Thue-Morse quantum Ising model.

Abstract

We study the one-dimensional quantum Ising model in a transverse magnetic field where the exchange couplings are ordered according to the Thue-Morse (TM) sequence. At zero temperature, this model is equivalent to a two-dimensional classical Ising model in a magnetic field with TM aperiodicity along one direction. We compute the order parameter (magnetization) of the chain and the scaling behavior of the energy spectrum when the system undergoes a phase transition. Analogous to the quasiperiodic (QP) quantum Ising chain, the onset of long-range order is signaled by a nonanaliticity in the exponent delta which describes the scaling of the total bandwidth with the size of the chain. The critical spin-coupling can be computed analytically and it is found to be lower than the QP case. Furthermore, the energy bands are found to be narrower than the corresponding QP chain. The former and latter results are consistent with the fact that the present structure has a degree of ordering intermediate between QP and random.