Matrix Product States Algorithms and Continuous Systems

A generic method to investigate many-body continuous-variable systems is pedagogically presented. It is based on the notion of matrix product states (so-called MPS) and the algorithms thereof. The method is quite versatile and can be applied to a wide variety of situations. As a first test, we show how it provides reliable results in the computation of fundamental properties of a chain of quantum harmonic oscillators achieving off-critical and critical relative errors of the order of 10^(-8) and 10^(-4) respectively. Next, we use it to study the ground state properties of the quantum rotor model in one spatial dimension, a model that can be mapped to the Mott insulator limit of the 1-dimensional Bose-Hubbard model. At the quantum critical point, the central charge associated to the underlying conformal field theory can be computed with good accuracy by measuring the finite-size corrections of the ground state energy. Examples of MPS-computations both in the finite-size regime and in the thermodynamic limit are given. The precision of our results are found to be comparable to those previously encountered in the MPS studies of, for instance, quantum spin chains. Finally, we present a spin-off application: an iterative technique to efficiently get numerical solutions of partial differential equations of many variables. We illustrate this technique by solving Poisson-like equations with precisions of the order of 10^(-7).Comment: 22 pages, 14 figures, final versio

Differential Renormalization of Massive Quantum Field Theories

We extend the method of differential renormalization to massive quantum field theories treating in particular \ph4-theory and QED. As in the massless case, the method proves to be simple and powerful, and we are able to find, in particular, compact explicit coordinate space expressions for the finite parts of two notably complicated diagrams, namely, the 2-loop 2-point function in \ph4 and the 1-loop vertex in QED.Comment: 8 pages(LaTex, no figures

Quantum simulation of an extra dimension

We present a general strategy to simulate a D+1-dimensional quantum system using a D-dimensional one. We analyze in detail a feasible implementation of our scheme using optical lattice technology. The simplest non-trivial realization of a fourth dimension corresponds to the creation of a bivolume geometry. We also propose single- and many-particle experimental signatures to detect the effects of the extra dimension.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, revtex style;v2 minor changes, references adde

Entanglement entropy in one-dimensional disordered interacting system: The role of localization

The properties of the entanglement entropy (EE) in one-dimensional disordered interacting systems are studied. Anderson localization leaves a clear signature on the average EE, as it saturates on length scale exceeding the localization length. This is verified by numerically calculating the EE for an ensemble of disordered realizations using density matrix renormalization group (DMRG). A heuristic expression describing the dependence of the EE on the localization length, which takes into account finite size effects, is proposed. This is used to extract the localization length as function of the interaction strength. The localization length dependence on the interaction fits nicely with the expectations.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Physical Review Letter

Half the entanglement in critical systems is distillable from a single specimen

We establish that the leading critical scaling of the single-copy entanglement is exactly one half of the entropy of entanglement of a block in critical infinite spin chains in a general setting, using methods of conformal field theory. Conformal symmetry imposes that the single-copy entanglement for critical many-body systems scales as E_1(\rho_L)=(c/6) \log L- (c/6) (\pi^2/\log L) + O(1/L), where L is the number of constituents in a block of an infinite chain and c corresponds to the central charge. This proves that from a single specimen of a critical chain, already half the entanglement can be distilled compared to the rate that is asymptotically available. The result is substantiated by a quantitative analysis for all translationally invariant quantum spin chains corresponding to general isotropic quasi-free fermionic models. An analytic example of the XY model shows that away from criticality the above simple relation is only maintained near the quantum phase transition point.Comment: 4 pages RevTeX, 1 figure, final versio

Connecting the generalized robustness and the geometric measure of entanglement

The main goal of this paper is to provide a connection between the generalized robustness of entanglement ($R_g$) and the geometric measure of entanglement ($E_{GME}$). First, we show that the generalized robustness is always higher than or equal to the geometric measure. Then we find a tighter lower bound to $R_g(\rho)$ based only on the purity of $\rho$ and its maximal overlap to a separable state. As we will see it is also possible to express this lower bound in terms of $E_{GME}$.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. Comments welcome. v2: text improved - some completely symmetric states were used to illustrate the results. Comments are always welcome! v3: minor changes. Accepted by Phys. Rev. A. v4: results on symmetric states fixe

Simulation of two-dimensional quantum systems using a tree tensor network that exploits the entropic area law

This work explores the use of a tree tensor network ansatz to simulate the ground state of a local Hamiltonian on a two-dimensional lattice. By exploiting the entropic area law, the tree tensor network ansatz seems to produce quasi-exact results in systems with sizes well beyond the reach of exact diagonalisation techniques. We describe an algorithm to approximate the ground state of a local Hamiltonian on a L times L lattice with the topology of a torus. Accurate results are obtained for L={4,6,8}, whereas approximate results are obtained for larger lattices. As an application of the approach, we analyse the scaling of the ground state entanglement entropy at the quantum critical point of the model. We confirm the presence of a positive additive constant to the area law for half a torus. We also find a logarithmic additive correction to the entropic area law for a square block. The single copy entanglement for half a torus reveals similar corrections to the area law with a further term proportional to 1/L.Comment: Major rewrite, new version published in Phys. Rev. B with highly improved numerical results for the scaling of the entropies and several new sections. The manuscript has now 19 pages and 30 Figure

Laser frequency modulation with electron plasma

When laser beam passes through electron plasma its frequency shifts by amount proportional to plasma density. This density varies with modulating signal resulting in corresponding modulation of laser beam frequency. Necessary apparatus is relatively inexpensive since crystals are not required