No Arabic abstract
Quantum critical points in quasiperiodic magnets can realize new universality classes, with critical properties distinct from those of clean or disordered systems. Here, we study quantum phase transitions separating ferromagnetic and paramagnetic phases in the quasiperiodic $q$-state Potts model in $2+1d$. Using a controlled real-space renormalization group approach, we find that the critical behavior is largely independent of $q$, and is controlled by an infinite-quasiperiodicity fixed point. The correlation length exponent is found to be $ u=1$, saturating a modified version of the Harris-Luck criterion.
Quasiperiodic systems are aperiodic but deterministic, so their critical behavior differs from that of clean systems as well as disordered ones. Quasiperiodic criticality was previously understood only in the special limit where the couplings follow discrete quasiperiodic sequences. Here we consider generic quasiperiodic modulations; we find, remarkably, that for a wide class of spin chains, generic quasiperiodic modulations flow to discrete sequences under a real-space renormalization group transformation. These discrete sequences are therefore fixed points of a emph{functional} renormalization group. This observation allows for an asymptotically exact treatment of the critical points. We use this approach to analyze the quasiperiodic Heisenberg, Ising, and Potts spin chains, as well as a phenomenological model for the quasiperiodic many-body localization transition.
We study the infinite-temperature properties of an infinite sequence of random quantum spin chains using a real-space renormalization group approach, and demonstrate that they exhibit non-ergodic behavior at strong disorder. The analysis is conveniently implemented in terms of SU(2)$_k$ anyon chains that include the Ising and Potts chains as notable examples. Highly excited eigenstates of these systems exhibit properties usually associated with quantum critical ground states, leading us to dub them quantum critical glasses. We argue that random-bond Heisenberg chains self-thermalize and that the excited-state entanglement crosses over from volume-law to logarithmic scaling at a length scale that diverges in the Heisenberg limit $krightarrowinfty$. The excited state fixed points are generically distinct from their ground state counterparts, and represent novel non-equilibrium critical phases of matter.
We theoretically study transport properties in one-dimensional interacting quasiperiodic systems at infinite temperature. We compare and contrast the dynamical transport properties across the many-body localization (MBL) transition in quasiperiodic and random models. Using exact diagonalization we compute the optical conductivity $sigma(omega)$ and the return probability $R(tau)$ and study their average low-frequency and long-time power-law behavior, respectively. We show that the low-energy transport dynamics is markedly distinct in both the thermal and MBL phases in quasiperiodic and random models and find that the diffusive and MBL regimes of the quasiperiodic model are more robust than those in the random system. Using the distribution of the DC conductivity, we quantify the contribution of sample-to-sample and state-to-state fluctuations of $sigma(omega)$ across the MBL transition. We find that the activated dynamical scaling ansatz works poorly in the quasiperiodic model but holds in the random model with an estimated activation exponent $psiapprox 0.9$. We argue that near the MBL transition in quasiperiodic systems, critical eigenstates give rise to a subdiffusive crossover regime on finite-size systems.
We explore the stability of three-dimensional Weyl and Dirac semimetals subject to quasiperiodic potentials. We present numerical evidence that the semimetal is stable for weak quasiperiodic potentials, despite being unstable for weak random potentials. As the quasiperiodic potential strength increases, the semimetal transitions to a metal, then to an inverted semimetal, and then finally to a metal again. The semimetal and metal are distinguished by the density of states at the Weyl point, as well as by level statistics, transport, and the momentum-space structure of eigenstates near the Weyl point. The critical properties of the transitions in quasiperiodic systems differ from those in random systems: we do not find a clear critical scaling regime in energy; instead, at the quasiperiodic transitions, the density of states appears to jump abruptly (and discontinuously to within our resolution).
In this work we report on a loss of ergodicity in a simple hopping model, motivated by the Hubbard Hamiltonian, of a many body quantum system at zero temperature, quantized in Euclidean time. We show that this quantum system may lose ergodicity at high densities on a large lattice, as a result of both Pauli exclusion and strong Coulomb repulsion. In particular we study particle hopping susceptibilities and the tendency towards particle localization. It is found that the appearance and existence of quantum phase transitions in this model, in the case of high density and strong Coulomb repulsion, depends on the starting configuration of particle trajectories in the numerical simulation. We argue that this breakdown may be the Euclidean time version of a breakdown of the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis in real time quantization.