No Arabic abstract
We study a one-dimensional quasiperiodic system described by the off-diagonal Aubry-Andr{e} model and investigate its phase diagram by using the symmetry and the multifractal analysis. It was shown in a recent work ({it Phys. Rev. B} {bf 93}, 205441 (2016)) that its phase diagram was divided into three regions, dubbed the extended, the topologically-nontrivial localized and the topologically-trivial localized phases, respectively. Out of our expectation, we find an additional region of the extended phase which can be mapped into the original one by a symmetry transformation. More unexpectedly, in both localized phases, most of the eigenfunctions are neither localized nor extended. Instead, they display critical features, that is, the minimum of the singularity spectrum is in a range $0<gamma_{min}<1$ instead of $0$ for the localized state or $1$ for the extended state. Thus, a mixed phase is found with a mixture of localized and critical eigenfunctions.
The Aubry-Andre model is a one-dimensional lattice model for quasicrystals with localized and delocalized phases. At the localization transition point, the system displays fractal spectrum, which relates to the Hofstadter butterfly. In this work, we uncover the exact self-similarity structures in the energy spectrum. We separate the fractal structures into two parts: the fractal filling positions of gaps and the scaling of gap sizes. We show that the fractal fillings emerge for a certain type of incommensurate periodicity regardless of potential strength. However, the power-law scaling of gap sizes is characteristic for general incommensurability at the critical point of the model.
We investigate the localization properties of a spin chain with an antiferromagnetic nearest-neighbour coupling, subject to an external quasiperiodic on-site magnetic field. The quasiperiodic modulation interpolates between two paradigmatic models, namely the Aubry-Andre and the Fibonacci models. We find that stronger many-body interactions extend the ergodic phase in the former, whereas they shrink it in the latter. Furthermore, the many-body localization transition points at the two limits of the interpolation appear to be continuously connected along the deformation. As a result, the position of the many-body localization transition depends on the interaction strength for an intermediate degree of deformation of the quasiperiodic modulation. Moreover, in the region of parameter space where the single-particle spectrum contains both localized and extended states, many-body interactions induce an anomalous effect: weak interactions localize the system, whereas stronger interactions enhance ergodicity. We map the models localization phase diagram using the decay of the quenched spin imbalance in relatively long chains. This is accomplished employing a time-dependent variational approach applied to a matrix product state decomposition of the many-body state. Our model serves as a rich playground for testing many-body localization under tunable potentials.
Off-diagonal Aubry-Andr{e} (AA) model has recently attracted a great deal of attention as they provide condensed matter realization of topological phases. We numerically study a generalized off-diagonal AA model with p-wave superfluid pairing in the presence of both commensurate and incommensurate hopping modulations. The phase diagram as functions of the modulation strength of incommensurate hopping and the strength of the p-wave pairing is obtained by using the multifractal analysis. We show that with the appearance of the p-wave pairing, the system exhibits mobility-edge phases and critical phases with various number of topologically protected zero-energy modes. Predicted topological nature of these exotic phases can be realized in a cold atomic system of incommensurate bichromatic optical lattice with induced p-wave superfluid pairing by using a Raman laser in proximity to a molecular Bose-Einstein condensation.
We study a class of off-diagonal quasiperiodic hopping models described by one-dimensional Su-Schrieffer-Heeger chain with quasiperiodic modulations. We unveil a general dual-mapping relation in parameter space of the dimerization strength $lambda$ and the quasiperiodic modulation strength $V$, regardless of the specific details of the quasiperiodic modulation. Moreover, we demonstrated semi-analytically and numerically that under the specific quasiperiodic modulation, quantum criticality can emerge and persist in a wide parameter space. These unusual properties provides a distinctive paradigm compared with the diagonal quasiperiodic systems.
A mobility edge (ME) in energy separating extended from localized states is a central concept in understanding various fundamental phenomena like the metal-insulator transition in disordered systems. In one-dimensional quasiperiodic systems, there exist a few models with exact MEs, and these models are beneficial to provide exact understanding of ME physics. Here we investigate two widely studied models including exact MEs, one with an exponential hopping and one with a special form of incommensurate on-site potential. We analytically prove that the two models are mutually dual, and further give the numerical verification by calculating the inverse participation ratio and Husimi function. The exact MEs of the two models are also obtained by calculating the localization lengths and using the duality relations. Our result may provide insight into realizing and observing exact MEs in both theory and experiment.