We study the quantum criticality at finite temperature for three two-dimensional (2D) $JQ_3$ models using the first principle nonperturbative quantum Monte Carlo calculations (QMC). In particular, the associated universal quantities are obtained and their inverse temperature dependence are investigated. The considered models are known to have quantum phase transitions from the Néel order to the valence bond solid. In addition, these transitions are shown to be of second order for two of the studied models, with the remaining one being of first order. Interestingly, we find that the outcomes obtained in our investigation are consistent with the mentioned scenarios regarding the nature of the phase transitions of the three investigated models. Moreover, when the temperature dependence of the studied universal quantities is considered, a substantial difference between the two models possessing second order phase transitions and the remaining model is observed. Remarkably, by using the associated data from both the models that may have continuous transitions, good data collapses are obtained for a number of the considered universal quantities. The findings presented here not only provide numerical evidence to support the results established in the literature regarding the nature of the phase transitions of these $JQ_3$ models, but also can be employed as certain promising criterions to distinguish second order phase transitions from first order ones for the exotic criticalities of the $JQ$-type models. Finally, based on a comparison between the results calculated here and the corresponding theoretical predictions, we conclude that a more detailed analytic calculation is required in order to fully catch the numerical outcomes determined in our investigation.
Using the density-matrix renormalization group, we determine the phase diagram of the spin 1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet on a honeycomb lattice with a nearest neighbor interaction J1 and a frustrating, next-neighbor exchange J2. As frustration increases, the ground state exhibits Neel, plaquette and dimer orders, with critical points at J2/J1 = 0.22 and 0.35. We observe that both the spin gap and the corresponding order parameters vanish continuously at both the critical points, indicating the presence of deconfined quantum criticality.
We study a spin-1/2 SU(2) model on the honeycomb lattice with nearest-neighbor antiferromagnetic exchange $J$ that favors Néel order, and competing 6-spin interactions $Q$ which favor a valence bond solid (VBS) state in which the bond-energies order at the "columnar" wavevector ${\mathbf K} = (2π/3,-2π/3)$. We present quantum Monte-Carlo evidence for a direct continuous quantum phase transition between Néel and VBS states, with exponents and logarithmic violations of scaling consistent with those at analogous deconfined critical points on the square lattice. Although this strongly suggests a d…
We numerically investigate the critical behavior of the Hubbard model on the honeycomb and the $π$-flux lattice, which exhibits a direct transition from a Dirac semimetal to an antiferromagnetically ordered Mott insulator. We use projective auxiliary-field quantum Monte Carlo simulations and a careful finite-size scaling analysis that exploits approximately improved renormalization-group-invariant observables. This approach, which is successfully verified for the three-dimensional XY transition of the Kane-Mele-Hubbard model, allows us to extract estimates for the critical couplings and the cr…
We study the spin-1 honeycomb lattice magnets with frustrated exchange interactions. The proposed microscopic spin model contains first and second neighbor Heisenberg interactions as well as the single-ion anisotropy. We establish a rich phase diagram that includes a featureless quantum paramagnet and various spin spiral states induced by the mechanism of order by quantum disorder. Although the quantum paramagnet is dubbed featureless, it is shown that, the magnetic excitations develop a contour degeneracy in the reciprocal space at the band minima. These contour degenerate excitations are res…
In numerical simulations, spontaneously broken symmetry is often detected by computing two-point correlation functions of the appropriate local order parameter. This approach, however, computes the square of the local order parameter, and so when it is {\it small}, very large system sizes at high precisions are required to obtain reliable results. Alternatively, one can pin the order by introducing a local symmetry breaking field, and then measure the induced local order parameter infinitely far from the pinning center. The method is tested here at length for the Hubbard model on honeycomb lat…
We study the ground-state (gs) phase diagram of the frustrated spin-1/2 $J_{1}$-$J_{2}$-$J_{3}$ antiferromagnet with $J_{2} = J_{3} =κJ_1$ on the honeycomb lattice, using coupled-cluster theory and exact diagonalization methods. We present results for the gs energy, magnetic order parameter, spin-spin correlation function, and plaquette valence-bond crystal (PVBC) susceptibility. We find a Néel antiferromagnetic (AFM) phase for $κ< κ_{c_{1}} \approx 0.47$, a collinear striped AFM phase for $κ> κ_{c_{2}} \approx 0.60$, and a paramagnetic PVBC phase for $κ_{c_{1}} \lesssim κ\lesssim κ_{c_{2}}$. …
We study the Hubbard model on the honeycomb lattice in the vicinity of the quantum critical point by means of a multiband formulation of the Dual Fermion approach. Beyond the strong local correlations of the dynamical mean field, critical fluctuations on all length scales are included by means of a ladder diagram summation. Analysis of the susceptibility yields an estimate of the critical interaction strength of the quantum phase transition from a paramagnetic semimetal to an antiferromagnetic insulator, in good agreement to other numerical methods. We further estimate the crossover temperatur…
Resolving Quantum Criticality in the Honeycomb Hubbard Model
Tsung-Dao Lee Institute, Key Laboratory of Artificial Structures and Quantum Control (Ministry of Education), School of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University（上海交通大学李政道研究所、人工结构与量子控制教育部重点实验室、物理与天文学院）；Hefei National Laboratory（合肥国家实验室）
The fluctuations-driven continuous quantum criticality has sparked tremendous interest in condensed matter physics. It has been verified that the gapless fermions fluctuations can change the nature of phase transition at criticality. In this paper, we study the fermionic quantum criticality with enlarged Ising$\times$Ising fluctuations in honeycomb lattice materials. The Gross-Neveu-Yukawa theory for the multicriticality between the semimetallic phase and two ordered phases that break Ising symmetry is investigated by employing perturbative renormalization group approach. We first determine th…
We investigate a quantum criticality of an antiferromagnetic phase transition in the Hubbard model on a square lattice with a $d$-wave pairing field by large-scale auxiliary-field quantum Monte Carlo simulations. Since the $d$-wave pairing filed induces Dirac cones in the non-interacting single-particle spectrum, the quantum criticality should correspond to the chiral Heisenberg universality class in terms of the Gross-Neveu theory, which is the same as those expected in the Hubbard model on the honeycomb lattice, despite the unit cells being different (e.g., they contain one and two sites, re…
We consider fermions on a honeycomb lattice supplemented by a spin invariant interaction that dynamically generates a quantum spin Hall insulator. This lattice model provides an instance of Gross-Neveu Heisenberg criticality, as realized for example by the Hubbard model on the honeycomb lattice. Using auxiliary field quantum Monte Carlo simulations we show that we can compute with unprecedented precision susceptibilities of the order parameter. In O(N) Gross-Neveu transitions, the anomalous dimension of the bosonic mode grows as a function of N such that in the large-N limit it is of particula…
We analyse in detail the effect of non-trivial band topology on the area law behaviour of the entanglement entropy in Kitaev's honeycomb model. By mapping the translationally invariant 2D spin model into 1D fermionic subsystems, we identify those subsystems responsible for universal entanglement contributions in the gapped phases and those responsible for critical entanglement scaling in the gapless phases. For the gapped phases we analytically show how the topological edge states contribute to the entanglement entropy and provide a universal lower bound for it. For the gapless semi-metallic p…
Determination and characterization of criticality in two-dimensional (2D) quantum many-body systems belong to the most important challenges and problems of quantum physics. In this paper we propose an efficient scheme to solve this problem by utilizing the infinite projected entangled pair state (iPEPS), and tensor network (TN) representations. We show that the criticality of a 2D state is faithfully reproduced by the ground state (dubbed as boundary state) of a one-dimensional effective Hamiltonian constructed from its iPEPS representation. We demonstrate that for a critical state the correla…
We consider spontaneous symmetry breaking transitions of strongly interacting two-dimensional Dirac fermions minimally coupled to mass and emergent gauge field order parameters. Using a renormalization group analysis, we show that the presence of gauge fields leads to novel fermion induced quantum (multi-)criticality where the putative emergent Lorentz invariance is violated. We illustrate this with the example of translational symmetry breaking due to charge-density wave order on the honeycomb lattice. Finally, we identify that topological phase transitions are well described by this effectiv…
The peculiar features of quantum magnetism sometimes forbid the existence of gapped `featureless' paramagnets which are fully symmetric and unfractionalized. The Lieb-Schultz-Mattis theorem is an example of such a constraint, but it is not known what the most general restriction might be. We focus on the existence of featureless paramagnets on the spin-1 square lattice and the spin-1 and spin-1/2 honeycomb lattice with spin rotation and space group symmetries in 2+1D. Although featureless paramagnet phases are not ruled out by any existing theorem, field theoretic arguments disfavor their exis…
Using the density matrix renormalization group, we investigate the $S=1/2$ Heisenberg model on the honeycomb lattice with first- ($J_1$) and second-neighbor ($J_2$) interactions. We are able to study long open cylinders with widths up to 12 lattice spacings. For $J_2/J_1$ near 0.3, we find an apparently paramagnetic phase, bordered by an antiferromagnetic phase for $J_2\lesssim 0.26$ and by a valence bond crystal for $J_2\gtrsim 0.36$. The longest correlation length that we find in this intermediate phase is for plaquette valence bond (PVB) order. This correlation length grows strongly with cy…
We consider the role of spontaneous lattice symmetry breaking in strongly interacting two dimensional Dirac systems. The fermion induced quantum (multi-)criticality is described by Dirac fermions coupled to a dynamical order parameter that is composed of mass and emergent gauge fields. This is illustrated for the example of translational symmetry breaking due to charge-density wave order on the honeycomb lattice. Using a renormalization-group analysis we find that the putative emergent Lorentz invariance is violated. Finally, we identify that topological phase transitions are well described by…
$α$-RuCl$_3$ has attracted enormous attention since it has been proposed as a prime candidate to study fractionalized magnetic excitations akin to Kitaev's honeycomb-lattice spin liquid. We have performed a detailed specific-heat investigation at temperatures down to $0.4$ K in applied magnetic fields up to $9$ T for fields parallel to the $ab$ plane. We find a suppression of the zero-field antiferromagnetic order, together with an increase of the low-temperature specific heat, with increasing field up to $μ_0H_c\approx 6.9$ T. Above $H_c$, the magnetic contribution to the low-temperature spec…
Magnetic exchange couplings can be tuned by coupling to periodic light, where the frequency and amplitude are typically varied: a process known as Floquet engineering. The polarization of the light is also important, and in this paper, we show how different polarizations, including several types of unpolarized light, can tune the exchange couplings in distinct ways. Using unpolarized light, for example, it is possible to tune the material without breaking either time-reversal or any lattice symmetries. To illustrate these effects generically, we consider single-band Hubbard models at half-fill…
Motivated by the physics of spin-orbital liquids, we study a model of interacting Dirac fermions on a bilayer honeycomb lattice at half filling, featuring an explicit global SO(3)$\times$U(1) symmetry. Using large-scale auxiliary-field quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) simulations, we locate two zero-temperature phase transitions as function of increasing interaction strength. First, we observe a continuous transition from the weakly-interacting semimetal to a different semimetallic phase in which the SO(3) symmetry is spontaneously broken and where two out of three Dirac cones acquire a mass gap. The…
We study a generalized quantum hard-core dimer model on the square and honeycomb lattices, allowing for first and second neighbor dimers. At generalized RK 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 dramat…
Kitaev quantum spin liquid, massively quantum entangled states, is so scarce in nature that searching for new candidate systems remains a great challenge. Honeycomb heterostructure could be a promising route to realize and utilize such an exotic quantum phase by providing additional controllability of Hamiltonian and device compatibility, respectively. Here, we provide epitaxial honeycomb oxide thin film Na3Co2SbO6, a candidate of Kitaev quantum spin liquid proposed recently. We found a spin glass and antiferromagnetic ground states depending on Na stoichiometry, signifying not only the import…
We use determinantal quantum Monte Carlo simulations and numerical linked-cluster expansions to study thermodynamic properties and short-range spin correlations of fermions in the honeycomb lattice. We find that, at half filling and finite temperatures, nearest-neighbor spin correlations can be stronger in this lattice than in the square lattice, even in regimes where the ground state in the former is a semimetal or a spin liquid. The honeycomb lattice also exhibits a more pronounced anomalous region in the double occupancy that leads to stronger adiabatic cooling than in the square lattice. W…
The spin-1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet on the distorted honeycomb (DHC) lattice is studied by means of the tensor renormalization group method. It is unveiled that the system has a quantum phase transition of second-order between the gapped quantum dimer phase and a collinear Neel phase at the critical point of coupling ratio α_{c} = 0.54, where the quantum critical exponents ν= 0.69(2) and γ= 1.363(8) are obtained. The quantum criticality is found to fall into the O(3) universality class. A ground-state phase diagram in the field-coupling ratio plane is proposed, where the phases such as the…
We study the phase diagram of an effective model of competing nematic and antiferromagnetic orders of interacting electrons on the Bernal-stacked honeycomb bilayer, as relevant for bilayer graphene. In the noninteracting limit, the model features a semimetallic ground state with quadratic band touching points at the Fermi level. Taking the effects of short-range interactions into account, we demonstrate the existence of an extended region in the mean-field phase diagram characterized by coexisting nematic and antiferromagnetic orders. By means of a renormalization group approach, we reveal tha…
We use Quantum Monte-Carlo methods to study the ground state phase diagram of a S=1/2 honeycomb lattice magnet in which a nearest-neighbor antiferromagnetic exchange J (favoring Néel order) competes with two different multi-spin interaction terms: a six-spin interaction Q_3 that favors columnar valence-bond solid (VBS) order, and a four-spin interaction Q_2 that favors staggered VBS order. For Q_3 ~ Q_2 >> J, we establish that the competition between the two different VBS orders stabilizes Néel order in a large swathe of the phase diagram even when J is the smallest energy-scale in the Hamilto…
We show the chiral d-wave RVB state on honeycomb lattice stands as a natural generalization of the staggered flux phase on square lattice. Although the state is generated from a time reversal symmetry broken mean field ansatz, it actually represents a fully symmetric spin liquid state with a positive definite wave function in the sense of Marshall sign rule for unfrustrated antiferromagnets. The evolution of the state with the parameter $Δ/χ$ follows exactly the same manner as that of the staggered flux phase on square lattice. The critical pairing strength corresponding to the $π$-flux phase …
Deconfined quantum criticality with emergent SO(5) symmetry in correlated systems remains elusive. Here, by performing numerically-exact state-of-the-art quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) simulations, we show convincing evidences of deconfined quantum critical points (DQCP) between antiferromagnetic and valence-bond-solid phases in the extended Hubbard model of fermions on the honeycomb lattice with large system sizes. We further demonstrate evidences of the SO(5) symmetry at the DQCP. It is important to note that the critical exponents obtained by finite-size scaling at the DQCP here are consistent w…
We show that for the half-filled Kondo lattice model on the honeycomb lattice a Kondo breakdown occurs at small Kondo couplings $J_k$ within the magnetically ordered phase. Our conclusions are based on auxiliary field quantum Monte Carlo simulations of the so-called composite fermion spectral function. Within a U(1) gauge theory formulation of the Kondo model, it becomes apparent that a Higgs mechanism dictates the weight of the resonance in the spectral function. For the honeycomb lattice we observe that for small $J_k$ the quasiparticle pole gives way to incoherent spectral weight but it rem…
We report superconductivity in the honeycomb-lattice pnictide SrPtAs with Tc = 2.4 K. To our knowledge, SrPtAs is the first superconducting pnictide with a honeycomb lattice structure. Our finding opens up new playground to develop pnictide superconductors with honeycomb lattices, in addition to square lattices known in iron-based superconductors.
We consider an efficient scheme to simulate fermionic Hubbard models with nonlocal density-density interactions in two dimensions, based on bond-centered auxiliary-field quantum Monte Carlo. The simulations are shown to be sign-problem free within a finite, restricted parameter range. Using this approach, we first study the Hubbard model on the half-filled square lattice bilayer, including an interlayer repulsion term in addition to the local repulsion, and present the ground state phase diagram within the accessible parameter region. Starting from the antiferromagnetically ordered state in th…
High-frequency ESR results on the S=1/2 Heisenberg hexagonal antiferromagnet InCu2/3V1/3O3 are reported. This compound appears to be a rare model substance for the honeycomb lattice antiferromagnet with very weak interlayer couplings. The high-temperature magnetic susceptibility can be interpreted by the S=1/2 honeycomb lattice antiferromagnet, and it shows a magnetic-order-like anomaly at TN=38 K. Although, the resonance field of our high-frequency ESR shows the typical behavior of the antiferromagnetic resonance, the linewidth of our high-frequency ESR continues to increase below TN, while i…
To examine the validity of the scenario of the deconfined critical phenomena, we carry out a quantum Monte Carlo simulation for the SU($N$) generalization of the Heisenberg model with four-body and six-body interactions. The quantum phase transition between the SU($N$) Néel and valence-bond solid phases is characterized for $N=2,3,$ and $4$ on the square and honeycomb lattices. While finite-size scaling analysis works well up to the maximum lattice size ($L=256$) and indicates the continuous nature of the phase transition, a clear systematic change towards the first-order transition is observe…
The deconfined quantum critical point, a prototype Landau-forbidden transition, could exist in principle in the phase transitions involving symmetry protected topological phase, however, examples of such kinds of transition in physical systems are rare beyond one-dimensional systems. Here, using density-matrix renormalization group calculation, we unveil a bosonic integer quantum Hall phase in two-dimensional correlated honeycomb lattice, by full identification of its internal structure from the topological $\mathbf{K}$ matrix. Moreover we demonstrate that imbalanced periodic chemical potentia…
Puzzled by the indication of a new critical theory for the spin-1/2 Heisenberg model with a spatially staggered anisotropy on the square lattice as suggested in \cite{Wenzel08}, we study a similar anisotropic spin-1/2 Heisenberg model on the honeycomb lattice. The critical point where the phase transition occurs due to the dimerization as well as the critical exponent $ν$ are analyzed in great detail. Remarkly, using most of the available data points in conjunction with the expected finite-size scaling ansatz with a sub-leading correction indeed leads to a consistent $ν= 0.691(2)$ with that ca…
Using the reflection positivity method we provide the rigorous proof of the existence of long range magnetic order for the XY model on the honeycomb lattice for large spins $S\ge 2$. This stays in contrast with the result obtained using the {\it same} method but on the square lattice -- which gives a stable long-range order for spins $S\ge 1$. We suggest that the difference between these two cases stems from the enhanced quantum spin fluctuations on the honeycomb lattice. Using linear spin-wave theory we show that the enhanced fluctuations are due to the overall much higher kinetic energy of t…
Unifying Dirac Spin Liquids on Square and Shastry-Sutherland Lattices via Fermionic Deconfined Criticality
Universität Würzburg（维尔茨堡大学）；Flatiron Institute（平顿研究所）；Massachusetts Institute of Technology（麻省理工学院）；Indian Institute of Technology Madras（马德拉斯印度理工学院）；Harvard University（哈佛大学）
Finite-temperature quantum Monte Carlo study of Dirac quantum criticality: Algorithmic advances and comprehensive analysis
Institute of Modern Physics, Northwest University（西北大学现代物理研究所）；Hefei National Laboratory（合肥国家实验室）；School of Physics, Northwest University（西北大学物理学院）；Shaanxi Key Laboratory for Theoretical Physics Frontiers（陕西理论物理前沿重点实验室）；Fundamental Discipline Research Center for Quantum Science and Technology of Shaanxi Province（陕西省量子科学与技术基础学科研究中心）
Characterizing criticality in quantum many-body systems of dimension $\ge 2$ is one of the most important challenges of the contemporary physics. In principle, there is no generally valid theoretical method that could solve this problem. In this work, we propose an efficient approach to identify the criticality of quantum systems in higher dimensions. Departing from the analysis of the numerical renormalization group flows, we build a general equivalence between the higher-dimensional ground state and a one-dimensional (1D) quantum state defined in the imaginary time direction in terms of the …
We investigate the ordering instability of interacting (and for simplicity, spinless) fermions on graphene's honeycomb lattice by numerically computing the Hartree self-consistent solution for the charge-density-wave order parameter in presence of both uniform and non-uniform magnetic fields. For a uniform field the overall behavior of the order parameter is found to be in accord with the continuum theory. In the inhomogeneous case, the spatial profile of the order parameter resembles qualitatively the form of the magnetic field itself, at least when the interaction is not overly strong. We fi…
We study the challenging thermal phase transition to stripe order in the frustrated square-lattice Ising model with couplings J1<0 (nearest-neighbor, ferromagnetic) and J2>0 (second-neighbor, antiferromagnetic) for g=J2/|J1|>1/2. Using Monte Carlo simulations and known analytical results, we demonstrate Ashkin-Teller criticality for g>= g*, i.e., the critical exponents vary continuously between those of the 4-state Potts model at g=g* and the Ising model for g -> infinity. Thus, stripe transitions offer a route to realizing a related class of conformal field theories with conformal charge c=1 …
We have studied the revival of Hofstadter butterfly due to the competition between disorder and electronic interaction using mean field approximation of unrestricted Hartree Fock method at zero temperature for two dimensional square and honeycomb lattices. Interplay of disorder and electronic correlation to nullify each other is corroborated by the fact that honeycomb lattice needs more strength of electronic correlation owing to its less co-ordination number which enhances the effect of disorder. The extent of revival of the butterfly is better in square than honeycomb lattice due to higher c…
The Kitaev model on the honeycomb lattice is a paradigmatic system known to host a wealth of nontrivial topological phases and Majorana edge modes. In the static case, the Majorana edge modes are nondispersive. When the system is periodically driven in time, such edge modes can disperse and become chiral. We obtain the full phase diagram of the driven model as a function of the coupling and the driving period. We characterize the quantum criticality of the different topological phase transitions in both the static and driven model via the notions of Majorana-Wannier state correlation functions…
We study a two-dimensional frustrated Heisenberg antiferromagnet on the windmill lattice consisting of triangular and dual honeycomb lattice sites. In the classical ground state the spins on different sublattices are decoupled, but quantum and thermal fluctuations drive the system into a coplanar state via an "order from disorder" mechanism. We obtain the finite temperature phase diagram using renormalization group approaches. In the coplanar regime, the relative U$(1)$ phase between the spins on the two sublattices decouples from the remaining degrees of freedom, and is described by a six-sta…
The unusual ground state and thermodynamic properties of spin-1/2 two-leg honeycomb (HC) spin ladder are systematically studied by jointly utilizing various analytical and numerical methods. The HC spin ladder is found to exhibit behaviors dramatically different from those of the conventional square spin ladder. A strong relevant term nJ and a half saturation magnetization plateau that can be attributed to the formation of diluted dimer states are observed in the HC ladder, both of which are absent in the square ladder. The ground state phase diagram of the HC spin ladder is identified, and th…
Quantum chaos in many-body systems may be characterized by the Lyapunov exponent defined as the exponential growth rate of out-of-time-order correlators (OTOC). So far Lyaponov exponents around various quantum critical points (QCP) remain largely unexplored. Here, we investigate the Lyapunov exponent around QCPs of the Gross-Neveu (GN) model with $N$ flavors of Dirac fermions in (2+1) dimensions. Around the GN quantum phase transition between a Dirac semimetal and a gapped insulator breaking $Z_2$ symmetry (e.g., inversion symmetry of the honeycomb lattice), we find that the Lyaponov exponent …
