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arXiv:2111.06828 · Physical Review Research

Quantum multicritical point in the two- and three-dimensional random transverse-field Ising model

István A. Kovács

Published Jan 31, 2022• 9 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Quantum multicritical points (QMCPs) emerge at the junction of two or more quantum phase transitions due to the interplay of disparate fluctuations, leading to novel universality classes. While quantum critical points have been well characterized, our understanding of QMCPs is much more limited, even though they might be less elusive to study experimentally than quantum critical points. Here, we characterize the QMCP of an interacting heterogeneous quantum system in two and three dimensions, the ferromagnetic random transverse-field Ising model (RTIM). The QMCP of the RTIM emerges due to both geometric and quantum fluctuations, studied here numerically by the strong disorder renormalization group method. The QMCP of the RTIM is found to exhibit ultraslow, activated dynamic scaling, governed by an infinite disorder fixed point. This ensures that the obtained multicritical exponents tend to the exact values at large scales, while also being universal---i.e., independent of the form of disorder---providing a solid theoretical basis for future experiments.

DOI
10.1103/physrevresearch.4.013072

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Quantum multicritical points (QMCPs) emerge at the junction of two or more quantum phase transitions due to the interplay of disparate fluctuations, leading to novel universality classes. While quantum critical points have been well characterized, our understanding of QMCPs is much more limited, even though they might be less elusive to study experimentally than quantum critical points. Here, we characterize the QMCP of an interacting heterogeneous quantum system in two and three dimensions, the ferromagnetic random transverse-field Ising model (RTIM). The QMCP of the RTIM emerges due to both geometric and quantum fluctuations, studied here numerically by the strong disorder renormalization group method. The QMCP of the RTIM is found to exhibit ultraslow, activated dynamic scaling, governed by an infinite disorder fixed point. This ensures that the obtained multicritical exponents tend to the exact values at large scales, while also being universal---i.e., independent of the form of disorder---providing a solid theoretical basis for future experiments.
Quantum entanglement at critical points is often marked by universal characteristics. Here, the entanglement entropy is calculated at the quantum multicritical point of the random transverse-field Ising model (RTIM). We use an efficient implementation of the strong disorder renormalization group method in two and three dimensions for two types of disorder. For cubic subsystems we find a universal logarithmic corner contribution to the area law $bln(\ensuremath{\ell})$ that is independent of the form of disorder. Our results agree qualitatively with those at the quantum critical points of the RTIM, but with new bbb prefactors due to having both geometric and quantum fluctuations at play. By studying the vicinity of the multicritical point, we demonstrate that the corner contribution serves as an ``entanglement susceptibility,'' a useful tool to locate the phase transition and to measure the correlation length critical exponents.
The random transverse-field Ising ferromagnet (RTFIF) is a highly disordered quantum system which contains randomness in the coupling strengths as well as in the transverse-field strengths. In one dimension, the critical properties are governed by an infinite-randomness fixed point (IRFP), and renormalization-group studies argue that the two-dimensional (2D) model is also governed by an IRFP. However, even the location of the critical point remains unsettled among quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) studies. In this work, we perform extensive QMC simulations to locate the quantum critical point and attempt a finite-size scaling analysis to observe the critical behavior. We estimate the critical field strength of the 2D RTFIF as ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Gamma}}}_{c}=7.52(2)$, together with critical exponents such as $\ensuremath{\beta}=1.5(3), \ensuremath{\nu}=1.6(3)$, and z=3.3(3)z=3.3(3)z=3.3(3) or $\ensuremath{\psi}=0.50(3)$. We have also considered the McCoy-Wu model, which has randomness in the ferromagnetic coupling strengths but not in the transverse-field strength. Our QMC calculation shows that the critical behavior of the 2D McCoy-Wu model is closer to that of the 2D transverse-field Ising spin glass than to that of the 2D RTFIF. These numerical findings enhance our understanding of disordered 2D quantum systems.
We apply a real-space block renormalization group approach to study the critical properties of the random transverse-field Ising spin chain with multispin interactions. First, we recover the known properties of the traditional model with two-spin interactions by applying the renormalization approach for the arbitrary size of the block. For the model with three-spin couplings, we calculate the critical point and demonstrate that the phase transition is controlled by an infinite disorder fixed point. We have determined the typical correlation-length critical exponent, which seems to be different from that of the random transverse Ising chain with nearest-neighbor couplings. Thus, this model represents a new infinite disorder universality class.
The critical behavior of the random transverse-field Ising model in finite-dimensional lattices is governed by infinite disorder fixed points, several properties of which have already been calculated by the use of the strong disorder renormalization-group (SDRG) method. Here we extend these studies and calculate the connected transverse-spin correlation function by a numerical implementation of the SDRG method in d=1,2d=1,2d=1,2, and 3 dimensions. At the critical point an algebraic decay of the form $\ensuremath{\sim}{r}^{\ensuremath{-}{\ensuremath{\eta}}_{t}}$ is found, with a decay exponent being approximately ${\ensuremath{\eta}}_{t}\ensuremath{\approx}2+2d$. In d=1d=1d=1 the results are related to dimer-dimer correlations in the random antiferromagnetic XXXXXX chain and have been tested by numerical calculations using free-fermionic techniques.
We consider the random transverse-field Ising model in d=3d=3d=3 dimensions with long-range ferromagnetic interactions which decay as a power $\ensuremath{\alpha}>d$ with the distance. Using a variant of the strong-disorder renormalization group method we study numerically the phase-transition point from the paramagnetic side. We find that the fixed point controlling the transition is of the strong-disorder type, and based on experience with other similar systems, we expect the results to be qualitatively correct, but probably not asymptotically exact. The distribution of the (sample dependent) pseudocritical points is found to scale with 1/lnL,L1/lnL, L1/lnL,L being the linear size of the sample. Similarly, the critical magnetization scales with ${(lnL)}^{\ensuremath{\chi}}/{L}^{d}$ and the excitation energy behaves as ${L}^{\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\alpha}}$. Using extreme-value statistics we argue that extrapolating from the ferromagnetic side the magnetization approaches a finite limiting value and thus the transition is of mixed order.
The contact process is a simple infection spreading model showcasing an out-of-equilibrium phase transition between a macroscopically active and an inactive phase. Such absorbing state phase transitions are often sensitive to the presence of quenched disorder. Traditionally, a phase transition in the disordered contact process is either triggered by dilution or by locally varying the infection rate. However, when both factors play an important role, a multicritical point emerges that remains poorly understood. Here, we study the multicritical contact process by large-scale Monte Carlo simulations in two and three dimensions. The multicritical behavior is found to be universal and exhibits ultra-slow, activated dynamical scaling, with exponents consistent with those predicted by the strong disorder renormalization group method. This finding indicates that the multicritical contact process belongs to the same universality class as the multicritical quantum Ising model, in both two and three dimensions.