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arXiv:2101.10358 · Physical review. B./Physical review. B

Scaling of the disorder operator at (2+1)d U(1) quantum criticality

Yan-Cheng Wang, Meng Cheng, Zi Yang Meng

Published Aug 17, 2021• 40 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We study disorder operator, defined as a symmetry transformation applied to a finite region, across a continuous quantum phase transition in $(2+1)d$. We show analytically that, at a conformally invariant critical point with U(1) symmetry, the disorder operator with a small U(1) rotation angle defined on a rectangle region exhibits power-law scaling with the perimeter of the rectangle. The exponent is proportional to the current central charge of the critical theory. Such a universal scaling behavior is due to the sharp corners of the region and we further obtain a general formula for the exponent when the corner is nearly smooth. To probe the full parameter regime, we carry out systematic computation of the U(1) disorder parameter in the square lattice Bose-Hubbard model across the superfluid-insulator transition with large-scale quantum Monte Carlo simulations, and confirm the presence of the universal corner correction. The exponent of the corner term determined from numerical simulations agrees well with the analytical predictions.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.104.l081109

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We study disorder operator, defined as a symmetry transformation applied to a finite region, across a continuous quantum phase transition in (2+1)d(2+1)d(2+1)d. We show analytically that, at a conformally invariant critical point with U(1) symmetry, the disorder operator with a small U(1) rotation angle defined on a rectangle region exhibits power-law scaling with the perimeter of the rectangle. The exponent is proportional to the current central charge of the critical theory. Such a universal scaling behavior is due to the sharp corners of the region and we further obtain a general formula for the exponent when the corner is nearly smooth. To probe the full parameter regime, we carry out systematic computation of the U(1) disorder parameter in the square lattice Bose-Hubbard model across the superfluid-insulator transition with large-scale quantum Monte Carlo simulations, and confirm the presence of the universal corner correction. The exponent of the corner term determined from numerical simulations agrees well with the analytical predictions.
We study scaling behavior of the disorder parameter, defined as the expectation value of a symmetry transformation applied to a finite region, at the deconfined quantum critical point in (2+1)d in the J-Q_3 J − Q 3 model via large-scale quantum Monte Carlo simulations. We show that the disorder parameter for U(1) spin rotation symmetry exhibits perimeter scaling with a logarithmic correction associated with sharp corners of the region, as generally expected for a conformally-invariant critical point. However, for large rotation angle the universal coefficient of the logarithmic corner correction becomes negative, which is not allowed in any unitary conformal field theory. We also extract the current central charge from the small rotation angle scaling, whose value is much smaller than that of the free theory.
The disorder operator, as an easily measured nonlocal observable, displays great potential in detecting intrinsic information of field theories. It has been systematically studied in one- and two-dimensional (1D and 2D) quantum systems, while the knowledge of 3D is still limited. The disorder operator associated with U(1) global symmetry exhibits rich geometric dependence on the shape of the spatial region at a quantum critical point, meanwhile, (3+1)D is the upper critical dimension for O(N) criticality, both of which pose a challenge for exploring the disorder operator in high dimensions. In this Letter, we investigate the scaling behaviors of disorder operators in (3+1)D O(3) models through large-scale quantum Monte Carlo simulation combined with theoretical analysis. Although the upper critical dimension introduces logarithmic corrections in correlations, we analytically prove and numerically demonstrate that the corrections do not modify the universal trihedral-corner contribution of the disorder operator. The universal contributions, such as the current central charge, have been revealed in our calculation, which establishes a concrete link between lattice simulations and continuum field theory. This work opens promising directions for the experimental and numerical exploration of universal properties at quantum critical points in (3+1)D models.
The disorder-induced quantum phase transition between superfluid and nonsuperfluid states of bosonic particles in one dimension is generally expected to be of the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) type. Here, we show that hard-core lattice bosons with power-law hopping decaying with distance as $1/{r}^{\ensuremath{\alpha}}$ with a finite integral over space---corresponding in spin language to an XYXYXY model with power-law couplings---undergo a non-BKT continuous phase transition instead. We use exact quantum Monte Carlo methods to determine the phase diagram for different values of the exponent $\ensuremath{\alpha}$, focusing on the regime $\ensuremath{\alpha}>2$. We find that the scaling of the superfluid stiffness with the system size is scale invariant at the transition point for any $\ensuremath{\alpha}\ensuremath{\le}3$---a behavior incompatible with the BKT scenario and typical of continuous phase transitions in higher dimension. By a scaling analysis near the transition point, we find that our data are consistent with a correlation length exponent satisfying the Harris bound $\ensuremath{\nu}\ensuremath{\ge}2$ and demonstrate a universal behavior of disordered bosons in one dimension. For $\ensuremath{\alpha}>3$ our data are consistent with a BKT scenario where the liquid is pinned by infinitesimal disorder.
Local relevant deformations are important tool to study universal properties of quantum critical points. We investigate the effect of small relevant deformations on the bi-partite entanglement entropy at the quantum critical points. Within the quantum critical region, a universal power-law correction in the entanglement entropy induced by the relevant operator is found in both one- and two-dimensional critical lattice models. The exponent of the power-law correction term is determined by the scaling dimension of the relevant operator. Based on numerical simulations and scaling theory argument, it is conjectured that such a universal power-law correction in the entanglement entropy is universal for Lorentz invariant quantum critical points. Without Lorentz invariance, it is found the exponent in the power-law correction term does not fit in with the scaling argument in models with a dynamical exponent z=2 in two dimension. This may be because the relevant operator added in the lattice model corresponds to complicated operators in the corresponding conformal field theory. Our study provides a different perspective to extract universal information of quantum critical points. We expect it would be useful to detect unique properties of topological quantum phase transitions.
We investigate the deconfined quantum critical point (DQCP) candidate in the extended hard-core Bose-Hubbard model on the kagome lattice, employing quantum Monte Carlo simulations to study the entanglement entropy and the U(1)U(1)U(1) disorder operator. In stark contrast to findings in JJJ-QQQ models and other candidates, the universal logarithmic correction coefficients for both quantities are found to be {positive}, consistent with a unitary conformal field theory (CFT). Crucially, the current central charge CJC_JCJ​, extracted from the small-angle behavior of the disorder operator, is enhanced by a factor of approximately {4/3} compared to that of the conventional 3D O(2)O(2)O(2) Wilson-Fisher fixed point. This enhancement {implies} a consistent explanation in the recently observed low-energy excitation spectrum at this DQCP, which features {two distinct linearly dispersing modes} with a velocity ratio of approximately three. Our results provide evidence that this quantum phase transition constitutes a genuine DQCP, characterized by coexisting fractionalized excitations that collectively modify its critical properties.
We develop a nonequilibrium increment method to compute the Rényi entanglement entropy and investigate its scaling behavior at the deconfined critical (DQC) point via large-scale quantum Monte Carlo simulations. To benchmark the method, we first show that, at a conformally invariant critical point of O(3) transition, the entanglement entropy exhibits universal scaling behavior of area law with logarithmic corner corrections, and the obtained correction exponent represents the current central charge of the critical theory. Then we move on to the deconfined quantum critical point, where we still observe similar scaling behavior, but with a very different exponent. Namely, the corner correction exponent is found to be negative. Such a negative exponent is in sharp contrast with the positivity condition of the Rényi entanglement entropy, which holds for unitary conformal field theories (CFTs). Our results unambiguously reveal fundamental differences between DQC and quantum critical points described by unitary CFTs.