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arXiv:1304.6340 · Physical Review X

Pinning the Order: The Nature of Quantum Criticality in the Hubbard Model on Honeycomb Lattice

Fakher F. Assaad, Igor F. Herbut

Published Aug 26, 2013• 290 citations
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Abstract

A new algorithm of quantum Monte Carlo simulations designed to detect very weak magnetic order allows high-resolution studies of the correlation between magnetic order and electrical insulation in Mott insulators. Specific investigations of the Hubbard model on honeycomb lattice---a paradigmatic model for Mott insulators---show that the correlation emerges through a continuous quantum phase transition belonging to a new universality class.

DOI
10.1103/physrevx.3.031010

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A new algorithm of quantum Monte Carlo simulations designed to detect very weak magnetic order allows high-resolution studies of the correlation between magnetic order and electrical insulation in Mott insulators. Specific investigations of the Hubbard model on honeycomb lattice---a paradigmatic model for Mott insulators---show that the correlation emerges through a continuous quantum phase transition belonging to a new universality class.
In numerical simulations, spontaneously broken symmetry is often detected by computing two-point correlation functions of the appropriate local order parameter. This approach, however, computes the square of the local order parameter, and so when it is small, very large system sizes at high precisions are required to obtain reliable results. Alternatively, one can pin the order by introducing a local symmetrybreaking field and then measure the induced local order parameter infinitely far from the pinning center. The method is tested here at length for the Hubbard model on honeycomb lattice, within the realm of the projective auxiliary-field quantum Monte Carlo algorithm. With our enhanced resolution, we find a direct and continuous quantum phase transition between the semimetallic and the insulating antiferromagnetic states with increase of the interaction. The single-particle gap, measured in units of Hubbard U, tracks the staggered magnetization. An excellent data collapse is obtained by finite-size scaling, with the values of the critical exponents in accord with the Gross-Neveu universality class of the transition.
We numerically investigate the critical behavior of the Hubbard model on the honeycomb and the $\ensuremath{\pi}$-flux lattice, which exhibits a direct transition from a Dirac semimetal to an antiferromagnetically ordered Mott insulator. We use projective auxiliary-field quantum Monte Carlo simulations and a careful finite-size scaling analysis that exploits approximately improved renormalization-group-invariant observables. This approach, which is successfully verified for the three-dimensional XY transition of the Kane-Mele-Hubbard model, allows us to extract estimates for the critical couplings and the critical exponents. The results confirm that the critical behavior for the semimetal to Mott insulator transition in the Hubbard model belongs to the Gross-Neveu-Heisenberg universality class on both lattices.
The Hubbard model on the honeycomb lattice undergoes a quantum phase transition from a semimetallic to a Mott insulating phase and from a disordered to an anti-ferromagnetically phase. We show that these transitions occur simultaneously and we calculate the critical coupling Uc=3.835(14)U_c=3.835(14)Uc​=3.835(14) as well as the critical exponents ν=1.181(43)\nu=1.181(43)ν=1.181(43) and β=0.898(37)\beta= 0.898(37)β=0.898(37) which are expected to fall into the SU(2)SU(2)SU(2) Gross-Neveu universality class. For this we employ Hybrid Monte Carlo simulations, extrapolate the single particle gap and the spin structure factors to the thermodynamic and continuous time limits, and perform a data collapse fit. We also determine the zero temperature values of single particle gap and staggered magnetisation on both sides of the phase transition.
In this thesis we apply recently developed, as well as sophisticated quantum Monte Carlo methods to numerically investigate models of strongly correlated electron systems on honeycomb structures. The latter are of particular interest owing to their unique properties when simulating electrons on them, like the relativistic dispersion, strong quantum fluctuations and their resistance against instabilities. This work covers several projects including the advancement of the weak-coupling continuous time quantum Monte Carlo and its application to zero temperature and phonons, quantum phase transitions of valence bond solids in spin-1/2 Heisenberg systems using projector quantum Monte Carlo in the valence bond basis, and the magnetic field induced transition to a canted antiferromagnet of the Hubbard model on the honeycomb lattice. The emphasis lies on two projects investigating the phase diagram of the SU(2) and the SU(N)-symmetric Hubbard model on the hexagonal lattice. At sufficiently low temperatures, condensed-matter systems tend to develop order. An exception are quantum spin-liquids, where fluctuations prevent a transition to an ordered state down to the lowest temperatures. Previously elusive in experimentally relevant microscopic two-dimensional models, we show by means of large-scale quantum Monte Carlo simulations of the SU(2) Hubbard model on the honeycomb lattice, that a quantum spin-liquid emerges between the state described by massless Dirac fermions and an antiferromagnetically ordered Mott insulator. This unexpected quantum-disordered state is found to be a short-range resonating valence bond liquid, akin to the one proposed for high temperature superconductors. Inspired by the rich phase diagrams of SU(N) models we study the SU(N)-symmetric Hubbard Heisenberg quantum antiferromagnet on the honeycomb lattice to investigate the reliability of 1/N corrections to large-N results by means of numerically exact QMC simulations. We study the melting of phases as correlations increase with decreasing N and determine whether the quantum spin liquid found in the SU(2) Hubbard model at intermediate coupling is a specific feature, or also exists in the unconstrained t-J model and higher symmetries.
Quantum phase transitions in the Hubbard model on the honeycomb lattice are investigated in the variational cluster approximation. The critical interaction for the paramagnetic to antiferromagnetic phase transition is found to be in remarkable agreement with a recent large-scale quantum Monte Carlo simulation. Calculated staggered magnetization increases continuously with UUU and thus we find the phase transition is of a second order. We also find that the semimetal-insulator transition occurs at infinitesimally small interaction and thus a paramagnetic insulating state appears in a wide interaction range. A crossover behavior of electrons from itinerant to localized character found in the calculated single-particle excitation spectra and short-range spin correlation functions indicates that an effective spin model for the paramagnetic insulating phase is far from a simple Heisenberg model with a nearest-neighbor exchange interaction.
We take advantage of recent improvements in the grand canonical hybrid Monte Carlo algorithm, to perform a precision study of the single-particle gap in the hexagonal Hubbard model, with on-site electron-electron interactions. After carefully controlled analyses of the Trotter error, the thermodynamic limit, and finite-size scaling with inverse temperature, we find a critical coupling of ${U}_{c}/\ensuremath{\kappa}=3.834(14)$ and the critical exponent $z\ensuremath{\nu}=1.185(43)$. Under the assumption that this corresponds to the expected antiferromagnetic Mott transition, we are also able to provide a preliminary estimate $\ensuremath{\beta}=1.095(37)$ for the critical exponent of the order parameter. We consider our findings in view of the SU(2)\text{SU}(2)SU(2) Gross-Neveu, or chiral Heisenberg, universality class. We also discuss the computational scaling of the hybrid Monte Carlo algorithm, and possible extensions of our work to carbon nanotubes, fullerenes, and topological insulators.