I study the universal finite-size scaling function for the lowest gap of the quantum Ising chain with a one-parameter family of defect'' boundary conditions, which includes periodic, open, and antiperiodic boundary conditions as special cases. The universal behavior can be described by the Majorana fermion field theory in $1+1$ dimensions, with the mass proportional to the deviation from the critical point. Although the field theory appears to be symmetric with respect to the inversion of the mass (Kramers-Wannier duality), the actual gap is asymmetric, reflecting the spontaneous symmetry breaking in the ordered phase which leads to the two-fold ground-state degeneracy in the thermodynamic limit. The asymptotic ground-state degeneracy in the ordered phase is realized by (i) formation of a bound state at the defect (except for the periodic/antiperiodic boundary condition) and (ii) effective reversal of the fermion number parity in one of the sectors (except for the open boundary condition), resulting in a rather nontrivial crossover phase'' diagram in the space of the boundary condition (defect strength) and mass.
We study finite-size effects at first-order quantum transitions (FOQTs). We show that the low-energy properties show a finite-size scaling (FSS) behavior, the relevant scaling variable being the ratio of the energy associated with the perturbation driving the transition and the finite-size energy gap at the FOQT point. The size dependence of the scaling variable is therefore essentially determined by the size dependence of the gap at the transition, which in turn depends on the boundary conditions. Our results have broad validity and, in particular, apply to any FOQT characterized by the degeneracy and crossing of the two lowest-energy states in the infinite-volume limit. In this case, a phenomenological two-level theory provides exact expressions for the scaling functions. Numerical results for the quantum Ising chain in transverse and parallel magnetic fields support the FSS Ansätzes.
The nondivergence of the generalized Grüneisen ratio (GR) at a quantum critical point (QCP) has been proposed to be a universal thermodynamic signature of self-duality. We study how the Kramers–Wannier-type self-duality manifests itself in the finite-size scaling behavior of thermodynamic quantities in the quantum critical regime. While the self-duality cannot be realized as a unitary transformation in the total Hilbert space for the Hamiltonian with the periodic boundary condition, it can be implemented in certain symmetry sectors with proper boundary conditions. Therefore, the GR and the transverse magnetization of the one-dimensional transverse-field Ising model exhibit different finite-size scaling behaviors in different sectors. This implies that the numerical diagnosis of self-dual QCP requires identification of the proper symmetry sectors.
The twofold twist defects in the
D(Zk) quantum double model (Abelian topological phase) carry non-Abelian fractional Majorana-like characteristics. We align these twist defects in a line and construct a one-dimensional Hamiltonian which only includes the pairwise interaction. For the defect chain with an even number of twist defects, it is equivalent to the
Zk clock model with a periodic boundary condition (up to some phase factor for the boundary term), while for the odd number case, it maps to the
Zk clock model with a duality twisted boundary condition. At the critical point, for both cases, the twist defect chain enjoys an additional translation symmetry, which corresponds to the Kramers-Wannier duality symmetry in the
Zk clock model and can be generated by a series of braiding operators for twist defects. We further numerically investigate the low energy excitation spectrum for
k=3,4,5, and 6. For the even-defect chain, the critical points are the same as the
Zk clock conformal field theories (CFTs), while for the odd-defect chain, when $k\ensuremath{\ne}4$, the critical points correspond to orbifolding a
Z2 symmetry of CFTs of the even-defect chain. For
k=4 case, we numerically observe some similarity to the
Z4 twist fields in the
SU(2)1/D4 orbifold CFT.
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.
We present a detailed study of the finite one-dimensional quantum Ising chain in a transverse field in the presence of boundary magnetic fields coupled with the order-parameter spin operator. We consider two magnetic fields located at the boundaries of the chain that have the same strength and that are aligned in the same or in the opposite direction. We derive analytic expressions for the gap in all phases for large values of the chain length L , as a function of the boundary field strength. We also investigate the behaviour of the chain in the quantum ferromagnetic phase for oppositely aligned fields, focusing on the magnet-to-kink transition that occurs at a finite value of the magnetic field strength. At this transition we compute analytically the finite-size crossover functions for the gap, the magnetisation profile, the two-point correlation function, and the density of fermionic modes. As the magnet-to-kink transition is equivalent to the wetting transition in two-dimensional classical Ising models, our results provide new analytic predictions for the finite-size behaviour of Ising systems in a strip geometry at this transition.
We introduce topological invariants for gapless systems and study the associated boundary phenomena.More generally, the symmetry properties of the low-energy conformal field theory (CFT) provide discrete invariants establishing the notion of symmetry-enriched quantum criticality.The charges of nonlocal scaling operators, or more generally, of symmetry defects, are topological and imply the presence of localized edge modes.We primarily focus on the 1 þ 1d case where the edge has a topological degeneracy, whose finite-size splitting can be exponential or algebraic in system size depending on the involvement of additional gapped sectors.An example of the exponential case is given by tuning the spin-1 Heisenberg chain to a symmetry-breaking Ising phase.An example of the algebraic case arises between the gapped Ising and cluster phases: This symmetry-enriched Ising CFT has an edge mode with finite-size splitting scaling as 1=L 14 .In addition to such new cases, our formalism unifies various examples previously studied in the literature.Similar to gapped symmetry-protected topological phases, a given CFT can split into several distinct symmetry-enriched CFTs.This raises the question of classification, to which we give a partial answer-including a complete characterization of symmetry-enriched 1 þ 1d Ising CFTs.Nontrivial topological invariants can also be constructed in higher dimensions, which we illustrate for a symmetry-enriched 2 þ 1d CFT without gapped sectors.