Topological phase transitions fall outside of the symmetry-breaking paradigm and therefore elude many traditional analytical methods. In particular, significant geometric features found in the set of reduced density matrices (RDMs) disappear in symmetry-preserving topological systems. By returning to the fundamental properties of phase transitions, such as the divergence of correlation length and energy surface discontinuities, we demonstrate that the set of RDMs captures the critical behavior of systems with topological order. We find signatures of the gapless transition in the discontinuous movement of the ground-state RDMs. Additionally, the correlation length divergence near critical points appears in the off-diagonal character of RDMs, which is quantified through spectral and linear fitting analyses. This framework generalizes the quantum information approach to RDM critical theory, allowing for classification and visualization of all of the phases of the system---both topological and trivial---in the convex set of RDMs.
Topological phase transitions fall outside of the symmetry-breaking paradigm and therefore elude many traditional analytical methods. In particular, significant geometric features found in the set of reduced density matrices (RDMs) disappear in symmetry-preserving topological systems. By returning to the fundamental properties of phase transitions, such as the divergence of correlation length and energy surface discontinuities, we demonstrate that the set of RDMs captures the critical behavior of systems with topological order. We find signatures of the gapless transition in the discontinuous movement of the ground-state RDMs. Additionally, the correlation length divergence near critical points appears in the off-diagonal character of RDMs, which is quantified through spectral and linear fitting analyses. This framework generalizes the quantum information approach to RDM critical theory, allowing for classification and visualization of all of the phases of the system---both topological and trivial---in the convex set of RDMs.
In this paper, we study the geometry of reduced density matrices for states with symmetry-protected topological (SPT) order. We observe ruled surface structures on the boundary of the convex set of low-dimensional projections of the reduced density matrices. In order to signal the SPT order using ruled surfaces, it is important that we add a symmetry-breaking term to the boundary of the system---no ruled surface emerges in systems without a boundary or when we add a symmetry-breaking term representing a thermodynamic quantity. Although the ruled surfaces only appear in the thermodynamic limit where the ground-state degeneracy is exact, we analyze the precision of our numerical algorithm and show that a finite-system calculation suffices to reveal the ruled surface structures.
Transitions of many-particle quantum systems between distinct phases at absolute-zero temperature, known as quantum phase transitions, require an exacting treatment of particle correlations. In this work, we present a general quantum-computing approach to quantum phase transitions that exploits the geometric structure of reduced density matrices. While typical approaches to quantum phase transitions examine discontinuities in the order parameters, the origin of phase transitions---their order parameters and symmetry breaking---can be understood geometrically in terms of the set of two-particle reduced density matrices (2-RDMs). The convex set of 2-RDMs provides a comprehensive map of the quantum system including its distinct phases as well as the transitions connecting these phases. Because 2-RDMs can potentially be computed on quantum computers at nonexponential cost, even when the quantum system is strongly correlated, they are ideally suited for a quantum-computing approach to quantum phase transitions. We compute the convex set of 2-RDMs for a Lipkin-Meshkov-Glick spin model on IBM superconducting-qubit quantum processors. Even though computations are limited to few-particle models due to device noise, comparisons with a classically solvable 1000-particle model reveal that the finite-particle quantum solutions capture the key features of the phase transitions including the strong correlation and the symmetry breaking.
The Landau Paradigm The usual paradigm to describe phase transitions is that of Landau. It is based on an expansion of a free energy functional or an action in terms of an order parameter. Close to the phase transition the order parameter is small, and only terms dictated by symmetry are allowed in this expansion. Associated with this paradigm are many important ideas, such as that of broken symmetry and Goldstone modes. The extension of this paradigm to include quantum phase transitions certainly brought new ideas and progress, as we have seen in this book: the inextricability between the dynamics and static properties, the modified hyperscaling relation with the notion of an effective dimensionality, the role of the uncertainty principle linking energy and temporal fluctuations and so on. The underlying principle here is always that of symmetry. However, as we will see in this chapter, this paradigm is not sufficient to describe certain classes of phenomena that do not involve symmetry changes but are nonetheless still associated with diverging lengths, singularities and critical exponents: features that are clearly related to critical phenomena and phase transitions. We have already met similar behaviour when studying density-driven or Lifshitz transitions. We will see in this chapter that these transitions are much more common and interesting that initially thought. The keyword here is topology, which contains principles and constraints that protect quasi-particle excitations and are still more powerful than those of symmetry. Topological Quantum Phase Transitions We will refer to topological quantum phase transitions (TQPT) as those that separate two phases where at least one of them is topologically non-trivial, as characterised by some topological parameter like a winding number or a Berry phase. In some cases these transitions either give rise to singularities in a thermodynamic quantity or are accompanied by a diverging length. However, differently from Landau-type phase transitions they are not necessarily associated with a symmetry change. Also there is no identifiable order parameter to distinguish between the different phases. Topological quantities are not useful to play the role of an order parameter. They are in general discontinuous at topological transitions and this does not necessarily reflect the nature of the transition. On the other hand, we will show that the renormalisation group is a useful tool to describe TQPT.
Quantum phase transitions in N-particle systems can be identified and characterized by the movement of the two-particle reduced density matrix (2-RDM) along the boundary of its N-representable convex set as a function of the Hamiltonian parameter controlling the phase transition [G. Gidofalvi and D. A. Mazziotti, Phys. Rev. A 74, 012501 (2006)]. For the one-dimensional transverse Ising model quantum phase transitions as well as their finite-lattice analogs are computed and characterized by the 2-RDM movement with respect to the transverse magnetic field strength g. The definition of a 2-RDM "speed" quantifies the movement of the 2-RDM per unit of g, which reaches its maximum at the critical point of the phase transition. For the infinite lattice the convex set of 2-RDMs and the 2-RDM speed are computed from the exact solution of the 2-RDM in the thermodynamic limit of infinite N [P. Pfeuty, Ann. Phys. 57, 79 (1970)]. For the finite lattices we compute the 2-RDM convex set and its speed by the variational 2-RDM method [D. A. Mazziotti, Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 213001 (2004)] in which approximate ground-state 2-RDMs are calculated without N-particle wave functions by using constraints, known as N-representability conditions, to restrict the 2-RDMs to represent quantum system of N fermions. Advantages of the method include: (i) rigorous lower bounds on the ground-state energies, (ii) polynomial scaling of the calculation with N, and (iii) independence of the N-representability conditions from a reference wave function, which enables the modeling of multiple quantum phases. Comparing the 2-RDM convex sets for the finite- and infinite-site lattices reveals that the variational 2-RDM method accurately captures the shape of the convex set and the signature of the phase transition in the 2-RDM movement. From the 2-RDM all one- and two-particle expectation values (or order parameters) of the quantum Ising model can also be computed including the pair correlation function, which decays rapidly around the critical field strength g.
The concept of symmetry breaking and the emergence of corresponding local order parameters constitute the pillars of modern day many body physics. We demonstrate that the existence of symmetry breaking is a consequence of the geometric structure of the convex set of reduced density matrices of all possible many body wavefunctions. The surfaces of these convex bodies exhibit non-analyticities, which signal the emergence of symmetry breaking and of an associated order parameter and also show different characteristics for different types of phase transitions. We illustrate this with three paradigmatic examples of many body systems exhibiting symmetry breaking: the quantum Ising model, the classical q -state Potts model in two-dimensions at finite temperature and the ideal Bose gas in three-dimensions at finite temperature. This state based viewpoint on phase transitions provides a unique novel tool for studying exotic many body phenomena in quantum and classical systems.
This thesis focuses on the effects of strong electron-electron interactions on topological phase transitions.In very general terms, topological phase transitions are typically associated with the formation of gapless states at the boundary between two gapped phases.The opening of a gap is usually associated with a spontaneous symmetry breaking that can obliterate the topological nature of the system.In this work we highlight a completely different destiny for a topological transition in the presence of interaction and we develop a theoretical framework to address this physics identifying the physical origin for the unconventional scenario.In particular, we show that strong electronic correlation can lead to a gap opening at the topological transition without any symmetry breaking.This turns the topological transition discontinuous, thereby giving rise to a quantum critical point connecting the continuous region with the discontinuous one.This unconventional scenario establishes a surprising connection between a topological transition and quantum criticality.By solving a Bernevig-Hughes-Zhang model supplemented with a local symmetric interaction, we demonstrate that the crucial role of orbital polarization naturally emerges, already at the mean-field level.This local parameter effectively captures the essence of the topological transition, complementing the established evaluation of topological invariants and enabling a Landau-like description.Within this framework, we analyze the interplay between band topology and the dynamical effects of electronic correlations, achieved by developing a non-perturbative method for calculating the effective free energy, the Variational Gaussian Approximation, which is compared with both a simple static mean-field, which is not able to capture any critical behavior for the topological transition and with the accurate Dynamical Mean-Field Theory which provides an important benchmark for the accuracy of the approach.We show indeed that dynamical quantum fluctuations can lead to gap opening without any symmetry breaking.The growth of these quantum effects as the interaction is increased turns indeed the topological transition from continuous to discontinuous.This change of behavior is associated with the presence of massive Dirac fermion at the transition point showing a Gross-Neveu critical behaviour near the quantum critical endpoint.We identify the gap opening as a condensed matter analog of the Coleman-Weinberg mechanism of mass generation.The theory presented offers a broad scope for extension in various directions, ranging from changing the topological model and modifying the interactions, to incorporating non-local effects, or even applying it to entirely trivial strongly correlated models.