Quantum phase transitions that take place between two distinct topological phases remain an unexplored area for the applicability of the fidelity approach. Here, we apply this method to spin systems in two and three dimensions and show that the fidelity susceptibility can be used to determine the boundary between different topological phases particular to these models, while at the same time offer information about the critical exponent of the correlation length. The success of this approach relies on its independence on local-order parameters or breaking symmetry mechanisms, with which nontopological phases are usually characterized. We also consider a topological insulator-superconducting phase transition in three dimensions and point out the relevant features of fidelity susceptibility at the boundary between these phases.
Quantum phase transitions that take place between two distinct topological phases remain an unexplored area for the applicability of the fidelity approach. Here, we apply this method to spin systems in two and three dimensions and show that the fidelity susceptibility can be used to determine the boundary between different topological phases particular to these models, while at the same time offer information about the critical exponent of the correlation length. The success of this approach relies on its independence on local-order parameters or breaking symmetry mechanisms, with which nontopological phases are usually characterized. We also consider a topological insulator-superconducting phase transition in three dimensions and point out the relevant features of fidelity susceptibility at the boundary between these phases.
This dissertation puts forward the concept of fidelity as a way to understand and characterize quantum phase transitions involving topological phases. It lies at the interphase between Condensed Matter and Quantum Phase Transitions. ❧ We find that the fidelity metric, which characterizes the degree of distinghuishability between two quantum states, can serve as a useful tool in the understanding of transitions involving topological phases. ❧ The methodology does not require a complete knowledge of the physical mechanism involved in the occurrence of the critical point, such as the identification of a local order parameter and a symmetry breaking mechanism, the fundamental pillars of critical phenomena. Topological phases are unique in that they cannot be classified under these methodologies, due to their lack of local order parameters. It is one of the purposes of this thesis to understand how well we can characterize the phase boundaries between these phases using fidelity concepts. ❧ In the first part, we introduce two quantum models that exhibit a phase transition between an ordered and a topological phase, as quantified by the topological entanglement entropy. In the thermodynamic limit, the different components of the fidelity metric exhibit a divergence, signalling the occurrence of the critical point. ❧ In the second part, we introduce models that have phase boundaries between two distinct topological phases, and we show that the fidelity is successful at identifying the occurrence of a critical region. Moreover, a finite size scaling analysis is carried out, from which we determine the value of critical exponents.
We review the definition and properties of fidelity as a measure of distinguishability of quantum states, presenting some of its geometric aspects. We apply then fidelity to the study of phase transitions in condensed matter systems, both at zero and finite temperatures. It does not rely on any already known order parameter, being useful not only in the usual Landau type phase transitions but also in phase transitions displaying topological order. The so called fidelity susceptibility and its relation to the usual thermodynamic susceptibilities and response functions are discussed. Finally, we consider the fidelity between different reduced density matrices for a subsystem of a larger system.
We discuss the boundary critical behaviors of two-dimensional (2D) quantum phase transitions with fractionalized degrees of freedom in the bulk, motivated by the fact that usually it is the one-dimensional boundary that is exposed and can be conveniently probed in many experimental platforms. In particular, we mainly discuss boundary criticality of two examples: (i) the quantum phase transition between a 2D Z2 topological order and an ordered phase with spontaneous symmetry breaking; (ii) the continuous quantum phase transition between metal and a particular type of Mott insulator [U(1) spin liquid]. In particular, we obtain the critical exponents and scaling laws of these exotic quantum phase transitions when the systems are probed from the boundary in proposed experimental setup. These critical exponents obtained are significantly different from those one would see through bulk measurements. This theoretical study could be relevant to many purely 2D systems, where recent experiments have found correlated insulator, superconductor, and metal in the same phase diagram.
By constructing an exactly solvable spin model, we investigate the critical behaviors of transverse-field Ising chains interpolated with cluster interactions, which exhibit various types of topologically distinct Ising critical points. Using fidelity susceptibility as an indicator, we establish the global phase diagram, including ferromagnetic, trivial paramagnetic, and symmetry-protected topological phases. Different types of critical points exist between these phases, encompassing both topologically trivial and nontrivial Ising critical points, as well as Gaussian critical points. Importantly, we demonstrate the existence of a Lifshitz transition between these topologically distinct Ising critical points, with central charge and critical exponents determined through finite-size scaling. This work serves as a valuable reference for further research on phase transitions within the gapless quantum phase of matter.
The phase transition between gapped topological phases represents a class of unconventional criticality beyond the Landau paradigm. However, recent research has shifted attention to topological phases without a bulk gap, where the phase transitions between them are still elusive. In this work, based on large-scale density-matrix renormalization-group techniques, we investigate the critical behaviors of the extended quantum XXZ model obtained by the Kennedy-Tasaki transformation. Using fidelity susceptibility as a diagnostic, we obtain a complete phase diagram, which includes both topological nontrivial and trivial gapless phases. Furthermore, as the XXZ-type anisotropy parameter $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}$ varies, both the critical points hc and correlation length exponent $\ensuremath{\nu}$ remain the same as in the $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}=0$ case, characterized by c=3/2 (Ising plus free boson) conformal field theory. Our results indicate that fidelity susceptibility can effectively detect and reveal a stable unconventional critical line between the topologically distinct gapless phases for general $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}$. This work serves as a valuable reference for further research on phase transitions within the gapless topological phase of matter.
The notion of fidelity susceptibility, introduced within the context of quantum metric tensor, has been an important quantity to characterize the criticality near quantum phase transitions. We demonstrate that for topological phase transitions in Dirac models, provided the momentum space is treated as the manifold of the quantum metric, the fidelity susceptibility coincides with the curvature function whose integration gives the topological invariant. Thus the quantum criticality of the curvature function near a topological phase transition also describes the criticality of the fidelity susceptibility, and the correlation length extracted from the curvature function also gives a momentum scale over which the fidelity susceptibility decays. To map out the profile and criticality of the fidelity susceptibility, we turn to quantum walks that simulate one-dimensional class BDI and two- dimensional class D Dirac models and demonstrate their accuracy in capturing the critical exponents and scaling laws near topological phase transitions.