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arXiv:2609.26881

Fermion bag study of the two-dimensional Majorana-Hubbard model at finite hopping

Mark Johnston, Emilie Huffman

cond-mat.str-elhep-latquant-phSubmitted Sep 22, 2026• Announced Sep 24, 2026• 0 citations
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Abstract

The two-dimensional Majorana-Hubbard model on the $π$-flux lattice involves the most local interaction possible for a lattice with one relativistic Majorana fermion per site. It is predicted to host a Majorana semimetal, dimerized phases, and quantum-critical points with an emergent $U(1)$ symmetry. Nonperturbative lattice calculations for this model remain a major open challenge, thus far limited to zero hopping. We present quantum Monte Carlo simulations of the model at finite hopping using Hamiltonian fermion bags, which are based on a continuous-time expansion with Boltzmann weights that are Pfaffians of a matrix with dimension set by the expansion order, and which give the sign of the weight. Sign problem severity is related to the location of zero modes in the free hopping matrix, and for couplings $g\lesssim 0.7$ and $β=L/4$ it is fully removed for lattices up to at least $256$ sites. The interaction strength $g>0$ enhances the $U(1)$-charged dimerization doublet and suppresses the neutral channel, as the renormalization group predicts. Increasing the interactions also restores $U(1)$ symmetry in the component of the dimerization correlator that is even under bond orientation exchange, but not its odd component. There is a persistent anisotropy in the odd component with the symmetry of a lattice nematic. The data is consistent with a gapless semimetal throughout the sign-problem-minimal window.

Comments
8 pages, 4 figures

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The two-dimensional Majorana-Hubbard model on the πππ-flux lattice involves the most local interaction possible for a lattice with one relativistic Majorana fermion per site. It is predicted to host a Majorana semimetal, dimerized phases, and quantum-critical points with an emergent U(1)U(1)U(1) symmetry. Nonperturbative lattice calculations for this model remain a major open challenge, thus far limited to zero hopping. We present quantum Monte Carlo simulations of the model at finite hopping using Hamiltonian fermion bags, which are based on a continuous-time expansion with Boltzmann weights that are Pfaffians of a matrix with dimension set by the expansion order, and which give the sign of the weight. Sign problem severity is related to the location of zero modes in the free hopping matrix, and for couplings g≲0.7g\lesssim 0.7g≲0.7 and β=L/4β=L/4β=L/4 it is fully removed for lattices up to at least 256256256 sites. The interaction strength g>0g>0g>0 enhances the U(1)U(1)U(1)-charged dimerization doublet and suppresses the neutral channel, as the renormalization group predicts. Increasing the interactions also restores U(1)U(1)U(1) symmetry in the component of the dimerization correlator that is even under bond orientation exchange, but not its odd component. There is a persistent anisotropy in the odd component with the symmetry of a lattice nematic. The data is consistent with a gapless semimetal throughout the sign-problem-minimal window.
The Hubbard and spinless fermion chains are paradigms of strongly correlated systems, very well understood using the Bethe ansatz, density matrix renormalization group (DMRG), and field theory/renormalization group (RG) methods. They have been applied to one-dimensional materials and have provided important insights for understanding higher-dimensional cases. Recently, an interacting fermion model has been introduced, with possible applications to topological materials. It has a single Majorana fermion operator on each lattice site and interactions with the shortest possible range that involve four sites. We present a thorough analysis of the phase diagram of this model in one dimension using field-theory/RG and DMRG methods. It includes a gapped supersymmetric region and a gapless phase with coexisting Luttinger liquid and Ising degrees of freedom. In addition to a first-order transition, three critical points occur: tricritical Ising, Lifshitz, and a generalization of the commensurate-incommensurate transition. We also survey various gapped phases of the system that arise when the translation symmetry is broken by dimerization and find both trivial and topological phases with 0, 1, and 2 Majorana zero modes bound to the edges of the chain with open boundary conditions.
A lattice of interacting Majorana modes can occur in a superconducting film on a topological insulator in a magnetic field. The phase diagram as a function of interaction strength for the square lattice was analyzed recently using a combination of mean field theory and renormalization group methods, and was found to include second order phase transitions. One of these corresponds to spontaneous breaking of an emergent U(1) symmetry, for attractive interactions. Despite the fact that the U(1) symmetry is not exact, this transition was claimed to be in a supersymmetric universality class when time reversal symmetry is present and in the conventional XY universality class otherwise. Another second order transition was predicted for repulsive interactions with time reversal symmetry to be in the same universality class as the transition occurring in the Gross-Neveu model, despite the fact that the U(1) symmetry is not exact in the Majorana model. We analyze these phase transitions using a modified $\ensuremath{\epsilon}$ expansion, confirming the previous conclusions. We also use soft supersymmetry breaking to prove an exact relation for the linear order fermion mass beta function.
Quantum phases of two-dimensional Z2\mathbb{Z}_2Z2​ gauge theory coupled to spinless fermion matter
We investigate the rich quantum phase diagram of Wegner's theory of discrete Ising gauge fields interacting with U(1)U(1)U(1) symmetric single-component fermion matter hopping on a two-dimensional square lattice. In particular limits the model reduces to (i) pure Z2\mathbb{Z}_2Z2​ even and odd gauge theories, (ii) free fermions in a static background of deconfined Z2\mathbb{Z}_2Z2​ gauge fields, (iii) the kinetic Rokhsar-Kivelson quantum dimer model at a generic dimer filling. We develop a local transformation that maps the lattice gauge theory onto a model of Z2\mathbb{Z}_2Z2​ gauge-invariant spin 1/21/21/2 degrees of freedom. Using the mapping, we perform numerical density matrix renormalization group calculations that corroborate our understanding of the limits identified above. Moreover, in the absence of the magnetic plaquette term, we reveal signatures of topologically ordered Dirac semimetal and staggered Mott insulator phases at half-filling. At strong coupling, the lattice gauge theory displays fracton phenomenology with isolated fermions being completely frozen and dimers exhibiting restricted mobility. In that limit, we predict that in the ground state dimers form compact clusters, whose hopping is suppressed exponentially in their size. We determine the band structure of the smallest clusters numerically using exact diagonalization.
Two formidable bottlenecks to the applicability of QMC include: (1) the sign problem and (2) algorithmic update inefficiencies. In this thesis, I overcome both these difficulties for a class of problems by extending the fermion bag approach to the Hamiltonian formalism and demonstrating progress using the example of a specific quantum system known as the ttt-VVV model, which exhibits a transition from a semimetal to an insulator phase for a single flavor of four-component Dirac fermions. The success of this extension is demonstrated in two ways: first, through solutions to sign problems, and second, through the development of new efficient QMC algorithms. In addressing the first point, I present a solution to the sign problem for the aforementioned ttt-VVV model, which is then extended to many other Hamiltonian models within a class that involves fermions interacting with quantum spins. Some of these models contain an interesting quantum phase transition between a massless/semimetal phase to a massive/insulator phase in the Gross-Neveu universality class. The second point is addressed through the construction of a Hamiltonian fermion bag algorithm, which is then used to compute critical exponents for the second-order phase transition in the ttt-VVV model and is described in detail here. The largest lattice sizes of 64264^2642 at a comparably low temperature are reachable due to efficiency gains from this Hamiltonian fermion bag algorithm. The two independent critical exponents I find, which completely characterize the phase transition, are η=.51(3)η=.51(3)η=.51(3) and ν=.89(1)ν=.89(1)ν=.89(1). The finite size scaling fit is excellent with a χ2/DOF=.90χ^2/DOF=.90χ2/DOF=.90, showing strong evidence for a second-order critical phase transition, and hence a non-perturbative QFT can be defined at the critical point.
A two-dimensional (2D) spin-up ideal Fermi gas interacting attractively with a spin-down impurity in the continuum undergoes, at zero temperature, a first-order phase transition from a polaron to a dimeron state. Here, we study a similar system on a square lattice, by considering the attractive 2D Fermi-Hubbard model with a single spin-down and a finite filling fraction of spin-up fermions. We study polaron and dimeron quasiparticle properties via variational ansatz up to one particle-hole excitation. Moreover, we develop a determinant diagrammatic Monte Carlo algorithm for this problem based on expansion in bare on-site coupling U . This algorithm turns out to be sign-problem-free at any filling of spin-up fermions, allowing one to sample very high diagram order (larger than 200 in our study) and to do simulations for large U / t (we go up to U / t = − 20 with t the hopping strength). Both methods give qualitatively consistent results. With variational ansatz we go to even larger on-site attraction. At very low spin-up filling fraction, we observe the polaron-to-dimeron transition, in agreement with the continuum case. Upon increasing the filling fraction, however, the transition shifts to higher values of | U | / t and the transition disappears beyond a filling fraction of about 20 % . In this region, the polaron state always gives a lower energy and has a finite quasiparticle residue. Our findings are directly relevant to cold atom experiments with 2D optical lattices: A small and finite density of spin-down impurities in the ground state will form a superfluid at strong coupling at low spin-up filling fraction. Above some critical spin-up filling fraction, the system is expected to remain a normal Fermi liquid, even in the strong-coupling limit.
Quantum critical phenomena may be qualitatively different when massless Dirac fermions are present at criticality. Using our recently-discovered fermion-sign-free Majorana quantum Monte Carlo method introduced by us in (Li et al 2015 Phys. Rev. B 91 241117 ), we investigate the quantum critical phenomena of spinless Dirac fermions at their charge-density-wave phase transitions on the honeycomb lattice having sites with largest L = 24. By finite-size scaling, we accurately obtain critical exponents of this so-called Gross–Neveu chiral-Ising universality class of two (two-component) Dirac fermions in 2+1D: , , and , which are qualitatively different from the mean-field results but are reasonably close to the ones obtained from renormalization group calculations.