Local and intrinsic quantum coherence in critical systems

Abstract

Local and intrinsic quantum coherence, as two contributions of total quantum coherence, have been introduced by Radhakrishnan et al. [C. Radhakrishnan, M. Parthasarathy, S. Jambulingam, and T. Byrnes, Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 150504 (2016)]. In the present work we study the property of local, intrinsic, and total quantum coherence in critical systems such as the $XY$ model, extended $XY$ model, and Ashkin-Teller model to analyze their capability in identifying the second-order, infinite-order quantum phase transitions, as well as the topological quantum phase transitions. It is shown that not only the total coherence, but also the local and intrinsic coherence can spotlight the critical points efficiently. Moreover, the long-range properties of total and local coherence, and the short-range properties of intrinsic coherence are analyzed. The total and local coherence for spin-pairs farther than nearest neighbors can highlight the critical points while the intrinsic coherence is absent for long-distance spin-pairs.