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arXiv:1911.01505 · Journal of Statistical Mechanics Theory and Experiment

Conformal field theory and the non-abelian SU (2) k chiral spin liquid

Thomas Quella, Abhishek Roy

Published May 1, 2020• 4 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Abstract We construct a family of 1D and 2D long-range SU (2) spin models as parent Hamiltonians associated with infinite dimensional matrix product states that arise from simple current correlation functions in SU (2) k WZW models. Our results provide a conformal field theory foundation for recent proposals by Greiter and coauthors regarding the realization of non-abelian chiral spin liquids. We explain, in particular, how the symmetrization procedure for the amplitudes of the ground state wave function suggested by Greiter M and Thomale R (2009 Phys. Rev. Lett. 102 207203) originates from the conformal field theory description.

DOI
10.1088/1742-5468/ab7c62

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•Jan 1, 2016•0 citations
Abstract We construct a family of 1D and 2D long-range SU (2) spin models as parent Hamiltonians associated with infinite dimensional matrix product states that arise from simple current correlation functions in SU (2) k WZW models. Our results provide a conformal field theory foundation for recent proposals by Greiter and coauthors regarding the realization of non-abelian chiral spin liquids. We explain, in particular, how the symmetrization procedure for the amplitudes of the ground state wave function suggested by Greiter M and Thomale R (2009 Phys. Rev. Lett. 102 207203) originates from the conformal field theory description.
We employ the SU(n)k\mathrm{SU}{(n)}_{k}SU(n)k​ Wess-Zumino-Witten (WZW) model in conformal field theory to construct lattice wave functions in both one and two dimensions. The spins on all lattice sites are chosen to transform under the SU(n)\mathrm{SU}(n)SU(n) irreducible representation with a single row and kkk boxes in the Young tableau. It is demonstrated that the wave functions can be reinterpreted as parton states, which enables efficient conversion to matrix product states, such that many physical properties can be evaluated directly. In one dimension, these wave functions describe critical spin chains whose universality classes are in one-to-one correspondence with the WZW models used in the construction. In two dimensions, our constructions yield model wave functions for chiral spin liquids, and we show how to find all topological sectors of them in a systematic way. Using the null vectors of Kac-Moody algebras, parent Hamiltonians of the SU(3)k\mathrm{SU}{(3)}_{k}SU(3)k​ series are derived. The SU(3)k\mathrm{SU}{(3)}_{k}SU(3)k​ chiral spin liquids are lattice analogs of non-Abelian spin-singlet fractional quantum Hall states, and the k=2k=2k=2 member hosts Fibonacci anyons.
We construct a parent Hamiltonian for the family of non-Abelian chiral spin liquids proposed recently by two of us [Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 207203 (2009)] which includes the Abelian chiral spin liquid proposed by Kalmeyer and Laughlin as the special case s=12s=\frac{1}{2}s=21​. As we use a circular disk geometry with an open boundary, both the annihilation operators we identify and the Hamiltonians we construct from these are exact only in the thermodynamic limit.
We propose to use null vectors in conformal field theories to derive model Hamiltonians of quantum spin chains and the corresponding ground state wavefunction(s). The approach is quite general, and we illustrate it by constructing a family of Hamiltonians whose ground states are the chiral correlators of the SU (2) k WZW model for integer values of the level k . The simplest example corresponds to k = 1 and is essentially a nonuniform generalization of the Haldane–Shastry model with long-range exchange couplings. At level k = 2, we analyse the model for N spin 1 fields. We find that the Renyi entropy and the two-point spin correlator show, respectively, logarithmic growth and algebraic decay. Furthermore, we use the null vectors to derive a set of algebraic, linear equations relating spin correlators within each model. At level k = 1, these equations allow us to compute the two-point spin correlators analytically for the finite chain uniform Haldane–Shastry model and to obtain numerical results for the nonuniform case and for higher-point spin correlators in a very simple way and without resorting to Monte Carlo techniques.
We construct 1D and 2D long-range SU(N) spin models as parent Hamiltonians associated with infinite matrix product states. The latter are constructed from correlators of primary fields in the SU(N)1 WZW model. Since the resulting groundstates are of Gutzwiller–Jastrow type, our models can be regarded as lattice discretizations of fractional quantum Hall systems. We then focus on two specific types of 1D spin chains with spins located on the unit circle, a uniform and an alternating arrangement. For an equidistant distribution of identical spins we establish an explicit connection to the SU(N) Haldane–Shastry model, thereby proving that the model is critical and described by a SU(N)1 WZW model. In contrast, while turning out to be critical as well, the alternating model can only be treated numerically. Our numerical results rely on a reformulation of the original problem in terms of loop models.
We propose 1D and 2D lattice wave functions constructed from the SU(n)1 Wess–Zumino–Witten (WZW) model and derive their parent Hamiltonians. When all spins in the lattice transform under SU(n) fundamental representations, we obtain a two-body Hamiltonian in 1D, including the SU(n) Haldane–Shastry model as a special case. In 2D, we show that the wave function converges to a class of Halperin's multilayer fractional quantum Hall states and belongs to chiral spin liquids. Our result reveals a hidden SU(n) symmetry for this class of Halperin states. When the spins sit on bipartite lattices with alternating fundamental and conjugate representations, we provide numerical evidence that the state in 1D exhibits quantum criticality deviating from the expected behaviors of the SU(n)1 WZW model, while in 2D they are chiral spin liquids being consistent with the prediction of the SU(n)1 WZW model.