Bulk and boundary critical behavior at Lifshitz points

Hans Werner Diehl, Mykola A. Shpot

Mykola A. Shpot, Hans Werner Diehl

Hans Werner Diehl, S. B. Rutkevich, A Gerwinski

The critical behaviour of semi-infinite d -dimensional systems with short-range interactions and an O( n ) invariant Hamiltonian is investigated at an m -axial Lifshitz point with an isotropic wave-vector instability in an m -dimensional subspace of d parallel to the surface. Continuum |ϕ| 4 models representing the associated universality classes of surface critical behaviour are constructed. In the boundary parts of their Hamiltonians quadratic derivative terms (involving a dimensionless coupling constant λ) must be included in addition to the familiar ones ∝ϕ 2 . Beyond one-loop order the infrared-stable fixed points describing the ordinary, special and extraordinary transitions in d = 4 + m /2 − dimensions (with > 0) are located at λ = λ* = O( ). At second order in , the surface critical exponents of both the ordinary and the special transitions start to deviate from their m = 0 analogues. Results to order 2 are presented for the surface critical exponent β ord 1 of the ordinary transition. The scaling dimension of the surface energy density is shown to be given exactly by d + m (θ − 1), where θ = ν l 4 /ν l 2 is the bulk anisotropy exponent.

Kuang-Hung Chou, Xue-Jia Yu

Recent advances have revealed that topology can further enrich the universality classes of quantum phase transitions, thereby extending beyond the traditional paradigms of statistical and condensed matter physics. However, multicriticality between topologically distinct quantum critical lines remains insufficiently explored. In this Letter, we systematically construct and investigate a novel class of topologically enforced Lifshitz multicritical points in one dimensional chiral symmetric fermionic systems. Such multicriticality is driven solely by changes in the topology of neighboring critical lines, beyond previously recognized multicritical points that are typically induced by changes in critical exponents. More importantly, the topologically enforced multicriticality identified here can host robust topological degeneracies while surprisingly exhibiting a breakdown of the Li Haldane bulk boundary correspondence-a phenomenon we elucidate through a simple physical picture.

Nayan E. Myerson-Jain, Xiao-Chuan Wu, Cenke Xu

Bulk topology and criticality can both lead to nontrivial boundary effects. Topological orders are often characterized by their robust edge states, while bulk critical points can have different boundary scalings governed by boundary conditions. The interplay between these two different boundary effects is an intriguing problem. The boundary of the deconfined quantum critical point (DQCP) is the ideal platform for the interplay of the two boundary effects, as the DQCP is also an intrinsically gapless symmetry protected topological (igSPT) state. In this work we discuss the boundary of several analogues of the DQCP. We demonstrate that the fluctuation of the bulk order parameters and their various boundary conditions lead to a rich possibility of the edge states, including a "pseudogap" (or super power-law decay) behavior. We also discuss the quantum information perspective of our work, i.e. the implication of our results on DQCP under weak-measurement. Weak-measurement followed by post-selection can change the boundary condition at the temporal boundary in the path-integral representation of a density matrix, which will lead to different behaviors of the "strange correlator".

Claude Bervillier