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arXiv:1701.05878 · Physical review. B./Physical review. B

Haldane topological orders in Motzkin spin chains

Luca Barbiero, Luca Dell’Anna, Andrea Trombettoni, V. E. Korepin

Published Nov 8, 2017• 20 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Motzkin spin chains are frustration-free models whose ground state is a combination of Motzkin paths. The weight of such path contributions can be controlled by a deformation parameter $t$. As a function of the latter, these models, besides the formation of domain wall structures, exhibit gapped Haldane topological orders with a constant decay of string order parameters for $t<1$. A behavior compatible with a Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless phase transition at $t=1$ is also presented. By means of numerical calculations we show that the topological properties of the Haldane phases depend on the spin value. This allows one to classify different kinds of hidden antiferromagnetic Haldane gapped regimes associated with nontrivial features such as symmetry-protected topological order. On one hand, our results allow one to clarify the physical properties of Motzkin frustration-free chains, and on the other hand, suggest them as an interesting and paradigmatic class of local spin Hamiltonians.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.96.180404

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Motzkin spin chains are frustration-free models whose ground state is a combination of Motzkin paths. The weight of such path contributions can be controlled by a deformation parameter ttt. As a function of the latter, these models, besides the formation of domain wall structures, exhibit gapped Haldane topological orders with a constant decay of string order parameters for t<1t<1t<1. A behavior compatible with a Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless phase transition at t=1t=1t=1 is also presented. By means of numerical calculations we show that the topological properties of the Haldane phases depend on the spin value. This allows one to classify different kinds of hidden antiferromagnetic Haldane gapped regimes associated with nontrivial features such as symmetry-protected topological order. On one hand, our results allow one to clarify the physical properties of Motzkin frustration-free chains, and on the other hand, suggest them as an interesting and paradigmatic class of local spin Hamiltonians.
The Motzkin and Fredkin chains are frustration-free spin models with exactly solvable ground states whose q q -deformations realize an exotic quantum phase transition from a disordered phase to an ordered one under domain-wall boundary conditions. Previous work has mainly focused on their entanglement scaling and spectral gaps, particularly in color-enriched variants. Here we systematically characterize the critical behavior of this transition with three main advances. First, we interpret bulk magnetic order as arising from correlations with boundary spins subject to an effective edge field, directly relating the ordered phase to the domain-wall boundary condition. Second, using the transfer matrix (TM) constructed from the exact matrix product state (MPS) representation, together with a continuum and RG analysis, we derive the algebraic decay of spin correlations and obtain the critical exponent \eta = \frac{3}{2} η = 3 2 . We further generalize the TM method to translationally invariant gapless states with generic power-law correlations, via a zero-dimensional Hamiltonian dual to the one-dimensional TM. Third, the TM spectrum reveals a duality between the ordered and disordered phases which, combined with scale invariance at criticality and the scaling dimension of the spin operator, yields \nu_± = \frac{2}{3} ν ± = 2 3 from an RG analysis of the q q -deformed ground states. Both exponents are confirmed numerically by MPS simulations and by direct diagonalization of the TM.
Dimerized antiferromagnetic spin-1/2 chains and ladders demonstrate quantum critical phase transition, the existence or absence of which is dependent on the dimerization and the dimerization pattern of the chain and the ladder, respectively. The gapped phases can not be distinguished by the conventional Landau long-range order parameters. However, they possess non-local topological string order parameters which can be used to classify different phases. We utilize the self-consistent free fermionic approximation and some standard results for exactly solved models to analytically calculate the string order parameters of dimerized spin chains. As a complement parameter the gapped phases possess the topological number, called the winding number and they are characterized by different integer values of the winding number. In order to calculate the string order parameters and winding numbers in dimerized spin chains and two-leg ladders we use analytical methods such as the Jordan-Wigner transformation, mean-field approximation, duality transformations, and some standard results available for the exactly 1D solve models. It is shown that the winding number provides the complementary framework to the string order parameter to characterize the topological gapped phases.
The antiferromagnetic Heisenberg spin chain with integer spin has a short-range magnetic order and an excitation energy gap above the ground state. This so-called Haldane gap is proportional to the exchange coupling constant J of the Heisenberg chain. In this study, we discuss recent results about the spin dependence of the Haldane gap and conjecture an analytical formula valid asymptotically for large spin values. We then discuss the robustness of the edge states of the spin-1 chain by studying a spin-1 ladder using the density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) algorithm. We show that the peculiar hidden topological order of the spin-1 chain disappears smoothly by increasing the ladder rung coupling without any intervening phase transition. This is evidence for the fragile character of the topological order of the spin-1 chain.
We study symmetric gapped ground states of one-dimensional spin SSS chains with a continuous exponential symmetry U(1)⋊Z2U(1)\rtimes\mathbb Z_2U(1)⋊Z2​ with integer base qqq, where the U(1) charge has a modulated unit of charge qL−jq^{L-j}qL−j decaying exponentially with site jjj. The simplest model is a quantum breakdown model that can be viewed as a qqq-deformation of the XXZ Haldane spin chain. We show that the topology of their symmetric ground states crucially depends on SSS and qqq. For integer SSS, odd qqq allows a nontrivial Z2\mathbb Z_2Z2​ Haldane-type symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phase with protected edge modes, while even qqq allows no nontrivial SPT phase. For half-odd integer SSS, odd qqq prohibits any unique symmetric gapped ground state due to a Lieb-Schultz-Mattis obstruction, whereas even qqq enforces a novel symmetric gapped phase which we name as the ``half-SPT" phase. Unconventionally, the half-SPT phase only has a symmetry protected edge mode on one edge, and has half of the string orders of an SPT phase. Our results uncover a new type of symmetry-protected gapped phases beyond existing classification schemes.
We analyzed quantum phase transitions in the antiferromagnetic dimerized spin-1/2 XY chain and two-leg ladders. Their gapped phases possess distinct nonlocal string order parameters (SOPs) and the hidden symmetry breaking in each phase is identified. After mapping of the original spin Hamiltonians onto the tight-binding models with Dirac or Majorana fermions and the mean-field approximation (for ladders), the essential physics of nonlocal orders can be grasped analytically. By utilizing duality transformations the calculation of SOPs is mapped onto the local order problem in some dual representation and done without further approximations. The phases with hidden orders can also be distinguished by topological winding numbers. The latter provide a complimentary description. Our main result is the framework to treat nonlocal orders and hidden symmetries which unifies the key elements of the Landau paradigm with the new concept of topological order. This unified framework can be straightforwardly applied for spin chain and ladders, topological insulators and superconductors. Applications of this theory to other systems are under way.
We investigate the two-leg Hubbard model with diagonal hopping to explore the interplay between geometrical frustration and strong electron-electron interactions. Using the Density Matrix Renormalization Group (DMRG) method, we demonstrate the emergence of a topological Haldane phase, which results explicitly from the complementary effects of diagonal hopping-induced frustration and strong on-site Coulomb repulsion. The topological phase transition from a trivial insulator to the nontrivial Haldane phase is characterized by significant changes in magnetic properties, edge correlations, and the appearance of a nonzero string order parameter. Furthermore, we confirm the topological nature of this phase through a detailed analysis of the spin gap and entanglement spectrum, demonstrating clear signatures of symmetry-protected topological order.