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arXiv:2507.14656 · SciPost Physics Core

Exact critical exponents of the Motzkin and Fredkin chains

Olai B. Mykland, Zhao Zhang

Published Sep 1, 2026• 1 citation
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

The Motzkin and Fredkin chains are frustration-free spin models with exactly solvable ground states whose q q -deformations realize an exotic quantum phase transition from a disordered phase to an ordered one under domain-wall boundary conditions. Previous work has mainly focused on their entanglement scaling and spectral gaps, particularly in color-enriched variants. Here we systematically characterize the critical behavior of this transition with three main advances. First, we interpret bulk magnetic order as arising from correlations with boundary spins subject to an effective edge field, directly relating the ordered phase to the domain-wall boundary condition. Second, using the transfer matrix (TM) constructed from the exact matrix product state (MPS) representation, together with a continuum and RG analysis, we derive the algebraic decay of spin correlations and obtain the critical exponent \eta = \frac{3}{2} η = 3 2 . We further generalize the TM method to translationally invariant gapless states with generic power-law correlations, via a zero-dimensional Hamiltonian dual to the one-dimensional TM. Third, the TM spectrum reveals a duality between the ordered and disordered phases which, combined with scale invariance at criticality and the scaling dimension of the spin operator, yields \nu_± = \frac{2}{3} ν ± = 2 3 from an RG analysis of the q q -deformed ground states. Both exponents are confirmed numerically by MPS simulations and by direct diagonalization of the TM.

DOI
10.21468/scipostphyscore.9.3.055

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The Motzkin and Fredkin chains are frustration-free spin models with exactly solvable ground states whose q q -deformations realize an exotic quantum phase transition from a disordered phase to an ordered one under domain-wall boundary conditions. Previous work has mainly focused on their entanglement scaling and spectral gaps, particularly in color-enriched variants. Here we systematically characterize the critical behavior of this transition with three main advances. First, we interpret bulk magnetic order as arising from correlations with boundary spins subject to an effective edge field, directly relating the ordered phase to the domain-wall boundary condition. Second, using the transfer matrix (TM) constructed from the exact matrix product state (MPS) representation, together with a continuum and RG analysis, we derive the algebraic decay of spin correlations and obtain the critical exponent \eta = \frac{3}{2} η = 3 2 . We further generalize the TM method to translationally invariant gapless states with generic power-law correlations, via a zero-dimensional Hamiltonian dual to the one-dimensional TM. Third, the TM spectrum reveals a duality between the ordered and disordered phases which, combined with scale invariance at criticality and the scaling dimension of the spin operator, yields \nu_± = \frac{2}{3} ν ± = 2 3 from an RG analysis of the q q -deformed ground states. Both exponents are confirmed numerically by MPS simulations and by direct diagonalization of the TM.
Motzkin spin-chains, which include 'colorless' (integer spin s=1s=1s=1) and 'colorful' (s≥2s \geq 2s≥2) variants, are one-dimensional (1D) local integer spin models notable for their lack of a conformal field theory (CFT) description of their low-energy physics, despite being gapless. The colorful variants are particularly unusual, as they exhibit power-law violation of the area-law of entanglement entropy (as n\sqrt{n}n​ in system size nnn), rather than a logarithmic violation as seen in a CFT. In this work, we analytically discover several unique properties of these models, potentially suggesting a new universality class for their low-energy physics. We identify a complex structure of symmetries and unexpected scaling behavior in spin-spin correlations, which deviate from known 1D universality classes. Specifically, the s=1s=1s=1 chain exhibits U(1)U(1)U(1) spontaneous symmetry breaking and ferromagnetic order. Meanwhile, the s≥2s \geq 2s≥2 chains do not appear to spontaneously break any symmetries, but display quasi-long-range algebraic order with power-law decaying correlations, inconsistent with standard Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) critical exponents. We also derive exact asymptotic scaling expressions for entanglement measures in both colorless and colorful chains, generalizing previous results of Movassagh [J. Math Phys. (2017)], while providing benchmarks for potential quantum simulation experiments. The combination of hardness of classically simulating such systems along with the analytical tractability of their ground state properties position Motzkin spin chains as intriguing candidates for exploring quantum computational advantage in simulating many-body physics.
We generalize the area-law violating models of Fredkin and Motzkin spin chains into two dimensions by building quantum six- and nineteen-vertex models with correlated interactions. The Hamiltonian is frustration free, and its projectors generate ergodic dynamics within the subspace of height configuration that are non negative. The ground state is a volume- and color-weighted superposition of classical bi-color vertex configurations with non-negative heights in the bulk and zero height on the boundary. The entanglement entropy between subsystems has a phase transition as the qqq-deformation parameter is tuned, which is shown to be robust in the presence of an external field acting on the color degree of freedom. The ground state undergoes a quantum phase transition between area- and volume-law entanglement phases with a critical point where entanglement entropy scales as a function Llog⁡LL\log LLlogL of the linear system size LLL. Intermediate power law scalings between Llog⁡LL\log LLlogL and L2L^2L2 can be achieved with an inhomogeneous deformation parameter that approaches 1 at different rates in the thermodynamic limit. For the q>1q>1q>1 phase, we construct a variational wave function that establishes an upper bound on the spectral gap that scales as q−L3/8q^{-L^3/8}q−L3/8.
Abstract We investigate ground- and excited-state properties of the deformed Fredkin spin chain proposed by Salberger, Zhang, Klich, Korepin, and the authors. This model is a one-parameter deformation of the Fredkin spin chain, whose Hamiltonian is 3-local and translationally invariant in the bulk. The model is frustration-free and its unique ground state can be expressed as a weighted superposition of colored Dyck paths. We focus on the case where the deformation parameter t > 1 . By using a variational method, we prove that the finite-size gap decays at least exponentially with increasing the system size. We prove that the magnetization in the ground state is along the z -direction, namely 〈 s x 〉 = 〈 s y 〉 = 0 , and show that the z -component 〈 s z 〉 exhibits a domain-wall structure. We then study the entanglement properties of the chain. In particular, we derive upper and lower bounds for the von Neumann and Rényi entropies, and entanglement spectrum for any bipartition of the chain.
We present bulk tensor networks that exactly represent the ground states of a continuous family of one-dimensional frustration-free Hamiltonians. These states, which are known as area-deformed Motzkin and Fredkin states, exhibit a novel quantum phase transition. By tuning a single parameter, they go from a phase obeying an area law to a highly entangled ``rainbow'' phase, where the half-chain entropy scales with the volume. Using the representation of these ground states as superpositions of random walks, we introduce tensor networks for these ground states where local and global rules of the walker are baked into bulk tensors, thereby providing an efficient description of the ground states (some of which satisfy a volume law scaling of entanglement entropy).
We generalize the area-law violating models of Fredkin and Motzkin spin chains into two dimensions by building quantum six- and nineteen-vertex models with correlated interactions. The Hamiltonian is frustration free, and its projectors generate ergodic dynamics within the subspace of height configuration that are non negative. The ground state is a volume- and color-weighted superposition of classical bi-color vertex configurations with non-negative heights in the bulk and zero height on the boundary. The entanglement entropy between subsystems has a phase transition as the q q -deformation parameter is tuned, which is shown to be robust in the presence of an external field acting on the color degree of freedom. The ground state undergoes a quantum phase transition between area- and volume-law entanglement phases with a critical point where entanglement entropy scales as a function L\log L L log L of the linear system size L L . Intermediate power law scalings between L\log L L log L and L^2 L 2 can be achieved with an inhomogeneous deformation parameter that approaches 1 at different rates in the thermodynamic limit. For the q>1 q > 1 phase, we construct a variational wave function that establishes an upper bound on the spectral gap that scales as q^{-L^3/8} q − L 3 / 8 .
Motzkin spin chains are paradigmatic frustration-free one-dimensional quantum systems whose ground states feature exactly solvable combinatorial structures and exotic, area-law-violating entanglement scaling. Specifically, colorless Motzkin states exhibit critical logarithmic entanglement divergence log⁡N\log NlogN with system size NNN, while their colorful counterparts host supercritical sublinear N\sqrt{N}N​ entanglement growth. Such unconventional entanglement behaviors place these states well beyond the expressive capability of standard matrix product states, which are fundamentally constrained by the entanglement area law. Here, we systematically construct exact, training-free neural-network representations for both colorless and colorful Motzkin states across four mainstream architectures, including recurrent, feedforward, convolutional, and transformer networks. Our core design leverages a causal prefix-sum module, implementable via recurrent updates, feedforward mappings, or masked attention layers, combined with position-selective rectified linear gates that enforce the Motzkin height constraints. For the colorful states, we further introduce a dedicated causal stack module that explicitly encodes the last-in-first-out color-matching rule. Our results demonstrate that neural architectures can accurately capture highly non-trivial entanglement features inaccessible to conventional tensor networks, providing prototypic examples for benchmarking and a constructive design framework for future neural-network quantum state developments targeting strongly entangled quantum systems.