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arXiv:1205.4911 · Physical Review B

Dynamical stability of the quantum Lifshitz theory in 2+1 dimensions

Benjamin Hsu, Eduardo Fradkin

Published Feb 4, 2013• 16 citations
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Abstract

The roles of magnetic and electric perturbations in the quantum Lifshitz model in $2+1$ dimensions are examined in this paper. The quantum Lifshitz model is an effective field theory for quantum multicritical systems, which include generalized two-dimensional (2D) quantum dimer models in bipartite lattices and their generalizations. It describes a class of quantum phase transitions between ordered and topological phases in $2+1$ dimensions. Magnetic perturbations break the dimer conservation law. Electric excitations, the condensation of which leads to ordered phases, have been studied extensively both in the classical three-dimensional model and in the quantum 2D model. The role of magnetic vortex excitations, the condensation of which drives these systems into a ${\mathbb{Z}}_{2}$ topological phase, has been largely ignored. Recent numerical studies claim that the quantum theory has a peculiar feature: the dynamical exponent $z$ flows continuously and the quantum theory is hence unstable to magnetic vortices. To study the interplay of both excitations, we perform a perturbative renormalization group study to one-loop order and study the stability of the theory away from quantum multicriticality. This is done by generalizing the operator-product expansion to anisotropic models. It is found that the dynamical exponent does not appear to flow, in contrast to the classical Monte Carlo study. Possible reasons for this difference are discussed at length.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.87.085102

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The roles of magnetic and electric perturbations in the quantum Lifshitz model in 2+12+12+1 dimensions are examined in this paper. The quantum Lifshitz model is an effective field theory for quantum multicritical systems, which include generalized two-dimensional (2D) quantum dimer models in bipartite lattices and their generalizations. It describes a class of quantum phase transitions between ordered and topological phases in 2+12+12+1 dimensions. Magnetic perturbations break the dimer conservation law. Electric excitations, the condensation of which leads to ordered phases, have been studied extensively both in the classical three-dimensional model and in the quantum 2D model. The role of magnetic vortex excitations, the condensation of which drives these systems into a Z2{\mathbb{Z}}_{2}Z2​ topological phase, has been largely ignored. Recent numerical studies claim that the quantum theory has a peculiar feature: the dynamical exponent zzz flows continuously and the quantum theory is hence unstable to magnetic vortices. To study the interplay of both excitations, we perform a perturbative renormalization group study to one-loop order and study the stability of the theory away from quantum multicriticality. This is done by generalizing the operator-product expansion to anisotropic models. It is found that the dynamical exponent does not appear to flow, in contrast to the classical Monte Carlo study. Possible reasons for this difference are discussed at length.
We explore the dynamical behavior at and near a special class of two-dimensional quantum critical points. Each is a conformal quantum critical point (CQCP), where in the scaling limit the equal-time correlators are those of a two-dimensional conformal field theory. The critical theories include the square-lattice quantum dimer model, the quantum Lifshitz theory, and a deformed toric code model. We show that under generic perturbation the latter flows toward the ordinary Lorentz-invariant (2+12+12+1)-dimensional Ising critical point, illustrating that CQCPs are generically unstable. We exploit a correspondence between the classical and quantum-dynamical behavior in such systems to perform an extensive numerical study of two lines of CQCPs in a quantum eight-vertex model or, equivalently, two coupled deformed toric codes. We find that the dynamical critical exponent zzz remains 2 along the U(1)-symmetric quantum Lifshitz line, while it continuously varies along the line with only Z2{\mathbb{Z}}_{2}Z2​ symmetry. This illustrates how two CQCPs can have very different dynamical properties, despite identical equal-time ground-state correlators. Our results equally apply to the dynamics of the corresponding purely classical models.
We consider Lifshitz criticality (LC) with the dynamical critical exponent z=2z=2z=2 in one-dimensional interacting fermion systems with a filled Dirac sea. We report that interactions have crucial effects on Lifshitz criticality. Single-particle excitations are destabilized by an interaction and decay into the particle-hole continuum, which is reflected in the logarithmic divergence in the imaginary part of one-loop self-energy. We show that the system is sensitive to the sign of the interaction. The random-phase approximation shows that the collective particle-hole excitations emerge only when the interaction is repulsive. The dispersion of collective modes is gapless and linear. If the interaction is attractive, the one-loop renormalization group (RG) shows that there may exist a stable RG fixed point described by two coupling constants. We also show that the on-site interaction (without any other perturbations at the UV scale) would always turn on the relevant velocity perturbation to the quadratic Lagrangian in the RG flow, driving the system flow to the conformal-invariant criticality. In the numerical simulations of the lattice model at half filling, we find that, for either on-site positive or negative interactions, the dynamical critical exponent becomes z=1z=1z=1 in the infrared limit and the entanglement entropy is a logarithmic function of the system size LLL. The work paves the way to study one-dimensional interacting LCs.
The entanglement entropy of a pure quantum state of a bipartite system is defined as the von Neumann entropy of the reduced density matrix obtained by tracing over one of the two parts. Critical ground states of local Hamiltonians in one dimension have an entanglement entropy that diverges logarithmically in the subsystem size, with a universal coefficient that is is related to the central charge of the associated conformal field theory. Here I will discuss recent extensions of these ideas to a class of quantum critical points with dynamic critical exponent z = 2 in two space dimensions and to 2D systems in a topological phase. The application of these ideas to quantum dimer models and fractional quantum Hall states will be discussed.
Two-dimensional Rokhsar-Kivelson (RK) dimer models on bipartite lattices are generally limited to translation-symmetry-broken dimer crystals. We introduce a tensor-product regularization of the dimer Hilbert space that yields a qubit Hamiltonian interpolating from the RK model to the π -flux toric code, thereby accessing a deconfined Z 2 topological liquid. In this framework, the Z 2 liquid descends from a multicritical U ( 1 ) spin liquid through condensation of a charge-2 Higgs field, thus avoiding confinement. Using iDMRG together with low-energy field theory, we determine a phase diagram containing two continuous quantum phase transitions—a 3 D XY * transition between the Z 2 liquid and the columnar/plaquette-VBS, and a quantum Lifshitz transition between two dimer crystals—alongside a first-order transition between the staggered crystal and the Z 2 liquid. Our field theory suggests a deconfined multicritical point described by an Abelian Higgs model with dynamical critical exponent, z = 2 , where the three transitions meet, highlighting the interplay of fractionalization and emergent gauge fluctuations.
We study the stability of topological order against local perturbations by considering the effect of a magnetic field on a spin model--the toric code--which is in a topological phase. The model can be mapped onto a quantum loop gas where the perturbation introduces a bare loop tension. When the loop tension is small, the topological order survives. When it is large, it drives a continuous quantum phase transition into a magnetic state. The transition can be understood as the condensation of "magnetic" vortices, leading to confinement of the elementary "charge" excitations. We also show how the topological order breaks down when the system is coupled to an Ohmic heat bath and relate our results to error rates for topological quantum computations.
The two-dimensional quantum XY model, with a Caldeira-Leggett form of dissipation, is applicable to the quantum-critical properties of diverse experimental systems, ranging from superconductor to insulator transitions, ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic transitions in metals, to the loop-current order transition in cuprates. We solve the reexpression of this model in terms of orthogonal topological excitations, vortices, and a variety of instantons, by renormalization group methods. The calculations explain the extraordinary properties of the model discovered in Monte Carlo calculations: the product form of the quantum-critical fluctuations in space and time, a spatial correlation length proportional to the logarithm of the temporal correlation length near the transition from a disordered to a fully ordered state, and the occurrence of a phase with spatial order without temporal order. They are intimately related to the flow of the metric of time in relation to the metric of space, i.e., of the dynamical critical exponent zzz. These properties appear to be essential in understanding the strange metallic phase found in a variety of quantum-critical transitions as well as the accompanying high-temperature superconductivity.