Quantum Critical Dynamics of the Random Transverse Field Ising Spin Chain
H. Rieger, Ferenc Iglói
Abstract
Dynamical correlations of the spin and the energy density are investigated in the critical region of the random transverse-field Ising chain by numerically exact calculations in large finite systems (L ≤ 128). The spin-spin autocorrelation function is found to decay proportional to (log t) −2xm and (log t) −2xs m in the bulk and on the surface, respectively, with xm and x s m the bulk and surface magnetization exponents, respectively. On the other hand the critical energy-energy autocorrelation functions have a power law decay, which are characterized by novel critical exponents ηe ≈ 2.2 in the bulk and η s e ≈ 2.5 at the surface, respectively. The numerical results are compared with the predictions of a scaling theory. 05.50.+q, 64.60.Ak, 68.35.Rh Typeset using REVTEX 1 The asymptotic behavior of the time-dependent correlation functions for interacting many-body systems turned out a very difficult subject of theoretical research. Exact results in this field are scarce, one can mention the one-dimensional spin 1/2 XY-model [1] and the Ising chain in a transverse-field [2]. Both models can be mapped onto a system of non-interacting fermions, where the equal-position correlation functions are calculated by the Pfaffian method utilizing the theory of Töplitz determinants. In this Letter we consider- at the first time- the critical dynamical correlations of an interacting quantum system in the presence of quenched (i.e. time-dependent) disorder. It has recently become clear that quenched disorder has rather different effects on phase transitions in quantum systems [3] than on those thermally driven phase transitions. For example, in the Griffiths phase, which is situated at the disordered side of the critical point, the susceptibility has an essential singularity in classical systems, whereas in a quantum system the corresponding singularity is stronger, it is in a power law form. Here we consider the prototype of random quantum systems the one-dimensional random transverse-field Ising model defined by the Hamiltonian: