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arXiv:1710.02654

Duality of deconfined quantum critical point in two dimensional Dirac semimetals

Jiang Zhou, Ya-Jie Wu, Su-Peng Kou

Published Oct 7, 2017• 0 citations
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Abstract

In this paper we discuss the N$\acute{e}$el and Kekul$\acute{e}$ valence bond solids quantum criticality in graphene Dirac semimetal. Considering the quartic four-fermion interaction $g(\barψ_iΓ_{ij}ψ_j)^2$ that contains spin,valley, and sublattice degrees of freedom in the continuum field theory, we find the microscopic symmetry is spontaneously broken when the coupling $g$ is greater than a critical value $g_c$. The symmetry breaking gaps out the fermion and leads to semimetal-insulator transition. All possible quartic fermion-bilinear interactions give rise to the uniform critical coupling, which exhibits the multicritical point for various orders and the Landau-forbidden quantum critical point. We also investigate the typical critical point between N$\acute{e}$el and Kekul$\acute{e}$ valence bond solid transition when the symmetry is broken. The quantum criticality is captured by the Wess-Zumino-Witten term and there exist a mutual-duality for N$\acute{e}$el-Kekul$\acute{e}$ VBS order. We show the emergent spinon in the N$\acute{e}$el-Kekul$\acute{e}$ VBS transition , from which we conclude the phase transition is a deconfined quantum critical point. Additionally, the connection between the index theorem and zero energy mode bounded by the topological defect in the Kekul$\acute{e}$ VBS phase is studied to reveal the N$\acute{e}$el-Kekul$\acute{e}$ VBS duality.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.1710.02654

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In this paper we discuss the Neˊ\acute{e}eˊel and Kekuleˊ\acute{e}eˊ valence bond solids quantum criticality in graphene Dirac semimetal. Considering the quartic four-fermion interaction g(ψˉiΓijψj)2g(\barψ_iΓ_{ij}ψ_j)^2g(ψˉ​i​Γij​ψj​)2 that contains spin,valley, and sublattice degrees of freedom in the continuum field theory, we find the microscopic symmetry is spontaneously broken when the coupling ggg is greater than a critical value gcg_cgc​. The symmetry breaking gaps out the fermion and leads to semimetal-insulator transition. All possible quartic fermion-bilinear interactions give rise to the uniform critical coupling, which exhibits the multicritical point for various orders and the Landau-forbidden quantum critical point. We also investigate the typical critical point between Neˊ\acute{e}eˊel and Kekuleˊ\acute{e}eˊ valence bond solid transition when the symmetry is broken. The quantum criticality is captured by the Wess-Zumino-Witten term and there exist a mutual-duality for Neˊ\acute{e}eˊel-Kekuleˊ\acute{e}eˊ VBS order. We show the emergent spinon in the Neˊ\acute{e}eˊel-Kekuleˊ\acute{e}eˊ VBS transition , from which we conclude the phase transition is a deconfined quantum critical point. Additionally, the connection between the index theorem and zero energy mode bounded by the topological defect in the Kekuleˊ\acute{e}eˊ VBS phase is studied to reveal the Neˊ\acute{e}eˊel-Kekuleˊ\acute{e}eˊ VBS duality.
Quantum criticality is closely related to the existence of two phases with unrelated symmetry breaking. In this paper, we study Néel and Kekulé valence bond state (VBS) quantum criticality in Dirac semimetals with four-fermion interactions. Our results show that all possible dynamical masses yield the same critical coupling, which exhibits the phenomenon that all possible phases meet at a multicritical point (e.g., a tricritical point for the Néel, Kekulé-VBS and semimetallic phases). In terms of the well-established Wess–Zumino–Witten field theory, we investigate the typical criticality for the transition between Néel and Kekulé-VBS phases, and the compatible Néel–Kekulé-VBS mass matrices imply the existence of a non-Landau transition between the Néel and Kekulé-VBS phases. We show the existence of mutual duality in the defect-driven Néel–Kekulé-VBS transition near the non-Landau critical point and find that this mutual duality results from the presence of a mutual Chern–Simons term. We also study the mutual duality based on dual topological excitations.
In this paper we investigate the nature of quantum phase transitions between two-dimensional Dirac semimetals and Z3{Z}_{3}Z3​-ordered phases (e.g., Kekule valence-bond solid), where cubic terms of the order parameter are allowed in the quantum Landau-Ginzberg theory and the transitions are putatively first order. From large-NNN renormalization-group (RG) analysis, we find that fermion-induced quantum critical points (FIQCPs) [Z.-X. Li et al., Nat. Commun. 8, 314 (2017)] occur when NNN (the number of flavors of four-component Dirac fermions) is larger than a critical value Nc{N}_{c}Nc​. Remarkably, from the knowledge of space-time supersymmetry, we obtain an exact lower bound for Nc{N}_{c}Nc​, i.e., Nc>1/2{N}_{c}>1/2Nc​>1/2. (Here the ``1/2'' flavor of four-component Dirac fermions is equivalent to one flavor of four-component Majorana fermions). Moreover, we show that the emergence of two length scales is a typical phenomenon of FIQCPs and obtain two different critical exponents, i.e., $\ensuremath{\nu}\ensuremath{\ne}{\ensuremath{\nu}}^{\ensuremath{'}}$, by large-NNN RG calculations. We further give a brief discussion of possible experimental realizations of FIQCPs.
We study a number of quantum phase transitions, which are exotic in their nature and separates non-trivial phases of matter. Since quantum fluctuations, which drive these phase transitions, are stronger in low-dimensions, we concentrate on low-dimensional systems. We consider two different two-dimensional systems in this thesis and study their phase transition. \n\nFirst, we investigate a phase transition in graphene, one of the most famous two-dimensional systems in condensed matter. For a suspended bilayer graphene in ν = 0 quantum Hall regime, the conductivity data and mean-field analysis suggests a phase transition from an antiferromagnetic (AF) state to a valence bond solid (VBS) state, when perpendicular electric field is increased. This AF to VBS phase transition is reminiscent of deconfined criticality, which is a novel phase transition that cannot be explained by Landau’s theory of symmetry breaking. We show that in the strong coupling regime of bilayer graphene, the AF state is destabilized by the transverse electric field, likely resulting in a VBS state. We also consider monolayer and bilayer graphene in the large cyclotron gap limit and show that the effective action for the AF and VBS order parameters have a topological Wess-Zumino-Witten term, supporting that the phase transition observed in experiments is in the deconfined criticality class. \n\nSecond, we study the model systems of cuprate superconductor, which is effectively a two-dimensionalal system in the CuO_2 plane. The proposal that the pseudogap metal is a fractionalized Fermi liquid described by a quantum dimer model is extended using the density matrix renormalization group. Measuring the Friedel oscillations in the open boundaries reveals that the fermionic dimers have dispersion minima near (π/2,π/2), which is compatible with the Fermi arcs in photoemission. Moreover, investigating the entanglement entropy suggests that the dimer model with low fermion density is similar to the free fermion system above the Lifshitz transition. We also study the phase transition from a metal with SU(2) spin symmetry to an AF metal. By applying the functional renormalization group to the two-band spin-fermion model, we establish the existence of a strongly coupled fixed point and calculate critical exponents of the fixed point.
An extended Hubbard model on a honeycomb lattice with two orbitals per site at charge neutrality is investigated with unbiased large-scale quantum Monte Carlo simulations. The Fermi velocity of the Dirac fermions is renormalized as the cluster charge interaction increases, until a mass term emerges and a quantum phase transition from Dirac semimetal to valence bond solid (VBS) insulator is established. The quantum critical point is discovered to belong to the 3D N=4 Gross-Neveu chiral XY universality with the critical exponents obtained at high precision. Further enhancement of the interaction drives the system into two different VBS phases, the properties and transition between them are also revealed. Since the model is related to magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene, our results may have relevance towards the symmetry breaking order at the charge neutrality point of the material, and associate the wide range of universal strange metal behavior around it with quantum critical fluctuations.
A unified theory of quantum critical points beyond the conventional Landau-Ginzburg-Wilson paradigm remains unknown. According to Landau cubic criterion, phase transitions should be first-order when cubic terms of order parameters are allowed by symmetry in the Landau-Ginzburg free energy. Here, from renormalization group analysis, we show that second-order quantum phase transitions can occur at such putatively first-order transitions in interacting two-dimensional Dirac semimetals. As such type of Landau-forbidden quantum critical points are induced by gapless fermions, we call them fermion-induced quantum critical points. We further introduce a microscopic model of SU(N) fermions on the honeycomb lattice featuring a transition between Dirac semimetals and Kekule valence bond solids. Remarkably, our large-scale sign-problem-free Majorana quantum Monte Carlo simulations show convincing evidences of a fermion-induced quantum critical points for N = 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, consistent with the renormalization group analysis. We finally discuss possible experimental realizations of the fermion-induced quantum critical points in graphene and graphene-like materials.Quantum phase transitions are governed by Landau-Ginzburg theory and the exceptions are rare. Here, Li et al. propose a type of Landau-forbidden quantum critical points induced by gapless fermions in two-dimensional Dirac semimetals.
We investigate the ground state phase diagram of an extended Hubbard model with a $\ensuremath{\pi}$-flux hopping term at half filling on a square lattice, with unbiased large-scale auxiliary-field quantum Monte Carlo simulations. As a function of interaction strength, there emerges an intermediate phase which realizes two interaction-driven quantum critical points, with the first between the Dirac semimetal and an insulating phase of weak valence bond solid (VBS) order, and the second separating the VBS order and an antiferromagnetic insulating phase. These intriguing quantum critical points are respectively bestowed with Gross-Neveu and deconfined quantum criticalities, and the critical exponents ${\ensuremath{\eta}}_{\text{VBS}}=0.6(1)$ and ${\ensuremath{\eta}}_{\text{AFM}}=0.58(3)$ at a deconfined quantum critical point satisfy the conformal field theory bootstrap bound. We also investigate the dynamical properties of the spin excitation and find the spin gap open near the first transition and closed at the second. The relevance of our findings in realizing deconfined quantum criticality in fermion systems and the implication to lattice models with further extended interactions such as those in quantum moir\'e systems, are discussed.