No Arabic abstract
The zig-zag symmetry transition is a phase transition in 1D quantum wires, in which a Wigner lattice of electrons transitions to two staggered lattices. Previous studies model this transition as a Luttinger liquid coupled to a Majorana fermion. The model exhibits interesting RG flows, involving quenching of velocities in subsectors of the theory. We suggest an extension of the model which replaces the Majorana fermion by a more general CFT; this includes an experimentally realizable case with two Majorana fermions. We analyse the RG flow both in field theory and using AdS/CFT techniques in the large central charge limit of the CFT. The model has a rich phase structure with new qualitative features, already in the two Majorana fermion case. The AdS/CFT calculation involves considering back reaction in space-time to capture subleading effects.
A large number of symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phases have been hypothesized for strongly interacting spin-1/2 systems in one dimension. Realizing these SPT phases, however, often demands fine-tunings hard to reach experimentally. And the lack of analytical solutions hinders the understanding of their many-body wave functions. Here we show that two kinds of SPT phases naturally arise for ultracold polar molecules confined in a zigzag optical lattice. This system, motivated by recent experiments, is described by a spin model whose exchange couplings can be tuned by an external field to reach parameter regions not studied before for spin chains or ladders. Within the enlarged parameter space, we find the ground state wave function can be obtained exactly along a line and at a special point, for these two phases respectively. These exact solutions provide a clear physical picture for the SPT phases and their edge excitations. We further obtain the phase diagram by using infinite time-evolving block decimation, and discuss the phase transitions between the two SPT phases and their experimental signatures.
When can $t$ terminal pairs in an $m times n$ grid be connected by $t$ vertex-disjoint paths that cover all vertices of the grid? We prove that this problem is NP-complete. Our hardness result can be compared to two previous NP-hardness proofs: Lynchs 1975 proof without the ``cover all vertices constraint, and Kotsuma and Takenagas 2010 proof when the paths are restricted to have the fewest possible corners within their homotopy class. The latter restriction is a common form of the famous Nikoli puzzle emph{Numberlink}; our problem is another common form of Numberlink, sometimes called emph{Zig-Zag Numberlink} and popularized by the smartphone app emph{Flow Free}.
We wish to renew the discussion over recent combinatorial structures that are 3-uniform hypergraph expanders, viewing them in a more general perspective, shedding light on a previously unknown relation to the zig-zag product. We do so by introducing a new structure called triplet structure, that maintains the same local environment around each vertex. The structure is expected to yield, in some cases, a bounded family of hypergraph expanders whose 2-dimensional random walk converges. We have applied the results obtained here to several known constructions, obtaining a better expansion rate than previously known. Namely, we did so in the case of Conlons construction and the $S=[1,1,0]$ construction by Chapman, Linal and Peled.
By means of electron spin resonance investigations we revealed the crucial role of the interchain coupling in the spin dynamics of the spin-1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnetic (AF) chain material copper-pyrazine-dinitrate, Cu(C$_4$H$_4$N$_2$)(NO$_3$)$_2$. We found that the dominating interchain interaction is of a zig-zag type. This interaction gives rise to geometrical frustration effects and strongly influences the character of AF ordering. Combining our experimental findings with the results of a quasiclassical approach we argue that at low temperatures the system orders in an incommensurate spiral state.
The phase diagram of a frustrated spin-$S$ zig-zag ladder is studied through different numerical and analytical methods. We show that for arbitrary $S$, there is a family of Hamiltonians for which a fully-dimerized state is an exact ground state, being the Majumdar-Ghosh point a particular member of the family. We show that the system presents a transition between a dimerized phase to a Neel-like phase for $S=1/2$, and spiral phases can appear for large $S$. The phase diagram is characterized by means of a generalization of the usual Mean Field Approximation (MFA). The novelty in the present implementation is to consider the strongest coupled sites as the unit cell. The gap and the excitation spectrum is analyzed through the Random Phase Approximation (RPA). Also, a perturbative treatment to obtain the critical points is discussed. Comparisons of the results with numerical methods like DMRG are also presented.