This paper presents a unified perspective on the results of two recent works (C. Buragohain and S. Sachdev cond-mat/9811083 and S. Sachdev cond-mat/9810399) along with additional background. We describe the low frequency, non-zero temperature, order parameter relaxational dynamics of a number of systems in the vicinity of a quantum critical point. The dynamical correlations are properties of the high temperature limit of renormalizable quantum field theories in spatial dimensions d=1,2. We study, as a function of d and the number of order parameter components, n, the crossover from the finite frequency, "amplitude fluctuation", gapped quasiparticle mode in the quantum paramagnet (or Mott insulator), to the zero frequency "phase" (n>=2) or "domain wall" (n=1) relaxation mode near the ordered phase. Implications for dynamic measurements on the high temperature superconductors and antiferromagnetic spin chains are noted.
We describe the nonzero temperature
(T), low frequency $(\ensuremath{\omega})$ dynamics of the order parameter near quantum critical points in two spatial dimensions
(d), with a special focus on the regime $\ensuremath{\Elzxh}\ensuremath{\omega}\ensuremath{\ll}{k}_{B}T$. For the case of a ``relativistic,''
O(n)-symmetric, bosonic quantum field theory we show that, for small $\ensuremath{\epsilon}=3\ensuremath{-}d$, the dynamics is described by an effective classical model of waves with a quartic interaction. We provide analytical and numerical analyses of the classical wave model directly in
d=2. We describe the crossover from the finite frequency, ``amplitude fluctuation,'' gapped quasiparticle mode in the quantum paramagnet (or Mott insulator), to the zero frequency ``phase''
(n> 2) or ``domain wall''
(n=1) relaxation mode near the ordered state. For static properties, we show how a surprising, duality-like transformation allows an exact treatment of the strong-coupling limit for all n. For
n=2, we compute the universal T dependence of the superfluid density below the Kosterlitz-Thouless temperature, and discuss implications for the high temperature superconductors. For
n=3, our computations of the dynamic structure factor relate to neutron scattering experiments on
La1.85Sr0.15CuO4, and to light scattering experiments on double layer quantum Hall systems. We expect that closely related effective classical wave models will apply also to other quantum critical points in
d=2. Although computations in appendixes do rely upon technical results on the $\ensuremath{\epsilon}$-expansion of quantum critical points obtained in earlier papers, the physical discussion in the body of the paper is self-contained, and can be read without consulting these earlier works.
We study the finite temperature crossovers in the vicinity of a zero temperature quantum phase transition. The universal crossover functions are observables of a continuum quantum field theory. Particular attention is focussed on the high temperature limit of the continuum field theory, the so-called ``quantum-critical'' region. Basic features of crossovers are illustrated by a simple solvable model of dilute spinless fermions, and a partially solvable model of dilute bosons. The low frequency relaxational behavior of the quantum-critical region is displayed in the solution of the transverse-field Ising model. The insights from these simple models lead to a fairly complete understanding of the system of primary interest: the two-dimensional quantum rotor model, whose phase transition is expected to be in the same universality class as those in antiferromagnetic Heisenberg spin models. Recent work on the experimental implications of these results for the cuprate compounds is briefly reviewed.
We present a detailed study of the finite-temperature dynamical properties of the quantum Potts model in one dimension. Quasiparticle excitations in this model have internal quantum numbers, and their scattering matrix deep in the gapped phases is shown to take a simple exchange form in the perturbative regimes. The finite-temperature correlation functions in the quantum critical regime are determined using conformal invariance, while far from the quantum critical point we compute the decay functions analytically within a semiclassical approach of Sachdev and Damle [Phys. Rev. B 57, 8307 (1998)]. As a consequence, decay functions exhibit a diffusive character. We also provide robust arguments that our semiclassical analysis carries over to very low temperatures even in the vicinity of the quantum phase transition. Our results are also relevant for quantum rotor models, antiferromagnetic chains, and some spin ladder systems.
Quantum phase transitions occur strictly at zero temperature and are accessed by varying a physical parameter such as a magnetic field or chemical potential. While these transitions themselves are experimentally inaccessible, the existence of a zero temperature quantum critical point has remarkable effects on the dynamical properties of interacting quantum many-body systems at finite temperatures. In this thesis, we study dynamics in four strongly interacting many-body systems near quantum critical points in the context of NMR relaxation, quantum quenches, many-body quantum chaos, and charge diffusion. In chapter 1, we begin by revisiting the issue of NMR relaxation in the quantum disordered phase of Ising spin chains. We find that the imaginary part of the spin susceptibility at low frequences is dominated by rare quantum processes which leads to an NMR relaxation rate that scales as
1/T1∼exp(−T2Δ) near the quantum critical point rather than the previously conjectured
1/T1∼exp(−TΔ). These results resolve certain discrepancies between the energy scales measured with different experimental probes in the quantum disordered paramagnetic phase of the Ising chain system
CoNb2O6. In chapter 2, we study the non-equilibrium dynamics of Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) models with
q body interactions after a quantum quench, considering a quench protocol which drives the system from an initial state with long-lived quasiparticle excitations to a final state lacking any long-lived quasiparticle excitations. For
q=4, we find that the timescale for the system to locally thermalize
τeq∼kBTℏ and for
q→∞ we find that the system thermalizes instantaneously. In chapter 3, we study the real time dynamics of quantum electrodynamics in 2+1 dimensions with
Nf flavors of fermions. We focus on thermalization and the onset of many-body quantum chaos and compute the quantum Lyapunov exponent in a
Nf1 expansion. We briefly comment on chaos, locality, and gauge invariance. Finally, in Chapter 4 we consider whether the butterfly velocity - a speed at which quantum information propagates - may provide a fundamental bound on diffusion constants in dirty incoherent metals by computing the charge diffusion constant and the butterfly velocity in charge-neutral holographic matter with long wavelength ``hydrodynamic" disorder. In this limit, we find that the butterfly velocity does not set a sharp lower bound for the charge diffusion constant.
A systematic method for the computation of finite-temperature (T) crossover functions near quantum-critical points close to, or above, their upper-critical dimension is devised. We describe the physics of the various regions in the T and critical tuning parameter (t) plane. The quantum-critical point is at T=0, t=0, and in many cases there is a line of finite-temperature transitions at T=
Tc(t), t0, with
Tc(0)=0. For the relativistic, n-component ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\varphi}}}^{4}$ continuum quantum field theory [which describes lattice quantum rotor (n\ensuremath{\geqslant}2) and transverse field Ising (n=1) models] the upper-critical dimension is d=3, and for d3, \ensuremath{\epsilon}=3-d is the control parameter over the entire phase diagram. In the region |T-
Tc(t)|\ensuremath{\ll}
Tc(t), we obtain an \ensuremath{\epsilon} expansion for coupling constants which then are input as arguments of known classical, tricritical, crossover functions. In the high-T region of the continuum theory, an expansion in integer powers of $\sqrt{\ensuremath{\epsilon}}$, modulo powers of ln \ensuremath{\epsilon}, holds for all thermodynamic observables, static correlators, and dynamic properties at all Matsubara frequencies; for the imaginary part of correlators at real frequencies (\ensuremath{\omega}), the perturbative $\sqrt{\ensuremath{\epsilon}}$ expansion describes quantum relaxation at \ensuremath{\hbar}\ensuremath{\omega}\ensuremath{\sim}
kBT or larger, but fails for \ensuremath{\hbar}\ensuremath{\omega}\ensuremath{\sim}$\sqrt{\ensuremath{\epsilon}}$
kBT or smaller. An important principle, underlying the whole calculation, is the analyticity of all observables as functions of t at t=0, for T>0; indeed, analytic continuation in t is used to obtain results in a portion of the phase diagram. Our method also applies to a large class of other quantum-critical points and their associated continuum quantum field theories.
We study the nite temperature crossovers in the vicinity of a zero temperature quantum phase transition. The universal crossover functions are observables of a continuum quantum eld theory. Particular attention is focussed on the high temperature limit of the continuum eld theory, the socalled \quantum-critical region. Basic features of crossovers are illustrated by a simple solvable model of dilute spinless fermions, and a partially solvable model of dilute bosons. The low frequency relaxational behavior of the quantum-critical region is displayed in the solution of the transverse-eld Ising model. The insights from these simple models lead to a fairly complete understanding of the system of primary interest: the two-dimensional quantum rotor model, whose phase transition is expected to be in the same universality class as those in antiferromagnetic Heisenberg spin models. Recent work on the experimental implications of these results for the cuprate compounds is briey reviewed.