arXiv:1608.01817 · Physical Review A
First-order phase transitions in spinor Bose gases and frustrated magnets
Thibault Debelhoir, N. Dupuis
Abstract
We show that phase transitions in spin-1 Bose gases and stacked triangular Heisenberg antiferromagnets---an example of frustrated magnets with competing interactions---are described by the same Landau-Ginzburg-Wilson Hamiltonian with $\mathrm{O}(3)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}\mathrm{O}(2)$ symmetry. In agreement with previous nonperturbative-renormalization-group studies of the three-dimensional $\mathrm{O}(3)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}\mathrm{O}(2)$ model, we find that the transition from the normal phase to the superfluid ferromagnetic phase in a spin-1 Bose gas is weakly first order and shows pseudoscaling behavior. The (nonuniversal) pseudoscaling exponent $\ensuremath{\nu}$ is fully determined by the scattering lengths ${a}_{0}$ and ${a}_{2}$. We provide estimates of $\ensuremath{\nu}$ in $^{87}\mathrm{Rb},^{41}\mathrm{K}$, and $^{7}\mathrm{Li}$ atom gases which can be tested experimentally. We argue that pseudoscaling comes from either a crossover phenomenon due to proximity of the O(6) Wilson-Fisher fixed point $(^{87}\mathrm{Rb}$ and $^{41}\mathrm{K})$ or the existence of two unphysical fixed points (with complex coordinates) which slow down the RG flow $(^{7}\mathrm{Li})$. These unphysical fixed points are a remnant of the chiral and antichiral fixed points that exist in the $\mathrm{O}(N)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}\mathrm{O}(2)$ model when $N$ is larger than ${N}_{c}\ensuremath{\simeq}5.3$ (the transition being then second order and controlled by the chiral fixed point). Finally, we discuss a $\mathrm{O}(2)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}\mathrm{O}(2)$ lattice model and show that our results, even though we find the transition to be first order, are compatible with Monte Carlo simulations yielding an apparent second-order transition.