No Arabic abstract
We investigate the low-temperature behavior of two-dimensional (2D) RP$^{N-1}$ models, characterized by a global O($N$) symmetry and a local ${mathbb Z}_2$ symmetry. For $N=3$ we perform large-scale simulations of four different 2D lattice models: two standard lattice models and two different constrained models. We also consider a constrained mixed O(3)-RP$^2$ model for values of the parameters such that vector correlations are always disordered. We find that all these models show the same finite-size scaling (FSS) behavior, and therefore belong to the same universality class. However, these FSS curves differ from those computed in the 2D O(3) $sigma$ model, suggesting the existence of a distinct 2D RP$^2$ universality class. We also performed simulations for $N=4$, and the corresponding FSS results also support the existence of an RP$^3$ universality class, different from the O(4) one.
We investigate the critical behavior of three-dimensional ferromagnetic CP(N-1) models, which are characterized by a global U(N) and a local U(1) symmetry. We perform numerical simulations of a lattice model for N=2, 3, and 4. For N=2 we find a critical transition in the Heisenberg O(3) universality class, while for N=3 and 4 the system undergoes a first-order transition. For N=3 the transition is very weak and a clear signature of its discontinuous nature is only observed for sizes L>50. We also determine the critical behavior for a large class of lattice Hamiltonians in the large-N limit. The results confirm the existence of a stable large-N CP(N-1) fixed point. However, this evidence contradicts the standard picture obtained in the Landau-Ginzburg-Wilson (LGW) framework using a gauge-invariant order parameter: the presence of a cubic term in the effective LGW field theory for any N>2 would usually be taken as an indication that these models generically undergo first-order transitions.
We calculate exponential growth constants $phi$ and $sigma$ describing the asymptotic behavior of spanning forests and connected spanning subgraphs on strip graphs, with arbitrarily great length, of several two-dimensional lattices, including square, triangular, honeycomb, and certain heteropolygonal Archimedean lattices. By studying the limiting values as the strip widths get large, we infer lower and upper bounds on these exponential growth constants for the respective infinite lattices. Since our lower and upper bounds are quite close to each other, we can infer very accurate approximate values for these exponential growth constants, with fractional uncertainties ranging from $O(10^{-4})$ to $O(10^{-2})$. We show that $phi$ and $sigma$, are monotonically increasing functions of vertex degree for these lattices.
We address the interplay between global and local gauge nonabelian symmetries in lattice gauge theories with multicomponent scalar fields. We consider two-dimensional lattice scalar nonabelian gauge theories with a local SO(Nc) (Nc >= 3) and a global O(Nf) invariance, obtained by partially gauging a maximally O(Nf x Nc)-symmetric multicomponent scalar model. Correspondingly, the scalar fields belong to the coset S(Nf Nc-1)/SO(Nc), where S(N) is the N-dimensional sphere. In agreement with the Mermin-Wagner theorem, these lattice SO(Nc) gauge models with Nf >= 3 do not have finite-temperature transitions related to the breaking of the global nonabelian O(Nf) symmetry. However, in the zero-temperature limit they show a critical behavior characterized by a correlation length that increases exponentially with the inverse temperature, similarly to nonlinear O(N) sigma models. Their universal features are investigated by numerical finite-size scaling methods. The results show that the asymptotic low-temperature behavior belongs to the universality class of the two-dimensional RP(Nf-1) model.
We consider three-dimensional higher-charge multicomponent lattice Abelian-Higgs (AH) models, in which a compact U(1) gauge field is coupled to an N-component complex scalar field with integer charge q, so that they have local U(1) and global SU(N) symmetries. We discuss the dependence of the phase diagram, and the nature of the phase transitions, on the charge q of the scalar field and the number N>1 of components. We argue that the phase diagram of higher-charge models presents three different phases, related to the condensation of gauge-invariant bilinear scalar fields breaking the global SU(N) symmetry, and to the confinement/deconfinement of external charge-one particles. The transition lines separating the different phases show different features, which also depend on the number N of components. Therefore, the phase diagram of higher-charge models substantially differs from that of unit-charge models, which undergo only transitions driven by the breaking of the global SU(N) symmetry, while the gauge correlations do not play any relevant role. We support the conjectured scenario with numerical results, based on finite-size scaling analyses of Monte Carlo simuations for doubly-charged unit-length scalar fields with small and large number of components, i.e. N=2 and N=25.
We study the phase diagram and critical properties of quantum Ising chains with long-range ferromagnetic interactions decaying in a power-law fashion with exponent $alpha$, in regimes of direct interest for current trapped ion experiments. Using large-scale path integral Monte Carlo simulations, we investigate both the ground-state and the nonzero-temperature regimes. We identify the phase boundary of the ferromagnetic phase and obtain accurate estimates for the ferromagnetic-paramagnetic transition temperatures. We further determine the critical exponents of the respective transitions. Our results are in agreement with existing predictions for interaction exponents $alpha > 1$ up to small deviations in some critical exponents. We also address the elusive regime $alpha < 1$, where we find that the universality class of both the ground-state and nonzero-temperature transition is consistent with the mean-field limit at $alpha = 0$. Our work not only contributes to the understanding of the equilibrium properties of long-range interacting quantum Ising models, but can also be important for addressing fundamental dynamical aspects, such as issues concerning the open question of thermalization in such models.