Topology in condensed matter physics is typically associated with a bulk energy gap. However, recent research has shifted focus to topological phases without a bulk energy gap, exhibiting nontrivial gapless topological behaviors. In this letter, we explore a cluster Ising chain with long-range antiferromagnetic interactions that decay as a power law with the distance. Using complementary numerical and analytical techniques, we demonstrate that long-range interactions can unambiguously induce an algebraic topological phase and a topological Gaussian universality, both of which exhibit nontrivial gapless topological behaviors. Our study not only provides a platform to investigate the fundamental physics of quantum many-body systems but also offers a novel route toward searching for gapless topological phases in realistic quantum simulators.
Topology in condensed matter physics is typically associated with a bulk energy gap. However, recent research has shifted focus to topological phases without a bulk energy gap, exhibiting nontrivial gapless topological behaviors. In this letter, we explore a cluster Ising chain with long-range antiferromagnetic interactions that decay as a power law with the distance. Using complementary numerical and analytical techniques, we demonstrate that long-range interactions can unambiguously induce an algebraic topological phase and a topological Gaussian universality, both of which exhibit nontrivial gapless topological behaviors. Our study not only provides a platform to investigate the fundamental physics of quantum many-body systems but also offers a novel route toward searching for gapless topological phases in realistic quantum simulators.
Topology is a fascinating phenomena in condensed-matter physics typically associated with a bulk gap. However, recent research shifts focus to quantum critical points or phases that exhibit nontrivial topological properties. Here we explore a cluster-Ising chain with long-range antiferromagnetic interactions that decay as a power law with distance. Using large-scale density matrix renormalization group simulations, we demonstrate that the nontrivial topology at the critical point remains stable against long-range interactions, resulting in a topologically nontrivial critical line. Moreover, even within the gapped region, the interplay between topology and long-range interaction can give rise to a topological phase featuring algebraically decaying correlations and edge modes, similar to gapless topological phases. We refer to this phase as the algebraic topological phase, which exhibits nontrivial gapless topological behaviors and arises solely from long-range interactions without short-range counterparts. The findings pave the way for more studies on topological states in long-range systems. Long-range interactions play a crucial role in condensed-matter systems and can lead to range of emerging and exotic physical phenomenon. Here using simulations, the authors investigate the non-trivial topological properties that can arise in a cluster Ising chain with long-range antiferromagnetic interactions, finding evidence for what they classify as an algebraic symmetry-protected topological phase.
Long-range interactions can fundamentally alter properties in gapped topological phases such as emergent massive edge modes. However, recent research has shifted attention to topological nontrivial critical points or phases, and it is natural to explore how long-range interactions influence them. In this work, we investigate the topological behavior at the quantum critical point of extended Kitaev chains with long-range interactions, which can be derived from the critical Ising model via the Jordan-Wigner transformation in the short-range limit. Specifically, we analytically find that the critical edge modes at the critical point remain stable against long-range interactions. More importantly, we observe that these critical edge modes remain massless even when long- range interactions become very strong. As a by-product, we numerically find that the critical behavior of the long-range model belongs to the free-Majorana-fermion universality class, which is entirely different from the long-range universality class in the usual long-range spin models. Our work could shed new light on the interplay between long-range interactions (frustrated) and the gapless topological phases of matter.
We study the robustness of topological ground state degeneracy to long-range interactions in quantum many-body systems. We focus on slowly decaying two-body interactions that scale like a power-law 1/rα where α is smaller than the spatial dimension; such interactions are beyond the reach of known stability theorems which only apply to short-range or rapidly decaying long-range perturbations. Our main result is a computation of the ground state splitting of several toy models, which are variants of the 1D Ising model H=−∑iσizσi+1z+λ∑ij∣i−j∣−ασixσjx with λ>0 and α<1. In one variant, the power-law interactions are replaced by all-to-all interactions, 4Lαλ∑ijσixσjx, where L is the system size, while the other variant has true power-law interactions but is built out of quantum rotors rather than Ising spins. These models are also closely connected to the Kitaev p-wave wire model with power-law density-density interactions. In these examples, we find that the splitting δ scales like a stretched exponential δ∼exp(−CL21+α).
Our computations are based on path integral techniques similar to the instanton method introduced by Coleman. We also study another toy model with long-range interactions that can be analyzed without path integral techniques and that shows similar behavior.
The Schrödinger equation is nearly a century old, yet we are still in the midst of uncovering the remarkable phenomena emerging in many-body quantum systems. From superconductivity to anyonic quasiparticles, nature consistently surprises with its rich self-organization. To elucidate and grasp this variety, it is paramount to understand the phases of matter that can occur in many-body ground states, as well as their emergent collective excitations. Of particular interest are topological phases of matter, characterized by exotic excitations or edge phenomena. There exist by now several universal frameworks for gapped systems, i.e., those with an energy gap above the ground state. However, in the last decade, a multitude of gapless quantum wires---effectively one-dimensional systems---have been reported to be topologically non-trivial. A framework for their understanding and classification is missing. In addition to ground state order---topological or otherwise---a more complete picture involves the properties of excitations above the ground state. Alas, little is known about excitations beyond the universal low-energy regime. In part, this is due to a lack of analytical and numerical methods able to describe excitations at finite energies, especially in strongly-interacting systems beyond one dimension. In this thesis, we address these issues: firstly, we build a general understanding of topological phases in one dimension, including both gapped and gapless cases. In particular, we unify previously studied examples into a single framework. Secondly, we develop a novel numerical method for obtaining spectral functions in two dimensions---these give direct insight into the properties of excitations and are moreover experimentally measurable. Using this numerical method, we uncover a variety of robust properties of excitations at finite energies. Part I of this thesis concerns gapped and gapless topological phases in one dimension. In Chapter 2, we first treat the case of non-interacting fermions. Therein, we review the known classification of gapped phases before extending it to the gapless case, showing that exponentially-localized Majorana zero modes can still emerge at the edge when the bulk is gapless. Interacting gapped phases are discussed in Chapter 3, with a focus on symmetry-protected topological order. These have already been classified; our contribution is to provide a non-technical review of this classification as well as showing that many paradigmatic model Hamiltonians can be related to one another. Finally, Chapter 4 introduces the notion of symmetry-enriched quantum criticality, which we propose as a framework for classifying gapless phases. The key message is that in the presence of symmetries, a universality class can divide into distinct phases, characterized by the symmetry action on the low-energy scaling operators. This includes gapless topological phases, with examples hiding in plain sight; we clarify their stability and reinterpret previously studied examples. Part II studies the excitations above the ground states of two-dimensional quantum spin models. The main object of our study is the dynamic spin structure factor; this type of spectral function is reviewed in the first part of Chapter 5. The second part of this chapter introduces a novel matrix-product-state-based algorithm to efficiently compute it, opening a new window on the dynamics of two-dimensional quantum systems. We benchmark this numerical method in Chapter 6 on the exactly-solvable Kitaev model---a paradigmatic topological model realizing a quantum spin liquid. By adding non-integrable Heisenberg perturbations, we identify the first unequivocal theoretical realization of a proximate spin liquid: the ground state becomes conventionally ordered, yet the high-energy spectral properties are structurally similar to those of the nearby Kitaev spin liquid. The latter agrees with aspects of recent inelastic neutron scattering experiments on alpha-RuCl3. In Chapter 7, we turn to one of the oldest models in many-body quantum physics: the spin-1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet on the square lattice. Despite its venerable history, there is still disagreement about the physical origin of high-energy spectral features which low-order spin wave theory cannot account for. We provide a simple picture for this strongly-interacting-magnon feature by connecting it to a simple Ising limit. Lastly, Chapter 8 discusses the stability of quasiparticles---collective excitations behaving like a single emergent entity, of which magnons are a prime example. These are often known to be stable at the lowest energies and are presumed to decay whenever this is seemingly allowed by energy and momentum conservation. However, we show that strong interactions can prevent this from happening. We numerically confirm this principle of avoided decay in the (slightly-detuned) Heisenberg antiferromagnet on the triangular lattice. Moreover, we can even identify its fingerprints in existing experimental data on Ba3CoSb2O9 and superfluid helium. In this thesis, we thus enlarge our understanding of quantum phases and their excitations. The identification of the key principles of gapless topological phases in one dimension calls for direct analogues in higher dimensions, waiting to be uncovered. With regard to the robust properties of the excitations identified in this thesis, we are hopeful that these can be extended into a theory of quasiparticle properties away from the universal low-energy regime.
Abstract The presence of algebraically decaying long-range interactions may alter the critical as well as topological behaviour of a quantum many-body systems. However, when the interaction decays at a faster rate, the short-range behaviour is expected to be retrieved. Similarly, the long-range nature of interactions has a prominent signature on the out of equilibrium dynamics of these systems, e.g. in the growth of the entanglement entropy following a quench, the propagation of mutual information and non-equilibrium phase transitions. In this review, we summarize the results of long-range interacting classical and quantum Ising chains mentioning some recent results. Thereafter, we focus on the recent developments on the integrable long-range Kitaev chain emphasising the role of long-range superconducting pairing term on determining its topological phase diagram and out of equilibrium dynamics and also incorporate relevant discussions on the corresponding Ising version.
ABSTRACT The role of long‐range interactions in topological quantum systems is reviewed with emphasis on the long‐range ‐wave superconductor and its variants. Basic concepts of the lattice model with couplings decaying by power law of distance are introduced to frame the underlying theoretical formalism. This review centers on properties of the long‐range phase that finds no counterpart in the short‐range limit. The breakdown of conformal symmetry in critical regimes and the appearance of massive edge modes differing from conventional Majorana zero modes are discussed. Relevant features including the fractional topological invariant, violations of the area law, and anomalous transport characteristics are also described. Theoretical studies of realistic condensed‐matter realizations such as helical Shiba chains, hybrid nanowires, and other platforms are covered to assess their feasibility under various experimental constraints. Finally, experimental efforts are surveyed where implementations in solid‐state devices and other systems that can simulate effective long‐range topological Hamiltonians are both highlighted.