Exact ground states of a staggered supersymmetric model for lattice fermions

We study a supersymmetric model for strongly interacting lattice fermions in the presence of a staggering parameter. The staggering is introduced as a tunable parameter in the manifestly supersymmetric Hamiltonian. We obtain analytic expressions for the ground states in the limit of small and large staggering for the model on the class of doubly decorated lattices. On this type of lattice there are two ground states, each with a different density. In one limit we find these ground states to be a simple Wigner crystal and a valence bond solid (VBS) state. In the other limit we find two types of quantum liquids. As a special case, we investigate the quantum liquid state on the one dimensional chain in detail. It is characterized by a massless kink that separates two types of order.Comment: 21 pages, 6 figures, v2: largely rewritten version with more emphasis on physical interpretatio

Area law violations in a supersymmetric model

We study the structure of entanglement in a supersymmetric lattice model of fermions on certain types of decorated graphs with quenched disorder. In particular, we construct models with controllable ground state degeneracy protected by supersymmetry and the choice of Hilbert space. We show that in certain special limits these degenerate ground states are associated with local impurities and that there exists a basis of the ground state manifold in which every basis element satisfies a boundary law for entanglement entropy. On the other hand, by considering incoherent mixtures or coherent superpositions of these localized ground states, we can find regions that violate the boundary law for entanglement entropy over a wide range of length scales. More generally, we discuss various desiderata for constructing violations of the boundary law for entanglement entropy and discuss possible relations of our work to recent holographic studies.Comment: 20 pages, 1 figure, 1 appendi

Supersymmetry, lattice fermions, independence complexes and cohomology theory

We analyze the quantum ground state structure of a specific model of itinerant, strongly interacting lattice fermions. The interactions are tuned to make the model supersymmetric. Due to this, quantum ground states are in one-to-one correspondence with cohomology classes of the so-called independence complex of the lattice. Our main result is a complete description of the cohomology, and thereby of the quantum ground states, for a two-dimensional square lattice with periodic boundary conditions. Our work builds on results by J. Jonsson, who determined the Euler characteristic (Witten index) via a correspondence with rhombus tilings of the plane. We prove a theorem, first conjectured by P. Fendley, which relates dimensions of the cohomology at grade n to the number of rhombus tilings with n rhombi.Comment: 40 pages, 28 figure

Detailed analysis of the continuum limit of a supersymmetric lattice model in 1D

We present a full identification of lattice model properties with their field theoretical counter parts in the continuum limit for a supersymmetric model for itinerant spinless fermions on a one dimensional chain. The continuum limit of this model is described by an $\mathcal{N}=(2,2)$ superconformal field theory (SCFT) with central charge c=1. We identify states and operators in the lattice model with fields in the SCFT and we relate boundary conditions on the lattice to sectors in the field theory. We use the dictionary we develop in this paper, to give a pedagogical explanation of a powerful tool to study supersymmetric models based on spectral flow. Finally, we employ the developed machinery to explain numerically observed properties of the particle density on the open chain presented in Beccaria et al. PRL 94:100401 (2005).Comment: 28 pages, 7 figures, 3 tables, 1 appendix, this work is based on chapter 4 of the authors PhD Thesis: L. Huijse, A supersymmetric model for lattice fermions, University of Amsterdam (2010

Quantum phases of supersymmetric lattice models

We review recent results on lattice models for spin-less fermions with strong repulsive interactions. A judicious tuning of kinetic and interaction terms leads to a model possessing supersymmetry. In the 1D case, this model displays critical behavior described by superconformal field theory. On 2D lattices we generically find superfrustration, characterized by an extensive ground state entropy. For certain 2D lattices analytical results on the ground state structure reveal yet another quantum phase, which we tentatively call 'supertopological'.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, 1 table, contribution to the proceedings of the XVI International Congress on Mathematical Physics (2009) in Prague, Czeck Republi

A multiplet analysis of spectra in the presence of broken symmetries

We introduce the notion of a generalised symmetry M of a hamiltonian H. It is a symmetry which has been broken in a very specific manner, involving ladder operators R and R*. In Theorem 1 these generalised symmetries are characterised in terms of repeated commutators of H with M. Breaking supersymmetry by adding a term linear in the supercharges is discussed as a motivating example. The complex parameter gamma which appears in the definition of a generalised symmetry is necessarily real when the spectrum of M is discrete. Theorem 2 shows that gamma must also be real when the spectrum of H is fully discrete and R and R* are bounded operators. Any generalised symmetry induces a partitioning of the spectrum of H in what we call M-multiplets. The hydrogen atom in the presence of a symmetry breaking external field is discussed as an example. The notion of stability of eigenvectors of H relative to the generalised symmetry M is discussed. A characterisation of stable eigenvectors is given in Theorem 3

Supersymmetric lattice fermions on the triangular lattice: superfrustration and criticality

We study a model for itinerant, strongly interacting fermions where a judicious tuning of the interactions leads to a supersymmetric Hamiltonian. On the triangular lattice this model is known to exhibit a property called superfrustration, which is characterized by an extensive ground state entropy. Using a combination of numerical and analytical methods we study various ladder geometries obtained by imposing doubly periodic boundary conditions on the triangular lattice. We compare our results to various bounds on the ground state degeneracy obtained in the literature. For all systems we find that the number of ground states grows exponentially with system size. For two of the models that we study we obtain the exact number of ground states by solving the cohomology problem. For one of these, we find that via a sequence of mappings the entire spectrum can be understood. It exhibits a gapped phase at 1/4 filling and a gapless phase at 1/6 filling and phase separation at intermediate fillings. The gapless phase separates into an exponential number of sectors, where the continuum limit of each sector is described by a superconformal field theory.Comment: 50 pages, 12 figures, 2 appendice

A staggered fermion chain with supersymmetry on open intervals

A strongly-interacting fermion chain with supersymmetry on the lattice and open boundary conditions is analysed. The local coupling constants of the model are staggered, and the properties of the ground states as a function of the staggering parameter are examined. In particular, a connection between certain ground-state components and solutions of non-linear recursion relations associated with the Painlev\'e VI equation is conjectured. Moreover, various local occupation probabilities in the ground state have the so-called scale-free property, and allow for an exact resummation in the limit of infinite system size.Comment: 21 pages, no figures; v2: typos correcte