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arXiv:2101.01724

Fractonic critical point proximate to a higher-order topological insulator: How does UV blend with IR?

Yizhi You, Julian Bibo, Taylor L. Hughes, Frank Pollmann

Published Jan 5, 2021• 14 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We propose an unconventional topological quantum phase transition connecting a higher-order topological insulator (HOTI) and a featureless Mott insulator sharing the same symmetry patterns. We construct an effective theory description of the quantum critical point (QCP) by combining a bosonization approach and the coupled-stripe construction of 1D critical spin ladders. The phase transition theory is characterized by a critical dipole liquid theory with subsystem $U(1)$ symmetry whose low energy modes contain a Bose surface along the $k_x,k_y$ axis. Such a quantum critical point manifests fracton dynamics and the breakdown of the area law entanglement entropy due to the existence of a Bose surface. We numerically confirm our findings by measuring the entanglement entropy, topological rank-2 Berry phase, and the static structure factor throughout the topological transition and compare it with our previous approach obtained from the percolation picture. A significant new element of our phase transition theory is that the infrared~(IR) effective theory is controlled by short wave-length fluctuations with peculiar UV-IR mixing.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.2101.01724

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We propose an unconventional topological quantum phase transition connecting a higher-order topological insulator (HOTI) and a featureless Mott insulator sharing the same symmetry patterns. We construct an effective theory description of the quantum critical point (QCP) by combining a bosonization approach and the coupled-stripe construction of 1D critical spin ladders. The phase transition theory is characterized by a critical dipole liquid theory with subsystem U(1)U(1)U(1) symmetry whose low energy modes contain a Bose surface along the kx,kyk_x,k_ykx​,ky​ axis. Such a quantum critical point manifests fracton dynamics and the breakdown of the area law entanglement entropy due to the existence of a Bose surface. We numerically confirm our findings by measuring the entanglement entropy, topological rank-2 Berry phase, and the static structure factor throughout the topological transition and compare it with our previous approach obtained from the percolation picture. A significant new element of our phase transition theory is that the infrared~(IR) effective theory is controlled by short wave-length fluctuations with peculiar UV-IR mixing.
We propose an unconventional topological quantum phase transition connecting a higher-order topological insulator (HOTI) and a featureless Mott insulator sharing the same symmetry patterns. We delineate the effective theory description of the quantum critical point (QCP) by combining the bosonization approach and the coupled-stripe construction of 1D critical spin ladders. The phase transition theory is characterized by a critical dipole liquid theory with subsystem U(1)U(1)U(1) symmetry whose low energy modes contain a Bose surface along the kx,kyk_x,k_ykx​,ky​ axis. Such a quantum critical point manifests fracton dynamics and the breakdown of the area law entanglement entropy due to the existence of a Bose surface. We numerically confirm this finding by measuring the entanglement entropy, topological Berry phase, and the static structure factor throughout the topological transition and compare it with our previous approach obtained from the percolation picture. A significant new element of our phase transition theory is that the infrared (IR) effective theory is controlled by short wave-length fluctuation with peculiar UV-IR mixing.
We propose an unconventional topological quantum phase transition between a higher-order topological insulator (HOTI) and a featureless Mott insulator, both sharing the same symmetry patterns. Our approach constructs an effective theory for the quantum critical point (QCP) by combining a bosonization technique with the coupled-stripe construction of 1D critical spin ladders. This phase transition is characterized by a critical dipole liquid theory with subsystem (1) symmetry, where the low-energy modes contain a Bose surface along the axis. This quantum critical point exhibits fracton dynamics and a breakdown of the area law for entanglement entropy, attributed to the presence of the Bose surface. We numerically validate our findings by measuring the entanglement entropy, topological rank-2 Berry phase, and static structure factor throughout the topological transition, comparing these results with our previous approach derived from the percolation picture. A significant new aspect of our phase transition theory is that the infrared (IR) effective theory is governed by short-wavelength fluctuations, demonstrating a unique UV-IR mixing.
The theory of quantum phase transitions separating different phases with distinct symmetry patterns at zero temperature is one of the foundations of modern quantum many-body physics. Here we demonstrate that the existence of a two-dimensional topological phase transition between a higher-order topological insulator (HOTI) and a trivial Mott insulator with the same symmetry eludes this paradigm. We present a theory of this quantum critical point (QCP) driven by the fluctuations and percolation of the domain walls between a HOTI and a trivial Mott insulator region. Due to the spinon zero modes that decorate the rough corners of the domain walls, the fluctuations of the phase boundaries trigger a spinon-dipole hopping term with fracton dynamics. Hence we find that the QCP is characterized by a critical dipole liquid theory with subsystem U(1) symmetry and the breakdown of the area law entanglement entropy which exhibits a logarithmic enhancement: Lln(L)Lln(L)Lln(L). Using the density matrix renormalization group method, we analyze the dipole stiffness together with the structure factor at the QCP, which provides strong evidence of a critical dipole liquid with a Bose surface, UV-IR mixing, and a dispersion relation $\ensuremath{\omega}={k}_{x}{k}_{y}.$
The theory of quantum phase transitions separating different phases with distinct symmetry patterns at zero temperature is one of the foundations of modern quantum many-body physics. In this paper we demonstrate that the existence of a 2D topological phase transition between a higher-order topological insulator (HOTI) and a trivial Mott insulator with the same symmetry eludes this paradigm. We present a theory of this quantum critical point (QCP) driven by the fluctuations and percolation of the domain walls between a HOTI and a trivial Mott insulator region. Due to the spinon zero modes that decorate the rough corners of the domain walls, the fluctuations of the phase boundaries trigger a spinon-dipole hopping term with fracton dynamics. Hence we find the QCP is characterized by a critical dipole liquid theory with subsystem U(1)U(1)U(1) symmetry and the breakdown of the area law entanglement entropy which exhibits a logarithmic enhancement: Lln⁡(L)L \ln(L)Lln(L). Using the density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) method, we analyze the dipole stiffness together with structure factor at the QCP which provide strong evidence of a critical dipole liquid with a Bose surface. These numerical signatures further support the fracton dynamics of the QCP, and suggest a new paradigm for 2D quantum criticality proximate to a topological phase.
We consider close-packed tiling models of geometric objects---a mixture of hardcore dimers and plaquettes---as a generalization of the familiar dimer models. Specifically, on an anisotropic cubic lattice, we demand that each site be covered by either a dimer on a zzz link or a plaquette in the $x\text{\ensuremath{-}}y$ plane. The space of such fully packed tilings has an extensive degeneracy. This maps onto a fracton-type ``higher-rank electrostatics,'' which can exhibit a plaquette-dimer liquid and an ordered phase. We analyze this theory in detail, using height representations and T-duality to demonstrate that the concomitant phase transition occurs due to the proliferation of dipoles formed by defect pairs. The resultant critical theory can be considered as a fracton version of the Kosterlitz-Thouless transition. A significant new element is its UV-IR mixing, where the low-energy behavior of the liquid phase and the transition out of it is dominated by local (short-wavelength) fluctuations, rendering the critical phenomenon beyond the renormalization group paradigm.
Symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phases host gapless surface states that are robust against weak, symmetry-preserving interactions. However, strong interactions can drive spontaneous breaking of the protecting symmetries, leading to gapped ordered surfaces. The phase boundary separating the gapless and ordered phases can host exotic conformal field theory states/universality classes typically not observed in conventional quantum phase transitions. We refer to these exotic quantum critical states as surface topological quantum critical points (sTQCPs). In this dissertation, we study attractive interaction-driven quantum criticality on the surface of three-dimensional topological insulators, a class of SPT phases hosting Dirac fermion surface states. When multiple Dirac cones are present, the interaction parameter space becomes intrinsically multi-dimensional, and the phase boundary separating the gapless and ordered phases forms a continuous manifold. Using renormalization group (RG) analysis, we show that in the limit of suppressed quantum fluctuations, the universality of this phase boundary is governed by conformal manifolds: continuous families of interacting conformal field theories characterized by exactly marginal operators. These manifolds are featureless in the sense that they host a single universality class. Their emergence is traced to continuous symmetries of the RG equations that are otherwise absent in the interaction Hamiltonian. We further demonstrate that higher-order quantum fluctuations break these emergent symmetries, fragmenting the conformal manifolds into isolated fixed points of varying infrared stabilities. Remarkably, we find that along the RG flow within the manifold, an EPR-like entanglement entropy in fermion flavor space always increases. Infrared stable conformal field theories correspond to maximally entangled interaction operators, while weakly entangled fixed points are unstable. These results establish the central role of entangled conformal operators and their entropy in shaping the universality classes of sTQCPs. Finally, we propose an experimentally accessible route to realizing surface quantum criticality by coupling a topological insulator surface to a metallic thin film. Strong electron–phonon interactions in the metal mediate effective attractive interactions between surface Dirac fermions, enhanced via a quantum-well resonance mechanism, providing a concrete pathway for accessing sTQCP physics in real materials.