Classical Critical Point Research Articles

Solutions of spinorial Yamabe-type problems on 𝑆^{𝑚}: Perturbations and applications

This paper is part of a program to establish the existence theory for the conformally invariant Dirac equation \[ D g ψ = f ( x ) | ψ | g 2 m − 1 ψ D_g\psi =f(x)|\psi |_g^{\frac 2{m-1}}\psi \] on a closed spin manifold ( M , g ) (M,g) of dimension m ≥ 2 m\geq 2 with a fixed spin structure, where f : M → R f:M\to \mathbb {R} is a given function. The study on such nonlinear equation is motivated by its important applications in Spin Geometry: when m = 2 m=2 , a solution corresponds to an isometric immersion of the universal covering M ~ \widetilde M into R 3 \mathbb {R}^3 with prescribed mean curvature f f ; meanwhile, for general dimensions and f ≡ c o n s t a n t f\equiv constant , a solution provides an upper bound estimate for the Bär-Hijazi-Lott invariant. Comparing with the existing issues, the aim of this paper is to establish multiple existence results in a new geometric context, which have not been considered in the previous literature. Precisely, in order to examine the dependence of solutions of the aforementioned nonlinear Dirac equations on geometrical data, concrete analyses are made for two specific models on the manifold ( S m , g ) (S^m,g) : the geometric potential f f is a perturbation from constant with g = g S m g=g_{S^m} being the canonical round metric; and f ≡ 1 f\equiv 1 with the metric g g being a perturbation of g S m g_{S^m} that is not conformally flat somewhere on S m S^m . The proof is variational: solutions of these problems are found as critical points of their corresponding energy functionals. The emphasis is that the solutions are always degenerate: they appear as critical manifolds of positive dimension. This is very different from most situations in elliptic PDEs and classical critical point theory. As corollaries of the existence results, multiple distinct embedded spheres in R 3 \mathbb {R}^3 with a common mean curvature are constructed, and furthermore, a strict inequality estimate for the Bär-Hijazi-Lott invariant on S m S^m , m ≥ 4 m\geq 4 , is derived, which is the first result of this kind in the non-locally-conformally-flat setting.

On the classical critical behavior of the specific heat capacity of a model of structural phase transitions with a long-range interaction

The critical specific heat capacity c of a d-dimensional model describing structural phase transitions in an anharmonic crystal with a long-range interaction (decreasing at large distances r as r −d−σ , 0 < σ ≤ 2) is studied near the classical critical point Tc . At temperatures T > Tc and for dimensions σ < d < 2σ (σ and 2σ are the lower and the upper critical dimensions, respectively) the critical specific heat capacity is obtained in the form c ≈ 1 − Dεαs , where D > 0 and αs < 0 depend only on the ratio d/σ, and ε = T/Tc −1 is a measure of the deviation from the critical point. For three fixed values of the ratio d/σ the dependence c ≈ c(ε) is graphically presented. It is shown that at all temperatures T ≤ Tc the specific heat capacity retains its maximum value, c max = 1. The critical exponent αs , obtained here, coincides with that of the known mean spherical model, while c max is different for the two models.

Out-of-equilibrium dynamics arising from slow round-trip variations of Hamiltonian parameters across quantum and classical critical points

We address the out-of-equilibrium dynamics of many-body systems subject to slow time-dependent round-trip protocols across quantum and classical (thermal) phase transitions. We consider protocols where one relevant parameter w is slowly changed across its critical point wc = 0, linearly in time with a large time scale ts, from wi < 0 to wf > 0 and then back to wi < 0, thus entailing multiple passages through the critical point. Analogously to the one-way Kibble-Zurek protocols across a critical point, round-trip protocols develop dynamic scaling behaviors at both classical and quantum transitions, put forward within renormalization-group frameworks. The scaling scenario is analyzed within some paradigmatic models undergoing quantum and classical transitions belonging to the two-dimensional Ising universality class, such as one-dimensional quantum Ising models and fermionic wires, and two-dimensional classical Ising models (supplemented with a purely relaxational dynamics). While the dynamic scaling frameworks are similar for classical and quantum systems, substantial differences emerge due to the different nature of their dynamics, which is purely relaxational for classical systems (implying thermalization in the large-time limit at fixed model parameters), and unitary in the case of quantum systems. In particular, when the critical point separates two gapped (short-ranged) phases and the extreme value wf > 0 is kept fixed in the large-ts limit of the round-trip protocol, we observe hysteresis-like scenarios in classical systems, while quantum systems do not apparently develop a sufficiently robust scaling limit along the return way, due to the presence of rapidly oscillating relative phases among the relevant quantum states.

Network-Initialized Monte Carlo Based on Generative Neural Networks

We design generative neural networks that generate Monte Carlo configurations with complete absence of autocorrelation from which only short Markov chains are needed before making measurements for physical observables, irrespective of the system locating at the classical critical point, fermionic Mott insulator, Dirac semimetal, or quantum critical point. We further propose a network-initialized Monte Carlo scheme based on such neural networks, which provides independent samplings and can accelerate the Monte Carlo simulations by significantly reducing the thermalization process. We demonstrate the performance of our approach on the two-dimensional Ising and fermion Hubbard models, expect that it can systematically speed up the Monte Carlo simulations especially for the very challenging many-electron problems.

Advancing Chemical Separations: Unraveling the Structure and Dynamics of Phase Splitting in Liquid-Liquid Extraction.

Liquid-liquid extraction (LLE), the go-to process for a variety of chemical separations, is limited by spontaneous organic phase splitting upon sufficient solute loading, called third phase formation. In this study we explore the applicability of critical phenomena theory to gain insight into this deleterious phase behavior with the goal of improving separations efficiency and minimizing waste. A series of samples representative of rare earth purification were constructed to include each of one light and one heavy lanthanide (cerium and lutetium) paired with one of two common malonamide extractants (DMDOHEMA and DMDBTDMA). The resulting postextraction organic phases are chemically complex and often form rich hierarchical structures whose statics and dynamics near the critical point were probed herein with small-angle X-ray scattering and high-speed X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy. Despite their different extraction behaviors, all samples show remarkably similar critical behavior with exponents well described by classical critical point theory consistent with the 3D Ising model, where the critical behavior is characterized by fluctuations with a single diverging length scale. This unexpected result indicates a significant reduction in relevant chemical parameters at the critical point, indicating that the underlying behavior of phase transitions in LLE rely on far fewer variables than are generally assumed. The obtained scalar order parameter is attributed to the extractant fraction of the extractant/diluent mixture, revealing that other solution components and their respective concentrations simply shift the critical temperature but do not affect the nature of the critical fluctuations. These findings point to an opportunity to drastically simplify studies of liquid-liquid phase separation and phase diagram development in general while providing insights into LLE process improvement.

Surface critical behavior of coupled Haldane chains

The special surface transition at (2+1)-dimensional quantum critical point is precluded in corresponding classical critical point. The mechanism of such behavior which is only found in dimerized Heisenberg models so far is still under debate. To illuminate the role of symmetry protected topological (SPT) phase in inducing such nonordinary behaviors, we study a system on a two-dimensional square lattice consisted by interacting spin-1 Haldane chains, which has a genuine SPT phase--the Haldane phase--at weak interchain interactions and a quantum critical point belonging to the classical 3D O(3) universality class to the N\'eel phase. Different from models studied previously, there is no dimerization in the current model. Cutting the system along the chain direction or perpendicular to the chain direction exposes two different surfaces. Using unbiased quantum Monte Carlo simulations, we find that the two different types of surface show completely different surface critical behaviors at the bulk critical point, resulted from different surface states in the SPT phase. For the system with surfaces along the chain direction, the surface critical behavior is of ordinary type of the bulk 3D O(3) critical point, while for the surfaces perpendicular to the chain direction, the surface critical behavior is nonordinary, consistent with special transitions found in dimerized Heisenberg models. Our numerical results demonstrate that the gapless surface state in the gapped SPT phase together with the gapless mode of critical point is a pure quantum scenario that leads to the nonordinary transition.

Near-Critical Phase Behavior in Polyelectrolyte Solutions: Effect of Charge Fluctuations.

The critical behaviors in polyelectrolyte (PE) solutions are studied by a renormalized Gaussian fluctuation theory. PEs are fully charged linear wormlike chains. The electrostatic interactions are considered in a continuum solvent while ignoring other interactions. The effects of temperature on the criticality are explored in a salt-free polyanion solution, and the effects of salt are explored in a symmetric mixed solution of polycation and polyanion. An unphysical phase coexistence (UPPC), in which a metastable dense phase coexists with an unstable dilute phase, always exists in the phase diagram. In the near-critical region, the UPPC could interfere with the real phase coexistence. The classical critical point is replaced by a "critical line", giving a flat top for the phase diagram. These behaviors are due to the effect of charge fluctuation in the near-critical region. Our results explain why the mean field approach overestimates the critical salt density by about 10% to experimental data in the study of coacervation between oppositely charged PEs.

A Class of Critical Magnetic Fractional Kirchhoff Problems

In this paper, we deal with the existence and asymptotic behavior of solutions for a fractional Kirchhoff type problem involving the electromagnetic fields and critical nonlinearity by using the classical critical point theorem. Meanwhile, an example is given to illustrate the application of the main result.

Mott quantum criticality in the one-band Hubbard model: Dynamical mean-field theory, power-law spectra, and scaling

Recent studies of electrical transport, both theoretical and experimental, near the bandwidth-tuned Mott metal-insulator transition have uncovered apparent quantum critical scaling of the electrical resistivity at elevated temperatures, despite the fact that the actual low-temperature phase transition is of first order. This raises the question whether there is a hidden Mott quantum critical point. Here we argue that the dynamical mean-field theory of the Hubbard model admits, in the low-temperature limit, asymptotically scale-invariant (i.e. power-law) solutions, corresponding to the metastable insulator at the boundary of metal-insulator coexistence region, which can be linked to the physics of the pseudogap Anderson model. While our state-of-the-art numerical renormalization group calculations reveal that this asymptotic regime is restricted to very small energies and temperatures and hence difficult to access numerically, we uncover the existence of a wide crossover regime where the single-particle spectrum displays a \emph{different} power law. We show that it is this power-law regime, corresponding to approximate local quantum criticality, which is continuously connected to and responsible for the apparent quantum critical scaling above the classical critical end point. We connect our findings to experiments on tunable Mott materials.

Micellar size changing in the systems of octaethylene glycol mono(n-dodecyl) ether without and with poly(acrylic acid)

Aqueous octaethylene glycol mono(n-dodecyl) ether (C12E8) solutions, in the absence and presence of poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) are studied by means of viscosity, pH, refractive index, static fluorescence and dynamic light scattering measurements. At high surfactant concentrations, these properties present inflection points. They are different by the classical critical points (critical micelle concentration and critical interaction concentrations) of such systems and appear at almost the same surfactant concentration, irrespective of the polymer presence. The results are interpreted in terms of micellar size and shape changes. Some images collected with two microscopes prove these changes and the coexistence of various shaped aggregates.

Conformal perturbation theory

Statistical systems near a classical critical point have been intensively studied both from theoretical and experimental points of view. In particular, correlation functions are of relevance in comparing theoretical models with the experimental data of real systems. In order to compute physical quantities near a critical point one needs to know the model at the critical (conformal) point. In this line, recent progresses in the knowledge of conformal field theories, through the conformal bootstrap, give the hope to get some interesting results also outside of the critical point. In this note we will review and clarify how, starting from the knowledge of the critical correlators, one can calculate in a safe way their behavior outside the critical point. The approach illustrated requires the model to be just scale invariant at the critical point. We will clarify the method by applying it to different kind of perturbations of the $2D$ Ising model.

Universal long-time behavior of aperiodically driven interacting quantum systems

One of the most important concepts in non-equilibrium physics is relaxation. In the vicinity of a classical critical point, the relaxation time can diverge and result in a universal power-law for the relaxation dynamics; the emerging classification of the dynamic universality class has been elucidated by Hohenberg and Halperin. In this paper, we systematically study the long-time relaxation dynamics in stochastically driven interacting quantum systems. We find that even though the stochastic forces will inevitably drive the systems into a featureless infinite temperature state, the way to approach the steady state can be highly nontrivial and exhibit rich universal dynamical behavior determined by the interplay between the stochastic driving and quantum many-body effects. We investigate the dynamical universality class by including different types of perturbations. The heating dynamics of a Hamiltonian with locally unbounded Hilbert space is also studied.

Origin of scale-free intermittency in structural first-order phase transitions

A salient feature of cyclically driven first-order phase transformations in crystals is their scale-free avalanche dynamics. This behavior has been linked to the presence of a classical critical point but the mechanism leading to criticality without extrinsic tuning remains unexplained. Here we show that the source of scaling in such systems is an annealed disorder associated with transformation-induced slip which co-evolves with the phase transformation, thus ensuring the crossing of a critical manifold. Our conclusions are based on a model where annealed disorder emerges in the form of a random field induced by the phase transition. Such disorder exhibits super-transient chaotic behavior under thermal loading, obeys a heavy-tailed distribution and exhibits long-range spatial correlations. We show that the universality class is affected by the long-range character of elastic interactions. In contrast, it is not influenced by the heavy-tailed distribution and spatial correlations of disorder.

Infinitely many sign-changing solutions to some quasilinear equation involving exponential term

In this paper, we prove the existence of infinitely many sign-changing solutions to some quasilinear and elliptic equation whose divergence part contains exponential term. Our main idea consists of the use of the perturbation method together with invariant sets of descending flow in the framework of classical critical point theory.

A multiplicity result for some Kirchhoff-type equations involving exponential growth condition in $\mathbb{R}^2 $

In this paper, we consider the existence and multiplicity of sign-changing solutions to some Kirchhoff-type equation involving a nonlinear term with exponential growth. In a first result, we prove the existence of at least three solutions: one solution is positive, one is negative and the third one is sign-changing. The existence of infinitely many sign-changing solutions is proved as our second result in this work. Our method is mainly based on invariant sets of descending flow in the framework of classical critical point theory.

Frustrated Heisenberg antiferromagnet on the honeycomb lattice with spin quantum number s ≥ 1

The ground-state (GS) phase diagram of the frustrated spin-s J1-J2-J3 Heisenberg antiferromagnet on the honeycomb lattice is studied using the coupled cluster method implemented to high orders of approximation, for spin quantum numbers s = 1, 3/2, 2 , 5/2. The model has antiferromagnetic (AFM) nearest-neighbour, next-nearest-neighbour and next-next-nearest-neighbour exchange couplings (with strength J1 > 0, J2 > 0 and J3 > 0, respectively). We specifically study the case J3 = J2 = κJ1, in the range 0 < κ < 1 of the frustration parameter, which includes the point of maximum classical (s → ∞) frustration, viz., the classical critical point at κcl = 1/2, which separates the Neel phase for κ < κcl and the collinear striped AFM phase for κ > κcl. Results are presented for the GS energy, magnetic order parameter and plaquette valence-bond crystal (PVBC) susceptibility. For all spins s > 3/2 we find a quantum phase diagram very similar to the classical one, with a direct first-order transition between the two collinear AFM states at a value κc(s) which is slightly greater than κcl [e.g., κc(3/2) ≈ 0.53(1)] and which approaches it monotonically as s → ∞. By contrast, for the case s = 1 the transition is split into two such that the stable GS phases are one with Néel AFM order for κ < κc1 = 0.485(5) and one with striped AFM order for κ > κc2 = 0.528(5), just as in the case s = 1/2 (for which κc1 ≈ 0.47 and κc2 ≈ 0.60). For both the s = 1/2 and s = 1 models the transition at κc2 appears to be of first-order type, while that at κc1 appears to be continuous. However, whereas in the s = 1/2 case the intermediate phase appears to have PVBC order over the entire range κc1 < κ < κc2, in the s = 1 case PVBC ordering either exists only over a very small part of the region or, more likely, is absent everywhere.

Itinerant density wave instabilities at classical and quantum critical points

Charge ordering in metals is a fundamental instability of the electron sea, occurring in a host of materials and often linked to other collective ground states such as superconductivity. What is difficult to parse, however, is whether the charge order originates among the itinerant electrons or whether it arises from the ionic lattice. Here we employ high-resolution X-ray diffraction, combined with high-pressure and low-temperature techniques and theoretical modelling, to trace the evolution of the ordering wavevector Q in charge and spin density wave systems at the approach to both thermal and quantum phase transitions. The non-monotonic behaviour of Q with pressure and the limiting sinusoidal form of the density wave point to the dominant role of the itinerant instability in the vicinity of the critical points, with little influence from the lattice. Fluctuations rather than disorder seem to disrupt coherence.

Critical elasticity at zero and finite temperature

Elastic phase transitions of crystals and phase transitions whose order parameter couples linearly to elastic degrees of freedom are reviewed with particular focus on instabilities at zero temperature. A characteristic feature of these transitions is the suppression of critical fluctuations by long-range shear forces. As a consequence, at an elastic crystal symmetry-breaking quantum phase transition the phonon velocity vanishes only along certain crystallographic directions giving rise to critical phonon thermodynamics described by a stable Gaussian fixed point. At an isostructural solid-solid quantum critical end point, on the other hand, the complete suppression of critical fluctuations results in true mean-field critical behavior without a diverging correlation length. Whenever an order parameter couples bilinearly to the strain tensor, the critical properties are eventually governed by critical crystal elasticity. This is, for example, the case for quantum critical metamagnetism but also for the classical critical Mott end point at finite T. We discuss and compare the solid-solid end points expected close to the Mott transition in V2O3 and κ-(BEDT-TTF)2 X.

Multiple periodic solutions for perturbed relativistic pendulum systems

We show that the periodically perturbed N-dimensional relativistic pendulum equation has at least N + 1 geometrically distinct periodic solutions Also we obtain the existence of infinitely many solutions for systems with oscillating potential Both results are obtained by reduction to an equivalent non-singular problem using classical critical point theory.

Quantum critical behavior of the quantum Ising model on fractal lattices

I study the properties of the quantum critical point of the transverse-field quantum Ising model on various fractal lattices such as the Sierpiński carpet, Sierpiński gasket, and Sierpiński tetrahedron. Using a continuous-time quantum Monte Carlo simulation method and finite-size scaling analysis, I identify the quantum critical point and investigate its scaling properties. Among others, I calculate the dynamic critical exponent and find that it is greater than one for all three structures. The fact that it deviates from one is a direct consequence of the fractal structures not being integer-dimensional regular lattices. Other critical exponents are also calculated. The exponents are different from those of the classical critical point and satisfy the quantum scaling relation, thus confirming that I have indeed found the quantum critical point. I find that the Sierpiński tetrahedron, of which the dimension is exactly 2, belongs to a different universality class than that of the two-dimensional square lattice. I conclude that the critical exponents depend on more details of the structure than just the dimension and the symmetry.