This thesis studies exact S-matrices and integrability aspects for several two-dimensional quantum systems. The emphasis is on the algebraic structures that underlie exact solvability in two dimensions. The first project details the construction of an optics model for n-level atoms interacting with an electromagnetic field. In the slowly varying envelope and rotating wave approximations, the equations of motion are shown to have a zero-curvature representation, implying an infinite set of quantum conservation laws. The second system investigated is a disordered field theory of Dirac fermions, which after averaging over the potential can be expressed as an osp(2|2) current- current model. The current-current model in turn can be viewed as the fully renormalized version of an osp(2]2) (1) (marginal) Toda system. Non-local charges satisfying the Uq[osp(2|2)(1)] quantum superalgebra are constructed. The corresponding quantum affine symmetry is used to build the Toda S-matrix for the vector representation. The exact S-matrix for the fundamental “solitons” of the osp(2|2) current-current model is then obtained by taking the marginal limit of the Toda S-matrix. The remaining two projects shift the focus to boundary theories. In the first boundary study, two massive versions of the anisotropic spin 1/2 Kondo model are introduced. The two models have the same bulk sine-Gordon interactions but differ in their boundary terms. At the free fermion point, each of the models can be understood as two decoupled Ising models in boundary magnetic fields. Integrability of the models is discussed and boundary S-matrices at and away from the free fermion point are constructed. The final system studied describes an Anderson impurity in a BCS superconductor. This model can be mapped onto an Ising boundary field theory. The boundary S - matrix is shown to exhibit Andreev scattering and the existence of bound states lying inside the superconducting gap.
This thesis studies exact S-matrices and integrability aspects for several two-dimensional quantum systems. The emphasis is on the algebraic structures that underlie exact solvability in two dimensions. The first project details the construction of an optics model for n-level atoms interacting with an electromagnetic field. In the slowly varying envelope and rotating wave approximations, the equations of motion are shown to have a zero-curvature representation, implying an infinite set of quantum conservation laws. The second system investigated is a disordered field theory of Dirac fermions, which after averaging over the potential can be expressed as an osp(2|2) current- current model. The current-current model in turn can be viewed as the fully renormalized version of an osp(2]2) (1) (marginal) Toda system. Non-local charges satisfying the Uq[osp(2|2)(1)] quantum superalgebra are constructed. The corresponding quantum affine symmetry is used to build the Toda S-matrix for the vector representation. The exact S-matrix for the fundamental “solitons” of the osp(2|2) current-current model is then obtained by taking the marginal limit of the Toda S-matrix. The remaining two projects shift the focus to boundary theories. In the first boundary study, two massive versions of the anisotropic spin 1/2 Kondo model are introduced. The two models have the same bulk sine-Gordon interactions but differ in their boundary terms. At the free fermion point, each of the models can be understood as two decoupled Ising models in boundary magnetic fields. Integrability of the models is discussed and boundary S-matrices at and away from the free fermion point are constructed. The final system studied describes an Anderson impurity in a BCS superconductor. This model can be mapped onto an Ising boundary field theory. The boundary S - matrix is shown to exhibit Andreev scattering and the existence of bound states lying inside the superconducting gap.
We study different aspects of integrable boundary quantum field theories, focusing mostly on the ``boundary sine-Gordon model'' and its applications to condensed matter physics. The first part of the review deals with formal problems. We analyze the classical limit and perform semi-classical quantization. We show that the non-relativistic limit corresponds to the Calogero-Moser model with a boundary potential. We construct a lattice regularization of the problem via the XXZ chain. We classify boundary bound states. We generalize the Destri de Vega method to compute the ground state energy of the theory on a finite interval. The second part deals with some applications to condensed matter physics. We show how to compute analytically time and space dependent correlations in one-dimensional quantum integrable systems with an impurity. Our approach is based on a description of these systems in terms of massless scattering of quasiparticles. Correlators follow then from matrix elements of local operators between multiparticle states -- the massless form-factors. Although, in general an infinite sum of these form-factors has to be considered, we find that for the current, spin and energy operators only a few (two or three) are necessary to obtain an accuracy of more than 1\%. Our results hold for arbitrary impurity strength, in contrary to the perturbative expansions in the coupling constants. As an example, we compute the frequency dependent condunctance, at zero temperature, in a Luttinger liquid with an impurity, and also discuss the susceptibility in the Kondo model and the time-dependent properties of the two-state problem with dissipation.
The properties of exactly integrable two-dimensional quantum systems are reviewed and discussed. The nature of exact integrability as a physical phenomenon and various aspects of the mathematical formalism are explored by discussing several examples, including detailed treatments of the nonlinear Schr\"odinger (delta-function gas) model, the massive Thirring model, and the six-vertex (ice) model. The diagonalization of a Hamiltonian by Bethe's Ansatz is illustrated for the nonlinear Schr\"od\'{\i}nger model, and the integral equation method of Lieb for obtaining the spectrum of the many-body system from periodic boundary conditions is reviewed. Similar methods are applied to the massive Thirring model, where the fermion-antifermion and bound-state spectrum are obtained explicitly by the integral equation method. After a brief review of the classical inverse scattering method, the quantum inverse method for the nonlinear Schr\"odinger model is introduced and shown to be an algebraization of the Bethe Ansatz technique. In the quantum inverse method, an auxiliary linear problem is used to define nonlocal operators which are functionals of the original local field on a fixed-time string of arbitrary length. The particular operators for which the string is infinitely long (free boundary conditions) or forms a closed loop around a cylinder (periodic boundary conditions) correspond to the quantized scattering data and have a special significance. One of them creates the Bethe eigenstates, while the other is the generating function for an infinite number of conservation laws. The analogous operators on a lattice are constructed for the symmetric six-vertex model, where the object which corresponds to a solution of the auxiliary linear problem is a string of vertices contracted over horizontal links (arrows). The relationship between the quantum inverse method and the transfer matrix formalism is exhibited. The inverse Gel'fand-Levitan transform which expresses the local field operator as a functional of the quantized scattering data is formulated for the nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation, and some interesting properties of this transformation are noted, including its reduction to a Jordan-Wigner transformation in the limit of infinitely repulsive coupling.
Subject of this work are integrable spin chains with general boundary conditions.In the framework of the Quantum Inverse Scattering Method Sklyanin has shown how to construct a family of commuting operators (transfer matrix) containing the hamiltonian of the XXX or XXZ spin chain with general boundary fields.Key ingredient is the underlying algebraic structure which is a combination of the Yang-Baxter algebra, using the known R-matrix representations, and a so-called Reflection algebra.The latter includes fields of arbitrary strength and direction acting on the first and last position of the chain.This setup is solvable via algebraic Bethe ansatz in the case of diagonal boundaries, i.e. the fields are parallel to each other and in the case of the XXZ model parallel to the distinguished direction.Kitanine et al. have managed to express local operators in terms of the non-local elements of the underlying algebraic structure in the case of half-infinite chain length hence establishing a possible approach to evaluate expectation values of physical observables.Their results will be picked up in this work and generalized to spin chains of arbitrary (including finite) lengths using non-linear integral equations for the lowest lying state with zero magnetization.In the case of non-diagonal boundary fields the lack of a reference state or pseudo vacuum prohibits the solution by algebraic Bethe ansatz.The method of separation of variables proposed by Sklyanin is not constrained in that sense and will be applied to this situation.In this approach for the XXX spin chain no restrictions to the boundary parameters are needed.The result is a TQ-equation on a finite discrete set of points and the eigenvalues of the transfer matrix are obtainable from this finite difference equation.As the underlying algebraic structure is independent of the representation, the analysis for the XXX spin chain can be extended to a spin-boson model.Using a known representation of the algebra for the bosonic degree of freedom again a TQ-equation is obtained but in this case being defined on an infinite discrete set of points.Finally a different approach to the case of non-diagonal boundary conditions using non-linear integral equations is studied.By construction of higher dimensional representations of the Yang Baxter algebra a hierarchy of transfer matrices is obtained.In this construction two R-matrices are fused together yielding the name of fusion hierarchy.From such hierarchies it is possible to derive non-linear integral equations for a certain eigenvalue of the transfer matrix using Fourier transform techniques.The equations are valid for arbitrary system sizes and a range of boundary parameters.By careful analysis of the zero and pole structure it is possible to extract information about the eigenvalue of a specific state.
This thesis is devoted to the study of ghost theories out of the critical point, in two dimensions. The first chapter offers a bird's eye view of the most important applications of ghosts to condensed matter physics. After a brief exposition of the basic (and less basic) facts concerning ghosts at the critical point, an outline of the non-perturbative methods, used in Part I and Part II, is furnished. Essentially, they rely on the so-called integrable approach, which is based on the possibility of describing all the states of an integrable quantum field theory in terms of pseudo-particles in a Hilbert space. The scattering properties of such excitations are encoded into a matrix (the S-matrix), which can be exactly determined by imposing a set of stringent constraints, and which allows to specify completely the particle content of the theory (masses, multiplicities, bound states) [38, 39]. The knowledge of the scattering amplitude, then, permits to extract all the thermodynamic quantities of the system (free energy) by means of the Thermodynamic Bethe ansatz (TBA) technique [40] and, at least in principle, to determine the off-critical correlation functions of the local operators of the theory, thanks to the so-called Form Factor bootstrap approach [41-43]. Part I contains the simplest examples of off-critical ghost theories, namely the massive versions of the conformal free bosonic and fermionic ones [44]. Despite their non-interacting nature, still there are non-local sectors of the models, which exhibit a highly interacting behavior. Correlation functions of operators belonging to these sectors are computed exactly and a comparison with the massive ordinary counterparts is performed. Afterwards, the effects;produced by the introduction of impurities are considered [45]. At the moment, such models lack a physical realization, but they are important as 'prototype' systems, shedding light on some crucial basic aspects (e.g. the choice of the most convenient basis for the space of states). Part II deals with a deceptively simple representative of the aforementioned nonlinear sigma models defined on supersymmetric manifolds, where the vector field, with one commuting component and two anticommuting ones, transforms under the global symmetry OSP(ll2). This system has a simple physical realization in terms of a dense loop model, where crossings of loops are allowed [28, 46]. At long wavelength, the theory is gapless and the Goldstone excitations are nothing but free fermionic ghosts [25, 28]. We propose the exact S-matrix for this system and present TBA calculations, supporting such conjecture. The bootstrap form factor approach is outlined, including a detailed discussion about the symmetry properties of the model and the explicit derivation of some basic objects, such as the minimal form factors. Moreover, we compute explicitly the two-point correlation function of a suitably chosen operator of the theory, comparing its large distance limit with the result expected on the basis of conformal field theory considerations. Since the work is still in progress [47], we conclude sketching the main goals and the route we intend to take, in order to pursue them.
This thesis contains three main parts, which are largely independent. In the first part we deal with the boundary bootstrap in supersymmetric factorized scattering theory. We give a description of supersymmetry in the case when the space is a half-line and present rules for the determination of the representations in which higher level boundary bound states transform, and for the determination of the supersymmetric one-particle reflection matrix factors for the higher level boundary bound states. These rules apply under the condition that the bulk particles transform in the kink or in the boson-fermion representation. Examples for the application of these rules to specific models are also given. In the second part we investigate the problem whether the TCSA spectrum can be approximated by the spectrum of the original Hamiltonian operator in which the coefficients of the terms are suitably changed. The investigation is done in the case of the critical Ising model on a strip with an external magnetic field on one of the boundaries. Another truncation method that preserves the solvability of the model is also considered. The results of perturbative and numerical calculations show that the above approximation is possible and that the qualitative behaviour of the truncated spectrum as a function of the coupling constant depends on the truncation method. In the third part we investigate the phase structure of the two- and three-frequency sine-Gordon models using the TCSA. In the case of the three-frequency model the tricritical point, several points of the critical line and a few points of the line of first order transition are found.
We present two directions of research in statistical mechanics of nonequilibrium onedimensional quantum systems. One is related to isolated integrable models, the other one to exactly solvable dissipatively driven spin chains. The device enabling their analysis is identified as the quantum group symmetry.
In the framework of isolated systems we focus on the concept of integrable Floquet driven systems. In particular, we show how to build such systems out of the basic constituents of integrability structure. This allows substantiated and conclusive statements,for instance, about the transport phenomena. Despite their inherent relation, the presented integrable periodically driven models originate in two different ideas. On the one hand we have Trotterisations of integrable
spin chains, concieved in an effort to better understand the dynamics of spin models. Then, there are systems originating in the attempts to solve quantum field theory in an algebraically closed form, for example, the quantum Hirota equation. The bulk of our consideration of isolated quantum systems consists of the construction of extensive conservation laws that either (i) constitute the generalised Gibbs ensemble and the hydrodynamic description of thermalisation after a quantum quench, or (ii) prevent the decay of current autocorrelations and thus characterise ideal transport in the system. The exact way in which these charges determine the dynamics stems from the symmetries of the quantum group representations.
The second part of the exposition is dedicated to open quantum systems. Again we distinguish two formally related settings. The first one is that of a boundary driven quantum cellular automaton, our particular example being the integrable Trotterisation of the Heisenberg magnet. Starting from a repeated interaction protocol, in which the system under scrutiny is repeatedly coupled to the environment, we introduce the Kraus map as a general form of a dissipative time evolution of the density matrix. We then solve for its unique nonequilibrium steady state, using integrability structure of the model. The other setting is that of a dissipatively boundary driven spin chain in the continuous time. Here we present the recently developed formalism of inhomogeneous Lax structure. Using it we demonstrate the solvability of the XXZ and XYZ spin chains, acted upon by the Lindblad operators that polarise the boundary spins in arbitrary directions. The ansatz for the steady state is particularly interesting, since it exhibits a
previously unknown integrability structure, differing from site to site in the spin chain. This structure can independently produce nontrivial conservation laws in an isolated spin
chain with arbitrary boundary fields.