We present a general scheme for the study of frustration in quantum systems. We introduce a universal measure of frustration for arbitrary quantum systems and we relate it to a class of entanglement monotones via an exact inequality. If all the (pure) ground states of a given Hamiltonian saturate the inequality, then the system is said to be inequality saturating. We introduce sufficient conditions for a quantum spin system to be inequality saturating and confirm them with extensive numerical tests. These conditions provide a generalization to the quantum domain of the Toulouse criteria for classical frustration-free systems. The models satisfying these conditions can be reasonably identified as geometrically unfrustrated and subject to frustration of purely quantum origin. Our results therefore establish a unified framework for studying the intertwining of geometric and quantum contributions to frustration.
We derive an exact lower bound to a universal measure of frustration in degenerate ground states of quantum many-body systems. The bound results in the sum of two contributions: entanglement and classical correlations arising from local measurements. We show that average frustration properties are completely determined by the behavior of the maximally mixed ground state. We identify sufficient conditions for a quantum spin system to saturate the bound, and for models with twofold degeneracy we prove that average and local frustration coincide.
We present a method using Feynman-like diagrams to calculate the statistical properties of random many-body potentials. This method provides a promising alternative to existing techniques typically applied to this class of problems, such as the method of supersymmetry and the eigenvector expansion technique pioneered in [1]. We use it here to calculate the fourth, sixth and eighth moments of the average level density for systems with $m$ bosons or fermions that interact through a random $k$-body Hermitian potential ($k le m$); the ensemble of such potentials with a Gaussian weight is known as the embedded Gaussian Unitary Ensemble (eGUE) [2]. Our results apply in the limit where the number $l$ of available single-particle states is taken to infinity. A key advantage of the method is that it provides an efficient way to identify only those expressions which will stay relevant in this limit. It also provides a general argument for why these terms have to be the same for bosons and fermions. The moments are obtained as sums over ratios of binomial expressions, with a transition from moments associated to a semi-circular level density for $m < 2k$ to Gaussian moments in the dilute limit $k ll m ll l$. Regarding the form of this transition, we see that as $m$ is increased, more and more diagrams become relevant, with new contributions starting from each of the points $m = 2k, 3k, ldots, nk$ for the $2n$-th moment.
Frustration of classical many-body systems can be used to distinguish ferromagnetic interactions from anti-ferromagnetic ones via the Toulouse conditions. A quantum version of the Toulouse conditions provides a similar classification based on the local ground states. We compute the global ground states for a family of models with Heisenberg-like interactions and analyse their behaviour with respect to frustration, entanglement and degeneracy. For that we develop analytical and numerical analysing tools capable to quantify the interplay between those three quantities. We find that the quantum Toulouse conditions provide a proper classification, however, refinements can be found. Our results show how the different local ground states affect the interplay and pave the way for further generalisation and possible applications to other quantum many-body systems.
We derive a version of the adiabatic theorem that is especially suited for applications in adiabatic quantum computation, where it is reasonable to assume that the adiabatic interpolation between the initial and final Hamiltonians is controllable. Assuming that the Hamiltonian is analytic in a finite strip around the real time axis, that some number of its time-derivatives vanish at the initial and final times, and that the target adiabatic eigenstate is non-degenerate and separated by a gap from the rest of the spectrum, we show that one can obtain an error between the final adiabatic eigenstate and the actual time-evolved state which is exponentially small in the evolution time, where this time itself scales as the square of the norm of the time-derivative of the Hamiltonian, divided by the cube of the minimal gap.
Spontaneous symmetry breaking is related to the appearance of emergent phenomena, while a non-vanishing order parameter has been viewed as the sign of turning into such symmetry breaking phase. Recently, we have proposed a continuous measure of symmetry of a physical system using group theoretical approach. Within this framework, we study the spontaneous symmetry breaking in the conventional superconductor and Bose-Einstein condensation by showing both the two many body systems can be mapped into the many spin model. Moreover we also formulate the underlying relation between the spontaneous symmetry breaking and the order parameter quantitatively. The degree of symmetry stays unity in the absence of the two emergent phenomena, while decreases exponentially at the appearance of the order parameter which indicates the inextricable relation between the spontaneous symmetry and the order parameter.