Dissipation-induced phase transitions in a frustrated four-spin plaquette spin-boson model
Shu He, Li-Wei Duan, Yanzhi Wang
We investigate a frustrated four-spin plaquette spin-boson model with competing nearest-neighbor and diagonal Ising couplings, where each spin is coupled to an independent bosonic bath. Combining a path-integral strong-coupling analysis with variational matrix product state simulations, we obtain the ground-state phase diagram. In the strong-dissipation limit we map the model onto a classical plaquette and derive analytic phase boundaries between ferromagnetic, Néel, and stripe phases. At intermediate dissipation we find a delocalized phase and two localized ordered phases with Néel and stripe character. We show that the localized phases are separated by a first-order line, while each is connected to the delocalized regime via a continuous (second-order) localization transition, and that these three boundaries meet at a quantum triple point. Analysis of spin correlations and reduced density matrices further reveals that entanglement concentrates on nearest-neighbor (diagonal) bonds in the Néel (stripe) phase, whereas in the delocalized regime intra-plaquette two-spin entanglement is strongly suppressed in favor of enhanced spin-bath correlations.
Frontiers of Physics•Jan 1, 2026•0 citations