Hep-Th, or high-energy theoretical physics, explores the fundamental building blocks of our universe and the forces that govern them. Researchers in this field use complex mathematics to understand everything from subatomic particles to the behavior of black holes, often pushing the boundaries of what we know about space and time.

At Gist.Science, we monitor the arXiv repository to ensure you stay ahead of the curve in this rapidly evolving discipline. For every new preprint uploaded to arXiv under this category, our team generates both accessible plain-language overviews and detailed technical summaries, making cutting-edge research understandable regardless of your background.

Below are the latest papers in high-energy theoretical physics, curated to help you navigate the most significant recent discoveries.

Classical and quantum evolution of inflationary fluctuations

This paper demonstrates that even when classical and quantum dynamics are aligned at a specific moment during inflation, their correlation functions diverge exponentially by the end of inflation due to interactions, a difference illustrated through the bispectrum and tensor power spectrum that also clarifies the absence of poles in the scalar bispectrum from finite-time classical evolution.

Guillermo Ballesteros, Jesús Gambín Egea, Alejandro Pérez Rodríguez2026-04-21⚛️ hep-th

Global Gauge Symmetries and Spatial Asymptotic Boundary Conditions in Yang-Mills theory

This paper rigorously derives the physical gauge group of Yang-Mills theory as the quotient of boundary-preserving gauge transformations by Gauss law transformations by analyzing the structure of the instantaneous state space, and extends this analysis to demonstrate how boundary conditions and the resulting gauge group differ between the unbroken and broken phases of Yang-Mills-Higgs theory.

Silvester Borsboom, Hessel Posthuma2026-04-20🔢 math-ph

Classical constant electric fields and the Schwinger effect in de Sitter

This paper demonstrates that sustaining a constant electric field in de Sitter space necessitates a tachyonic photon mass, which, when incorporated into an on-shell renormalization scheme, resolves previous infrared divergences by yielding a finite, positive Schwinger current for both charged fermions and scalars.

Mar Bastero-Gil, Paulo B. Ferraz, António Torres Manso, Lorenzo Ubaldi, Roberto Vega-Morales2026-04-20⚛️ hep-th

Three-Loop Gauge Beta Functions in Supersymmetric Theories with Exponential Higher Covariant Derivative Regularization

This paper explicitly calculates the regulator-dependent parameters for three-loop gauge β\beta-functions in N=1\mathcal{N}=1 supersymmetric theories using exponential higher covariant derivative regularization, providing closed-form expressions and demonstrating how finite coupling redefinitions restore the Novikov–Shifman–Vainshtein–Zakharov relation.

Swapnil kumar Singh2026-04-20⚛️ hep-th