Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:2602.01223 · Physical Review Letters

Topological quantum criticality in the quasiperiodic cluster Ising chain

Sheng Yang, Hai-Qing Lin, Xue-Jia Yu

Published Oct 26, 2026• 0 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Topological classifications of quantum critical systems have recently attracted growing interest, as they go beyond the traditional paradigms of condensed matter and statistical physics. However, such classifications remain largely unexplored in aperiodic environments, particularly under quasiperiodic modulations. In this Letter, we uncover a family of topological quasiperiodic fixed points with critical scalings intermediate between the clean and infinite-randomness limits. By exactly solving the quasiperiodic cluster-Ising chain, we demonstrate that all phase boundaries separating quasiperiodically modulated phases are governed by topological Ising-like fixed points unique to strongly modulated quasiperiodic systems. Although their local bulk critical properties match those of conventional quasiperiodic Ising critical points reported before, these fixed points host robust topological edge degeneracies and exhibit a distinct symmetry-enriched realization of the quasiperiodic Ising criticality, as further supported by complementary lattice simulations.

DOI
10.1103/l8m8-vk2h

Related papers

Universality and quantum criticality in quasiperiodic spin chains

Utkarsh Agrawal, Sarang Gopalakrishnan, Romain Vasseur

Quasiperiodic systems are aperiodic but deterministic, so their critical behavior differs from that of clean systems and disordered ones as well. Quasiperiodic criticality was previously understood only in the special limit where the couplings follow discrete quasiperiodic sequences. Here we consider generic quasiperiodic modulations; we find, remarkably, that for a wide class of spin chains, generic quasiperiodic modulations flow to discrete sequences under a real-space renormalization-group transformation. These discrete sequences are therefore fixed points of a functional renormalization group. This observation allows for an asymptotically exact treatment of the critical points. We use this approach to analyze the quasiperiodic Heisenberg, Ising, and Potts spin chains, as well as a phenomenological model for the quasiperiodic many-body localization transition.

arXiv:1908.02774•Nature Communications•May 6, 2020•53 citations

Quasiperiodic Quantum Ising Transitions in 1D

Philip J. D. Crowley, Anushya Chandran, Chris R. Laumann

Unlike random potentials, quasiperiodic modulation can induce localization-delocalization transitions in one dimension. In this Letter, we analyze the implications of this for symmetry breaking in the quasiperiodically modulated quantum Ising chain. Although weak modulation is irrelevant, strong modulation induces new ferromagnetic and paramagnetic phases which are fully localized and gapless. The quasiperiodic potential and localized excitations lead to quantum criticality that is intermediate to that of the clean and randomly disordered models with exponents of ν=1^{+} (exact) and z≈1.9, Δ_{σ}≈0.16, and Δ_{γ}≈0.63 (up to logarithmic corrections). Technically, the clean Ising transition is destabilized by logarithmic wandering of the local reduced couplings. We conjecture that the wandering coefficient w controls the universality class of the quasiperiodic transition and show its stability to smooth perturbations that preserve the quasiperiodic structure of the model.

arXiv:1801.07269•Physical Review Letters•Apr 24, 2018•32 citations

Topologically Enforced Lifshitz Multicriticality in One Dimension

Kuang-Hung Chou, Xue-Jia Yu

Recent advances have revealed that topology can further enrich the universality classes of quantum phase transitions, thereby extending beyond the traditional paradigms of statistical and condensed matter physics. However, multicriticality between topologically distinct quantum critical lines remains insufficiently explored. In this Letter, we systematically construct and investigate a novel class of topologically enforced Lifshitz multicritical points in one dimensional chiral symmetric fermionic systems. Such multicriticality is driven solely by changes in the topology of neighboring critical lines, beyond previously recognized multicritical points that are typically induced by changes in critical exponents. More importantly, the topologically enforced multicriticality identified here can host robust topological degeneracies while surprisingly exhibiting a breakdown of the Li Haldane bulk boundary correspondence-a phenomenon we elucidate through a simple physical picture.

cond-mat.stat-mechCross-listedarXiv:2606.07380•Jun 8, 2026•0 citations

Gapless topological behaviors in a long-range quantum spin chain

Sheng Yang, Hai‐Qing Lin, Xue-Jia Yu

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.

Communications Physics•Jan 18, 2025•21 citations

Gapless Topological Phases and Symmetry-Enriched Quantum Criticality

Ruben Verresen, Ryan Thorngren, Nick G. Jones +1 more

We introduce topological invariants for gapless systems and study the associated boundary phenomena.More generally, the symmetry properties of the low-energy conformal field theory (CFT) provide discrete invariants establishing the notion of symmetry-enriched quantum criticality.The charges of nonlocal scaling operators, or more generally, of symmetry defects, are topological and imply the presence of localized edge modes.We primarily focus on the 1 þ 1d case where the edge has a topological degeneracy, whose finite-size splitting can be exponential or algebraic in system size depending on the involvement of additional gapped sectors.An example of the exponential case is given by tuning the spin-1 Heisenberg chain to a symmetry-breaking Ising phase.An example of the algebraic case arises between the gapped Ising and cluster phases: This symmetry-enriched Ising CFT has an edge mode with finite-size splitting scaling as 1=L 14 .In addition to such new cases, our formalism unifies various examples previously studied in the literature.Similar to gapped symmetry-protected topological phases, a given CFT can split into several distinct symmetry-enriched CFTs.This raises the question of classification, to which we give a partial answer-including a complete characterization of symmetry-enriched 1 þ 1d Ising CFTs.Nontrivial topological invariants can also be constructed in higher dimensions, which we illustrate for a symmetry-enriched 2 þ 1d CFT without gapped sectors.

arXiv:1905.06969•Physical Review X•Dec 23, 2021•149 citations

Topological Superradiant Universality Classes in Cavity-Mediated Spin Chains

Yunhao Liu, Sheng Yang, Mingyuan Chen +1 more

Superradiant phase transitions are fundamental phenomena in light-matter coupled systems. Here, we uncover a novel class of superradiant criticality that is topologically distinct from previously known superradiant transitions. Using cavity-mediated cluster-Ising chains as an illustrative example, we numerically demonstrate that the critical line separating the superradiant phase from the cavity topological phase hosts robust symmetry-protected edge degeneracies, a feature absent in conventional superradiant transitions. Remarkably, although its local bulk critical properties are indistinguishable from those of the previously identified topologically trivial superradiant transition, the two criticalities cannot be smoothly connected without breaking the protecting symmetries or passing through a multicritical point. We further show that such topological superradiant criticality is generic, also occurring in cavity-mediated $\mathbb{Z}_{n}^{}$ cluster-qudit chains, as supported by complementary lattice simulations.

quant-pharXiv:2610.11495•Oct 9, 2026•0 citations
Topological classifications of quantum critical systems have recently attracted growing interest, as they go beyond the traditional paradigms of condensed matter and statistical physics. However, such classifications remain largely unexplored in aperiodic environments, particularly under quasiperiodic modulations. In this Letter, we uncover a family of topological quasiperiodic fixed points with critical scalings intermediate between the clean and infinite-randomness limits. By exactly solving the quasiperiodic cluster-Ising chain, we demonstrate that all phase boundaries separating quasiperiodically modulated phases are governed by topological Ising-like fixed points unique to strongly modulated quasiperiodic systems. Although their local bulk critical properties match those of conventional quasiperiodic Ising critical points reported before, these fixed points host robust topological edge degeneracies and exhibit a distinct symmetry-enriched realization of the quasiperiodic Ising criticality, as further supported by complementary lattice simulations.
Quasiperiodic systems are aperiodic but deterministic, so their critical behavior differs from that of clean systems and disordered ones as well. Quasiperiodic criticality was previously understood only in the special limit where the couplings follow discrete quasiperiodic sequences. Here we consider generic quasiperiodic modulations; we find, remarkably, that for a wide class of spin chains, generic quasiperiodic modulations flow to discrete sequences under a real-space renormalization-group transformation. These discrete sequences are therefore fixed points of a functional renormalization group. This observation allows for an asymptotically exact treatment of the critical points. We use this approach to analyze the quasiperiodic Heisenberg, Ising, and Potts spin chains, as well as a phenomenological model for the quasiperiodic many-body localization transition.
Unlike random potentials, quasiperiodic modulation can induce localization-delocalization transitions in one dimension. In this Letter, we analyze the implications of this for symmetry breaking in the quasiperiodically modulated quantum Ising chain. Although weak modulation is irrelevant, strong modulation induces new ferromagnetic and paramagnetic phases which are fully localized and gapless. The quasiperiodic potential and localized excitations lead to quantum criticality that is intermediate to that of the clean and randomly disordered models with exponents of ν=1^{+} (exact) and z≈1.9, Δ_{σ}≈0.16, and Δ_{γ}≈0.63 (up to logarithmic corrections). Technically, the clean Ising transition is destabilized by logarithmic wandering of the local reduced couplings. We conjecture that the wandering coefficient w controls the universality class of the quasiperiodic transition and show its stability to smooth perturbations that preserve the quasiperiodic structure of the model.
Recent advances have revealed that topology can further enrich the universality classes of quantum phase transitions, thereby extending beyond the traditional paradigms of statistical and condensed matter physics. However, multicriticality between topologically distinct quantum critical lines remains insufficiently explored. In this Letter, we systematically construct and investigate a novel class of topologically enforced Lifshitz multicritical points in one dimensional chiral symmetric fermionic systems. Such multicriticality is driven solely by changes in the topology of neighboring critical lines, beyond previously recognized multicritical points that are typically induced by changes in critical exponents. More importantly, the topologically enforced multicriticality identified here can host robust topological degeneracies while surprisingly exhibiting a breakdown of the Li Haldane bulk boundary correspondence-a phenomenon we elucidate through a simple physical picture.
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.
We introduce topological invariants for gapless systems and study the associated boundary phenomena.More generally, the symmetry properties of the low-energy conformal field theory (CFT) provide discrete invariants establishing the notion of symmetry-enriched quantum criticality.The charges of nonlocal scaling operators, or more generally, of symmetry defects, are topological and imply the presence of localized edge modes.We primarily focus on the 1 þ 1d case where the edge has a topological degeneracy, whose finite-size splitting can be exponential or algebraic in system size depending on the involvement of additional gapped sectors.An example of the exponential case is given by tuning the spin-1 Heisenberg chain to a symmetry-breaking Ising phase.An example of the algebraic case arises between the gapped Ising and cluster phases: This symmetry-enriched Ising CFT has an edge mode with finite-size splitting scaling as 1=L 14 .In addition to such new cases, our formalism unifies various examples previously studied in the literature.Similar to gapped symmetry-protected topological phases, a given CFT can split into several distinct symmetry-enriched CFTs.This raises the question of classification, to which we give a partial answer-including a complete characterization of symmetry-enriched 1 þ 1d Ising CFTs.Nontrivial topological invariants can also be constructed in higher dimensions, which we illustrate for a symmetry-enriched 2 þ 1d CFT without gapped sectors.
Superradiant phase transitions are fundamental phenomena in light-matter coupled systems. Here, we uncover a novel class of superradiant criticality that is topologically distinct from previously known superradiant transitions. Using cavity-mediated cluster-Ising chains as an illustrative example, we numerically demonstrate that the critical line separating the superradiant phase from the cavity topological phase hosts robust symmetry-protected edge degeneracies, a feature absent in conventional superradiant transitions. Remarkably, although its local bulk critical properties are indistinguishable from those of the previously identified topologically trivial superradiant transition, the two criticalities cannot be smoothly connected without breaking the protecting symmetries or passing through a multicritical point. We further show that such topological superradiant criticality is generic, also occurring in cavity-mediated Zn\mathbb{Z}_{n}^{}Zn​ cluster-qudit chains, as supported by complementary lattice simulations.