No Arabic abstract
The Hubbard model on a two-leg ladder structure has been studied by a combination of series expansions at T=0 and the density-matrix renormalization group. We report results for the ground state energy $E_0$ and spin-gap $Delta_s$ at half-filling, as well as dispersion curves for one and two-hole excitations. For small $U$ both $E_0$ and $Delta_s$ show a dramatic drop near $t/t_{perp}sim 0.5$, which becomes more gradual for larger $U$. This represents a crossover from a band insulator phase to a strongly correlated spin liquid. The lowest-lying two-hole state rapidly becomes strongly bound as $t/t_{perp}$ increases, indicating the possibility that phase separation may occur. The various features are collected in a phase diagram for the model.
We applied the Recurrent Variational Approach to the two-leg Hubbard ladder. At half-filling, our variational Ansatz was a generalization of the resonating valence bond state. At finite doping, hole pairs were allowed to move in the resonating valence bond background. The results obtained by the Recurrent Variational Approach were compared with results from Density Matrix Renormalization Group.
Optical measurements in doped Mott insulators have discovered the emergence of spectral weights at mid-infrared (MIR) upon chemical doping and photodoping. MIR weights may have a relation to string-type excitation of spins, which is induced by a doped hole generating misarranged spins with respect to their sublattice. There are two types of string effects: one is an $S^z$ string that is repairable by quantum spin flips and the other is a phase string irreparable by the spin flips. We investigate the effect of $S^{z}$ and phase strings on MIR weights. Calculating the optical conductivity of the single-hole Hubbard model in the strong-coupling regime and the $t$-$J$ model on two-leg ladders by using time-dependent Lanczos and density-matrix renormalization group, we find that phase strings make a crucial effect on the emergence of MIR weights as compared with $S^{z}$ strings. Our findings indicate that a mutual Chern-Simons gauge field acting between spin and charge degrees of freedom, which is the origin of phase strings, is significant for obtaining MIR weights. Conversely, if we remove this gauge field, no phase is picked up by a doped hole. As a result, a spin-polaron accompanied by a local spin distortion emerges and a quasiparticle with a cosine-like energy dispersion is formed in single-particle spectral function. Furthermore, we suggest a Floquet engineering to examine the phase-string effect in cold atoms.
New phases with broken discrete Ising symmetries are uncovered in quantum materials with strong electronic correlations. The two-leg ladder cuprate textbf{$Sr_{14-x}Ca_{x}Cu_{24}O_{41}$} hosts a very rich phase diagram where, upon hole doping, the system exhibits a spin liquid state ending to an intriguing ordered magnetic state at larger $Ca$ content. Using polarized neutron diffraction, we report here the existence of short range magnetism in this material for two $Ca$ contents, whose origin cannot be ascribed to Cu spins. This magnetism develops exclusively within the two-leg ladders with a diffraction pattern at forbidden Bragg scattering which is the hallmark of loop current-like magnetism breaking both time-reversal and parity symmetries. Our discovery shows local discrete symmetry breaking in a one dimensional spin liquid system as theoretically predicted. It further suggests that a loop current-like phase could trigger the long range magnetic order reported at larger doping in two-leg ladder cuprates.
We investigate the ground state properties of ultracold atoms trapped in a two-leg ladder potential in the presence of an artificial magnetic field in a staggered configuration. We focus on the strongly interacting regime and use the Landau theory of phase transitions and a mean field Gutzwiller variational method to identify the stable superfluid phases and their boundaries with the Mott-insulator regime as a function of magnetic flux. In addition, we calculate the local and chiral currents of these superfluid phases, which show a staggered vortex anti-vortex configuration. The analytical results are confirmed by numerical simulations using a cluster mean-field theory approach.
Topological order, the hallmark of fractional quantum Hall states, is primarily defined in terms of ground-state degeneracy on higher-genus manifolds, e.g. the torus. We investigate analytically and numerically the smooth crossover between this topological regime and the Tao-Thouless thin torus quasi-1D limit. Using the wire-construction approach, we analyze an emergent charge density wave (CDW) signifying the break-down of topological order, and relate its phase shifts to Wilson loop operators. The CDW amplitude decreases exponentially with the torus circumference once it exceeds the transverse correlation length controllable by the inter-wire coupling. By means of numerical simulations based on the matrix product states (MPS) formalism, we explore the extreme quasi-1D limit in a two-leg flux ladder and present a simple recipe for probing fractional charge excitations in the $ u=1/2$ Laughlin-like state of hard-core bosons. We discuss the possibility of realizing this construction in cold-atom experiments. We also address the implications of our findings to the possibility of producing non-Abelian zero modes. As known from rigorous no-go theorems, topological protection for exotic zero modes such as parafermions cannot exist in 1D fermionic systems and the associated degeneracy cannot be robust. Our theory of the 1D-2D crossover allows to calculate the splitting of the degeneracy, which vanishes exponentially with the number of wires, similarly to the CDW amplitude.