Ground-state fidelity of the spin-1 Heisenberg chain with single ion anisotropy: quantum renormalization group and exact diagonalization approaches

We study the phase diagram of the anisotropic spin-1 Heisenberg chain with single ion anisotropy (D) using a ground-state fidelity approach. The ground-state fidelity and its corresponding susceptibility are calculated within the quantum renormalization group scheme where we obtained the renormalization of fidelity preventing to calculate the ground state. Using this approach, the phase boundaries between the antiferromagnetic N\'{e}el, Haldane and large-D phases are obtained for the whole phase diagram, which justifies the application of quantum renormalization group to trace the symmetery protected topological phases. In addition, we present numerical exact diagonalization (Lanczos) results in, which we employ a recently introduced non-local order parameter to locate the transition from Haldane to large-D phase accurately.Comment: 9 pages, 11 figures, 1 table, to appear in JPC

Many-body localization in a disordered quantum Ising chain

Many-body localization occurs in isolated quantum systems when Anderson localization persists in the presence of finite interactions. Despite strong evidence for the existence of a many-body localization transition a reliable extraction of the critical disorder strength is difficult due to a large drift with system size in the studied quantities. In this work we explore two entanglement properties that are promising for the study of the manybody localization transition: the variance of the half-chain entanglement entropy of exact eigenstates and the long time change in entanglement after a local quench from an exact eigenstate. We investigate these quantities in a disordered quantum Ising chain and use them to estimate the critical disorder strength and its energy dependence. In addition, we analyze a spin-glass transition at large disorder strength and provide evidence for it being a separate transition. We thereby give numerical support for a recently proposed phase diagram of many-body localization with localization protected quantum order [Huse et al. Phys. Rev. B 88, 014206 (2013)].Comment: 4+ pages + 1.5 pages appendix, 5 figure

Extended supersolid phase of frustrated hard-core bosons on a triangular lattice

We study a model of hard-core bosons with frustrated nearest-neighbor hopping ($t$) and repulsion ($V$) on the triangular lattice. We argue for a supersolid ground state in the large repulsion ($V\gg|t|$) limit where a dimer representation applies, by constructing a unitary mapping to the well understood unfrustrated hopping case. This generalized 'Marshall sign rule' allows us to establish the precise nature of the supersolid order by utilizing a recently proposed dimer variational wavefunction, whose correlations can be efficiently calculated using the Grassman approach. By continuity, a supersolid is predicted over the wide parameter range, $V>-2t>0$. This also establishes a simple phase diagram for the triangular lattice spin 1/2 XXZ antiferromagnet.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Strongly correlated fermions on a kagome lattice

We study a model of strongly correlated spinless fermions on a kagome lattice at 1/3 filling, with interactions described by an extended Hubbard Hamiltonian. An effective Hamiltonian in the desired strong correlation regime is derived, from which the spectral functions are calculated by means of exact diagonalization techniques. We present our numerical results with a view to discussion of possible signatures of confinement/deconfinement of fractional charges.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figure

Bound states and E_8 symmetry effects in perturbed quantum Ising chains

In a recent experiment on CoNb_2O_6, Coldea et al. [Science 327, 177 (2010)] found for the first time experimental evidence of the exceptional Lie algebra E_8. The emergence of this symmetry was theoretically predicted long ago for the transverse quantum Ising chain in the presence of a weak longitudinal field. We consider an accurate microscopic model of CoNb_2O_6 incorporating additional couplings and calculate numerically the dynamical structure function using a recently developed matrix-product-state method. The excitation spectra show bound states characteristic of the weakly broken E_8 symmetry. We compare the observed bound state signatures in this model to those found in the transverse Ising chain in a longitudinal field and to experimental data.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Anterior Prefrontal Involvement in Implicit Contextual Change Detection

Anterior prefrontal cortex is usually associated with high level executive functions. Here, we show that the frontal pole, specifically left lateral frontopolar cortex, is involved in signaling change in implicitly learned spatial contexts, in the absence of conscious change detection. In a variant of the contextual cueing paradigm, participants first learned contingencies between distractor contexts and target locations implicitly. After learning, repeated distractor contexts were paired with new target locations. Left lateral frontopolar [Brodmann area (BA) 10] and superior frontal (BA9) cortices showed selective signal increase for this target location change in repeated displays in an event-related fMRI experiment, which was most pronounced in participants with high contextual facilitation before the change. The data support the view that left lateral frontopolar cortex is involved in signaling contextual change to posterior brain areas as a precondition for adaptive changes of attentional resource allocation. This signaling occurs in the absence of awareness of learned contingencies or contextual change

Repeated Contextual Search Cues Lead to Reduced BOLD-Onset Times in Early Visual and Left Inferior Frontal Cortex

Repetition of context can facilitate search for targets in distractor-filled displays. This contextual cueing goes along with enhanced event-related brain potentials in visual cortex, as previously demonstrated with depth electrodes in the human brain. However, modulation of the BOLD-response in striate and peristriate cortices has, to our knowledge, not yet been reported as a consequence of contextual cueing. Here, we report a selective reduction of the BOLD onset latency for repeated distractor configurations in these areas. In addition, the same onset latency reduction was observed in posterior inferior frontal cortex, a potential source area for feedback signals to early visual areas