We present a scenario in which a gapless extended phase serves as a “hub” connecting multiple symmetry-enriched deconfined quantum critical points. As a concrete example, we construct a lattice model with Z 2 × Z 2 × Z 2 symmetry for quantum spin-1/2 degrees of freedom that realizes four distinct gapful phases supporting antiferromagnetic long-range order and one extended incommensurate gapless ferromagnetic phase. The quantum phase transition between any two of the four gapped and antiferromagnetic phases goes through either a (deconfined) quantum critical point, a quantum tricritical point, or the incommensurate gapless ferromagnetic phase. In this phase diagram, it is possible to interpolate between four deconfined quantum critical points by passing through the extended gapless ferromagnetic phase. We identify the phases in the model and the nature of the transitions between them through a combination of analytical arguments and density matrix renormalization group studies.
The theory for the vanishing of N\'eel order in the spin
S=1/2 square lattice antiferromagnet has been the focus of attention for many decades. A consensus appears to have emerged in recent numerical studies on the antiferromagnet with first and second neighbor exchange interactions (the ${J}_{1}\text{\ensuremath{-}}{J}_{2}$ model): A gapless spin liquid is present for a narrow window of parameters between the vanishing of the N\'eel order and the onset of a gapped valence bond solid state. We propose a deconfined critical SU(2) gauge theory for a transition into a stable
Z2 spin liquid with massless Dirac spinon excitations; on the other side of the critical point, the SU(2) spin liquid (the `$\ensuremath{\pi}$-flux' phase) is presumed to be unstable to confinement to the N\'eel phase. We identify a dangerously irrelevant coupling in the critical SU(2) gauge theory, which contributes a logarithm-squared renormalization. This critical theory is also not Lorentz invariant and weakly breaks the SO(5) symmetry which rotates between the N\'eel and valence bond solid order parameters. We also propose a distinct deconfined critical U(1) gauge theory for a transition into the same gapless
Z2 spin liquid; on the other side of the critical point, the U(1) spin liquid (the `staggered flux' phase) is presumed to be unstable to confinement to the valence bond solid. This critical theory has no dangerously irrelevant coupling, dynamic critical exponent $z\ensuremath{\ne}1$, and no SO(5) symmetry. All of these phases and critical points are unified in a SU(2) gauge theory with Higgs fields and fermionic spinons which can naturally realize the observed sequence of phases with increasing
J2/J1: N\'eel, gapless
Z2 spin liquid, and valence bond solid.
We study quantum phases and phase transitions in a one-dimensional interacting fermion system with a Lieb-Schultz-Mattis (LSM) type anomaly. Specifically, the inversion symmetry enforces any symmetry-preserving gapped ground state of the system to be a Kitaev chain, following an LSM type theorem that we prove. Alternatively, via the Jordan-Wigner transformation, this system describes a spin system whose gapped ground states must break either the inversion or the Ising symmetry associated with fermion parity. We obtain a phase diagram using analytical methods and variational matrix product state simulations and study the critical behaviors of the quantum phase transitions therein using entanglement entropy, energy variance, and finite-size scaling of order parameters. In particular, we observe a continuous phase transition between two ordered phases that are beyond the Ginzburg-Landau-Wilson paradigm, in analogy to the deconfined quantum critical points in two spatial dimensions. We show this type of a 1D deconfined quantum critical point is described by the Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid theory and extract its Luttinger parameter and critical exponents. We also identify a gapless phase that emerges from a deconfined quantum critical point between two ordered phases, which cannot be described by a U(1) Luttinger liquid.