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Quantum discord as a probe of topological transitions in the spin-1/2 XX chain with four-spin interaction

S. Katibzadah, S. Mahdavifar, B. Haghdoust, F. Khastehdel Fumani, Mohammad Reza Soltani

Published Feb 7, 2026• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

Abstract We investigate the ground-state quantum correlations in the spin-1/2 XX chain with anisotropic four-spin interaction (AFSI), employing an exact analytical approach via fermionization. The phase diagram of the system hosts three distinct quantum critical lines that separate non-trivial topological phases characterized by winding numbers ν = ±1 and ν = ±3. To probe the system’s critical behavior and topological nature, we analyze two key quantum correlation measures: concurrence and quantum discord between nearest-neighbor spin pairs. Our results reveal that while concurrence is limited in detecting all critical lines particularly in phases with higher winding numbers, quantum discord successfully identifies all quantum phase transitions, either through cusps or discontinuities in its first derivative. Furthermore, quantum discord assumes larger values in topological phases with lower winding numbers, suggesting that the structure and localization of quantum correlations are influenced by topological order. These findings underscore the effectiveness of quantum discord as a robust diagnostic tool for both criticality and topology in many-body quantum systems. Our results offer valuable insight for advancing correlation-based techniques in quantum information science and highlight the potential role of topological spin chains in future quantum technologies.

DOI
10.1007/s11128-025-05019-7

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Abstract We investigate the ground-state quantum correlations in the spin-1/2 XX chain with anisotropic four-spin interaction (AFSI), employing an exact analytical approach via fermionization. The phase diagram of the system hosts three distinct quantum critical lines that separate non-trivial topological phases characterized by winding numbers ν = ±1 and ν = ±3. To probe the system’s critical behavior and topological nature, we analyze two key quantum correlation measures: concurrence and quantum discord between nearest-neighbor spin pairs. Our results reveal that while concurrence is limited in detecting all critical lines particularly in phases with higher winding numbers, quantum discord successfully identifies all quantum phase transitions, either through cusps or discontinuities in its first derivative. Furthermore, quantum discord assumes larger values in topological phases with lower winding numbers, suggesting that the structure and localization of quantum correlations are influenced by topological order. These findings underscore the effectiveness of quantum discord as a robust diagnostic tool for both criticality and topology in many-body quantum systems. Our results offer valuable insight for advancing correlation-based techniques in quantum information science and highlight the potential role of topological spin chains in future quantum technologies.
We investigate the one-dimensional spin-1/2 XX chain with anisotropic three-spin interactions, which hosts four distinct topological phases separated by critical lines. Using exact fermionization, we analyze the spin squeezing parameter, entanglement entropy, and bulk entanglement spectrum to characterize the ground state. Our results show that the system remains unsqueezed across the entire phase diagram, with maximal unsqueezing at criticality. The entanglement entropy exhibits cusp-like singularities at the critical lines, while the extracted central charges reveal distinct critical behaviors. Furthermore, the lowest level of the bulk entanglement spectrum is four-fold degenerate in two phases and two-fold in the others, reflecting the topological nature of each phase. These findings offer deeper insight into the interplay between topology, criticality, and quantum correlations in low-dimensional spin systems.
We consider the spin-1/2 XX chain model with uniform Gamma interaction, exactly solvable using the fermionization approach. The ground state phase diagram reveals two regions: a composite gapless phase and a single gapped phase, separated by a second-order critical line. Within the composite phase, a special line is identified where one coexisting phase vanishes, leaving a single gapless phase. By examining the concurrence and quantum discord (QD) between nearest-neighbor spin pairs, we probe the ground state phase diagram. Our results highlight a discontinuity along the quantum critical line, indicating the phase transition. The special line in the gapless region is detected through concurrence and QD results, showing the sensitivity of these quantum correlations to system parameter changes. We also explore the scaling behavior of concurrence and QD near the quantum critical line, providing insights into the system's critical properties. Furthermore, we identify a line within the gapped phase where both concurrence and QD vanish. Investigating the density matrix along this line, we assess whether the zero QD condition adheres to a novel criterion for arbitrary bipartite states. Our findings indicate that without Heisenberg interaction, the criterion is not met, but with both Heisenberg interaction and Gamma interaction, the criterion for zero QD is satisfied.
The quantum discord, which quantifies the amount of quantum correlation present between parts of a system, is investigated for spin systems. The discord for a pair of spins in the many-spin ground state, computed by minimizing the conditional entropy of the two spins, is related to the diagonal and off-diagonal spin–spin correlation functions and the local magnetization. We show that for isotropic and translationally invariant states, the discord depends only on the diagonal spin correlation function. Thus, near a thermal/quantum critical point, the pairwise discord exhibits long-range behavior, analogously to the correlation function. The discord exhibits a kink singularity as a function of the anisotropy parameter for the ground state of the anisotropic Heisenberg model, for both nearest-neighbor spins as well as for well-separated spins. The preferred measurement basis for the minimum conditional entropy, which determines the discord, changes discontinuously across the critical point. We also investigate, from exact numerical diagonalization, the distribution of conditional entropies as the measurement basis is varied. For the isotropic model, the conditional entropy distribution is a δ-function, whereas it has a twin-peak structure for the anisotropic model. It is shown that the average value and the mean-square fluctuation of the conditional entropy also show a signature of the critical-point behavior.
Non-classical correlations arise in various quantum mechanical systems. Characterization and quantification of these correlations is an important and active branch of research in the field of quantum information theory. Investigation of non-classical correlations in condensed matter systems gives important insights about the characteristics of these systems. In particular, systems possessing a quantum critical point in their phase diagrams have attracted much attention due to the peculiar behavior of correlations near these points. In this thesis, we have investigated two distinct quantum spin models from the perspective of correlations and, we have discussed the correlation content of an important subclass of bipartite states. We start by an analytical calculation of the quantum discord for a system composed of spin-j and spin-1/2 subsystems possessing rotational symmetry. We have compared our results with the quantum discord of states having similar symmetries and seen that in rotationally invariant states the amount of quantum discord is much higher. Moreover, using the well known entanglement properties of these states, we have compared their quantum discord with entanglement and seen that quantum discord is higher than the entanglement. Next, we have investigated the thermal quantum correlations and entanglement in spin-1 Bose-Hubbard model with two and three particles. We have demonstrated that the energy level crossings in the ground state of the system are signalled by both the behavior of thermal quantum correlations and entanglement. Finally, we have investigated various thermal quantum and total correlations in the anisotropic XY spin-chain with transverse magnetic field. We have shown that the ability of the considered measures to estimate the critical points of this system at finite temperature strongly depends on the anisotropy parameter of the Hamiltonian. Furthermore, we have studied the effect of temperature on long-range correlations of the XY chain.
We study the quantum correlations in a two-dimensional system that possesses a topological quantum phase transition. The quantumness of two-body correlations is measured by quantum discord. We calculate both the correlation of two local spins and that between an arbitrary spin and the rest of the lattice. It is notable that local spins are classically correlated, while the quantum correlation is hidden in the global lattice. This is different from other systems which are not topologically ordered. Moreover, the mutual information and global quantum discord show critical behavior in the topological quantum phase transition.
ABSTRACT In this study, we investigate the emergence of non‐trivial topological phases in a 1D spin‐1/2 XX model induced by anisotropic four‐spin interactions. By employing the fermionization technique, we precisely diagonalize the system's Hamiltonian and analytically identify three critical lines. Subsequently, we calculate the energy gap, fidelity susceptibility, cluster local order parameters, winding number, and entanglement spectrum. Our findings identify three crucial boundaries that divide five gapped phases, each characterized by the coexistence of symmetry‐protected topological order and spontaneous symmetry breaking. Analyzing the winding number as a topological invariant allows us to distinguish these gapped phases as distinct non‐trivial topological phases, characterized by integer values of . Moreover, we observe topological phase transitions at quantum critical points, where the winding number changes are associated with the closing and reopening of the energy gap. Furthermore, we demonstrate that for a given winding number , the degeneracy of the lowest eigenvalue in the entanglement spectrum is generally . This work provides novel insights into the role of anisotropic four‐spin interactions in driving topological phenomena in low‐dimensional quantum systems, offering a deeper understanding of the interplay between topology and quantum fluctuations.