A fundamental instability in the nonequilibrium conduction band under an electric field bias is proposed via the spontaneous emission of coherent phonons. Analytic theory, supported by numerical calculations, establishes that the quantum avalanche, an abrupt nonequilibrium occupation of excited bands, results from the competition between the collapse of the band minimum via the phonon emission and the dephasing of the electron with the environment. The continuous avalanche transition is a quantum phase transition with the nonequilibrium phase diagram determined by the avalanche parameter $\ensuremath{\beta}$, with peculiar reentrant avalanche domes close to the phase boundary. We further confirm the nature of the quantum avalanche with the temperature dependence.
A fundamental instability in the nonequilibrium conduction band under an electric field bias is proposed via the spontaneous emission of coherent phonons. Analytic theory, supported by numerical calculations, establishes that the quantum avalanche, an abrupt nonequilibrium occupation of excited bands, results from the competition between the collapse of the band minimum via the phonon emission and the dephasing of the electron with the environment. The continuous avalanche transition is a quantum phase transition with the nonequilibrium phase diagram determined by the avalanche parameter \ensuremathβ, with peculiar reentrant avalanche domes close to the phase boundary. We further confirm the nature of the quantum avalanche with the temperature dependence.
Quantum Phase Transitions Quantum phase transitions, in contrast to temperature-driven critical phenomena, occur due to a competition between different parameters describing the basic interactions of the system. Their specific feature is the quantum character of the critical fluctuations. This implies, through the uncertainty principle, that energy fluctuations and time are coupled. Then at zero temperature time plays a crucial and fundamental role, the static properties being entangled with the dynamics (Continentino, 1994a; Sondhi et al ., 1997; Sachdev, 1999). In this book we are mainly interested in quantum phase transitions that occur in electronic many-body systems and how scaling concepts can be useful to understand their properties close to these transitions (Continentino, 1994a). Even though a similar approach has been used in the case of interacting bosons (Fisher et al ., 1989) the fermionic problem has its own idiosyncrasies and difficulties. For example, there is no natural order parameter associated with the localisation transition in the electronic case, while bosons at zero temperature are either localised or superfluid so that the superfluid order parameter can be used to distinguish between both phases. If the results of the study of quantum phase transitions were restricted to zero temperature, this would be an interesting but purely academic area of research. What is really exciting about this subject is the effect of quantum critical points (QCP) in the finite temperature phase diagram of actual physical systems, even far away from the QCP (Freitas, 2015). As we will show, there is a special line in this phase diagram, the quantum critical trajectory , where the temperature dependence of the thermodynamic and transport properties is governed by the quantum critical exponents, i.e. those associated with the QCP. This and the observed crossover effects induced by temperature in the non-critical side of the phase diagram of a material with a QCP are sufficient to make the study of quantum phase transitions an inevitable subject. We start this chapter by introducing the scaling theory of quantum critical phenomena, since scaling concepts are used throughout this book.
Quantum phase transitions out of equilibrium are outstanding emergent subjects in condensed matter physics with great fundamental importance and challenges. We theoretically investigate here the nonequilibrium quantum phase transition in a generic nano-setup: the pseudogap Kondo model where a Kondo quantum dot couples to two---left (L) and right (R)---voltage-biased fermionic leads with power-law density of states (DOS) with respect to their Fermi levels ${\ensuremath{\mu}}_{L/R}$, ${\ensuremath{\rho}}_{c,L(R)}(\ensuremath{\omega})\ensuremath{\propto}{|\ensuremath{\omega}\ensuremath{-}{\ensuremath{\mu}}_{L(R)}|}^{r}$ with 0<r<1. In equilibrium (${\ensuremath{\mu}}_{L}\ensuremath{-}{\ensuremath{\mu}}_{R}=0$) and for 0<r<1/2, with increasing Kondo correlations this model exhibits a quantum phase transition from a unscreened local moment (LM) phase to the Kondo screened phase. At finite bias voltages and near criticality, we discover new nonequilibrium universal scaling behaviors in conductance, conduction electron T matrix, and local spin susceptibility via a controlled frequency-dependent renormalization group (RG) approach. The current-induced decoherence is key to understanding these distinct universal nonequilibrium quantum critical regimes. The relevance of our results to experiment is discussed.
Two-band electronic structures with a valence and a conduction band separated by a tunable energy gap and with pairing of electrons in different channels can be relevant to investigate the properties of two-dimensional multiband superconductors and electron-hole superfluids, such as monolayer FeSe, recently discovered superconducting bilayer graphene, and double-bilayer graphene electron-hole systems. This electronic configuration also allows us to study the coexistence of superconductivity and charge-density waves in connection with underdoped cuprates and transition metal dichalcogenides. By using a mean-field approach to study the system mentioned above, we have obtained numerical results for superconducting gaps, chemical potential, condensate fractions, coherence lengths, and superconducting mean-field critical temperature, considering a tunable band gap and different fillings of the conduction band, for a parametric choice of the pairing interactions. By tuning these quantities, the electrons redistribute among valence and conduction band in a complex way, leading to a new physics with respect to single-band superconductors, such as density-induced and band-selective BCS-BEC crossover, quantum phase transitions, and hidden criticalities. At finite temperature, this phenomenon is also responsible for the nonmonotonic behavior of the superconducting gaps resulting in a superconducting-normal state reentrant transition, without the need of disorder or magnetic effects.
In recent years, quantum phase transitions have attracted the interest of both theorists and experimentalists in condensed matter physics. These transitions, which are accessed at zero temperature by variation of a non-thermal control parameter, can influence the behaviour of electronic systems over a wide range of the phase diagram. Quantum phase transitions occur as a result of competing ground state phases. The cuprate superconductors which can be tuned from a Mott insulating to a d -wave superconducting phase by carrier doping are a paradigmatic example. This review introduces important concepts of phase transitions and discusses the interplay of quantum and classical fluctuations near criticality. The main part of the article is devoted to bulk quantum phase transitions in condensed matter systems. Several classes of transitions will be briefly reviewed, pointing out, e.g., conceptual differences between ordering transitions in metallic and insulating systems. An interesting separate class of transitions is boundary phase transitions where only degrees of freedom of a subsystem become critical; this will be illustrated in a few examples. The article is aimed at bridging the gap between high-level theoretical presentations and research papers specialized in certain classes of materials. It will give an overview on a variety of different quantum transitions, critically discuss open theoretical questions, and frequently make contact with recent experiments in condensed matter physics.
We investigate the ground-state phase diagram of the one-dimensional half-filled Hubbard model with an alternating potential---a model for the charge-transfer organic materials and the ferroelectric perovskites. We numerically determine the global phase diagram of this model using the level-crossing and the phenomenological renormalization-group methods based on the exact diagonalization calculations. Our results support the mechanism of the double phase transitions between Mott and band insulators pointed out by Fabrizio, Gogolin, and Nersesyan [Phys. Rev. Lett. 83, 2014 (1999)]: We confirm the existence of the spontaneously dimerized phase as an intermediate state. Further we provide numerical evidence to check the criticalities on the phase boundaries. Especially, we perform the finite-size-scaling analysis of the excitation gap to show the two-dimensional Ising transition in the charge part. On the other hand, we confirm that the dimerized phase survives in the strong-coupling limit, which is one of the resultants of competition between the ionicity and correlation effects.
Quantum phase transitions are sudden changes in the ground-state wavefunction of a many-body system that can occur as a control parameter such as a concentration or a field strength is varied. They are driven purely by the competition between quantum fluctuations and mutual interactions among constituents of the system, not by thermal fluctuations; hence they can occur even at zero temperature. Examples of quantum phase transitions in many-body physics may be found in systems ranging from high-temperature superconductors to topological insulators. A quantum phase transition usually can be characterized by nonanalyticity/discontinuity in certain order parameters or divergence of the ground state energy eigenvalue and/or its derivatives with respect to certain physical quantities. Here in a circular one-dimensional spin model with Heisenberg XY interaction and no magnetic field, we observe critical phenomena for the n0=1/N→0 Mott insulator caused by a qualitative change of the boundary condition. We demonstrate in the vicinity of the transition point a sudden change in ground-state properties accompanied by an avoided level-crossing between the ground and the first excited states. Notably, our result links conventional quantum phase transitions to microscopic boundary conditions, with significant implications for quantum information, quantum control, and quantum computing.