Ground-state Correlation Functions Research Articles

Fractional topology in interacting one-dimensional superconductors

We investigate the topological phases of two one-dimensional (1D) interacting superconducting wires and propose topological markers directly measurable from ground-state correlation functions. These quantities remain powerful tools in the presence of couplings and interactions. We show with the density matrix renormalization group that the double critical Ising (DCI) phase of two interacting Kitaev chains is a fractional topological phase with gapless Majorana modes in the bulk, and a one-half topological invariant per wire. Using both numerics and quantum field theoretical methods, we show that the phase diagram remains stable in the presence of an interwire hopping amplitude ${t}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}$ at length scales below $\ensuremath{\sim}1/{t}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}$. A large interwire hopping amplitude results in the emergence of two integer topological phases, stable also at large interactions. They host one edge mode per boundary shared between both wires. At large interactions, the two wires are described by Mott physics, with the ${t}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}$ hopping amplitude resulting in a paramagnetic order.

Long-Range Free Fermions: Lieb-Robinson Bound, Clustering Properties, and Topological Phases.

We consider free fermions living on lattices in arbitrary dimensions, where hopping amplitudes follow a power-law decay with respect to the distance. We focus on the regime where this power is larger than the spatial dimension (i.e., where the single particle energies are guaranteed to be bounded) for which we provide a comprehensive series of fundamental constraints on their equilibrium and nonequilibrium properties. First, we derive a Lieb-Robinson bound which is optimal in the spatial tail. This bound then implies a clustering property with essentially the same power law for the Green's function, whenever its variable lies outside the energy spectrum. The widely believed (but yet unproven in this regime) clustering property for the ground-state correlation function follows as a corollary among other implications. Finally, we discuss the impact of these results on topological phases in long-range free-fermion systems: they justify the equivalence between Hamiltonian and state-based definitions and the extension of the short-range phase classification to systems with decay power larger than the spatial dimension. Additionally, we argue that all the short-range topological phases are unified whenever this power is allowed to be smaller.

Quantum simulation of hyperbolic space with circuit quantum electrodynamics: From graphs to geometry.

We show how quantum many-body systems on hyperbolic lattices with nearest-neighbor hopping and local interactions can be mapped onto quantum field theories in continuous negatively curved space. The underlying lattices have recently been realized experimentally with superconducting resonators and therefore allow for a table-top quantum simulation of quantum physics in curved background. Our mapping provides a computational tool to determine observables of the discrete system even for large lattices, where exact diagonalization fails. As an application and proof of principle we quantitatively reproduce the ground state energy, spectral gap, and correlation functions of the noninteracting lattice system by means of analytic formulas on the Poincaré disk, and show how conformal symmetry emerges for large lattices. This sets the stage for studying interactions and disorder on hyperbolic graphs in the future. Importantly, our analysis reveals that even relatively small discrete hyperbolic lattices emulate the continuous geometry of negatively curved space, and thus can be used to experimentally resolve fundamental open problems at the interface of interacting many-body systems, quantum field theory in curved space, and quantum gravity.

Recurrent neural network wave functions

A core technology that has emerged from the artificial intelligence revolution is the recurrent neural network (RNN). Its unique sequence-based architecture provides a tractable likelihood estimate with stable training paradigms, a combination that has precipitated many spectacular advances in natural language processing and neural machine translation. This architecture also makes a good candidate for a variational wave function, where the RNN parameters are tuned to learn the approximate ground state of a quantum Hamiltonian. In this paper, we demonstrate the ability of RNNs to represent several many-body wave functions, optimizing the variational parameters using a stochastic approach. Among other attractive features of these variational wave functions, their autoregressive nature allows for the efficient calculation of physical estimators by providing independent samples. We demonstrate the effectiveness of RNN wave functions by calculating ground state energies, correlation functions, and entanglement entropies for several quantum spin models of interest to condensed matter physicists in one and two spatial dimensions.

The Inhomogeneous Gaussian Free Field, with application to ground state correlations of trapped 1d Bose gases

This formalism is then applied to the study of ground state correlations of the Lieb-Liniger gas trapped in an external potential V(x)V(x). Relations with previous works on inhomogeneous Luttinger liquids are discussed. The main innovation here is in the identification of local observables \hat{O} (x)Ô(x) in the microscopic model with their field theory counterparts \partial_x h, e^{i h(x)}, e^{-i h(x)}∂xh,eih(x),e−ih(x), etc., which involve non-universal coefficients that themselves depend on position — a fact that, to the best of our knowledge, was overlooked in previous works on correlation functions of inhomogeneous Luttinger liquids —, and that can be calculated thanks to Bethe Ansatz form factors formulae available for the homogeneous Lieb-Liniger model. Combining those position-dependent coefficients with the correlation functions of the IGFF, ground state correlation functions of the trapped gas are obtained. Numerical checks from DMRG are provided for density-density correlations and for the one-particle density matrix, showing excellent agreement.

Pairwise entanglement and the Mott transition for correlated electrons in nanochains

Pairwise entanglement, calculated separately for charge and spin degrees of freedom, is proposed as a ground-state signature of the Mott transition in correlated nanoscopic systems. Utilizing the exact diagonalization—ab initio, for chains containing hydrogenic-like atoms (at the half filling), we find that the vanishing of the nearest-neighbor charge concurrence indicates the crossover from a partly-localized quantum liquid to the Mott insulator. Spin concurrence remains nonzero at the insulating phase, showing that the decopling of spin and charge degrees of freedom may manifest itself by wavefunctions entangled in spin, but separable in charge coordinates. At the quarter filling, the analysis for shows that spin concurrence vanishes immediately when the charge-energy gap obtained from the scaling with vanishes, constituting a finite-system version of the Mott transition. Analytic derivations of the formulas expressing either charge or spin concurrence in terms of ground-state correlation functions are also provided.

Formation of selfbound states in a one-dimensional nuclear model—a renormalization group based density functional study

In nuclear physics, density functional theory (DFT) provides the basis for state-of-the art studies of ground-state properties of heavy nuclei. However, the direct relation of the density functional underlying these calculations and the microscopic nuclear forces is not yet fully understood. We present a combination of DFT and renormalization group (RG) techniques which allows to study selfbound many-body systems from microscopic interactions. We discuss its application with the aid of systems of identical fermions interacting via a long-range attractive and short-range repulsive two-body force in one dimension. We compute ground-state energies, intrinsic densities, and density correlation functions of these systems and compare our results to those obtained from other methods. In particular, we show how energies of excited states as well as the absolute square of the ground-state wave function can be extracted from the correlation functions within our approach. The relation between many-body perturbation theory and our DFT-RG approach is discussed and illustrated with the aid of the calculation of the second-order energy correction for a system of N identical fermions interacting via a general two-body interaction. Moreover, we discuss the control of spuriously emerging fermion self-interactions in DFT studies within our framework. In general, our approach may help to guide the development of energy functionals for future quantitative DFT studies of heavy nuclei from microscopic interactions.

Violation of cluster decomposition and absence of light cones in local integer and half-integer spin chains

We compute the ground state correlation functions of an exactly solvable chain of integer spins, recently introduced in [R. Movassagh and P. W. Shor, arXiv:1408.1657], whose ground-state can be expressed in terms of a uniform superposition of all colored Motzkin paths. Our analytical results show that for spin s$\ge$2 there is a violation of the cluster decomposition property. This has to be contrasted with s=1, where the cluster property holds. Correspondingly, for s=1 one gets a light-cone profile in the propagation of excitations after a local quench, while the cone is absent for s=2, as shown by time dependent density-matrix-renormalization-group. Moreover, we introduce an original solvable model of half-integer spins which we refer to as Fredkin spin chain, whose ground-state can be expressed in terms of superposition of all Dyck paths. For this model we exactly calculate the magnetization and correlation functions, finding that for s=1/2, a cone-like propagation occurs while for higher spins, s$\ge$3/2, the colors prevent any cone formation and clustering is violated, together with square root deviation from the area law for the entanglement entropy.

Thermal form factor approach to the ground-state correlation functions of the XXZ chain in the antiferromagnetic massive regime**Dedicated to the memory of Petr Petrovich Kulish.

We use the form factors of the quantum transfer matrix in the zero-temperature limit in order to study the two-point ground-state correlation functions of the XXZ chain in the antiferromagnetic massive regime. We obtain novel form factor series representations of the correlation functions which differ from those derived either from the q-vertex-operator approach or from the algebraic Bethe Ansatz approach to the usual transfer matrix. We advocate that our novel representations are numerically more efficient and allow for a straightforward calculation of the large-distance asymptotic behaviour of the two-point functions. Keeping control over the temperature corrections to the two-point functions we see that these are of order in the whole antiferromagnetic massive regime. The isotropic limit of our result yields a novel form factor series representation for the two-point correlation functions of the XXX chain at zero magnetic field.

Spin frustration of a spin-1/2 Ising–Heisenberg three-leg tube as an indispensable ground for thermal entanglement

The spin-1/2 Ising–Heisenberg three-leg tube composed of the Heisenberg spin triangles mutually coupled through the Ising inter-triangle interaction is exactly solved in a zero magnetic field. By making use of the local conservation for the total spin on each Heisenberg spin triangle the model can be rigorously mapped onto a classical composite spin-chain model, which is subsequently exactly treated through the transfer-matrix method. The ground-state phase diagram, correlation functions, concurrence, Bell function, entropy and specific heat are examined in detail. It is shown that the spin frustration represents an indispensable ground for a thermal entanglement, which is quantified by the quantum concurrence. The specific heat displays diverse temperature dependences, which may include a sharp low-temperature peak mimicking a temperature-driven first-order phase transition. It is convincingly evidenced that this anomalous peak originates from massive thermal excitations from the doubly degenerate ground state towards an excited state with a high macroscopic degeneracy due to chiral degrees of freedom of the Heisenberg spin triangles.

Variational Monte Carlo simulations using tensor-product projected states

We propose an efficient numerical method, which combines the advantages of recently developed tensor-network based methods and standard trial wave functions, to study the ground state properties of quantum many-body systems. In this approach, we apply a projector in the form of a tensor-product operator to an input wave function, such as a Jastrow-type or Hartree-Fock wave function, and optimize the tensor elements via variational Monte Carlo. The entanglement already contained in the input wave function can considerably reduce the bond dimensions compared to the regular tensor-product state representation. In particular, this allows us to also represent states that do not obey the area law of entanglement entropy. In addition, for fermionic systems, the fermion sign structure can be encoded in the input wave function. We show that the optimized states provide good approximations of the ground-state energy and correlation functions in the cases of two-dimensional bosonic and fermonic systems.

Antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model on the icosahedron: influence of connectivity and the transition from the classical to the quantum limit

The antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model on the icosahedron presents unconventional properties at the classical and quantum level, which originate in the frustrated nature of the interactions between the spins. Here we examine the importance of the connectivity of the icosahedron for the appearance of a magnetization discontinuity as a function of an external field which separates two families of lowest energy configurations. We also investigate the transition from the classical to the quantum limit. The influence of connectivity on the magnetic properties is revealed by considering the cluster as being made up of a closed strip of a triangular lattice with two additional spins attached. The classical magnetization discontinuity is shown to evolve continuously from the discontinuity effected by these two spins when they are uncoupled to the cluster. In the second part the transition from the classical to the quantum limit is examined by focusing on the low energy spectrum, taking fully into account the spatial and the spin symmetry of the model in the characterization of the states. A symmetry analysis of the highly degenerate lowest energy classical manifold identifies as its direct fingerprint the low energy quantum states for spin magnitude as low as s = 1, with the latter following a tower of states behavior which relates to the icosahedron having a structure reminiscent of a depleted triangular lattice. The classical character of the AHM for small s is also detected on the ground state energy and correlation functions. On the other hand the classical magnetization discontinuity in a field eventually disappears for small s, after a weak reentrant behavior.

Quantum impurity in a Luttinger liquid: Universal conductance with entanglement renormalization

We study numerically the universal conductance of Luttinger liquids wire with a single impurity via the Muti-scale Entanglement Renormalization Ansatz (MERA). The scale invariant MERA provides an efficient way to extract scaling operators and scaling dimensions for both the bulk and the boundary conformal field theories. By utilizing the key relationship between the conductance tensor and ground-state correlation function, the universal conductance can be evaluated within the framework of the boundary MERA. We construct the boundary MERA to compute the correlation functions and scaling dimensions for the Kane-Fisher fixed points by modeling the single impurity as a junction (weak link) of two interacting wires. We show that the universal behavior of the junction can be easily identified within the MERA and argue that the boundary MERA framework has tremendous potential to classify the fixed points in general multi-wire junctions.

Dynamic structure function of a cold Fermi gas at unitarity

We present a theoretical study of the dynamic structure function of a resonantly interacting two-component Fermi gas at zero temperature. Our approach is based on dynamic many-body theory able to describe excitations in strongly correlated Fermi systems. The fixed-node diffusion Monte Carlo method is used to produce the ground-state correlation functions which are used as an input for the excitation theory. Our approach reproduces recent Bragg scattering data in both the density and the spin channel. In the BCS regime, the response is close to that of the ideal Fermi gas. On the BEC side, the Bose peak associated with the formation of dimers dominates the density channel of the dynamic response. When the fraction of dimers is large our theory departs from the experimental data, mainly in the spin channel.

Self-consistent basis generation scheme for polaron and bipolaron systems

We have developed a new self-consistent scheme of generating variational basis based on the exactdiagonalization, which can be applied efficiently to various types of electron-phonon systems. This scheme is quite general and brings down the size of the variational space by an order of magnitude or even more in some cases to reproduce the most precise ground state energies and correlation functions available in the literature. This method has enormous potential for application to systems with more electrons or in higher dimensions, which are still beyond the reach of exact-diagonalization just because of the sheer size of their variational space needed to get reasonably convergent results.

Thermal form factors of the XXZ chain and the large-distance asymptotics of its temperature dependent correlation functions

We derive expressions for the form factors of the quantum transfer matrix of the spin- XXZ chain which are suitable for taking the infinite Trotter number limit. These form factors determine the finitely many amplitudes in the leading asymptotics of the finite-temperature correlation functions of the model. We consider form factor expansions of the longitudinal and transversal two-point functions. Remarkably, the formulae for the amplitudes are in both cases of the same form. We also explain how to adapt our formulae to the description of ground-state correlation functions of the finite chain. The usefulness of our novel formulae is demonstrated by working out explicit results in the high- and low-temperature limits. We obtain, in particular, the large-distance asymptotics of the longitudinal two-point functions for small temperatures by summing up the asymptotically most relevant terms in the form factor expansion of a generating function of the longitudinal correlation functions. As expected, the leading term in the expansion of the corresponding two-point functions is in accordance with conformal field theory predictions. Here it is obtained for the first time by a direct calculation.

Exact Spin Liquid Ground States of the Quantum Dimer Model on the Square and Honeycomb Lattices

We study a generalized quantum hard-core dimer model on the square and honeycomb lattices, allowing for first and second neighbor dimers. At generalized Rokhsar-Kivelson points, the exact ground states can be constructed, and ground-state correlation functions can be equated to those of interacting (1+1)-dimensional Grassmann fields. When the concentration of second neighbor dimers is small, the ground-state correlations are shown to be short ranged corresponding to a (gaped) spin liquid phase. On a 2-torus, the ground states exhibit fourfold topological degeneracy. On a finite cylinder we have found a dramatic even-odd effect depending on the circumference and propose that this can be used as a numerical diagnostic of gapped spin-liquid phases, more generally.

General method for calculating the universal conductance of strongly correlated junctions of multiple quantum wires

We develop a method to extract the universal conductance of junctions of multiple quantum wires, a property of systems connected to reservoirs, from static ground-state computations in closed finite systems. The method is based on a key relationship, derived within the framework of boundary conformal field theory, between the conductance tensor and certain ground-state correlation functions. Our results provide a systematic way of studying quantum transport in the presence of strong electron-electron interactions using efficient numerical techniques such as the standard time-independent density-matrix renormalization-group method. We give a step-by-step recipe for applying the method and present several tests and benchmarks. As an application of the method, we calculate the conductance of the M fixed point of a Y junction of Luttinger liquids for several values of the Luttinger parameter $g$ and conjecture its functional dependence on $g$.

Determining topological order from a local ground-state correlation function

Topological insulators are physically distinguishable from normal insulators only near edges and defects, while in the bulk there is no clear signature to their topological order. In this work we show that the ${\mathbb{Z}}_{2}$ index of topological insulators and the $\mathbb{Z}$ index of the integer quantum Hall effect manifest themselves locally. We do so by providing an algorithm for determining these indices from a local equal time ground-state correlation function at any convenient boundary conditions. Our procedure is unaffected by the presence of disorder and can be naturally generalized to include weak interactions. The locality of these topological indices implies bulk-edge correspondence theorem.

Upper bounds for ground-state correlation functions in the Hubbard model

We present rigorous bounds on the ground-state spin and charge correlation functions of the single-band Hubbard model defined on a bipartite lattice. In the attractive case, the spin correlation function is bounded from above by a quantity depending only on the value of the Coulomb interaction. A similar result is obtained in the half-filled repulsive model when the charge and the on-site pairing correlation functions are considered. The present results imply that the related susceptibilities never diverge and the absence of corresponding long-range orders.