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European Journal of Physics

Symmetry and degeneracy in quantum mechanics. Self-duality in finite spin systems

Carlos Osácar, Amalio F. Pacheco

Published Jun 5, 2009• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

The symmetry of self-duality (Savit 1980 Rev. Mod. Phys. 52 453) of some models of statistical mechanics and quantum field theory is discussed for finite spin blocks of the Ising chain in a transverse magnetic field. The existence of this symmetry in a specific type of these blocks, and not in others, is manifest by the degeneracy of their energy levels. This illustrates the fact that in quantum mechanics, more symmetry in the Hamiltonian induces more degeneracy in the energy spectrum.

DOI
10.1088/0143-0807/30/4/021

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The symmetry of self-duality (Savit 1980 Rev. Mod. Phys. 52 453) of some models of statistical mechanics and quantum field theory is discussed for finite spin blocks of the Ising chain in a transverse magnetic field. The existence of this symmetry in a specific type of these blocks, and not in others, is manifest by the degeneracy of their energy levels. This illustrates the fact that in quantum mechanics, more symmetry in the Hamiltonian induces more degeneracy in the energy spectrum.
The Heisenberg model, a quantum-mechanical analogue of the Ising model, has a large ground-state degeneracy, due to the symmetry generated by the total spin. This symmetry is also responsible for degeneracies in the rest of the spectrum. We discuss the global structure of the spectrum of Heisenberg models with arbitrary couplings, using group-theoretical methods. The Hilbert space breaks up in blocks characterized by the quantum numbers of the total spin, S and M, and each block is shown to constitute the representation space of an explicitly given irreducible representation of the symmetric group SN{\mathit{S}}_{\mathit{N}}SN​, consisting of permutations of the N spins in the system. In the second part of the paper we consider, as a concrete application, the model where each spin is coupled to all the other spins with equal strength. Its partition function is written as a single integral, elucidating its N dependence. This provides a useful framework for studying finite-size effects. We give explicit results for the heat capacity, revealing interesting behavior just around the phase transition.
Abstract. The Ising quantum chain with a peculiar twisted boundary condition is considered. This boundary condition, first introduced in the framework of the spin-1/2 XXZ Heisenberg quantum chain, is related to the duality transformation, which becomes a symmetry of the model at the critical point. Thus, at the critical point, the Ising quantum chain with the duality-twisted boundary is translationally invariant, similar as in the case of the usual periodic or antiperiodic boundary conditions. The complete energy spectrum of the Ising quantum chain is calculated analytically for finite systems, and the conformal properties of the scaling limit are investigated. This provides an explicit example of a conformal twisted boundary condition and a corresponding generalised twisted partition function. PACS numbers: 05.50.+q, 75.10.Jm, 71.10.Fd, 11.25.Hf Recently, there has been a lot of interest in generalised twisted partition functions of conformal field theory [1, 2, 3, 4] and the corresponding conformal twisted boundary conditions in solvable lattice models of statistical mechanics [5]. Examples of such boundary conditions leading to the appearance of “exotic ” spinor operators in the
The zero-temperature renormalization-group transformations for quantum spin systems are analyzed. The block transformation and the decimation-type transformation used in the study of the one-dimensional Ising model in transverse field are extended to the quantum version of the Potts model and Ashkin-Teller model. It is shown that for these self-dual models the two kinds of renormalization-group transformations are dual to each other and therefore give the same result for the critical behavior. The duality persists even if the higher-lying states are taken into account in a perturbational way.
The paper is devoted to the connection between integrability of a finite quantum system and degeneracies of its energy levels. In particular, we analyse in detail the energy spectra of finite Hubbard chains. Heilmann and Lieb demonstrated that in these systems there are crossings of levels of the same parameter-independent symmetry. We show that this apparent violation of the Wigner–von Neumann noncrossing rule follows directly from the existence of nontrivial conservation laws and is a characteristic signature of quantum integrability. The energy spectra of Hubbard chains display many instances of permanent (at all values of the coupling) twofold degeneracies that cannot be explained by parameter-independent symmetries. We relate these degeneracies to the different transformation properties of the conserved currents under spatial reflections and the particle–hole transformation and estimate the fraction of doubly degenerate states. We also discuss multiply degenerate eigenstates of the Hubbard Hamiltonian. The wavefunctions of many of these states do not depend on the coupling, which suggests the existence of an additional parameter-independent symmetry.
A bstract The Kramers-Wannier self-duality of critical quantum chains is examined from the perspective of model wave functions. We demonstrate, using the transverse-field Ising chain and the 3-state Potts chain as examples, that the symmetry operator for the Kramers-Wannier self-duality follows in a simple and direct way from a ‘generalised’ translation symmetry of the model wave function in the anyonic fusion basis. This translation operation, in turn, comprises a sequence of F -moves in the underlying fusion category. The symmetry operator thus obtained naturally admits the form of a matrix product operator and obeys non-invertible fusion rules. The findings reveal an intriguing connection between the (non-invertible) translation symmetry on the lattice and topological aspects of the conformal field theory describing the scaling limit.
In this work, we study quantum many-body systems which are self-dual under duality transformation connecting different symmetry protected topological (SPT) phases. We provide a geometric explanation of the criticality of these self-dual models. More precisely, we show a ground state (quasi)degeneracy under the periodic boundary conditions, i.e., the ingappability of the bulk spectrum. Equivalently, the symmetry group at criticality, including the duality symmetry, has a mixed 't Hooft anomaly. This approach can not only predict the spectrum of the self-dual model with ordinary 0-form symmetry but also be applied to that with generalized symmetry, such as higher form and subsystem symmetry. As an application, we illustrate our results with several examples in one and two dimensions, which separate two different SPTs.