No Arabic abstract
We explore a variational Ansatz for lattice quantum systems -- named long-range entangled-plaquette state -- in which pairs of clusters of adjacent lattice sites are correlated at any distance. The explicit scale-free structure of correlations built in this wave function makes it fit to reproduce critical states with long-range entanglement. The use of complex weights in the Ansatz allows for an efficient optimization of non positive definite states in a fully variational fashion, namely without any additional bias (arising emph{e.g.} from pre-imposed sign structures) beyond that imposed by the parametrization of the state coefficients. These two features render the Ansatz particularly appropriate for the study of quantum phase transitions in frustrated systems. Moreover, the Ansatz can be systematically improved by increasing the long range plaquette size, as well as by the inclusion of even larger adjacent-site plaquettes. We validate our Ansatz in the case of the XX and Heisenberg chain, and further apply it to the case of a simple, yet paradigmatic model of frustration, namely the $J_1-J_2$ antiferromagnetic Heisenberg chain. For this model we provide clear evidence that our trial wave function faithfully describes both the short-range physics (particularly in terms of ground state energy) and the long-range one expressed by the Luttinger exponent, and the central charge of the related conformal field theory, which govern the decay of correlations and the scaling of the entanglement entropy, respectively. Finally we successfully reproduce the incommensurate correlations developing in the system at strong frustration, as a result of the flexible representation of sign (phase) structures via complex weights.
Groundstate magnetism of the one-band Hubbard model on the frustrated square lattice where both nearest-neighbour $t_1$ and next-nearest-neighbour $t_2$ hoppings are considered at half-filling are revisited within mean field approximation. Two new magnetic phases are detected at intermediate strength of Hubbard $U$ and relative strong frustration of $t_2/t_1$, named double-stripe and plaquette antiferromagnetic states, both of which are metallic and stable even at finite temperature and electron doping. The nature of the phase transitions between different phases and the properties of the two new states are analyzed in detail. Our results of various magnetic states emerging from geometric frustration in the minimal model suggests that distinct antiferromagnetism observed experimentally in the parent states of two high-T$_c$ superconducting families, i.e., cuprates and iron-based superconductors, may be understood from a unified microscopic origin, irrespective of orbital degrees of freedom, or hoppings further than next-nearest neighbour, etc.
We study a family of frustrated anti-ferromagnetic spin-$S$ systems with a fully dimerized ground state. This state can be exactly obtained without the need to include any additional three-body interaction in the model. The simplest members of the family can be used as a building block to generate more complex geometries like spin tubes with a fully dimerized ground state. After present some numerical results about the phase diagram of these systems, we show that the ground state is robust against the inclusion of weak disorder in the couplings as well as several kinds of perturbations, allowing to study some other interesting models as a perturbative expansion of the exact one. A discussion on how to determine the dimerization region in terms of quantum information estimators is also presented. Finally, we explore the relation of these results with a the case of the a 4-leg spin tube which recently was proposed as the model for the description of the compound Cu$_2$Cl$_4$D$_8$C$_4$SO$_2$, delimiting the region of the parameter space where this model presents dimerization in its ground state.
We show that spatial resolved dissipation can act on Ising lattices molding the universality class of their critical points. We consider non-local spin losses with a Liouvillian gap closing at small momenta as $propto q^alpha$, with $alpha$ a positive tunable exponent, directly related to the power-law decay of the spatial profile of losses at long distances. The associated quantum noise spectrum is gapless in the infrared and it yields a class of soft modes asymptotically decoupled from dissipation at small momenta. These modes are responsible for the emergence of a critical scaling regime which can be regarded as the non-unitary analogue of the universality class of long-range interacting Ising models. In particular, for $0<alpha<1$ we find a non-equilibrium critical point ruled by a dynamical field theory ascribable to a Langevin model with coexisting inertial ($proptoomega^2$) and frictional ($proptoomega$) kinetic coefficients, and driven by a gapless Markovian noise with variance $propto q^alpha$ at small momenta. This effective field theory is beyond the Halperin-Hohenberg description of dynamical criticality, and its critical exponents differ from their unitary long-range counterparts. Furthermore, by employing a one-loop improved RG calculation, we estimate the conditions for observability of this scaling regime before incoherent local emission intrudes in the spin sample, dragging the system into a thermal fixed point. We also explore other instances of criticality which emerge for $alpha>1$ or adding long-range spin interactions. Our work lays out perspectives for a revision of universality in driven-open systems by employing dark states supported by non-local dissipation.
Slow variations (quenches) of the magnetic field across the paramagnetic-ferromagnetic phase transition of spin systems produce heat. In systems with short-range interactions the heat exhibits universal power-law scaling as a function of the quench rate, known as Kibble-Zurek scaling. In this work we analyze slow quenches of the magnetic field in the Lipkin-Meshkov-Glick (LMG) model, which describes fully connected quantum spins. We analytically determine the quantum contribution to the residual heat as a function of the quench rate $delta$ by means of a Holstein-Primakoff expansion about the mean-field value. Unlike in the case of short-range interactions, scaling laws in the LMG model are only found for a ramp ending at the critical point. If instead the ramp is symmetric, as in the typical Kibble-Zurek scenario, after crossing the critical point the system tends to reabsorb the defects formed during the first part of the ramp: the number of excitations exhibits a crossover behavior as a function of $delta$ and tends to a constant in the thermodynamic limit. Previous, and seemingly contradictory, theoretical studies are identified as specific limits of this dynamics. Our results can be tested on several experimental platforms, including quantum gases and trapped ions.
We analyze the properties of low-energy bound states in the transverse-field Ising model and in the XXZ model on the square lattice. To this end, we develop an optimized implementation of perturbative continuous unitary transformations. The Ising model is studied in the small-field limit which is found to be a special case of the toric code model in a magnetic field. To analyze the XXZ model, we perform a perturbative expansion about the Ising limit in order to discuss the fate of the elementary magnon excitations when approaching the Heisenberg point.