We study numerically the universal conductance of Luttinger liquids wire with a single impurity via the Muti-scale Entanglement Renormalization Ansatz (MERA). The scale invariant MERA provides an efficient way to extract scaling operators and scaling
dimensions for both the bulk and the boundary conformal field theories. By utilizing the key relationship between the conductance tensor and ground-state correlation function, the universal conductance can be evaluated within the framework of the boundary MERA. We construct the boundary MERA to compute the correlation functions and scaling dimensions for the Kane-Fisher fixed points by modeling the single impurity as a junction (weak link) of two interacting wires. We show that the universal behavior of the junction can be easily identified within the MERA and argue that the boundary MERA framework has tremendous potential to classify the fixed points in general multi-wire junctions.
Symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phases are short-range entangled quantum phases with symmetry, which have gapped excitations in the bulk and gapless modes at the edge. In this paper, we study the SPT phases in the spin-1 Heisenberg chain with a
single-ion anisotropy D, which has a quantum phase transition between a Haldane phase and a large-D phase. Using symmetric multiscale entanglement renormalization ansatz (MERA) tensor networks, we study the nonlocal order parameters for time-reversal and inversion symmetry. For the inversion symmetric MERA, we propose a brick-and-rope representation that gives a geometrical interpretation of inversion symmetric tensors. Finally, we study the symmetric renormalization group (RG) flow of the inversion symmetric string-order parameter, and show that entanglement renormalization with symmetric tensors produces proper behavior of the RG fixed-points.
We test an improved finite-size scaling method for reliably extracting the critical temperature $T_{rm BKT}$ of a Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transition. Using known single-parameter logarithmic corrections to the spin stiffness $rho_s$ at
$T_{rm BKT}$ in combination with the Kosterlitz-Nelson relation between the transition temperature and the stiffness, $rho_s(T_{rm BKT})=2T_{rm BKT}/pi$, we define a size dependent transition temperature $T_{rm BKT}(L_1,L_2)$ based on a pair of system sizes $L_1,L_2$, e.g., $L_2=2L_1$. We use Monte Carlo data for the standard two-dimensional classical XY model to demonstrate that this quantity is well behaved and can be reliably extrapolated to the thermodynamic limit using the next expected logarithmic correction beyond the ones included in defining $T_{rm BKT}(L_1,L_2)$. For the Monte Carlo calculations we use GPU (graphical processing unit) computing to obtain high-precision data for $L$ up to 512. We find that the sub-leading logarithmic corrections have significant effects on the extrapolation. Our result $T_{rm BKT}=0.8935(1)$ is several error bars above the previously best estimates of the transition temperature; $T_{rm BKT} approx 0.8929$. If only the leading log-correction is used, the result is, however, consistent with the lower value, suggesting that previous works have underestimated $T_{rm BKT}$ because of neglect of sub-leading logarithms. Our method is easy to implement in practice and should be applicable to generic BKT transitions.
We perform large-scale Monte Carlo simulations of the classical XY model on a three-dimensional $Ltimes L times L$ cubic lattice using the graphics processing unit (GPU). By the combination of Metropolis single-spin flip, over-relaxation and parallel
-tempering methods, we simulate systems up to L=160. Performing the finite-size scaling analysis, we obtain estimates of the critical exponents for the three-dimensional XY universality class: $alpha=-0.01293(48)$ and $ u=0.67098(16)$. Our estimate for the correlation-length exponent $ u$, in contrast to previous theoretical estimates, agrees with the most recent experimental estimate $ u_{rm exp}=0.6709(1)$ at the superfluid transition of $^4$He in a microgravity environment.
