The classical Essam-Fisher and Rushbrooke relationships (1963) that connect the equilibrium critical exponents of susceptibility, specific heat and order parameter are shown to be valid only if the critical temperature is positive. For quantum phase transitions (PT) with zero critical temperature, these relations are proved to be of different form. This fact has been actually observed experimentally, but the reasons were not quite clear. A general formula containing the classical results as a special case is proposed. This formula is applicable to all equilibrium PT of any space dimension. The predictions of the theory are consistent with the available experimental data and do not cast any doubts upon the scaling hypothesis.
The classical Essam-Fisher and Rushbrooke relationships (1963) that connect the equilibrium critical exponents of susceptibility, specific heat and order parameter are shown to be valid only if the critical temperature is positive. For quantum phase transitions (PT) with zero critical temperature, these relations are proved to be of different form. This fact has been actually observed experimentally, but the reasons were not quite clear. A general formula containing the classical results as a special case is proposed. This formula is applicable to all equilibrium PT of any space dimension. The predictions of the theory are consistent with the available experimental data and do not cast any doubts upon the scaling hypothesis.
The general interpolation formulas, which generalize the classical consequences of the static scaling hypothesis for phase transitions with variation in the temperature and field, have been proposed. The classical results have been derived from these formulas as a limiting partial case for the asymptotic proximity to a positive critical temperature. It has also been shown that some consequences of the scaling hypothesis also remain correct at a zero critical temperature; however, for example, the Essam–Fisher equality changes its form in the latter case, namely, the numeral two on the right-hand side is replaced by unity.
Abstract Epsilon expansion is an important part of the renormalization group approach; it allows substantiating the scaling paradigm and is used in the modern theory of critical phenomena. It is shown that at a critical temperature equal to zero, the expression for the critical heat capacity exponent already in the first order in epsilon d − = 4 – (d – is the dimension of space) changes its form. This, however, does not indicate a violation of the scaling approach, although the classical Essam-Fisher equation also changes, as does the Rushbrook inequality. The generalized Essam-Fisher interpolation equality and the generalized Rushbrook inequality are given, which are valid for any value of the critical temperature, in particular, for the critical temperature equal to zero. The generalized relations are consistent with the renormalization-group approach, - expansion and scaling paradigm. The fluctuations are considered to be classical (thermodynamic), the conditions are determined when this takes place.
Quantum Phase Transitions Quantum phase transitions, in contrast to temperature-driven critical phenomena, occur due to a competition between different parameters describing the basic interactions of the system. Their specific feature is the quantum character of the critical fluctuations. This implies, through the uncertainty principle, that energy fluctuations and time are coupled. Then at zero temperature time plays a crucial and fundamental role, the static properties being entangled with the dynamics (Continentino, 1994a; Sondhi et al ., 1997; Sachdev, 1999). In this book we are mainly interested in quantum phase transitions that occur in electronic many-body systems and how scaling concepts can be useful to understand their properties close to these transitions (Continentino, 1994a). Even though a similar approach has been used in the case of interacting bosons (Fisher et al ., 1989) the fermionic problem has its own idiosyncrasies and difficulties. For example, there is no natural order parameter associated with the localisation transition in the electronic case, while bosons at zero temperature are either localised or superfluid so that the superfluid order parameter can be used to distinguish between both phases. If the results of the study of quantum phase transitions were restricted to zero temperature, this would be an interesting but purely academic area of research. What is really exciting about this subject is the effect of quantum critical points (QCP) in the finite temperature phase diagram of actual physical systems, even far away from the QCP (Freitas, 2015). As we will show, there is a special line in this phase diagram, the quantum critical trajectory , where the temperature dependence of the thermodynamic and transport properties is governed by the quantum critical exponents, i.e. those associated with the QCP. This and the observed crossover effects induced by temperature in the non-critical side of the phase diagram of a material with a QCP are sufficient to make the study of quantum phase transitions an inevitable subject. We start this chapter by introducing the scaling theory of quantum critical phenomena, since scaling concepts are used throughout this book.
Abstract The spherical Berlin-Katz model is considered in the framework of the epsilon expansion in one-dimensional and two-dimensional space. For the two-dimensional and threedimensional cases in this model, an exact solution was previously obtained in the presence of a field, and for the two-dimensional case the critical temperature is zero, that is, a “quantum” phase transition is observed. On the other hand, the epsilon expansion of critical exponents with an arbitrary number of order parameter components is known. This approach is consistent with the scaling paradigm. Some critical exponents are found for the spherical model in one-and twodimensional space in accordance with the generalized scaling paradigm and the ideas of quantum phase transitions. A new formula is proposed for the critical heat capacity exponent, which depends on the dynamic index z, at a critical temperature equal to zero. An expression is proposed for the order of phase transition with a change in temperature (developing the approach of R. Baxter), which also depends on the z index. An interpolation formula is presented for the effective dimension of space, which is valid for both a positive critical temperature and a critical temperature equal to zero. This formula is general. Transitions with a change in the field in a spherical model at absolute zero are also considered.
Relations between critical exponents, or scaling laws, at both continuous and discontinuous quantum phase transitions are derived and discussed. In general there are multiple dynamical exponents at these transitions, which complicates the scaling description. Some rigorous inequalities are derived, and the conditions needed for these inequalities to be equalities are discussed. Scaling laws involving the specific-heat exponents that are specific to quantum phase transitions are derived and contrasted with their counterparts at classical phase transitions. We also generalize the ideas of Fisher and Berker and others for applying (finite-size) scaling theory near a classical first-order transition to the quantum case. We then apply and illustrate all of these ideas by using the quantum ferromagnetic phase transition in metals as an explicit example. This transition is known to have multiple dynamical scaling exponents, and in general it is discontinuous in clean systems but continuous in disordered ones. Furthermore, it displays many experimentally relevant crossover phenomena that can be described in terms of fixed points, originally discussed by Hertz, that ultimately become unstable asymptotically close to the transition and give way to the asymptotic fixed points. These fixed points provide a rich environment for illustrating the general scaling concepts and exponent relations. We also discuss the quantum-wing critical point at the tips of the tricritical wings associated with the discontinuous quantum ferromagnetic transition from a scaling point of view.
Classical and quantum criticality In most cases the phases of quantum field theories, in particular those of interest in condensed matter physics, can be described in terms of the behavior of local observables, such as order parameters or currents that transform properly under the symmetries of the theory. Quantum and thermal phase transitions are characterized by the behavior of these observables as a function of temperature and of the coupling constants of the theory. The phase transitions themselves, quantum or thermal, are classified into universality classes, which are represented by the critical exponents which specify the scaling laws of the expectation values of the observables. Historically, the development of this approach to critical behavior goes back to the Landau theory of critical behavior. It acquired its most complete form with the development of the renormalization group (RG) in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It is the centerpiece of Wilson’s approach to quantum field theory, in which all local quantum field theories are defined by the scaling regime of a physical system near a continuous phase transition. From this point of view there is no fundamental difference between classical (or thermal) phase transitions, which are described by the theory of classical critical behavior, and quantum phase transitions. For example, the expectation value of a local order parameter M as the thermal phase transition is approached from below behaves as M ~ (Tc − T) β . Here T c is the critical temperature and β is a critical exponent that depends on the universality class of the thermal phase transition and on the dimensionality of space. While quantum mechanics can play a key role in the existence of the ordered phase, e.g. superfluidity and superconductivity are macroscopic manifestations of essentially quantum-mechanical phenomena, the thermal transition itself is governed entirely by classical statistical mechanics, and quantum mechanics plays a role in setting the value of non-universal quantities such as the critical temperature, etc. On the other hand, in the case of a quantum phase transition, the order parameter M has a similar scaling behavior as a function of the coupling constant, M~(gc−g)β˜, where g is the coupling constant, g c is the critical coupling constant, and β˜ is a critical exponent that depends on the universality class of the quantum phase transition. Here we assume that M has a non-vanishing expectation value only for g < g c .