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arXiv:1612.09437 · Physical review. B./Physical review. B

Impurity-induced environmental quantum phase transitions in the quadratic-coupling spin-boson model

Da-Chuan Zheng, Li Wan, Ning-Hua Tong

Published Sep 19, 2018• 4 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We study the zero temperature properties of the sub-Ohmic spin-boson model with quadratic spin-boson coupling. This model describes experimental setups at the optimal working point where the linear coupling between the qubit (spin) and the environmental noise (bosons) is zero and the leading coupling is quadratic. In the strong coupling regime, we find that the existence of spin induces quantum phase transitions (QPTs) between two states of environment: the normal state and a state with local distortions. The phase diagram contains both continuous and the first-order QPTs, with nontrivial critical properties obtained exactly. At the QPTs, the equilibrium state spin dynamics bears power-law $\ensuremath{\omega}$ dependence in the small frequency limit and a robust coherent Rabi oscillation at high frequency. We discuss the feasibility of observing such environmental QPTs in the qubit-related experiments.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.98.115131

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We study the zero temperature properties of the sub-Ohmic spin-boson model with quadratic spin-boson coupling. This model describes experimental setups at the optimal working point where the linear coupling between the qubit (spin) and the environmental noise (bosons) is zero and the leading coupling is quadratic. In the strong coupling regime, we find that the existence of spin induces quantum phase transitions (QPTs) between two states of environment: the normal state and a state with local distortions. The phase diagram contains both continuous and the first-order QPTs, with nontrivial critical properties obtained exactly. At the QPTs, the equilibrium state spin dynamics bears power-law \ensuremathω\ensuremath{\omega}\ensuremathω dependence in the small frequency limit and a robust coherent Rabi oscillation at high frequency. We discuss the feasibility of observing such environmental QPTs in the qubit-related experiments.
We investigate the real-time dynamics of the sub-Ohmic spin-boson model across a broad range of coupling strengths, using the numerically exact inchworm quantum Monte Carlo algorithm. From short- and intermediate-time dynamics starting from an initially decoupled state, we extract signatures of the zero-temperature quantum phase transition between localized and delocalized states. We show that the dynamical phase diagram thus obtained differs from the equilibrium phase diagram in both the values of critical couplings and the associated values of the critical exponent. We also identify and quantitatively analyze two competing mechanisms for the crossover between coherent oscillations and incoherent decay. Deep in the sub-Ohmic regime, the crossover is driven by the damping of the oscillation amplitude, while closer to the Ohmic regime the oscillation frequency itself drops sharply to zero at large coupling.
Employing the nonperturbative numerical renormalization group method, we study the dynamics of the spin-boson model, which describes a two-level system coupled to a bosonic bath with a spectral density J(omega) proportional to omega(s). We show that, in contrast with the case of Ohmic damping, the delocalized phase of the sub-Ohmic model cannot be characterized by a single energy scale only, due to the presence of a nontrivial quantum phase transition. In the strongly sub-Ohmic regime, s<<1, weakly damped coherent oscillations on short time scales are possible even in the localized phase--this is of crucial relevance, e.g., for qubits subject to electromagnetic noise.
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Quantum phase transitions (QPTs) in the spin-boson model with/without the rotating-wave approximation (RWA) are systematically investigated through variational calculations using a sub-Ohmic bath with high spectral density. Four cases involving different system-environment interactions are examined, where transition points and critical exponents are accurately determined across varying tunneling strengths. Contrary to prior work, a rich phase diagram is revealed in the tunneling-coupling plane even at the low spectral exponent s<1/2s<1/2s<1/2, with a novel U(1)-symmetric phase being identified. As coupling increases, a multi-stage QPT sequence arises for the tunneling 0<Δ<Δ∗=0.074(1)0<Δ< Δ^*=0.074(1)0<Δ<Δ∗=0.074(1), whereas a single transition occurs beyond this range. Furthermore, an odd-parity phase is found to emerge even under the positive tunneling, exhibiting distinct characteristics relative to the prototype model.
We study the spin-boson model without the counterrotating terms by a numerically exact method based on variational matrix product states. Surprisingly, the second-order quantum phase transition (QPT) is observed for the sub-Ohmic bath in the rotating-wave approximations. Moreover, first-order QPTs can also appear before the critical points. With the decrease of the bath exponents, these first-order QPTs disappear successively, while the second-order QPT remains robust. The second-order QPT is further confirmed by multi-coherent-state variational studies, while the first-order QPT is corroborated with the exact diagonalization in the truncated Hilbert space. Extension to the Ohmic bath is also performed, and many first-order QPTs appear successively in a wide coupling regime, in contrast to previous findings. The previous pictures for many physical phenomena for the spin-boson model in the rotating-wave approximation have to be modified at least at strong coupling.
The existence of the delocalized-localized quantum phase transition (QPT) in the ohmic spin-boson model has been commonly recognized. While the physics in the localized regime is relatively simple, the delocalized regime shows many interesting behaviors. Here we reveal that in this regime there exists a novel QPT: namely, from a phase without a bound state to a phase with a bound state, which leads to completely different dynamical behaviors in these two phases. If the reservoir is initially in the displaced vacuum state (i.e., the coherent state), the spin dynamics exhibits lossless oscillation when the bound state exists; otherwise, the oscillation will decay completely. This result is compatible with the coherence-incoherence transition occurring in the small-tunneling limit. Our work indicates that the QPT physics in the spin-boson model needs further exploration.