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arXiv:2210.13482 · Physical Review X

Uncovering Conformal Symmetry in the 3D Ising Transition: State-Operator Correspondence from a Quantum Fuzzy Sphere Regularization

W. Zhu, Chao Han, Emilie Huffman, Johannes Stephan Hofmann, Yin-Chen He

Published Apr 18, 2023• 78 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

The 3D Ising transition, the most celebrated and unsolved critical phenomenon in nature, has long been conjectured to have emergent conformal symmetry, similar to the case of the 2D Ising transition.Yet, the emergence of conformal invariance in the 3D Ising transition has rarely been explored directly, mainly due to unavoidable mathematical or conceptual obstructions.Here, we design an innovative way to study the quantum version of the 3D Ising phase transition on spherical geometry, using the "fuzzy (noncommutative) sphere" regularization.We accurately calculate and analyze the energy spectra at the transition, and explicitly demonstrate the state-operator correspondence (i.e., radial quantization), a fingerprint of conformal field theory.In particular, we identify13 parity-even primary operators within a high accuracy and two parity-odd operators that were not known before.Our result directly elucidates the emergent conformal symmetry of the 3D Ising transition, a conjecture made by Polyakov half a century ago.More importantly, our approach opens a new avenue for studying 3D conformal field theories by making use of the state-operator correspondence and spherical geometry.

DOI
10.1103/physrevx.13.021009

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The 3D Ising transition, the most celebrated and unsolved critical phenomenon in nature, has long been conjectured to have emergent conformal symmetry, similar to the case of the 2D Ising transition.Yet, the emergence of conformal invariance in the 3D Ising transition has rarely been explored directly, mainly due to unavoidable mathematical or conceptual obstructions.Here, we design an innovative way to study the quantum version of the 3D Ising phase transition on spherical geometry, using the "fuzzy (noncommutative) sphere" regularization.We accurately calculate and analyze the energy spectra at the transition, and explicitly demonstrate the state-operator correspondence (i.e., radial quantization), a fingerprint of conformal field theory.In particular, we identify13 parity-even primary operators within a high accuracy and two parity-odd operators that were not known before.Our result directly elucidates the emergent conformal symmetry of the 3D Ising transition, a conjecture made by Polyakov half a century ago.More importantly, our approach opens a new avenue for studying 3D conformal field theories by making use of the state-operator correspondence and spherical geometry.
Conformal field theory (CFT) offers a modern viewpoint for understanding phase transitions. However, directly accessing the conformal algebra and microscopically uncovering the emergent conformal symmetry, especially in higher dimensions, remains a significant challenge. Motivated by recent advances in revealing CFT features via the fuzzy two-sphere, here we generalize this approach to higher dimensions and aim to expose the conformality at the (3+1)-D quantum critical point. We demonstrate this framework by investigating quantum phase transitions belonging to the Ising and Yang-Lee universality classes in a (3+1)-D quantum model (equivalent to a classical four-dimensional system), realized via Landau level projection on the fuzzy three-sphere. By computing the energy spectra at criticality, we explicitly verify the state-operator correspondence, a hallmark of conformal invariance. Together with prior advances, this work establishes a new pathway for the microscopic study of emergent conformality in higher-dimensional phase transitions.
Advancing Fuzzy-Sphere CFTs: SO(3)\mathrm{SO}(3)SO(3)-Rotation-Resolving Exact Diagonalization, 3D Ising Heavy Primaries, and Quasi-Hole-Space Projection
Fuzzy-sphere regularization has recently emerged as a powerful framework for studying three-dimensional conformal field theories (CFTs). In this work, we exploit symmetry and Hilbert-space structures to substantially advance this framework. We develop an exact-diagonalization algorithm that resolves the full SO(3)\mathrm{SO}(3)SO(3) rotational symmetry, reducing computational costs by factors of several hundred. For the three-dimensional Ising CFT, we identify around 100 primary operators, including a large number of previously unknown heavy scalar primaries up to scaling dimension Δ≈16.5Δ\approx16.5Δ≈16.5. We also resolve the tension between previous fuzzy-sphere and bootstrap results regarding the parity-odd scalar primary. Furthermore, we identify a branch of scalar primaries associated with ϕnϕ^nϕn operators in the ϕ4ϕ^4ϕ4 Lagrangian description, beginning with the identity, σσσ, εεε, ε′ε'ε′, and σ′σ'σ′. Their wave functions exhibit a semi-classical structure closely related to states invariant under area-preserving diffeomorphisms of the sphere. Finally, we show that critical points involving fractional quantum Hall states can be studied within a substantially reduced Hilbert space spanned by quasi-hole states of the corresponding model quantum Hall wave functions like the Laughlin state. This suggests a general strategy for exploring CFTs intertwined with topologically ordered phases.
The Potts model describes interacting spins with QQQ different components, which is a direct generalization of the Ising model (Q=2Q=2Q=2). Compared to the existing exact solutions in 2D, the phase transitions and critical phenomena in the 3D Potts model have been less explored. Here, we systematically investigate a quantum (2+1)(2+1)(2+1)-D Potts model with Q=3Q=3Q=3 using a fuzzy sphere regularization scheme. We first construct a microscopic model capable of achieving a magnetic phase transition that separates a spin S3S_3S3​ permutationally symmetric paramagnet and a spontaneous symmetry-breaking ferromagnet. Importantly, the energy spectrum at the phase transition point exhibits an approximately conformal symmetry, implying that an underlying conformal field theory may govern this transition. Moreover, when tuning along the phase transition line in the mapped phase diagram, we find that the dimension of the subleading S3S_3S3​ singlet operator flows and drifts around the critical value ∼3\sim 3∼3, which is believed to be crucial for understanding this phase transition, although determining its precise value remains challenging due to the limitations of our finite-size calculations. These findings suggest a discontinuous transition in the 3D 3-state Potts model, characterized by pseudo-critical behavior, which we argue results from a nearby multicritical or complex fixed point.
The quest to discover new 3D CFTs has been intriguing for physicists. For this purpose, fuzzy sphere regularization that studies interacting quantum systems defined on the lowest Landau level on a sphere has emerged as a powerful tool. In this Letter, we discover a series of new CFTs with global symmetry Sp(N) in the fuzzy sphere models that are closely related to the SO(5) deconfined phase transition, and are related to a Sp(N)/[Sp(M)×Sp(N-M)] nonlinear sigma model with a Wess-Zumino-Witten term. We numerically verify the emergent conformal symmetry by observing the integer-spaced conformal multiplets, the quality of conformal generators, and studying the finite-size scaling of the conformality. We discuss possible candidates for these newly discovered CFTs, the most plausible ones being Chern-Simons-matter theories which have N flavors of gapless bosons or fermions coupled to a non-Abelian [viz. Sp(1), Sp(2), etc.] Chern-Simons gauge field. Our Letter provides new avenues for studying interacting CFTs in 3D, possibly facilitating the nonperturbative study of critical gauge theories and previously undiscovered CFTs.
Numerical studies of phase transitions in statistical and quantum lattice models provide crucial insights into the corresponding Conformal Field Theories (CFTs). In higher dimensions, comparing finite-volume numerical results to infinite-volume CFT data is facilitated by choosing the sphere S^{d-1} S d − 1 as the spatial manifold. Recently, the fuzzy sphere regulator [Zhu et al, Phys. Rev. X 13, 021009 (2023)] has enabled such studies with exact rotational invariance, yielding impressive agreement with known 3D Ising CFT predictions, as well as new results. However, systematic improvements and a deeper understanding of finite-size corrections remain essential. In this work, we revisit the fuzzy sphere regulator, focusing on the original Ising model, with two main goals. First, we assess the robustness of this approach using Conformal Perturbation Theory (CPT), to which we provide a detailed guidebook. We demonstrate how CPT provides a unified framework for determining the critical point, the speed of light, and residual deviations from CFT predictions. Applying this framework, we study finite-size corrections and clarify the role of tuning the model in minimizing these effects. Second, we develop a novel method for extracting Operator Product Expansion (OPE) coefficients from fuzzy sphere data. This method leverages the sensitivity of energy levels to detuning from criticality, providing new insights into level mixing and avoided crossings in finite systems. Our work also includes validation of CPT in a 1+1D Ising model away from the integrable limit.