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arXiv:1506.05553 · Physical Review A

Finite-temperature quantum criticality in a complex-parameter plane

C. Li, Z. Song

Published Dec 3, 2015• 13 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

A conventional quantum phase transition (QPT) not only occurs at zero temperature, but also exhibits finite-temperature quantum criticality. Motivated by the discovery of the pseudo-Hermiticity of non-Hermitian systems, we explore the finite-temperature quantum criticality in a non-Hermitian $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric Ising model. We present the complete set of exact eigenstates of the non-Hermitian Hamiltonian, based on which the mixed-state fidelity in the context of biorthogonal bases is calculated. Analytical and numerical results show that the fidelity approach to finite-temperature QPT can be extended to the non-Hermitian Ising model. This paves the way for experimental detection of quantum criticality in a complex-parameter plane.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.92.062103

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A conventional quantum phase transition (QPT) not only occurs at zero temperature, but also exhibits finite-temperature quantum criticality. Motivated by the discovery of the pseudo-Hermiticity of non-Hermitian systems, we explore the finite-temperature quantum criticality in a non-Hermitian PT\mathcal{PT}PT-symmetric Ising model. We present the complete set of exact eigenstates of the non-Hermitian Hamiltonian, based on which the mixed-state fidelity in the context of biorthogonal bases is calculated. Analytical and numerical results show that the fidelity approach to finite-temperature QPT can be extended to the non-Hermitian Ising model. This paves the way for experimental detection of quantum criticality in a complex-parameter plane.
We develop the perturbation theory of the fidelity susceptibility in biorthogonal bases for arbitrary interacting non-Hermitian many-body systems with real eigenvalues. The quantum criticality in the non-Hermitian transverse field Ising chain is investigated by the second derivative of the ground-state energy and the ground-state fidelity susceptibility. We show that the system undergoes a second-order phase transition with the Ising universal class by numerically computing the critical points and the critical exponents from the finite-size scaling theory. Interestingly, our results indicate that the biorthogonal quantum phase transitions are described by the biorthogonal fidelity susceptibility instead of the conventional fidelity susceptibility.
A conventional quantum phase transition (QPT) can be accessed by varying a real parameter at absolute zero temperature. Motivated by the discovery of the pseudo-Hermiticity of non-Hermitian systems, we explore the QPT in the non-Hermitian $\mathcal{PT}\ensuremath{-}\mathrm{symmetric}$ Ising model, which is driven by a staggered complex transverse field. Exact solution shows that the Laplacian of the ground-state energy density, with respect to real and imaginary components of the transverse field, diverges on the boundary in the complex plane. The phase diagram indicates that the imaginary transverse field has the effect of shrinking the paramagnetic phase. In addition, we also investigate the connection between the geometric phase and the QPT.
Abstract We show that non-Hermitian biorthogonal many-body phase transitions can be characterized by the enhanced decay of Loschmidt echo. The quantum criticality is numerically investigated in a non-Hermitian transverse field Ising model by performing the finite-size dynamical scaling of Loschmidt echo. We determine the equilibrium correlation length critical exponents that are consistent with previous results from the exact diagonalization. More importantly, we introduce a simple method to detect quantum phase transitions with the short-time average of rate function motivated by the critically enhanced decay behavior of Loschmidt echo. Our studies show how to detect equilibrium many-body phase transitions with biorthogonal Loschmidt echo that can be observed in future experiments via quantum dynamics after a quench.
Abstract As a very simple model, the Ising model plays an important role in statistical physics. In the paper, with the help of quantum Liouvillian statistical theory, we study the one-dimensional non-Hermitian Ising model at finite temperature and give its analytical solutions. We find that the non-Hermitian Ising model shows quite different properties from those of its Hermitian counterpart. For example, the ‘pseudo-phase transition’ is explored between the ‘topological’ phase and the ‘non-topological’ phase, at which the Liouvillian energy gap is closed rather than the usual energy gap. In particular, we point out that the one-dimensional non-Hermitian Ising model at finite temperature can be equivalent to an effective anisotropic XY model in the transverse field. This work will help people understand quantum statistical properties of non-Hermitian systems at finite temperatures.
We study the quantum entanglement and quantum phase transition of the non-Hermitian anisotropic spin-12\frac{1}{2}21​ XY model and XXZ model with the staggered imaginary field by analytical methods and numerical exact diagonalization, respectively. Various entanglement measures, including concurrence, negativity, mutual information, and quantum coherence, and both biorthogonal and self-normal quantities are investigated. Both the biorthogonal and self-normal entanglement quantities, except the biorthogonal concurrence, are found to be capable of detecting the first-order and PT\mathcal{PT}PT transitions in the XXZ model, as well as the Ising and RT\mathcal{RT}RT transitions in the XY model. In addition, we introduce the unconstrained concurrence and demonstrate its effectiveness in detecting these transitions. On the other hand, the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transition in the XXZ model is revealed through concurrence and negativity at small non-Hermiticity strengths. Notably, the critical points observed in the Hermitian limit evolve into exceptional points as the strength of the non-Hermiticity increases. Furthermore, we find that the first-order transition survives up to a higher non-Hermiticity strength compared to the BKT transition within the PT\mathcal{PT}PT-symmetric regime of the XXZ model.
We investigate the interplay between non-Hermiticity and finite temperature in the context of a mixed-state dynamical quantum phase transition (MSDQPT). We consider a ppp-wave superconductor model, encompassing complex hopping and non-Hermiticity, that can lead to gapless phases in addition to gapped phases, to examine the MSDQPT and winding number via the intraphase quench. We find that the MSDQPT is always present irrespective of the gap structure of the underlying phase; however, the profile of Fisher zeros changes between the above phases. Such occurrences of MSDQPT are in contrast to the zero-temperature case in which a DQPT does not take place for the gapped phase. Surprisingly, the half-integer jumps in winding number at zero temperature are washed away for finite temperature in the gapless phase. We study the evolution of the minimum time required by the system to experience MSDQPT with the inverse temperature such that gapped and gapless phases can be differentiated. Our study indicates that the minimum time shows monotonic (nonmonotonic) behavior for the gapped (gapless) phase.