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arXiv:1310.4864 · Physical Review B

Strong-randomness infinite-coupling phase in a random quantum spin chain

Fawaz Y. Hrahsheh, José A. Hoyos, Rajesh Narayanan, Thomas Vojta

Published Jan 3, 2014• 12 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We study the ground-state phase diagram of the Ashkin-Teller random quantum spin chain by means of a generalization of the strong-disorder renormalization group. In addition to the conventional paramagnetic and ferromagnetic (Baxter) phases, we find a partially ordered phase characterized by strong randomness and infinite coupling between the colors. This unusual phase acts, at the same time, as a Griffiths phase for two distinct quantum phase transitions, both of which are of infinite-randomness type. We also investigate the quantum multicritical point that separates the two-phase and three-phase regions, and we discuss generalizations of our results to higher dimensions and other systems.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.89.014401

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We study the ground-state phase diagram of the Ashkin-Teller random quantum spin chain by means of a generalization of the strong-disorder renormalization group. In addition to the conventional paramagnetic and ferromagnetic (Baxter) phases, we find a partially ordered phase characterized by strong randomness and infinite coupling between the colors. This unusual phase acts, at the same time, as a Griffiths phase for two distinct quantum phase transitions, both of which are of infinite-randomness type. We also investigate the quantum multicritical point that separates the two-phase and three-phase regions, and we discuss generalizations of our results to higher dimensions and other systems.
The N -color quantum Ashkin–Teller spin chain is a prototypical model for the study of strong-randomness phenomena at first-order and continuous quantum phase transitions. In this paper, we first review the existing strong-disorder renormalization group approaches to the random quantum Ashkin–Teller chain in the weak-coupling as well as the strong-coupling regimes. We then introduce a novel general variable transformation that unifies the treatment of the strong-coupling regime. This allows us to determine the phase diagram for all color numbers N , and the critical behavior for all . In the case of two colors, N = 2, a partially ordered product phase separates the paramagnetic and ferromagnetic phases in the strong-coupling regime. This phase is absent for all , i.e., there is a direct phase boundary between the paramagnetic and ferromagnetic phases. In agreement with the quantum version of the Aizenman–Wehr theorem, all phase transitions are continuous, even if their clean counterparts are of first order. We also discuss the various critical and multicritical points. They are all of infinite-randomness type, but depending on the coupling strength, they belong to different universality classes.
We investigate the zero-temperature quantum phase transitions of the disordered three-color quantum Ashkin-Teller spin chain by means of large-scale Monte Carlo simulations. We find that the first-order phase transitions of the clean system are rounded by the quenched disorder. For weak intercolor coupling, the resulting emergent quantum critical point between the paramagnetic phase and the magnetically ordered Baxter phase is of infinite-randomness type and belongs to the universality class of the random transverse-field Ising model, as predicted by recent strong-disorder renormalization group calculations. We also find evidence for unconventional critical behavior in the case of strong intercolor coupling, even though an unequivocal determination of the universality class is beyond our numerical capabilities. We compare our results to earlier simulations, and we discuss implications for the classification of phase transitions in the presence of disorder.
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We study the effects of quenched disorder in a class of quantum chains with (p+1p+1p+1)-multispin interactions exhibiting a free fermionic spectrum, paying special attention to the case p=2p=2p=2. Depending if disorder couples to (i) all the couplings or just to (ii) some of them, we have two distinct physical scenarios. In case (i), we find that the transitions of the model are governed by a universal infinite-randomness critical point surrounded by quantum Griffiths phases similarly as happens to the random transverse-field Ising chain. In case (ii), we find that quenched disorder becomes an irrelevant perturbation: the clean critical behavior is stable and Griffiths phases are absent. Beyond the perturbative regime, disorder stabilizes a line of finite-randomness critical points (with nonuniversal critical exponents), that ends in a multicritical point of infinite-randomness type. In that case, quantum Griffiths phases also appear surrounding the finite-disorder transition point. We have characterized the correlation functions and the low-temperature thermodynamics of these chains. Our results are derived from a strong-disorder renormalization-group technique and from finite-size scaling analysis of the spectral gap computed exactly (up to sizes $\ensuremath{\sim}{10}^{7}$) via an efficient new numerical method recently introduced in the literature [Phys. Rev. B 104, 174206 (2021)].
In the present thesis, the critical and off-critical behaviors of quantum spin chains in presence of a random or an aperiodic perturbation of the couplings is studied. The critical behavior of the Ising and Potts random quantum chains is known to be governed by the same Infinite-Disorder Fixed Point. We have implemented a numerical version of the Strong-Disorder Renormalization Group (SDRG) to test this prediction. We then studied the quantum random Ashkin-Teller chain by Density Matrix Renormalization Group. The phase diagram, previously obtained by SDRG, is confirmed by estimating the location of the peaks of the integrated autocorrelation times of both the spin-spin and polarization-polarization autocorrelation functions and of the disorder fluctuations of magnetization and polarization. Finally, the existence of a double-Griffiths phase is shown by a detailed study of the decay of the off-critical autocorrelation functions. As expected, a divergence of the dynamical exponent is observed along the two transition lines. In the aperiodic case, we studied both the Ising and Potts quantum chains. Using numerical SDRG, we confirmed the known analytical results for the Ising chains and proposed a new estimate of the magnetic scaling dimension.For the quantum q-state Potts chain, we estimated the magnetic scaling dimension for various aperiodic sequences and showed that it is independent of q for all sequences with a vanishing wandering exponent. However, we observed that the dynamical exponent is finite and increases with the number of states q. In contrast, for the Rudin-Shapiro sequence, the results are compatible with an Infinite-Disorder Fixed Point with a diverging dynamical exponent, equipe de renormalization
We study the low-energy physics of a broad class of time-reversal invariant and SU(2)-symmetric one-dimensional spin-SSS systems in the presence of quenched disorder via a strong-disorder renormalization-group technique. We show that, in general, there is an antiferromagnetic phase with an emergent SU(2S+1)\mathrm{SU}(2S+1)SU(2S+1) symmetry. The ground state of this phase is a random singlet state in which the singlets are formed by pairs of spins. For integer spins, there is an additional antiferromagnetic phase which does not exhibit any emergent symmetry (except for S=1)S=1)S=1). The corresponding ground state is a random singlet one but the singlets are formed mostly by trios of spins. In each case the corresponding low-energy dynamics is activated, i.e., with a formally infinite dynamical exponent, and related to distinct infinite-randomness fixed points. The phase diagram has two other phases with ferromagnetic tendencies: a disordered ferromagnetic phase and a large spin phase in which the effective disorder is asymptotically finite. In the latter case, the dynamical scaling is governed by a conventional power law with a finite dynamical exponent.