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arXiv:2210.07972

Conformal anomaly in magnetic finite temperature response of strongly interacting one-dimensional spin systems

Christian Northe, Chun-Xu Zhang, R. Wawrzyńczak, Johannes Gooth, Stanisław Gałeski, Ewelina M. Hankiewicz

Published Oct 14, 2022• 1 citation
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Abstract

The conformal anomaly indicates the breaking of conformal symmetry (angle-preserving transformations) in the quantum theory by quantum fluctuations and is a close cousin of the gravitational anomaly. We show, for the first time, that the conformal anomaly controls the variance of the local magnetization $M_{loc}$ at finite temperatures in spin chains and spin ladders. This effect is perceived at constant and variable temperature across the sample. The change of $M_{loc}$ induced by the conformal anomaly is of the order of 3-5\% of the maximal spin at one Kelvin for DIMPY or CuPzN and increases linearly with temperature. Further, for a temperature gradient of 10\% across the sample, the time-relaxation of the non-equilibrium $M_{loc}$ is of the order of nanoseconds. Thus, we believe that experimental techniques such as neutron scattering, nuclear magnetic resonance~(NMR), spin noise and ultrafast laser pumping should pinpoint the presence of the conformal anomaly. Therefore, we pave the road to detect the conformal anomaly in spin observables of strongly interacting low-dimensional magnets.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.2210.07972

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The conformal anomaly indicates the breaking of conformal symmetry (angle-preserving transformations) in the quantum theory by quantum fluctuations and is a close cousin of the gravitational anomaly. We show, for the first time, that the conformal anomaly controls the variance of the local magnetization MlocM_{loc}Mloc​ at finite temperatures in spin chains and spin ladders. This effect is perceived at constant and variable temperature across the sample. The change of MlocM_{loc}Mloc​ induced by the conformal anomaly is of the order of 3-5% of the maximal spin at one Kelvin for DIMPY or CuPzN and increases linearly with temperature. Further, for a temperature gradient of 10% across the sample, the time-relaxation of the non-equilibrium MlocM_{loc}Mloc​ is of the order of nanoseconds. Thus, we believe that experimental techniques such as neutron scattering, nuclear magnetic resonance~(NMR), spin noise and ultrafast laser pumping should pinpoint the presence of the conformal anomaly. Therefore, we pave the road to detect the conformal anomaly in spin observables of strongly interacting low-dimensional magnets.
The conformal anomaly indicates the breaking of conformal symmetry (angle-preserving transformations) in quantum theory by quantum fluctuations, and is a close cousin of the gravitational anomaly. We show that the conformal anomaly controls the variance of the local magnetization Mloc{M}_{\mathrm{loc}}Mloc​ at finite temperatures in spin chains and spin ladders. This effect is predicted to appear at constant and variable temperature across the sample. The change of Mloc{M}_{\mathrm{loc}}Mloc​ induced by the conformal anomaly is of the order of 3--5% of angular momentum $\ensuremath{\hbar}/2$ at 1 K for (C7H10N)2CuBr4{({\mathrm{C}}_{7}{\mathrm{H}}_{10}\mathrm{N})}_{2}{\mathrm{CuBr}}_{4}(C7​H10​N)2​CuBr4​ (DIMPY) or copper pyrazine nitrate (CuPzN) and increases linearly with temperature. Further, for a temperature gradient of 10% across the sample, the time relaxation of the nonequilibrium Mloc{M}_{\mathrm{loc}}Mloc​ is of the order of nanoseconds. Thus, we believe that experimental techniques such as neutron scattering, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), spin noise, and ultrafast laser pumping should determine the presence of the conformal anomaly. Therefore, we outline a method to detect the conformal anomaly in spin observables of strongly interacting low-dimensional magnets.
We show that the leading finite-size correction to lnZ for a two-dimensional system at a conformally invariant critical point on a strip of length L width \ensuremath{\beta}(\ensuremath{\beta}\ensuremath{\ll}L) is (\ensuremath{\pi}/6)c(L/\ensuremath{\beta}), where c is the conformal anomaly. Equivalently, the leading low-temperature correction to the free energy of a one-dimensional quantum system is -(\ensuremath{\pi}/6)cL(kT)2{)}^{2})2\ensuremath{\Elzxh}v, where v is the effective ``velocity of light.'' The latter formula is used to check recently derived critical theories of spin-s quantum chains against Bethe-Ansatz solutions.
A central goal in the study of modern condensed matter physics is the characterization of the dynamical properties of quantum systems. Many decades of effort towards this goal, studying a diverse range of (near-equilibrium) quantum matter, from Fermi liquids, to quantum two-level systems, to interacting spin models, and more, has revealed a remarkable pervasiveness of the simple dynamical description of these complex systems in terms of quasi-particles that carry spin, charge, and heat, and that are generally able to equilibrate systems. \n\nThis thesis is an examination of some exceptions to this rule. Specifically, we study a number of instances of quantum matter where equilibration phenomena happens at rather long time scales, or does not occur at all. Particular emphasis is laid on the role of dimensionality, disorder, and dissipation in engendering such novel dynamical behavior.\n\nFirst, we consider non-equilibrium dynamics in one-dimensional quasi-condensates. Low dimensionality inhibits scattering in these systems, and low-energy excitations are long-lived phase fluctuations that exhibit an enriched conformal symmetry. Utilizing this symmetry, we generalize sudden quenches typically used to study non-equilibrium dynamics to quenches along general relativistic and conformal trajectories. Gases never truly equilibrate after such a quench; instead, they evolve into a `prethermal' state with thermal-looking correlations and a chiral asymmetry. \n\nWe then study the problem of the dynamical transition driven by disorder, from an ergodic to a non-ergodic phase, in one-dimensional quantum spin chains. In particular, in XXZ chains with on-site disorder, we find a unique intermediate phase straddling the boundary of the dynamical phase transition, wherein rare-region effects lead to long-time tails in equilibration and vanishing DC conduction before the onset of non-ergodicity. We propose generalizations of such `Griffiths' behavior to arbitrary dimensions. We also study the dynamics of random-bond Heisenberg chains by developing a strong-disorder renormalization group protocol for these systems. We discuss how magnetic noise from such disordered systems contains signatures of their anomalous dynamical properties. \n\nNext, we re-examine the phenomenological theory of two-level systems in amorphous materials in the light of new experimental evidence that these states have large electric/magnetic dipole moments. We propose and justify an interpretation of the model as one of tunneling electrons slowed down by a large phonon drag and discuss the dynamical consequences of such polaronic effects. \n\nFinally, we discuss how magnetic noise measurements can be used to non-invasively access the anomalous properties of systems such as those discussed above. In particular, we examine how scattering properties of isolated magnetic impurities and non-local transport in a variety of two-dimensional materials can be probed experimentally using NV centers as noise magnetometers.
Quantum antiferromagnets have proven to be some of the cleanest realizations available for theoretical, numerical, and experimental studies of quantum fluctuation effects. At finite temperatures, however, the additional effects of thermal fluctuations in the restricted phase space of a low-dimensional system have received much less attention, particularly the situation in frustrated quantum magnets, where the excitations may be complex collective (bound or even fractionalized) modes. We investigate this problem by studying the thermodynamic properties of the frustrated two-leg S=12S=\frac{1}{2}S=21​ spin ladder, with particular emphasis on the fully frustrated case. We present numerical results for the magnetic specific heat and susceptibility, obtained from exact diagonalization and quantum Monte Carlo studies, which we show can be rendered free of the sign problem even in a strongly frustrated system and which allow us to reach unprecedented sizes of L=200L=200L=200 ladder rungs. We find that frustration effects cause an unconventional evolution of the thermodynamic response across the full parameter regime of the model. However, close to the first-order transition they cause a highly anomalous reduction in temperature scales with no concomitant changes in the gap; the specific heat shows a very narrow peak at very low energies and the susceptibility rises abruptly at extremely low temperatures. Unusually, the two quantities have different gaps over an extended region of the parameter space. We demonstrate that these results reflect the presence of large numbers of multiparticle bound-state excitations, whose energies fall below the one-triplon gap in the transition region.
The conformal anomaly c determines the universality class of a model system in statistical mechanics. The value of c characterizes both 2D classical models and their 1D quantum counterparts. The conformal anomaly may therefore be determined numerically for quantum spin chains using the relation: E0(N)≂E0(∞)−(NΔE/12)c(1/N2), where E0 (N) is the ground-state energy of an N-spin finite system, E0 (∞) is the ground-state energy in the thermodynamic limit, and ΔE is the energy gap between the ground state at k=0 and the first excited state of the dispersion curve at k=2π/N. The numerical approach is highly successful when tested on the integrable s= 1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnetic XXZ chain and the integrable s=1 SU(2) model. The method gives c=1 to within 2% accuracy for the s=1 and (3)/(2) XY chains, placing them in the universality class of the 2D XY model. The result c=1 (2% accuracy) is obtained for the s= (3)/(2) Heisenberg antiferromagnetic chain, in agreement with the Haldane prediction. The s=1 pure antiferromagnetic biquadratic chain and the s=1 XXZ model with uniaxial anisotropy in the vicinity of the critical point Δ=Δ2 ∼1.15 −1.18 have also been studied.
An open quantum system is a system coupled to an environment that can describe time-irreversible dynamics through which the system evolves toward the thermal equilibrium state.We present a quantum mechanically rigorous theory in order to help the analysis of spectra obtained from the advanced nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and muon spin rotation, relaxation or resonance (μSR) techniques.Our approach is based on the numerically "Exact" hierarchical equations of motion (HEOM) approach, which allows us to study the reduced system dynamics for non-perturbative and non-Markovian system-bath interactions at finite temperature even under strong time-dependent perturbations.We demonstrate the present theory to analyze μSR and low-field NMR spectra, as an extension of the Kubo-Toyabe theory focusing on the effects of temperature and anisotropy of a local magnetic field on spectra, to help further the development of these experimental means.