We study the phase diagram and critical properties of quantum Ising chains with long-range ferromagnetic interactions decaying in a power-law fashion with exponent α \\alpha , in regimes of direct interest for current trapped ion experiments. Using large-scale path integral Monte Carlo simulations, we investigate both the ground-state and the nonzero-temperature regimes. We identify the phase boundary of the ferromagnetic phase and obtain accurate estimates for the ferromagnetic-paramagnetic transition temperatures. We further determine the critical exponents of the respective transitions. Our results are in agreement with existing predictions for interaction exponents α > 1 \\alpha > 1 up to small deviations in some critical exponents. We also address the elusive regime α < 1 \\alpha < 1 , where we find that the universality class of both the ground-state and nonzero-temperature transition is consistent with the mean-field limit at α = 0 \\alpha = 0 . Our work not only contributes to the understanding of the equilibrium properties of long-range interacting quantum Ising models, but can also be important for addressing fundamental dynamical aspects, such as issues concerning the open question of thermalization in such models.
We study the phase diagram and critical properties of quantum Ising chains with long-range ferromagnetic interactions decaying in a power-law fashion with exponent α \alpha , in regimes of direct interest for current trapped ion experiments. Using large-scale path integral Monte Carlo simulations, we investigate both the ground-state and the nonzero-temperature regimes. We identify the phase boundary of the ferromagnetic phase and obtain accurate estimates for the ferromagnetic-paramagnetic transition temperatures. We further determine the critical exponents of the respective transitions. Our results are in agreement with existing predictions for interaction exponents α > 1 \alpha > 1 up to small deviations in some critical exponents. We also address the elusive regime α < 1 \alpha < 1 , where we find that the universality class of both the ground-state and nonzero-temperature transition is consistent with the mean-field limit at α = 0 \alpha = 0 . Our work not only contributes to the understanding of the equilibrium properties of long-range interacting quantum Ising models, but can also be important for addressing fundamental dynamical aspects, such as issues concerning the open question of thermalization in such models.
We analyze the quantum phase transitions taking place in a one-dimensional transverse-field Ising model with long-range couplings that decay algebraically with distance. We are interested in the Kibble-Zurek universal scaling laws emerging in nonequilibrium dynamics and in the potential for the unambiguous observation of such behavior in a realistic experimental setup based on trapped ions. To this end, we determine the phase diagram of the model and the critical exponents characterizing its quantum phase transitions by means of density-matrix renormalization group calculations and finite-size scaling theory, which allows us to obtain good estimates for different range of ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic interactions. Beyond critical equilibrium properties, we tackle a nonequilibrium scenario in which quantum Kibble-Zurek scaling laws may be retrieved. Here, it is found that the predicted nonequilibrium universal behavior, i.e., the scaling laws as a function of the quench rate and critical exponents, can be observed in systems comprising an experimentally feasible number of spins. Finally, a scheme is introduced to simulate the algebraically decaying couplings accurately by means of a digital quantum simulation with trapped ions. Our results suggest that quantum Kibble-Zurek physics can be explored and observed in state-of-the-art experiments with trapped ions realizing long-range Ising models.
The quantum-critical properties of the transverse-field Ising model with algebraically decaying interactions are investigated by means of stochastic series expansion quantum Monte Carlo, on both the one-dimensional linear chain and the two-dimensional square lattice. We extract the critical exponents $\ensuremath{\nu}$ and $\ensuremath{\beta}$ as a function of the decay exponent of the long-range interactions. For ferromagnetic Ising interactions, we resolve the limiting regimes known from field theory, ranging from the nearest-neighbor Ising to the long-range Gaussian universality classes, as well as the intermediate regime with continuously varying critical exponents. In the long-range Gaussian regime, we treat the effect of dangerous irrelevant variables on finite-size scaling forms. For antiferromagnetic and therefore competing Ising interactions, the stochastic series expansion algorithm displays growing autocorrelation times leading to a reduced performance. Nevertheless, our results are consistent with the nearest-neighbor Ising universality for all investigated interaction ranges both on the linear chain and the square lattice.
We theoretically study the dynamics of a transverse-field Ising chain with power-law decaying interactions characterized by an exponent α, which can be experimentally realized in ion traps. We focus on two classes of emergent dynamical critical phenomena following a quantum quench from a ferromagnetic initial state: The first one manifests in the time-averaged order parameter, which vanishes at a critical transverse field. We argue that such a transition occurs only for long-range interactions α≤2. The second class corresponds to the emergence of time-periodic singularities in the return probability to the ground-state manifold which is obtained for all values of α and agrees with the order parameter transition for α≤2. We characterize how the two classes of nonequilibrium criticality correspond to each other and give a physical interpretation based on the symmetry of the time-evolved quantum states.
We analyze the quantum phases, correlation functions and edge modes for a class of spin-1/2 and fermionic models related to the one-dimensional Ising chain in the presence of a transverse field. These models are the Ising chain with anti-ferromagnetic long-range interactions that decay with distance r as 1 / r α , as well as a related class of fermionic Hamiltonians that generalize the Kitaev chain, where both the hopping and pairing terms are long-range and their relative strength can be varied. For these models, we provide the phase diagram for all exponents α , based on an analysis of the entanglement entropy, the decay of correlation functions, and the edge modes in the case of open chains. We demonstrate that violations of the area law can occur for α ≲ 1 , while connected correlation functions can decay with a hybrid exponential and power-law behavior, with a power that is α -dependent. Interestingly, for the fermionic models we provide an exact analytical derivation for the decay of the correlation functions at every α . Along the critical lines, for all models breaking of conformal symmetry is argued at low enough α . For the fermionic models we show that the edge modes, massless for α ≳ 1 , can acquire a mass for α < 1 . The mass of these modes can be tuned by varying the relative strength of the kinetic and pairing terms in the Hamiltonian. Interestingly, for the Ising chain a similar edge localization appears for the first and second excited states on the paramagnetic side of the phase diagram, where edge modes are not expected. We argue that, at least for the fermionic chains, these massive states correspond to the appearance of new phases, notably approached via quantum phase transitions without mass gap closure. Finally, we discuss the possibility to detect some of these effects in experiments with cold trapped ions.
Extensive Monte Carlo simulations are employed in order to study the dynamic critical behavior of the one-dimensional Ising magnet, with algebraically decaying long-range interactions of the form rd+σ1, with σ=0.75. The critical temperature, as well as the critical exponents, is evaluated from the power-law behavior of suitable physical observables when the system is quenched from uncorrelated states, corresponding to infinite temperature, to the critical point. These results are compared with those obtained from the dynamic evolution of the system when it is suddenly annealed at the critical point from the ordered state. Also, the critical temperature in the infinite interaction limit is obtained by means of a finite-range scaling analysis of data measured with different cutoffs of the interaction range. All the estimated static critical exponents (γ/ν, β/ν, and 1/ν) are in good agreement with Renormalization Group (RG) predictions and previously reported numerical data obtained under equilibrium conditions. It is found that the dynamic exponent z is different for quenching and annealing experiments, most likely due to the influence of the Kosterlitz-Thouless transition occurring at relatively similar algebraic decay of the interactions with σ=1. However, for annealing experiments the measured exponent z is close to the RG predictions. On the other hand, the relevant exponents of the dynamic behavior (z and θ) are slightly different than the RG predictions, most likely due to the fact that they may depend on the especific dynamics used (Metropolis in the present paper).
We investigate the universality class of the finite-temperature phase transition of the two-dimensional Ising model with the algebraically decaying ferromagnetic long-range interaction, J_{ij}=|r[over ⃗]_{i}-r[over ⃗]_{j}|^{-(d+σ)}, where d (=2) is the dimension of the system and σ is the decay exponent, by means of the order-N cluster-algorithm Monte Carlo method. In particular, we focus on the upper and lower critical decay exponents, the boundaries between the mean-field-universality, intermediate, and short-range-universality regimes. At the critical decay exponents, it is found that the standard Binder ratio of magnetization at the critical temperature exhibits extremely slow convergence as a function of the system size. We propose more effective physical quantities, namely the combined Binder ratio and the self-combined Binder ratio, both of which cancel the leading finite-size corrections of the conventional Binder ratio. Utilizing these techniques, we clearly demonstrate that in two dimensions, the lower and upper critical decay exponents are σ=1 and 7/4, respectively, contrary to the recent Monte Carlo and renormalization-group studies [M. Picco, arXiv:1207.1018; T. Blanchard et al., Europhys. Lett. 101, 56003 (2013)EULEEJ0295-507510.1209/0295-5075/101/56003].