Criticality in Formal Languages and Statistical Physics

We show that the mutual information between two symbols, as a function of the number of symbols between the two, decays exponentially in any probabilistic regular grammar, but can decay like a power law for a context-free grammar. This result about formal languages is closely related to a well-known result in classical statistical mechanics that there are no phase transitions in dimensions fewer than two. It is also related to the emergence of power-law correlations in turbulence and cosmological inflation through recursive generative processes. We elucidate these physics connections and comment on potential applications of our results to machine learning tasks like training artificial recurrent neural networks. Along the way, we introduce a useful quantity which we dub the rational mutual information and discuss generalizations of our claims involving more complicated Bayesian networks.Comment: Replaced to match final published version. Discussion improved, references adde

Cool Core Bias in Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Galaxy Cluster Surveys

Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) surveys find massive clusters of galaxies by measuring the inverse Compton scattering of cosmic microwave background off of intra-cluster gas. The cluster selection function from such surveys is expected to be nearly independent of redshift and cluster astrophysics. In this work, we estimate the effect on the observed SZ signal of centrally-peaked gas density profiles (cool cores) and radio emission from the brightest cluster galaxy (BCG) by creating mock observations of a sample of clusters that span the observed range of classical cooling rates and radio luminosities. For each cluster, we make simulated SZ observations by the South Pole Telescope and characterize the cluster selection function, but note that our results are broadly applicable to other SZ surveys. We find that the inclusion of a cool core can cause a change in the measured SPT significance of a cluster between 0.01% - 10% at z > 0.3, increasing with cuspiness of the cool core and angular size on the sky of the cluster (i.e., decreasing redshift, increasing mass). We provide quantitative estimates of the bias in the SZ signal as a function of a gas density cuspiness parameter, redshift, mass, and the 1.4 GHz radio luminosity of the central AGN. Based on this work, we estimate that, for the Phoenix cluster (one of the strongest cool cores known), the presence of a cool core is biasing the SZ significance high by ~ 6%. The ubiquity of radio galaxies at the centers of cool core clusters will offset the cool core bias to varying degrees.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, accepted to Ap

The bulk Hilbert space of double scaled SYK

The emergence of the bulk Hilbert space is a mysterious concept in holography. In arXiv:1811.02584, the SYK model was solved in the double scaling limit by summing chord diagrams. Here, we explicitly construct the bulk Hilbert space of double scaled SYK by slicing open these chord diagrams; this Hilbert space resembles that of a lattice field theory where the length of the lattice is dynamical and determined by the chord number. Under a calculable bulk-to-boundary map, states of fixed chord number map to particular entangled 2-sided states with a corresponding size. This bulk reconstruction is well-defined even when quantum gravity effects are important. Acting on the double scaled Hilbert space is a Type II$_1$ algebra of observables, which includes the Hamiltonian and matter operators. In the appropriate quantum Schwarzian limit, we also identify the JT gravitational algebra including the physical SL(2,R) symmetry generators, and obtain explicit representations of the algebra using chord diagram techniques.Comment: 31 pages, 12 figures; v2-v4: fewer typos, more refs and clarification

Bootstrap bounds on D0-brane quantum mechanics

We derive simple bootstrap bounds on correlation functions of the BFSS matrix theory/D0-brane quantum mechanics. The result strengthens and extends Polchinski's virial theorem bound to finite energies and gives the first non-trivial bound on $\langle{\text{Tr}\, X^2\rangle}$. Despite their simplicity, the bounds hint at some features of the dual black hole geometry. Our best lower bounds are already a factor of $\sim 2$ from existing Monte Carlo results.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures + Appendices, v2: fixed typos and factors of 2's, new bound presented in Figure 3, added Appendix