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arXiv:2412.10412 · Open Physics

Exact solution of the three-dimensional (3D) Z 2 lattice gauge theory

Zhidong Zhang

Published Jan 1, 2025• 6 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Abstract The gauge invariance is an important phenomenon widely occurring in various matters with many-body interactions. The gauge theories are very important for understanding the evolution of fundamental physical processes in particle physics, high-energy physics, and condensed matter physics. In this work, the origin of nonlocal effects is inspected, and the contributions of nontrivial topological structures to physical properties are investigated in detail for both the three-dimensional (3D) Ising model and the 3D Z 2 lattice gauge model. Then, the exact solution for the 3D Z 2 lattice gauge theory is derived by the duality between the two models. The partition function, the spontaneous magnetization, the true range of correlation, and the critical point are rigorously derived for the 3D Z 2 lattice gauge theory. The critical exponents of the 3D Z 2 lattice gauge theory are in the same universality class as the 3D Ising model, which are α = 0, β = 3/8, γ = 5/4, δ = 13/3, η = 1/8, and ν = 2/3. Several fundamental issues, such as dimensionality, duality, symmetry, manifold and degenerate states, are investigated for these many-body interacting spin systems. The connections with superfluid, superconductors, particle physics, etc. are evaluated. Furthermore, physical significances and mathematical aspects of the 3D Z 2 lattice gauge theory are discussed with respect to topology, geometry, and algebra. The present results for the 3D Z 2 lattice gauge theory are helpful for figuring out the basic features of 3D lattice gauge theories with other symmetries, such as U(1), SU(2), and SU(3). This work shines a light on the interdisciplinarity between many-body interacting systems, algebra, topology, and geometry.

DOI
10.1515/phys-2025-0215

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Abstract The gauge invariance is an important phenomenon widely occurring in various matters with many-body interactions. The gauge theories are very important for understanding the evolution of fundamental physical processes in particle physics, high-energy physics, and condensed matter physics. In this work, the origin of nonlocal effects is inspected, and the contributions of nontrivial topological structures to physical properties are investigated in detail for both the three-dimensional (3D) Ising model and the 3D Z 2 lattice gauge model. Then, the exact solution for the 3D Z 2 lattice gauge theory is derived by the duality between the two models. The partition function, the spontaneous magnetization, the true range of correlation, and the critical point are rigorously derived for the 3D Z 2 lattice gauge theory. The critical exponents of the 3D Z 2 lattice gauge theory are in the same universality class as the 3D Ising model, which are α = 0, β = 3/8, γ = 5/4, δ = 13/3, η = 1/8, and ν = 2/3. Several fundamental issues, such as dimensionality, duality, symmetry, manifold and degenerate states, are investigated for these many-body interacting spin systems. The connections with superfluid, superconductors, particle physics, etc. are evaluated. Furthermore, physical significances and mathematical aspects of the 3D Z 2 lattice gauge theory are discussed with respect to topology, geometry, and algebra. The present results for the 3D Z 2 lattice gauge theory are helpful for figuring out the basic features of 3D lattice gauge theories with other symmetries, such as U(1), SU(2), and SU(3). This work shines a light on the interdisciplinarity between many-body interacting systems, algebra, topology, and geometry.
An overview of the mathematical structure of the three-dimensional (3D) Ising model is given, from the viewpoints of topologic, algebraic and geometric aspects. By analyzing the relations among transfer matrices of the 3D Ising model, Reidemeister moves in the knot theory, Yang-Baxter and tetrahedron equations, the following facts are illustrated for the 3D Ising model: 1) The complexified quaternion basis constructed for the 3D Ising model represents naturally the rotation in a (3 + 1) - dimensional space-time, as a relativistic quantum statistical mechanics model, which is consistent with the 4-fold integrand of the partition function by taking the time average. 2) A unitary transformation with a matrix being a spin representation in 2^(nlo)-space corresponds to a rotation in 2nlo-space, which serves to smooth all the crossings in the transfer matrices and contributes as the non-trivial topologic part of the partition function of the 3D Ising model. 3) A tetrahedron relation would ensure the commutativity of the transfer matrices and the integrability of the 3D Ising model, and its existence is guaranteed also by the Jordan algebra and the Jordan-von Neumann-Wigner procedures. 4) The unitary transformation for smoothing the crossings in the transfer matrices changes the wave functions by complex phases Φx, Φy, and Φz. The relation with quantum field and gauge theories, physical significance of weight factors are discussed in details. The conjectured exact solution is compared with numerical results, and singularities at/near infinite temperature are inspected. The analyticity in β = 1/(kB T) of both the hard-core and Ising models has been proved for β > 0, not for β = 0. Thus the high-temperature series cannot serve as a standard for judging a putative exact solution of the 3D Ising model.
An overview of the mathematical structure of the three-dimensional(3D) Ising model is given from the points of view of topology,algebra,and geometry.By analyzing the relationships among transfer matrices of the 3D Ising model,Reidemeister moves in the knot theory,Yang-Baxter and tetrahedron equations,the following facts are illustrated for the 3D Ising model.1) The complex quaternion basis constructed for the 3D Ising model naturally represents the rotation in a(3+1)-dimensional space-time as a relativistic quantum statistical mechanics model,which is consistent with the 4-fold integrand of the partition function obtained by taking the time average.2) A unitary transformation with a matrix that is a spin representation in 2 n·l·o-space corresponds to a rotation in 2n·l·o-space,which serves to smooth all the crossings in the transfer matrices and contributes the non-trivial topological part of the partition function of the 3D Ising model.3) A tetrahedron relationship would ensure the commutativity of the transfer matrices and the integrability of the 3D Ising model,and its existence is guaranteed by the Jordan algebra and the Jordan-von Neumann-Wigner procedures.4) The unitary transformation for smoothing the crossings in the transfer matrices changes the wave functions by complex phases φx,φy,and φz.The relationship with quantum field and gauge theories and the physical significance of the weight factors are discussed in detail.The conjectured exact solution is compared with numerical results,and the singularities at/near infinite temperature are inspected.The analyticity in β=1/(kBT) of both the hard-core and the Ising models has been proved only for β>0,not for β=0.Thus the high-temperature series cannot serve as a standard for judging a putative exact solution of the 3D Ising model.
The Ising model describes a many-body interacting spin (or particle) system, which can be utilized to imitate the fundamental forces of nature. Although it is the simplest many-body interacting system of spins (or particles) with Z2 symmetry, the phenomena revealed in Ising systems may afford us lessons for other types of interactions in nature. In this work, we first focus on the mathematical structure of the three-dimensional (3D) Ising model. In the Clifford algebraic representation, many internal factors exist in the transfer matrices of the 3D Ising model, which are ascribed to the topology of the 3D space and the many-body interactions of spins. They result in the nonlocality, the nontrivial topological structure, as well as the long-range entanglement between spins in the 3D Ising model. We review briefly the exact solution of the ferromagnetic 3D Ising model at the zero magnetic field, which was derived in our previous work. Then, the framework of topological quantum statistical mechanics is established, with respect to the mathematical aspects (topology, algebra, and geometry) and physical features (the contribution of topology to physics, Jordan–von Neumann–Wigner framework, time average, ensemble average, and quantum mechanical average). This is accomplished by generalizations of our findings and observations in the 3D Ising models. Finally, the results are generalized to topological quantum field theories, in consideration of relationships between quantum statistical mechanics and quantum field theories. It is found that these theories must be set up within the Jordan–von Neumann–Wigner framework, and the ergodic hypothesis is violated at the finite temperature. It is necessary to account the time average of the ensemble average and the quantum mechanical average in the topological quantum statistical mechanics and to introduce the parameter space of complex time (and complex temperature) in the topological quantum field theories. We find that a topological phase transition occurs near the infinite temperature (or the zero temperature) in models in the topological quantum statistical mechanics and the topological quantum field theories, which visualizes a symmetrical breaking of time inverse symmetry.
The three-dimensional (3D) Ising model is mapped into a 3D spinless fermionic model by the Jordan-Wigner transformation. The exact solution of the 3D model for spinless fermions is derived analytically by performing a diagonalization process consisting of the Clifford algebraic approach, the Fourier transformation and the Bogoliubov transformation. The Clifford algebraic approach is the same as that developed for the 3D Ising model, using a time average within the Jordan-von Neumann-Wigner framework, a linearization procedure and a local gauge transformation. The formulas for eigenvalues, partition function, subsequent thermodynamic properties and critical behaviors are presented. The dimensionality and the topological phases are investigated. The present results for many spinless fermions in a 3D lattice are applicable for studying the mechanisms of magnetism, superfluid, superconductors and topological materials.
Gauge theories and topological phases play a fundamental role in different areas of physics. The first ones are at the basis of the Standard Model in the field of particle physics, describing the electroweak and strong interactions through a non-Abelian gauge theory. In condensed matter and statistical physics, gauge theories arise as low-energy effective descriptions of strongly correlated phenomena, such as quantum spin liquids and quantum Hall effect. In this realm there is a strong connection with topological phases and order, as emergent gauge fermions and bosons often describe collective excitations of new exotic states of matter of spin models. The discretization on a lattice is a possible way of dealing with the strongly coupled nature of these theories, due to the fact that this formulation at finite volume provides natural regularizing cut-offs, i.e. the lattice size and spacing. This allows for the investigation of different non-perturbative properties both numerically and analytically. Despite the success of these methods, there are various aspects which remain intractable due to the sign or complex action problems, like the out of equilibrium real time evolution or the analysis of quantum chromodynamics with finite chemical potential. In this respect, quantum simulators of many-body systems to simulate high energy physics arise as promising alternatives to face these problems in the near future. They are quantum systems that can be controlled and used to simulate more complicated systems, whose properties could not be analysed with classical computational, experimental or theoretical tools. In the last decades, there has been a huge development in the fields of quantum optics and atomic physics, allowing for the realization highly precise and controllable platforms by means of trapped ions, superconducting circuits, Rydberg atoms and ultracold atoms in optical lattices. This work of Thesis is part of these fields and has different purposes, all of them connected with the study of gauge theories and topological phases. Firstly, we want to develop a reformulation of lattice gauge theories in terms of gauge invariant fields, in a way to deal solely with physical variables directly in the action. Among several possible advantages, a crucial point is that this can be particularly helpful for the construction of consistent approximation schemes, such as mean-field theories, in order to understand and capture some of the physical features of the theory and make the mean-field approximation consistent with the Elitzur theorem, stating that a local gauge symmetry can not be spontaneously broken. As a second point, we face the problem of simulating higher dimensional gauge theories with ultracold atoms. One of the challenges in more than one dimension is indeed the realization of plaquette interaction terms in the Hamiltonian of lattice gauge theories: these can be engineered through four correlated hoppings in perturbation theory, or by means of constrained hoppings in the dual formulation. In this respect, our main target is to set up an ultracold atomic platform generating the plaquette term in two dimensions using only two correlated hoppings, and protecting gauge invariance through angular momentum conservation. The last point we address in the Thesis is related to the analysis of particles moving in static background gauge potentials, i.e. when the considered gauge field has no dynamical term in the action of the system. Indeed, the dynamics of quantum particles in the presence of static gauge fields gives rise to intriguing physical phenomena. In particular, using ultracold atom setups, the realization of artificial gauge potentials can be used to investigate the physics of topological semimetals, such as Weyl or Dirac type. In the last ten years, a lot of attention has been paid to their characterization, due to the appearence of clear theoretical predictions and very well-controlled experimental techniques. We investigate here the relation between topological phase transitions and van Hove singularities, i.e. the discontinuities in the energy derivative of the density of states, in three-dimensional gapless systems. In such materials, topological phase transitions can be defined by changes of the topological invariants of the Fermi sheets, happening at specific singular points. Moreover, Fermi surface singularities result in the presence of the so-called van Hove points. We then present a general argument to relate topological phase transitions and van Hove singularities, and show observable consequences that are related to the transport properties of the system. We exemplify our argument in Weyl systems by analyzing the three-dimensional Hofstadter model for various commensurate fluxes, which offers the opportunity to consider different kinds of Weyl metals and to understand the features of their density of states.
The exact analytical solution of the three-dimensional (3D) Ising model remains a central unresolved problem in statistical mechanics. While exact solutions exist in one and two dimensions, the three-dimensional case has resisted closed-form treatment. While standard Kramers-Wannier duality fails to yield a self-dual spin model in 3D, instead mapping to a gauge theory, we introduce a quasi-duality transformation by perturbing the isotropic cubic lattice with a slight, localized spatial inhomogeneity. Specifically, this is introduced via the boundary correction term A n ( ? )= δ η,nN ( s η ? s η?N+1 ? ? s η ? s η+1 ? ) , which arises from flattening the 2D planes into 1D row-continuous chains. By enforcing a condition where the introduced inhomogeneity algebraically absorbs the leading-order topological mismatch of the dual gauge fields, we recover an effective self-dual relation. This algebraic solution yields a critical coupling of K c = 1 4 ln( 1+ 2 )≈0.22033 , which remarkably deviates by only ~0.6% from the widely accepted homogeneous Monte Carlo estimation of K c ( MC ) ?0.22165 . We discuss the derivation and outline future applications of this method to study phase transitions in complex, structurally disordered systems. The method provides insight into how weak inhomogeneity restores a form of dual symmetry that approximates the true critical manifold. Implications for critical phenomena, renormalization structure, and complex biological systems operating near criticality are discussed.