Stable Quantum Monte Carlo Simulations for Entanglement Spectra of Interacting Fermions

We show that the two recently proposed methods to compute Renyi entanglement entropies in the realm of determinant quantum Monte Carlo methods for fermions are in principle equivalent, but differ in sampling strategies. The analogy allows to formulate a numerically stable calculation of the entanglement spectrum at strong coupling. We demonstrate the approach by studying static and dynamical properties of the entanglement hamiltonian across the interaction driven quantum phase transition between a topological insulator and quantum antiferromagnet in the Kane-Mele Hubbard model. The formulation is not limited to fermion systems and can readily be adapted to world-line based simulations of bosonic systems.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure

Interplay between the edge-state magnetism and long-range Coulomb interaction in zigzag graphene nanoribbons: quantum Monte Carlo study

We perform projective quantum Monte Carlo simulations of zigzag graphene nanoribbons within a realistic model with long-range Coulomb interactions. Increasing the relative strength of nonlocal interactions with respect to the on-site repulsion does not generate a phase transition but has a number of nontrivial effects. At the single-particle level we observe a marked enhancement of the Fermi velocity at the Dirac points. At the two-particle level, spin- and charge-density-wave fluctuations compete. As a consequence, the edge magnetic moment is reduced but the edge dispersion relation increases in the sense that the single-particle gap at momentum $q=\pi/|{\pmb a}_1|$ grows. We attribute this to nonlocal charge fluctuations which assist the spin fluctuations to generate the aforementioned gap. In contrast, the net result of the interaction-induced renormalization of different energy scales is a constant spin-wave velocity of the edge modes. However, since the particle-hole continuum is shifted to higher energies---due to the renormalization of the Fermi velocity---Landau damping is reduced. As a result, a roughly linear spin-wave-like mode at the edge spreads out through a larger part of the Brillouin zone.Comment: 11 pages, 11 figures, comment about doped nanoribbon

Emergent Coherent Lattice Behavior in Kondo Nanosystems

How many magnetic moments periodically arranged on a metallic surface are needed to generate a coherent Kondo lattice behavior? We investigate this fundamental issue within the particle-hole symmetric Kondo lattice model using quantum Monte Carlo simulations. Extra magnetic atoms forming closed shells around the initial impurity induce a fast splitting of the Kondo resonance at the inner shells which signals the formation of composite heavy-fermion bands. The onset of the hybridization gap matches well the enhancement of antiferromagnetic spin correlations in the plane perpendicular to the applied magnetic field, a genuine feature of the coherent Kondo lattice. In contrast, the outermost shell remains dominated by a local Kondo physics with spectral features resembling the single-impurity behavior.Comment: 4+ pages plus supplemental material; published versio

Dynamically generated edge states in topological Kondo insulators

Kondo insulators combine strong electronic correlations with spin orbit coupling and thereby provide a potential realization of correlated topological insulators. We present model calculations which allow us to study the onset of bulk coherence and concomitant topological edge states from the mixed valence to local moment regimes. Our real-space dynamical mean-field results include the detailed temperature dependence of the single particle spectral function on slab geometries as well as the temperature dependence of the topological invariant. The relevance of our calculations for candidate materials like SmB6 is discussed.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure

Melting of stripe phases and its signature in the single-particle spectral function

Motivated by the recent experimental data [Phys. Rev. B 79, 100502 (2009)] indicating the existence of a pure stripe charge order over unprecedently wide temperature range in La_{1.8-x}Eu_{0.2}Sr_xCuO_4, we investigate the temperature-induced melting of the metallic stripe phase. In spite of taking into account local dynamic correlations within a real-space dynamical mean-field theory of the Hubbard model, we observe a mean-field like melting of the stripe order irrespective of the choice of the next-nearest neighbor hopping. The temperature dependence of the single-particle spectral function shows the stripe induced formation of a flat band around the antinodal points accompanied by the opening a gap in the nodal direction.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, minor changes, added Ref. 1

Pinning the order: the nature of quantum criticality in the Hubbard model on honeycomb lattice

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 lattice, within the realm of the projective auxiliary field quantum Monte Carlo algorithm. With our enhanced resolution we find a direct and continuous quantum phase transition between the semi-metallic and the insulating antiferromagnetic states with increase of the interaction. The single particle gap in units of the Hubbard $U$ tracks the staggered magnetization. An excellent data collapse is obtained by finite size scaling, with the values of the critical exponents in accord with the Gross-Neveu universality class of the transition.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, Published versio