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arXiv:1301.3386 · Annalen der Physik

Full characterization of the quantum linear‐zigzag transition in atomic chains

Pietro Silvi, Gabriele De Chiara, Tommaso Calarco, Giovanna Morigi, Simone Montangero

Published Jul 31, 2013• 32 citations
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Abstract

A string of repulsively interacting particles exhibits a phase transition to a zigzag structure, by reducing the transverse trap potential or the interparticle distance. Based on the emergent symmetry it has been argued that this instability is a quantum phase transition, which can be mapped to an Ising model in transverse field. An extensive Density Matrix Renormalization Group analysis is performed, resulting in an high‐precision evaluation of the critical exponents and of the central charge of the system, confirming that the quantum linear‐zigzag transition belongs to the critical Ising model universality class. Quantum corrections to the classical phase diagram are computed, and the range of experimental parameters where quantum effects play a role is provided. These results show that structural instabilities of one‐dimensional interacting atomic arrays can simulate quantum critical phenomena typical of ferromagnetic systems.

DOI
10.1002/andp.201300090

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A string of repulsively interacting particles exhibits a phase transition to a zigzag structure, by reducing the transverse trap potential or the interparticle distance. Based on the emergent symmetry it has been argued that this instability is a quantum phase transition, which can be mapped to an Ising model in transverse field. An extensive Density Matrix Renormalization Group analysis is performed, resulting in an high‐precision evaluation of the critical exponents and of the central charge of the system, confirming that the quantum linear‐zigzag transition belongs to the critical Ising model universality class. Quantum corrections to the classical phase diagram are computed, and the range of experimental parameters where quantum effects play a role is provided. These results show that structural instabilities of one‐dimensional interacting atomic arrays can simulate quantum critical phenomena typical of ferromagnetic systems.
A quasi-one-dimensional system of trapped, repulsively interacting atoms (e.g., an ion chain) exhibits a structural phase transition from a linear chain to a zigzag structure, tuned by reducing the transverse trap potential or increasing the particle density. Since it is a one-dimensional transition, it takes place at zero temperature and therefore quantum fluctuations dominate. In Fishman et al. [Phys. Rev. B 77, 064111 (2008)] it was shown that the system close to the linear-zigzag instability is described by a ${\ensuremath{\phi}}^{4}$ model. We propose a mapping of the ${\ensuremath{\phi}}^{4}$ field theory to the well-known Ising chain in a transverse field, which exhibits a quantum critical point. Based on this mapping, we estimate the quantum critical point in terms of the system parameters. This estimate gives the critical value of the transverse trap frequency for which the quantum phase transition occurs and which has a finite, measurable deviation from the critical point evaluated within the classical theory. A measurement is suggested for atomic systems which can probe the critical trap frequency at sufficiently low temperatures TTT. We focus in particular on a trapped-ion system and estimate the implied limitations on TTT and on the interparticle distance. We conclude that the experimental observation of the quantum critical behavior is, in principle, accessible.
Ions of the same charge inside confining potentials can form crystalline structures which can be controlled by means of the ion density and of the external trap parameters. In particular, a linear chain of trapped ions exhibits a transition to a zigzag equilibrium configuration, which is controlled by the strength of the transverse confinement. Studying this phase transition in the quantum regime is a challenging problem, even when employing numerical methods to simulate microscopically quantum many-body systems. Here we present a compact analytical treatment to map the original long-range problem into a short-range quantum field theory on a lattice. We provide a complete numerical architecture, based on the density matrix renormalization group, to address the effective quantum ${\ensuremath{\phi}}^{4}$ model. This technique is instrumental in giving a complete characterization of the phase diagram, as well as pinpointing the universality class of the criticality.
A string of trapped ions at zero temperature exhibits a structural phase transition to a zigzag structure, tuned by reducing the transverse trap potential or the interparticle distance. The transition is driven by transverse, short wavelength vibrational modes. We argue that this is a quantum phase transition, which can be experimentally realized and probed. Indeed, by means of a mapping to the Ising model in a transverse field, we estimate the quantum critical point in terms of the system parameters, and find a finite, measurable deviation from the critical point predicted by the classical theory. A measurement procedure is suggested which can probe the effects of quantum fluctuations at criticality. These results can be extended to describe the transverse instability of ultracold polar molecules in a one-dimensional optical lattice.
We theoretically study the dynamics of a transverse-field Ising chain with power-law decaying interactions characterized by an exponent α, which can be experimentally realized in ion traps. We focus on two classes of emergent dynamical critical phenomena following a quantum quench from a ferromagnetic initial state: The first one manifests in the time-averaged order parameter, which vanishes at a critical transverse field. We argue that such a transition occurs only for long-range interactions α≤2. The second class corresponds to the emergence of time-periodic singularities in the return probability to the ground-state manifold which is obtained for all values of α and agrees with the order parameter transition for α≤2. We characterize how the two classes of nonequilibrium criticality correspond to each other and give a physical interpretation based on the symmetry of the time-evolved quantum states.
A chain of singly charged particles confined by a harmonic potential exhibits a structural transition to a zigzag configuration when the radial potential frequency is at a critical value, which depends on the particle number. This structural change is a phase transition of second order, whose order parameter is the ions' transverse displacement from the chain axis. The transition is driven by transverse, short-wavelength vibrational modes. At ultra-low temperatures the linear-zigzag instability is a quantum phase transition of the same universality class of Ising models.[GRAPHICS].
We investigate three different types of quantum phase transition occurring in quasi one-dimensional systems theoretically and numerically. First, we study the band-insulator to Mott-insulator transition occurring in charge-transfer complexes, for which the half-filled one-dimensional ionic Hubbard model is considered to be the prototype model. The study is carried out by first deriving an effective spin-one model, and then studying the model numerically using the density matrix renormalization group. We perform a careful finite-size scaling analysis of the mass gaps, order-parameters, and relative susceptibility. We confirm the existence of two quantum critical points. Analysis of the critical exponents confirms that the band-insulator-to-spontaneously-dimerized phase transition belong to the 2D Ising class. The spontaneously dimerized phase undergoes a phase transition to the Mott-insulator which is an infinite-order. Second, we investigate the Mott metal-insulator transition for the half-filled Hubbard model with both nearest-neighbor t and next-nearest-neighbor t′ hopping terms. We study the model using the bosonization approach and density matrix renormalization group simulations. An effective low-energy Hamiltonian that describes the insulator-metal transition is derived. We present results of density matrix renormalization group calculations of spin and charge distribution in various sectors of the phase diagram. The numerical results support the picture derived from the effective theory and give evidence for the complete separation of the transitions involving the spin and the charge degrees of freedom. Finally, we investigate quantum phase transitions phases in low-dimensional fermionic and spin models that go from uniform to spatially inhomogeneous, i.e., dimerized, trimerized, or incommensurate, phases. We propose a new approach based on studying the length dependence of the von Neumann entropy and its corresponding Fourier spectrum for finite segments in the ground state of finite chains. Peaks at a nonzero wave vector are indicators of oscillatory behavior in decaying correlation functions and also provide significant information about certain relevant features of the excitation spectrum; in particular, they can identify the wave vector of soft modes in critical models.