Formal Higher-Spin Theories and Kontsevich-Shoikhet-Tsygan Formality

The formal algebraic structures that govern higher-spin theories within the unfolded approach turn out to be related to an extension of the Kontsevich Formality, namely, the Shoikhet-Tsygan Formality. Effectively, this allows one to construct the Hochschild cocycles of higher-spin algebras that make the interaction vertices. As an application of these results we construct a family of Vasiliev-like equations that generate the Hochschild cocycles with $sp(2n)$ symmetry from the corresponding cycles. A particular case of $sp(4)$ may be relevant for the on-shell action of the $4d$ theory. We also give the exact equations that describe propagation of higher-spin fields on a background of their own. The consistency of formal higher-spin theories turns out to have a purely geometric interpretation: there exists a certain symplectic invariant associated to cutting a polytope into simplices, namely, the Alexander-Spanier cocycle.Comment: typos fixed, many comments added, 36 pages + 20 pages of Appendices, 3 figure

Energy relaxation rate and its mesoscopic fluctuations in quantum dots

We analyze the applicability of the Fermi-golden-rule description of quasiparticle relaxation in a closed diffusive quantum dot with electron-electron interaction. Assuming that single-particle levels are already resolved but the initial stage of quasiparticle disintegration can still be described by a simple exponential decay, we calculate the average inelastic energy relaxation rate of single-particle excitations and its mesoscopic fluctuations. The smallness of mesoscopic fluctuations can then be used as a criterion for the validity of the Fermi-golden-rule description. Technically, we implement the real-space Keldysh diagram technique, handling correlations in the quasi-discrete spectrum non-perturbatively by means of the non-linear supersymmetric sigma model. The unitary symmetry class is considered for simplicity. Our approach is complementary to the lattice-model analysis of Fock space: thought we are not able to describe many-body localization, we derive the exact lowest-order expression for mesoscopic fluctuations of the relaxation rate, making no assumptions on the matrix elements of the interaction. It is shown that for the quasiparticle with the energy $\varepsilon$ on top of the thermal state with the temperature $T$, fluctuations of its energy width become large and the Fermi-golden-rule description breaks down at $\max\{\varepsilon,T\}\sim\Delta\sqrt{g}$, where $\Delta$ is the mean level spacing in the quantum dot, and $g$ is its dimensionless conductance.Comment: 33 pages, 9 figure

Superconducting fluctuations at arbitrary disorder strength

We study the effect of superconducting fluctuations on the conductivity of metals at arbitrary temperatures $T$ and impurity scattering rates $\tau^{-1}$. Using the standard diagrammatic technique but in the Keldysh representation, we derive the general expression for the fluctuation correction to the dc conductivity applicable for any space dimensionality and analyze it the case of the film geometry. We observe that the usual classification in terms of the Aslamazov-Larkin, Maki-Thompson and density-of-states diagrams is to some extent artificial since these contributions produce similar terms, which partially cancel each other. In the diffusive limit, our results fully coincide with recent calculations in the Keldysh technique. In the ballistic limit near the transition, we demonstrate the absence of a divergent term $(T\tau)^2$ attributed previously to the density-of-states contribution. In the ballistic limit far above the transition, the temperature-dependent part of the conductivity correction is shown to scale roughly as $T\tau$.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figures. A figure illustrating the temperature dependence of the fluctuation correction is added; the sign of the high-temperature asymptote in the ballistic case is fixe

Anderson localization on random regular graphs

A numerical study of Anderson transition on random regular graphs (RRG) with diagonal disorder is performed. The problem can be described as a tight-binding model on a lattice with N sites that is locally a tree with constant connectivity. In certain sense, the RRG ensemble can be seen as infinite-dimensional ($d\to\infty$) cousin of Anderson model in d dimensions. We focus on the delocalized side of the transition and stress the importance of finite-size effects. We show that the data can be interpreted in terms of the finite-size crossover from small ($N\ll N_c$) to large ($N\gg N_c$) system, where $N_c$ is the correlation volume diverging exponentially at the transition. A distinct feature of this crossover is a nonmonotonicity of the spectral and wavefunction statistics, which is related to properties of the critical phase in the studied model and renders the finite-size analysis highly non-trivial. Our results support an analytical prediction that states in the delocalized phase (and at $N\gg N_c$) are ergodic in the sense that their inverse participation ratio scales as $1/N$