimension of large-charge operators in the $3d$ critical $O(N)$ model in a double scaling limit in which both $N$ and the operator charge $Q$ are taken to be large. When $Q \gg N$ our result matches predictions from the conformal superfluid EFT and allows to extract next-to-leading order corrections to the EFT Wilsonian coefficients. At present, our result represents the most precise determination of large-charge operator scaling dimension in weakly-coupled CFTs.

Azimuthal modulations are crucial for the phenomenological extraction and separation of various generalized parton distributions. We provide a new choice of frame and corresponding formalism to describe the azimuthal distributions, based on the separation of physics occurring at different momentum scales. We demonstrate that this new description is not only well-suited for experimental analysis, but also advantageous in separating contributions from different subprocesses to the same physical cross section.