No Arabic abstract
We study the quantum phase transition from a super solid phase to a solid phase of rho = 1/2 for the extended Bose-Hubbard model on the honeycomb lattice using first principles Monte Carlo calculations. The motivation of our study is to quantitatively understand the impact of theoretical input, in particular the dynamical critical exponent z, in calculating the critical exponent nu. Hence we have carried out four sets of simulations with beta = 2N^{1/2}, beta = 8N^{1/2}, beta = N/2, and beta = N/4, respectively. Here beta is the inverse temperature and N is the numbers of lattice sites used in the simulations. By applying data collapse to the observable superfluid density rho_{s2} in the second spatial direction, we confirm that the transition is indeed governed by the superfluid-insulator universality class. However we find it is subtle to determine the precise location of the critical point. For example, while the critical chemical potential (mu/V)_c occurs at (mu/V)_c = 2.3239(3) for the data obtained using beta = 2N^{1/2}, the (mu/V)_c determined from the data simulated with beta = N/2 is found to be (mu/V)_c = 2.3186(2). Further, while a good data collapse for rho_{s2}N can be obtained with the data determined using beta = N/4 in the simulations, a reasonable quality of data collapse for the same observable calculated from another set of simulations with beta = 8N^{1/2} can hardly be reached. Surprisingly, assuming z for this phase transition is determined to be 2 first in a Monte Carlo calculation, then a high quality data collapse for rho_{s2}N can be achieved for (mu/V)_c ~ 2.3184 and nu ~ 0.7 using the data obtained with beta = 8N^{1/2}. Our results imply that one might need to reconsider the established phase diagrams of some models if the accurate location of the critical point is crucial in obtaining a conclusion.
Dark states are stationary states of a dissipative, Lindblad-type time evolution with zero von Neumann entropy, therefore representing examples of pure, steady quantum states. Non-equilibrium dynamics featuring a dark state recently gained a lot of attraction since their implementation in the context of driven-open quantum systems represents a viable possibility to engineer unique, pure states. In this work, we analyze a driven many-body spin system, which undergoes a transition from a dark steady state to a mixed steady state as a function of the driving strength. This transition connects a zero entropy (dark) state with a finite entropy (mixed) state and thus goes beyond the realm of equilibrium statistical mechanics and becomes of genuine nonequilibrium character. We analyze the relevant long wavelength fluctuations driving this transition in a regime where the system performs a discontinuous jump from a dark to a mixed state by means of the renormalization group. This allows us to approach the nonequilibrium dark state transition and identify similarities and clear differences to common, equilibrium phase transitions, and to establish the phenomenology for a first order dark state phase transition.
A Monte Carlo simulation study of the critical and off-critical behavior of the Baxter-Wu model, which belongs to the universality class of the 4-state Potts model, was performed. We estimate the critical temperature window using known analytical results for the specific heat and magnetization. This helps us to extract reliable values of universal combinations of critical amplitudes with reasonable accuracy. Comparisons with approximate analytical predictions and other numerical results are discussed.
When a second-order phase transition is crossed at fine rate, the evolution of the system stops being adiabatic as a result of the critical slowing down in the neighborhood of the critical point. In systems with a topologically nontrivial vacuum manifold, disparate local choices of the ground state lead to the formation of topological defects. The universality class of the transition imprints a signature on the resulting density of topological defects: It obeys a power law in the quench rate, with an exponent dictated by a combination of the critical exponents of the transition. In inhomogeneous systems the situation is more complicated, as the spontaneous symmetry breaking competes with bias caused by the influence of the nearby regions that already chose the new vacuum. As a result, the choice of the broken symmetry vacuum may be inherited from the neighboring regions that have already entered the new phase. This competition between the inherited and spontaneous symmetry breaking enhances the role of causality, as the defect formation is restricted to a fraction of the system where the front velocity surpasses the relevant sound velocity and phase transition remains effectively homogeneous. As a consequence, the overall number of topological defects can be substantially suppressed. When the fraction of the system is small, the resulting total number of defects is still given by a power law related to the universality class of the transition, but exhibits a more pronounced dependence on the quench rate. This enhanced dependence complicates the analysis but may also facilitate experimental test of defect formation theories.
We study the robustness of a generalized Kitaevs toric code with Z_N degrees of freedom in the presence of local perturbations. For N=2, this model reduces to the conventional toric code in a uniform magnetic field. A quantitative analysis is performed for the perturbed Z_3 toric code by applying a combination of high-order series expansions and variational techniques. We provide strong evidences for first- and second-order phase transitions between topologically-ordered and polarized phases. Most interestingly, our results also indicate the existence of topological multi-critical points in the phase diagram.
The problem of finding a microscopic theory of phase transitions across a critical point is a central unsolved problem in theoretical physics. We find a general solution to that problem and present it here for the cases of Bose-Einstein condensation in an interacting gas and ferromagnetism in a lattice of spins, interacting via a Heisenberg or Ising Hamiltonian. For Bose-Einstein condensation, we present the exact, valid for the entire critical region, equations for the Green functions and order parameter, that is a critical-region extension of the Beliaev-Popov and Gross-Pitaevskii equations. For the magnetic phase transition, we find an exact theory in terms of constrained bosons in a lattice and obtain similar equations for the Green functions and order parameter. In particular, we outline an exact solution for the three-dimensional Ising model.