How the ground state nature can be dramatically changed by the distinct underlying spin correlation is a central issue of doped Mott insulators. The two-leg XXZ ladder provides a prototypical spin background, which can be tuned from a long-range Néel order to a short-range ``spin liquid'' via the superexchange anisotropy, giving rise to a complex phase diagram at finite doping. By density matrix renormalization group method, we show that although the charge is always self-localized in the Néel ordered phase, a second insulating phase emerges, in which the doped holes become paired but remain localized while the transverse spin-spin correlation reduces to short-ranged one to make the Néel order classical. Only when the Néel order totally disappears by further reducing anisotropy, does the pairing become truly coherent as characterized by a Luther-Emery state. In sharp contrast, the pairing is totally absent in the in-plane ferromagnetic XXZ regime, where a direct transition from the charge self-localization in the Néel ordered phase to a Fermi-gas-like state in the spin liquid phase is found. A consistent physical picture is briefly discussed.
Using bosonization approach, we derive an effective low-energy theory for XXZ-symmetric spin-1/2 zigzag ladders and discuss its phase diagram by a variational approach. A spin nematic phase emerges in a wide part of the phase diagram, either critical or massive. Possible crossovers between the spontaneously dimerized and spin nematic phases are discussed, and the topological excitations in all phases identified.
We derive the exact ground states for a one dimensional family of $S=1/2$ XXZ Hamiltonians on the zigzag ladder. These states exhibit true long range spiral order that spontaneously breaks the U(1) invariance of the Hamiltonian. Besides breaking a continuous symmetry in $d=1$, this spiral ordering has a ferromagnetic component along the symmetry axis that can take any value between zero and full saturation. In this sense, our canted spiral solutions are a generalization of the SU(2) Heisenberg ferromagnet to non-zero ordering wave-vectors of the transverse spin components. We extend this resul…
The fully anisotropic two-leg spin-1/2 $XXZ$ ladder model is studied in terms of an algorithm based on the tensor network representation of quantum many-body states as an adaptation of projected entangled pair states to the geometry of translationally invariant infinite-size quantum spin ladders. The tensor network algorithm provides an effective method to generate the groundstate wave function, which allows computation of the groundstate fidelity per lattice site, a universal marker to detect phase transitions in quantum many-body systems. The groundstate fidelity is used in conjunction with …
We study the ground-state phase diagram of a spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ frustrated XXZ ladder, in which two antiferromagnetic chains are coupled by competing rung and diagonal interactions, $J_\perp$ and $J_\times$. Previous studies on the isotropic model have revealed that a fluctuation-induced effective dimer attraction between the legs stabilizes the columnar dimer (CD) phase in the highly frustrated regime $J_\perp\approx 2J_\times$, especially for ferromagnetic $J_{\perp, \times}<0$. By means of effective field theory and numerical analyses, we extend this analysis to the XXZ model, and obtain a …
We investigate the ground state phase diagram of the S=1/2 two-leg $XXZ$ spin ladder system with an isotropic interchain coupling. In this model, there is the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition which occurs at the XY-Haldane and the XY-rung singlet phase boundaries. It was difficult to determine the transition line using traditional methods. We overcome this difficulty using the level spectroscopy method combined with the twisted boundary condition method, and we check the consistency. We find out that the phase boundary between XY phase and Haldane phase lies on the $Δ=0$ line. And we…
Asymmetric two-leg Hubbard ladders with different on-site interactions $U_y$ and hoppings $t_y$ on each leg are investigated using the density matrix renormalization group method and exact diagonalizations. The pairing found in symmetric ladders is robust against the introduction of the leg asymmetry. When studying pairing, one-band Hubbard ladder models are better described as one-dimensional correlated two-band models than as sublattices of higher dimensional systems. The asymmetric Hubbard ladder provides us with a simple model for studying pairing in the crossover regime between charge tra…
We study a spin-1/2 XXZ model with a four-spin interaction on a two-leg ladder. By means of effective field theory and matrix product state calculations, we obtain rich ground-state phase diagrams that consist of eight distinct gapped phases. Four of them exhibit spontaneous symmetry breaking with either a magnetic or valence-bond-solid (VBS) long-range order. The other four are featureless, i.e., the bulk ground state is unique and does not break any symmetry. The featureless phases include the rung singlet (RS) and Haldane phases as well as their variants, the RS* and Haldane* phases, in whi…
We study the dimer $XXZ$ spin model on two-leg ladders with isotropic Heisenberg interactions on the rung and anisotropic $XXZ$ interactions along the rail in an external field. Combining both analytical and numerical methods, we set up the ground state phase diagram and investigate the quantum phase transitions and the properties of rich phases, including the full polarized, singlet dimer, Luttinger liquid, triplon solid, and a non-trivial antiferromagnetic phases with gap. The analytical analyses based on solvable effective Hamiltonians are presented for clear view of the phases and transiti…
Pairing correlations on generalized t-U-J two-leg ladders are reported. We find that the pairing correlations on the usual t-U Hubbard ladder are significantly enhanced by the addition of a nearest-neighbor exchange interaction J. Likewise, these correlations are also enhanced for the t-J model when the onsite Coulomb interaction is reduced from infinity. Moreover, the pairing correlations are larger on a t-U-J ladder than on a t-Jeff ladder in which Jeff has been adjusted so that the two models have the same spin gap at half-filling. This enhancement of the pairing correlations is associated …
Phase transition in quantum many-body systems inevitably causes changes in certain physical properties which then serve as potential indicators of critical phenomena. Besides the traditional order parameters, characterization of quantum entanglement has proven to be a computationally efficient and successful method for detection of phase boundaries, especially in one-dimensional models. Here we determine the rich phase diagram of the ground states of a quantum spin-1/2 XXZ ladder by analyzing the variation of bipartite and multipartite entanglements. Our study characterizes the different groun…
In order to shed light whether the `even-odd conjecture' (even numbers of legs will superconduct accompanied by a spin gap while odd ones do not) for correlated electrons in ladder systems, the pairing correlation is studied for the Hubbard model on a two- and three-leg ladders. We have employed both the weak-coupling renormalization group and the quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) method for strong interactions. For the two-leg Hubbard ladder, a systematic QMC (with a controlled level spacings) has detected an enhanced pairing correlation, which is consistent with the weak-coupling prediction. We also…
An extensive Quantum Monte Carlo calculation is performed for the two-leg Hubbard ladder model to clarify whether the singlet pairing correlation decays slowly, which is predicted from the weak-coupling theory but controversial from numerical studies. Our result suggests that the discreteness of energy levels in finite systems affects the correlation enormously, where the enhanced pairing correlation is indeed detected if we make the energy levels of the bonding and anti-bonding bands lie close to each other at the Fermi level to mimic the thermodynamic limit.
For w-legged antiferromagnetic spin-1/2 Heisenberg ladders, a long-range spin-pairing order can be identified which enables the separation of the space spanned by finite-range (covalent) valence-bond configurations into w+1 subspaces. Since every subspace has an equivalent counter subspace connected by translational symmetry, twofold degeneracy, breaking traslational symmetry is found except for the subspace where the ground state of w=even belongs to. In terms of energy ordering, (non)degeneracy and the discontinuities introduced in the long-range spin-pairing order by topological spin defect…
The gap function phi(k,omega), determined from a Lanczos calculation for a doped 2-leg t-J ladder, is used to provide insight into the spatial and temporal structure of the pairing interaction. It implies that this interaction is a local near-neighbor coupling which is retarded. The onset frequency of the interaction is set by the energy of an S=1 magnon-hole-pair and it is spread out over a frequency region of order the bandwith.
Antiferromagnetic and d_{x2-y2}-pairing correlations appear delicately balanced in the 2D Hubbard model. Whether doping can tip the balance to pairing is unclear and models with additional interaction terms have been studied. In one of these, the square of a local hopping kinetic energy H_W was found to favor pairing. However, such a term can be separated into a number of simpler processes and one would like to know which of these terms are responsible for enhancing the pairing. Here we analyze these processes for a 2-leg Hubbard ladder.
We derive an effective low-energy theory for a ferromagnetic $(2N+1)$-leg spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ ladder with strong $XXZ$ anisotropy $\left|J_{\parallel}^z\right|\ll \left|J_{\parallel}^{xy}\right|$, subject to a kink-like non-uniform magnetic field $B_z(X)$ which induces a domain wall (DW). Using Bosonization of the quantum spin operators, we show that the quantum dynamics is dominated by a single one-dimensional mode, and is described by a sine-Gordon model. The parameters of the effective model are explored as functions of $N$, the easy-plane anisotropy $Δ=-J_{\parallel}^z/J_{\parallel}^{xy}$, …
Superconductivity is usually described in the framework of the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) wavefunction, which even includes the resonating-valence-bond (RVB) wavefunction proposed for the high-temperature superconductivity in the cuprate. A natural question is \emph{if} any fundamental physics could be possibly missed by applying such a scheme to strongly correlated systems. Here we study the pairing wavefunction of two holes injected into a Mott insulator/antiferromagnet in a two-leg ladder using variational Monte Carlo (VMC) approach. By comparing with density matrix renormalization gro…
The recent discovery of superconductivity under high pressure in the two-leg ladder compound BaFe$_2$S$_3$ [H. Takahashi et al., Nature Materials 14, 1008 (2015)] opens a broad avenue of research, because it represents the first report of pairing tendencies in a quasi one-dimensional iron-based high critical temperature superconductor. Similarly as in the case of the cuprates, ladders and chains can be far more accurately studied using many-body techniques and model Hamiltonians than their layered counterparts, particularly if several orbitals are active. In this publication, we derive a two-o…
We propose the two-leg fermion-ladder models for SU(2|2) and SU(4) cases. The former is exactly the extended Hubbard model proposed by Essler, Korepin and Schoutens. The later is a new model also with $η$-pairing symmetry which is important for superconductivity. This new extension of the Hubbard model can be solved exactly.
In the ground state of the doped two-leg Hubbard ladder there are power-law decaying d_{x^2-y^2}-type pairing correlations. It is important to know the strength and the temperature scale of these correlations. For this purpose, we have performed determinantal Quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) calculations of the reducible particle-particle interaction in the Hubbard ladder. In this paper, we report on these calculations and show that, at sufficiently low temperatures, resonant particle-particle scattering takes place in the d_{x^2-y^2} pairing channel for certain values of the model parameters. The QM…
We analytically study momentum-space entanglement in quantum spin-half ladders consisting of two coupled critical XXZ spin-half chains using field theoretical methods. When the system is gapped, the momentum-space entanglement Hamiltonian is described by a conformal field theory with a central charge of two. This is in contrast to entanglement Hamiltonians of various real-space partitions of gapped-spin ladders that have a central charge of one. When the system is gapless, we interestingly find that the entanglement Hamiltonian consist of one gapless mode linear in subsystem momentum and one m…
We develop a low-energy effective theory for spin-1/2 frustrated two-leg Heisenberg spin ladders. We obtain a new type of interchain coupling that breaks parity symmetry. In the presence of an XXZ-type anisotropy, this interaction gives rise to a novel ground state, characterized by incommensurate correlations. In the case of a single ladder, this state corresponds to a spin nematic phase. For a frustrated quasi-one-dimensional system of infinitely many weakly coupled chains, this state develops true three dimensional spiral order. We apply our theory to recent neutron scattering experiments o…
We study signatures of superconductivity in a 2--leg "checkerboard" Hubbard ladder model, defined as a one--dimensional (period 2) array of square plaquettes with an intra-plaquette hopping $t$ and inter-plaquette hopping $t'$, using the density matrix renormalization group method. The highest pairing scale (characterized by the spin gap or the pair binding energy, extrapolated to the thermodynamic limit) is found for doping levels close to half filling, $U\approx 6t$ and $t'/t \approx 0.6$. Other forms of modulated hopping parameters, with periods of either 1 or 3 lattice constants, are also …
We consider the effects of Umklapp processes in doped two-leg fermionic ladders. These may emerge either at special band fillings or as a result of the presence of external periodic potentials. We show that such Umklapp processes can lead to profound changes of physical properties and in particular stabilize pair-density wave phases.
Motivated by the recent report of superconductivity in Fe-based ladder materials, we study the pairing state of a multi-orbital t-J model defined on two-leg ladders using the standard mean-field theory. We find that the superconducting order parameters change sign between the $d_{xz}$ and $d_{yz}$ orbitals in most of the phase diagram. By analogy with the two-dimensional Fe planes, we conclude that the leading pairing channel of this state belongs to the $B_{1g}$ symmetry class, which is distinct from the common $s_{\pm}$ gap with the $A_{1g}$ symmetry. By smoothly interpolating from planes in…
We study the entanglement spectrum of spin-1/2 XXZ ladders both analytically and numerically. Our analytical approach is based on perturbation theory starting either from the limit of strong rung coupling, or from the opposite case of dominant coupling along the legs. In the former case we find to leading order that the entanglement Hamiltonian is also of nearest-neighbor XXZ form although with an in general renormalized anisotropy. For the cases of XX and isotropic Heisenberg ladders no such renormalization takes place. In the Heisenberg case the second order correction to the entanglement Ha…
Motivated by the presence of various charge inhomogeneities in strongly correlated systems of coupled ladders, a model of spatially separated bosonic and fermionic degrees of freedom is numerically studied. In this model, bosonic chains are connected to fermionic chains by two types of generalized Andreev couplings. It is shown that for both types of couplings the long-distance pairing correlations are enhanced. Near quarter filling, this effect is much larger for the splitting of a pair in electrons which go to the two neighboring fermionic chains than for a pair hopping process. It is argued…
The two-leg Hubbard ladder is characterized by the ratio of the inter- to intra-leg hopping t_perp/t, the relative interaction strength U/t and the electron filling. Here, using density matrix renormalization group and Monte Carlo simulations, we examine the dependence of the pairing correlations on these parameters. We find that the pairing correlations are enhanced when the top of the bonding quasiparticle band and the bottom of the antibonding band are near the Fermi level. We present results on the single-particle spectral weight and the antiferromagnetic correlations in order to explain t…
Three-magnon problem for exactly rung-dimerized spin ladder is brought up separately at all total spin sectors. At first a special duality transformation of the $\rm Schr\ddot odinger$ equation is found within general outlook. Then the problem is treated within Coordinate Bethe Ansatze. A straightforward approach is developed to obtain pure scattering states. At values S=0 and S=3 of total spin the $\rm Schr\ddot odinger$ equation has the form inherent in the $XXZ$ chain. For $S=1,2$ solvability holds only in five previously found {\it completely integrable} cases. Nevertheless a partial S=1 B…
Pairing in superconductors occurs in a variety of channels and can be produced by various mechanisms. Here, we show that, in the presence of strong correlations, a novel singlet-pair superconducting phase can occur in ladder geometries with the fermions in the pairs residing on different sides of a Mott insulating stripe. The antiferromagnet correlations in the Mott stripe provide the pairing "glue" in such a phase. We study, using the density matrix renormalization group method, the ground state of four-leg t-J ladders with Mott insulating stripes in the inner two legs. Pairing and supercondu…
Monte Carlo calculations of the irreducible particle-particle interaction on a two-leg Hubbard ladder doped near half-filling are reported. As the temperature is lowered, this interaction develops structure in momentum space similar to the magnetic susceptibility $χ(q)$ and reflects the development of strong short-range antiferromagnetic correlations. Using this interaction, the eigenfunction of the leading singlet pair eigenvalue is found to have $d_{x^2-y^2}$ like symmetry. The single-particle spectral weight is also shown to peak near $(π,0)$ and $(0,π)$ when the ratio of the inter- to intr…
We introduce a new model and mechanism of high temperature pairing in stripes. We propose a way to unambiguously test it by numerical simulations. For example, the implementation of our mechanism in a 6-leg t-J ladder model has the effect of making the spin gap of the doped 6-leg ladder be about 4 times bigger than the spin gap of the same ladder at half filling.
The Hubbard model provides a simple framework in which one can study how certain aspects of the electronic structure of strongly interacting systems can be tuned to optimize the superconducting pairing correlations and how these changes affect the mechanisms giving rise to them. Here we use a weak-coupling random phase approximation to study a two-dimensional Hubbard model with a unidirectional modulation of the hopping amplitudes as the system evolves from the uniform square lattice to an array of weakly coupled two-leg ladders. We find that the pairing correlations retain their dominant $d_{…
We have studied the ground state phase diagram of a spin ladder with alternating rung exchange $J^{n}_{\perp} = J_{\perp}[1 + (-1)^{n} δ]$ in a magnetic filed, in the limit where the rung coupling is dominant. In this limit the model is mapped onto an $XXZ$ Heisenberg chain in a uniform and staggered longitudinal magnetic fields, where the amplitude of the staggered field is $\sim δ$. We have shown that the magnetization curve of the system exhibits a plateau at magnetization equal to the half of the saturation value. The width of a plateau scales as $δ^ν$, where $ν=4/5$ in the case of ladder …
A special class of S=1 spin ladder hamiltonians, with second- neighbor exchange interactions and with anisotropies in the $z$-direction, can be mapped onto one-dimensional composite S=2 (tetrahedral S=1) models. We calculate the high temperature expansion of the Helmoltz free energy for the latter class of models, and show that their magnetization behaves closely to that of standard XXZ models with a suitable effective spin $S_{eff}$, such that $S_{eff}(1+S_{eff})=< \vec{\bf S}_i^2>$, where ${\bf S}_i$ refers to the components of spin in the composite model. It is also shown that the specific …
We present a method to compute pairing fluctuations on top of the Gutzwiller approximation (GA). Our investigations are based on a charge-rotational invariant GA energy functional which is expanded up to second order in the pair fluctuations. Equations of motion for the fluctuations lead to a renormalized ladder type approximation. Both spectral functions and corrections to static quantities, like the ground-state energy, are computed. The quality of the method is examined for the single-band Hubbard model where we compare the dynamical pairing correlations for s- and d-wave symmetries with ex…
We study the spin and thermal conductivity of spin-1/2 ladders at finite temperature. This is relevant for experiments with quantum magnets. Using a state-of-the-art density matrix renormalization group algorithm, we compute the current autocorrelation functions on the real-time axis and then carry out a Fourier integral to extract the frequency dependence of the corresponding conductivities. The finite-time error is analyzed carefully. We first investigate the limiting case of spin-1/2 XXZ chains, for which our analysis suggests non-zero dc-conductivities in all interacting cases irrespective…
We perform the numerical equivalent of a phase sensitive experiment on doped $t-J$ ladders. We apply proximity effect fields with different complex phases at both ends of an open system and we study the transport of Cooper pairs. Measuring the response of the system and the induced Josephson current, Density Matrix Renormalization Group calculations show how, depending on the doping fraction, the rung-leg parity of the pair field changes from minus to plus as the density of holes is increased. We also study the pair charge stiffness, and we observe a supression of the superconductivity in the …
In a magnetic field, spin-ladders undergo two zero-temperature phase transitions at the critical fields Hc1 and Hc2. An experimental review of static and dynamical properties of spin-ladders close to these critical points is presented. The scaling functions, universal to all quantum critical points in one-dimension, are extracted from (a) the thermodynamic quantities (magnetization) and (b) the dynamical functions (NMR relaxation). A simple mapping of strongly coupled spin ladders in a magnetic field on the exactly solvable XXZ model enables to make detailed fits and gives an overall understan…
Motivated by recent experimental progress on iron-based ladder compounds, we study the doped two-orbital Hubbard model for the two-leg ladder BaFe$_2$S$_3$. The model is constructed by using {\it ab initio} hopping parameters and the ground state properties are investigated using the density matrix renormalization group method. We show that the $(π,0)$ magnetic ordering at half-filling, with ferromagnetic rungs and antiferromagnetic legs, becomes incommensurate upon hole doping. Moreover, depending on the strength of the Hubbard $U$ coupling, other magnetic patterns, such as $(0,π)$, are also …
We study a theoretical model for the magnetothermal conductivity of a spin-1/2 ladder with low exchange coupling ($J\llΘ_D$) subject to a strong magnetic field $B$. Our theory for the thermal transport accounts for the contribution of spinons coupled to lattice phonon modes in the one-dimensional lattice. We employ a mapping of the ladder Hamiltonian onto an XXZ spin-chain in a weaker effective field B_{eff}=B-B_{0}$, where $B_{0}=(B_{c1}+B_{c2})/2$ corresponds to half-filling of the spinon band. This provides a low-energy theory for the spinon excitations and their coupling to the phonons. Th…
The experimental realization of various spin ladder systems has prompted their detailed theoretical investigations. Here we study the evolution of ground state magnetization with an external magnetic field for two different antiferromagnetic systems: a three-legged spin-1/2 ladder, and a two-legged spin-1/2 ladder with an additional diagonal interaction. The finite system density-matrix renormalization group method is employed for numerical studies of the three-chain system, and an effective low-energy Hamiltonian is used in the limit of strong interchain coupling to study the two- and three-c…
Controlled pairing symmetries in a Fermi-Hubbard ladder with band flattening
Centre for Quantum Optical Technologies, Centre of New Technologies, University of Warsaw（华沙大学新技术中心量子光学技术中心）；Faculty of Physics, University of Warsaw（华沙大学物理学院）；DIPC - Donostia International Physics Center（圣塞巴斯蒂安国际物理中心）；Institute of Theoretical Physics, Wrocław University of Science and Technology（弗罗茨瓦夫科技大学理论物理研究所）；Institute for Theoretical Physics, ETH Zürich（苏黎世联邦理工学院理论物理研究所）；Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik（马克斯·普朗克量子光学研究所）；Munich Center for Quantum Science and Technology (MCQST)（慕尼黑量子科学与技术中心）；Fakultät für Physik, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität（路德维希-马克西米利安大学物理学院）；ICFO-Institut de Ciencies Fotoniques, The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology（巴塞罗那科学与技术研究院光子科学研究所）；IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science（伊克尔巴斯克，巴斯克科学基金会）
Magnetic interactions are widely believed to play a crucial role in the microscopic mechanism leading to high critical temperature superconductivity. It is therefore important to study the signatures of pairing in the magnetic excitation spectrum of simple models known to show unconventional superconducting tendencies. Using the Density Matrix Renormalization Group technique, we calculate the dynamical spin structure factor $S({\bf k},ω)$ of a generalized $t-U-J$ Hubbard model away from half-filling in a two-leg ladder geometry. The addition of $J$ enhances pairing tendencies. We analyze quant…
Pairing of mobile charge carriers in doped antiferromagnets plays a key role in the emergence of unconventional superconductivity. In these strongly correlated materials, the pairing mechanism is often assumed to be mediated by magnetic correlations, in contrast to phonon-mediated interactions in conventional superconductors. A precise understanding of the underlying mechanism in real materials is, however, still lacking, and has been driving experimental and theoretical research for the past 40 years. Early theoretical studies established the emergence of binding among dopants in ladder syste…
The magnetization, $M(H \leq 30$ T, 0.7 K $\leq T \leq 300$ K), from single crystals and powder samples of (C$_{5}$H$_{12}$N)$_{2}$CuBr$_{4}$ has been used to identify this system as an $S=1/2$ Heisenberg two-leg ladder in the strong coupling limit, $J_{\perp} = 13.3$ K and $J_{\parallel} = 3.8$ K, with $H_{c1} = 6.6$ T and $H_{c2} = 14.6$ T. An inflection point in $M(H, T = 0.7$ K) at half-saturation, $M_{s}/2$, is described by an effective \emph{XXZ} chain. The data exhibit universal scaling behavior in the vicinity of $H_{c1}$ and $H_{c2}$, indicating the system is near a quantum critical p…
Using the Density Matrix Renormalization Group and two-leg ladders, we investigate an electronic two-orbital Hubbard model including plaquette diagonal hopping amplitudes. Our goal is to search for regimes where charges added to the undoped state form pairs, presumably a precursor of a superconducting state.For the electronic density $ρ=2$, i.e. the undoped limit, our investigations show a robust $(π,0)$ antiferromagnetic ground state, as in previous investigations. Doping away from $ρ=2$ and for large values of the Hund coupling $J$, a ferromagnetic region is found to be stable. Moreover, whe…
We report the results of numerical calculations of rung-rung current correlations on a 2-leg t-J ladder with J/t=0.35 for dopings x=0.125 and x=0.19. We find that the amplitude of these correlations decays exponentially. We argue that this can be understood within a bosonization framework in terms of the pinned phase variables associated with a C1SO phase with d_{x^2-y^2}-like power law pairing correlations.
We investigate a quantum phase transition between a Neel phase and a valence bond solid (VBS) phase, in each of which a different Z2 symmetry is broken, in a spin-1/2 two-leg XXZ ladder with a four-spin interaction. The model can be viewed as a one-dimensional variant of the celebrated J-Q model on a square lattice. By means of variational uniform matrix product state calculations and an effective field theory, we determine the phase diagram of the model, and present evidences that the Neel-VBS transition is continuous and belongs to the Gaussian universality class with the central charge c=1.…
