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Modern Physics Letters B

EXISTENCE OF FOUR DISTINCT PHASES IN ONE DIMENSIONAL MANY-BODY SYSTEMS WITH LONG-RANGE INTERACTION: QUANTUM KOSTERLITZ–THOULESS TRANSITIONS

Kazumoto Iguchi

Published Mar 20, 2001• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We conceptually study the existence of four distinct quantum phases: the Luttinger liquid, the Wigner crystal, the Coulomb plasma and the molecular crystal in one-dimensional many-body systems with long-range interaction. We show that the anomaly of the ground state wavefunction indicates a quantum Kosterlitz–Thouless transition at zero temperature, which separates into two regimes of the Luttinger liquid and the Wigner crystal. We also postulate a scaling theory which discriminate the four phases using the Kosterlitz–Thouless scaling theory.

DOI
10.1142/s0217984901001690

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We conceptually study the existence of four distinct quantum phases: the Luttinger liquid, the Wigner crystal, the Coulomb plasma and the molecular crystal in one-dimensional many-body systems with long-range interaction. We show that the anomaly of the ground state wavefunction indicates a quantum Kosterlitz–Thouless transition at zero temperature, which separates into two regimes of the Luttinger liquid and the Wigner crystal. We also postulate a scaling theory which discriminate the four phases using the Kosterlitz–Thouless scaling theory.
We investigate conformal properties of a one-dimensional quantum system with a long-range, Coulomb-like potential of the form $1∕{\ensuremath{\mid}x\ensuremath{\mid}}^{\ensuremath{\sigma}}$, with $\ensuremath{\sigma}>0$. We compute the conformal anomaly ccc as function of $\ensuremath{\sigma}$. We obtain c=0c=0c=0 for $\ensuremath{\sigma}<1$ (Wigner crystal) and c=1c=1c=1 for $\ensuremath{\sigma}>1$ (Luttinger liquid). By studying the scaling regime of the system when it is deformed by the inclusion of a term $t\ensuremath{\rho}(x)$ [with $\ensuremath{\rho}(x)$ a scaling operator], we show that, for $\ensuremath{\sigma}>1$, the correlation length $\ensuremath{\xi}$ gets an additional interaction dependent factor. This leads to a necessary redefinition of $\ensuremath{\xi}$ in order to avoid an unphysical dependence of the central charge on the coupling constant.
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One-dimensional electron systems interacting with long-range Coulomb forces (quantum wires) show a Wigner crystal structure. We investigate in this paper the transport properties of such a Wigner crystal in the presence of impurities. Contrary to what happens when only short-range interactions are included, the system is dominated by 4kF{\mathit{k}}_{\mathit{F}}kF​ scattering on the impurities. There are two important length scales in such a problem: one is the pinning length above which the (quasi-)long-range order of the Wigner crystal is destroyed by disorder. The other length, ${\ensuremath{\xi}}_{\mathrm{cr}}$, is the length below which Coulomb interactions are not important and the system is behaving as a standard Luttinger liquid with short-range interactions. We obtain the frequency and temperature dependence of the conductivity. We show that such a system is very similar to a classical charge density wave pinned by impurities, but with important differences due to quantum fluctuations and long-range Coulomb interactions. Finally, we discuss our results in comparison with experimental systems.
The Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transition is the paradigmatic example of a topological phase transition without symmetry breaking, where a quasiordered phase, characterized by a power-law scaling of the correlation functions at low temperature, is disrupted by the proliferation of topological excitations above the critical temperature T_{BKT}. In this Letter, we consider the effect of long-range decaying couplings ∼r^{-2-σ} on the BKT transition. After pointing out the relevance of this nontrivial problem, we discuss the phase diagram, which is far richer than the corresponding short-range one. It features-for 7/4<σ<2-a quasiordered phase in a finite temperature range T_{c}<T<T_{BKT}, which occurs between a symmetry broken phase for T<T_{c} and a disordered phase for T>T_{BKT}. The transition temperature T_{c} displays unique universal features quite different from those of the traditional, short-range XY model. Given the universal nature of our findings, they may be observed in current experimental realizations in 2D atomic, molecular, and optical quantum systems.
The effects of a long-range electronic potential on a one-dimensional chain of spinless fermions are investigated by numerical techniques (exact diagonalization of rings with up to 30 sites complemented by finite size analysis) and analytic calculations. Due to a competition between the 2kF{2k}_{F}2kF​ oscillations in the density and the (very slow) log divergence of the long wavelength part of the Coulomb potential, the metallic character of the system is enhanced at intermediate (and up to quite large) length scales. Despite some similarities, we found that this quasimetallic regime is not of the Luttinger liquid type, as evidenced by strong deviations from predictions of conformal field theory and in agreement with the picture of a (very weakly pinned) Wigner crystal. When the strength of the Coulomb interaction is substantially increased, we observe a smooth crossover to a strongly localized charge density wave.
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