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arXiv:1602.08172 · Physical review. B./Physical review. B

Tricritical Ising phase transition in a two-ladder Majorana fermion lattice

Xiaoyu Zhu, Marcel Franz

Published May 9, 2016• 16 citations
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Abstract

We introduce a two-ladder lattice model with interacting Majorana fermions that could be realized on the surfaces of a topological insulator film. We study this model with a combination of analytical and numerical techniques, and we find a phase diagram that features both gapless and gapped phases as well as interesting phase transitions including a quantum critical point in the tricritical Ising (TCI) universality class. The latter occurs at an intermediate-coupling strength at a meeting point of a first-order transition line and an Ising critical line, and it is known to be described by a superconformal field theory with central charge $c=\frac{7}{10}$. We discuss the experimental feasibility of constructing the model and tuning parameters to the vicinity of the TCI point where signatures of the elusive supersymmetry can be observed.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.93.195118

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We introduce a two-ladder lattice model with interacting Majorana fermions that could be realized on the surfaces of a topological insulator film. We study this model with a combination of analytical and numerical techniques, and we find a phase diagram that features both gapless and gapped phases as well as interesting phase transitions including a quantum critical point in the tricritical Ising (TCI) universality class. The latter occurs at an intermediate-coupling strength at a meeting point of a first-order transition line and an Ising critical line, and it is known to be described by a superconformal field theory with central charge c=710c=\frac{7}{10}c=107​. We discuss the experimental feasibility of constructing the model and tuning parameters to the vicinity of the TCI point where signatures of the elusive supersymmetry can be observed.
Tricritical Ising (TCI) phase transition is known to occur in several interacting spin and Majorana fermion models and is described in terms of a supersymmetric conformal field theory (CFT) with central charge c=7/10c=7/10c=7/10. The field content of this CFT is highly nontrivial and includes among its primary fields the Fibonacci anyon, making it of potential interest to strategies seeking to implement fault-tolerant topological quantum computation with non-Abelian phases of matter. In this paper we explore the possibility that a TCI CFT can occur at the edge of a gapped two-dimensional topological state as a stable phase. We discuss a possible realization of this 2D phase based on a coupled-wire construction using the Grover-Sheng-Vishwanath chain model of Majorana zero modes coupled to Ising spins which is known to undergo the TCI phase transition. From the combined analysis using mean-field theory, conformal field theory, and density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) on two- and four-leg ladders, we find that the left- and right-moving gapless TCI modes become spatially separated and reside on two opposite edges of the system, forming a precursor of the required 2D topological phase.
While Majorana fermions remain at large as fundamental particles, they emerge in condensed matter systems with peculiar properties. Grover et al. proposed a Majorana-Ising chain model, or the GSV model, where the system undergoes a tricritical Ising transition by tuning just one parameter. In this work, we generalize this model to a ladder with inter-chain Majorana couplings. From a mean field analysis, we argue that the tricritical Ising transition will also occur with inter-chain couplings that allow the system to be gapless in the non-interacting case. More crucially, based on analysis of the interacting chain model and the non-interacting ladder model, we expect the tricritical Ising modes to appear on the edges, a feature that might persist when going to 2d. We carry out extensive DMRG calculations to verify the theory in the ladder model. Finally, we discuss possible numerical probes of a 2d model.
The Hubbard and spinless fermion chains are paradigms of strongly correlated systems, very well understood using the Bethe ansatz, density matrix renormalization group (DMRG), and field theory/renormalization group (RG) methods. They have been applied to one-dimensional materials and have provided important insights for understanding higher-dimensional cases. Recently, an interacting fermion model has been introduced, with possible applications to topological materials. It has a single Majorana fermion operator on each lattice site and interactions with the shortest possible range that involve four sites. We present a thorough analysis of the phase diagram of this model in one dimension using field-theory/RG and DMRG methods. It includes a gapped supersymmetric region and a gapless phase with coexisting Luttinger liquid and Ising degrees of freedom. In addition to a first-order transition, three critical points occur: tricritical Ising, Lifshitz, and a generalization of the commensurate-incommensurate transition. We also survey various gapped phases of the system that arise when the translation symmetry is broken by dimerization and find both trivial and topological phases with 0, 1, and 2 Majorana zero modes bound to the edges of the chain with open boundary conditions.
The tricritical Ising universality class emerges at the end point of a line of continuous Ising phase transitions, above which the transition is first order. In 1+1 dimensions, it is described by the second minimal model of conformal field theory (CFT) with central charge c=7/10c=7/10c=7/10. Recently, there has been a revival of interest in the tricritical Ising model due to its emergent space-time supersymmetry. Combining numerical (infinite density-matrix renormalization group) and field theoretical (bosonization and CFT) techniques, there authors demonstrate here that Ising tricriticality occurs in a paradigmatic extended one dimensional Hubbard model with explicit bond dimerization. The low-energy sector can be described by a triple sine-Gordon model, which, in the transition region, reduces to the tricritical Ising CFT. The theoretically predicted decay of various two-point correlation functions is found to be in excellent agreement with the density-matrix renormalization group data.
We study symmetry breaking quantum phase transitions in topological insulators and superconductors where the single electron gap remains open in the bulk. Specifically, we consider spontaneous breaking of the symmetry that protects the gapless boundary modes, so that in the ordered phase these modes are gapped. Here we determine the fate of the topological boundary modes right at the transition where they are coupled to the strongly fluctuating order parameter field. Using a combination of exact solutions and renormalization group techniques, we find that the surface fermionic modes either decouple from the bulk fluctuations, or flow to a strongly coupled fixed point which remains gapless. In addition, we study transitions where the critical fluctuations are confined only to the surface and find that in several cases the critical point is naturally supersymmetric. This allows a determination of critical exponents and points to an underlying connection between band topology and supersymmetry. Finally, we study the fate of gapless Majorana modes localized on point and line defects in topological superconductors at bulk criticality, which is analogous to a quantum impurity problem. Again, an interplay of topology and strong correlations causes these modes to remain gapless but in a strongly coupled state. Experimental candidates for realizing these phenomena are discussed.
We introduce and analyze a quantum spin or Majorana chain with a tricritical Ising point separating a critical phase from a gapped phase with order-disorder coexistence. We show that supersymmetry is not only an emergent property of the scaling limit but also manifests itself on the lattice. Namely, we find explicit lattice expressions for the supersymmetry generators and currents. Writing the Hamiltonian in terms of these generators allows us to find the ground states exactly at a frustration-free coupling. These confirm the coexistence between two (topologically) ordered ground states and a disordered one in the gapped phase. Deforming the model by including explicit chiral symmetry breaking, we find the phases persist up to an unusual chiral phase transition where the supersymmetry becomes exact even on the lattice.