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arXiv:2408.08828 · Physical review. B./Physical review. B

Sine-Gordon model at finite temperature: The method of random surfaces

M. Tóth, J. H. Pixley, D. Szász-Schagrin, G. Takács, Márton Kormos

Published Apr 7, 2025• 2 citations
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Abstract

The authors study here the sine-Gordon quantum field theory, relevant for many 1D gapped systems and experimental settings. Despite its integrability, computing correlation functions, especially at finite temperatures, remains challenging. Existing methods like perturbative expansions, Monte Carlo simulations, and Hamiltonian truncation have limitations. The authors develop here a numerical approach using the method of random surfaces, which is efficient, scalable, and free from the sign problem. They validate their results against established techniques and propose future applications for multipoint functions and quench dynamics.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.111.155112

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The authors study here the sine-Gordon quantum field theory, relevant for many 1D gapped systems and experimental settings. Despite its integrability, computing correlation functions, especially at finite temperatures, remains challenging. Existing methods like perturbative expansions, Monte Carlo simulations, and Hamiltonian truncation have limitations. The authors develop here a numerical approach using the method of random surfaces, which is efficient, scalable, and free from the sign problem. They validate their results against established techniques and propose future applications for multipoint functions and quench dynamics.
The sine-Gordon model serves as a foundational 1+11+11+1-dimensional quantum field theory with numerous applications in condensed matter physics. Despite its integrability, characterizing its finite-temperature behavior remains a significant theoretical challenge. Here we use the previously developed Method of Random Surfaces (MRS) to evaluate two-point and higher-order correlation functions. We cross-check these results with known analytical limits, demonstrating that the MRS provides reliable, non-perturbative data in intermediate regimes where traditional form-factor expansions and semiclassical methods are inapplicable. Furthermore, we derive an exact result for arbitrary NNN-point functions satisfying an appropriate selection rule, providing a direct computational method for complex multi-point observables at finite temperature. We also characterize the non-Gaussianity of correlations and demonstrate that the results align with intuitive theoretical expectations.
Complete information on the equilibrium behavior and dynamics of quantum field theory (QFT) is provided by multipoint correlation functions. However, their theoretical calculation is a challenging problem, even for exactly solvable models. This has recently become an experimentally relevant problem, due to progress in cold-atom experiments simulating QFT models and directly measuring higher order correlations. Here we compute correlation functions of the quantum sine-Gordon model, a prototype integrable model of central interest from both theoretical and experimental points of view. Building upon the so-called truncated conformal space approach, we numerically construct higher order correlations in a system of finite size in various physical states of experimental relevance, both in and out of equilibrium. We measure deviations from Gaussianity due to the presence of interaction and analyze their dependence on temperature, explaining the experimentally observed crossover between Gaussian and non-Gaussian regimes. We find that correlations of excited states are markedly different from the thermal case, which can be explained by the integrability of the system. We also study dynamics after a quench, observing the effects of the interaction on the time evolution of correlation functions, their spatial dependence, and their non-Gaussianity as measured by the kurtosis.
With regard to the thermalization problem in isolated quantum systems, we investigate the dynamics following a quantum quench of the sine-Gordon model (sGM) in the Luther–Emery and the semiclassical limits. We consider the quench from the gapped to the gapless phase, as well as the reverse one. By obtaining analytic expressions for the one- and two-point correlation functions of the order parameter operator at zero-temperature, the manifestations of integrability in the absence of thermalization in the sGM are studied. It is shown that correlations in the long-time regime after the quench are well described by a generalized Gibbs ensemble. We also consider the case where the system is initially in contact with a reservoir at finite temperature. The possible relevance of our results to current and future experiments with ultracold atomic systems is also considered.
A variational approach based on the path-integral formulation of the statistical mechanics is applied for calculating the partition function of the sine-Gordon field. This is done by determining an effective potential which includes, in a complete quantum way, the linear modes of the field, while treating variationally the nonlinear excitations. Using this effective potential the temperature renormalization is separately studied both for the vacuum and the one-soliton sector, recovering the total one-loop self-consistent (Hartree-Fock) renormalized approximation. A high-temperature expansion is calculated whose range of applicability is found to be much wider with respect to previous expansions of the same kind. Finally, a comparison with a Monte Carlo simulation is presented, obtaining a very good agreement with the numerical data.
The sine-Gordon model appears as the low-energy effective field theory of various one-dimensional gapped quantum systems. Here we investigate the dynamics of generic, nonintegrable systems belonging to the sine-Gordon family at finite temperature within the semiclassical approach. Focusing on timescales where the effect of nontrivial quasiparticle scatterings becomes relevant, we obtain universal results for the long-time behavior of dynamical correlation functions. We find that correlation functions of vertex operators behave neither ballistically nor diffusively but follow a stretched exponential decay in time. We also study the full counting statistics of the topological current and find that distribution of the transferred charge is non-Gaussian with its cumulants scaling nonuniformly in time.
We discuss the quench dynamics near a quantum critical point focusing on the sine-Gordon model as a primary example. We suggest a unified approach to sudden and slow quenches, where the tuning parameter $\ensuremath{\lambda}(t)$ changes in time as $\ensuremath{\lambda}(t)\ensuremath{\sim}\ensuremath{\upsilon}{t}^{r}$, based on the adiabatic expansion of the excitation probability in powers of $\ensuremath{\upsilon}$. We show that the universal scaling of the excitation probability can be understood through the singularity of the generalized adiabatic susceptibility ${\ensuremath{\chi}}_{2r+2}(\ensuremath{\lambda})$, which for sudden quenches (r=0)(r=0)(r=0) reduces to the fidelity susceptibility. In turn this class of susceptibilities is expressed through the moments of the connected correlation function of the quench operator. We analyze the excitations created after a sudden quench of the cosine potential using a combined approach of form-factors expansion and conformal perturbation theory for the low-energy and high-energy sector, respectively. We find the general scaling laws for the probability of exciting the system, the density of excited quasiparticles, the entropy and the heat generated after the quench. In the two limits where the sine-Gordon model maps to hard-core bosons and free massive fermions we provide the exact solutions for the quench dynamics and discuss the finite temperature generalizations.