5,352 research outputs found
Disordered Topological Insulators via -Algebras
The theory of almost commuting matrices can be used to quantify topological
obstructions to the existence of localized Wannier functions with time-reversal
symmetry in systems with time-reversal symmetry and strong spin-orbit coupling.
We present a numerical procedure that calculates a Z_2 invariant using these
techniques, and apply it to a model of HgTe. This numerical procedure allows us
to access sizes significantly larger than procedures based on studying twisted
boundary conditions. Our numerical results indicate the existence of a metallic
phase in the presence of scattering between up and down spin components, while
there is a sharp transition when the system decouples into two copies of the
quantum Hall effect. In addition to the Z_2 invariant calculation in the case
when up and down components are coupled, we also present a simple method of
evaluating the integer invariant in the quantum Hall case where they are
decoupled.Comment: Added detail regarding the mapping of almost commuting unitary
matrices to almost commuting Hermitian matrices that form an approximate
representation of the sphere. 6 pages, 6 figure
Tip Splittings and Phase Transitions in the Dielectric Breakdown Model: Mapping to the DLA Model
We show that the fractal growth described by the dielectric breakdown model
exhibits a phase transition in the multifractal spectrum of the growth measure.
The transition takes place because the tip-splitting of branches forms a fixed
angle. This angle is eta dependent but it can be rescaled onto an
``effectively'' universal angle of the DLA branching process. We derive an
analytic rescaling relation which is in agreement with numerical simulations.
The dimension of the clusters decreases linearly with the angle and the growth
becomes non-fractal at an angle close to 74 degrees (which corresponds to eta=
4.0 +- 0.3).Comment: 4 pages, REVTex, 3 figure
Multiple mechanisms of spiral wave breakup in a model of cardiac electrical activity
It has become widely accepted that the most dangerous cardiac arrhythmias are
due to re- entrant waves, i.e., electrical wave(s) that re-circulate repeatedly
throughout the tissue at a higher frequency than the waves produced by the
heart's natural pacemaker (sinoatrial node). However, the complicated structure
of cardiac tissue, as well as the complex ionic currents in the cell, has made
it extremely difficult to pinpoint the detailed mechanisms of these
life-threatening reentrant arrhythmias. A simplified ionic model of the cardiac
action potential (AP), which can be fitted to a wide variety of experimentally
and numerically obtained mesoscopic characteristics of cardiac tissue such as
AP shape and restitution of AP duration and conduction velocity, is used to
explain many different mechanisms of spiral wave breakup which in principle can
occur in cardiac tissue. Some, but not all, of these mechanisms have been
observed before using other models; therefore, the purpose of this paper is to
demonstrate them using just one framework model and to explain the different
parameter regimes or physiological properties necessary for each mechanism
(such as high or low excitability, corresponding to normal or ischemic tissue,
spiral tip trajectory types, and tissue structures such as rotational
anisotropy and periodic boundary conditions). Each mechanism is compared with
data from other ionic models or experiments to illustrate that they are not
model-specific phenomena. The fact that many different breakup mechanisms exist
has important implications for antiarrhythmic drug design and for comparisons
of fibrillation experiments using different species, electromechanical
uncoupling drugs, and initiation protocols.Comment: 128 pages, 42 figures (29 color, 13 b&w
Solving Gapped Hamiltonians Locally
We show that any short-range Hamiltonian with a gap between the ground and
excited states can be written as a sum of local operators, such that the ground
state is an approximate eigenvector of each operator separately. We then show
that the ground state of any such Hamiltonian is close to a generalized matrix
product state. The range of the given operators needed to obtain a good
approximation to the ground state is proportional to the square of the
logarithm of the system size times a characteristic "factorization length".
Applications to many-body quantum simulation are discussed. We also consider
density matrices of systems at non-zero temperature.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures; minor changes to references, additional
discussion of numerics; additional explanation of nonzero temperature matrix
product for
Entanglement of Sections, Examples Looking for a Theory
Quantum information is about the entanglement of states. To this starting
point we add parameters whereby a single state becomes a non-vanishing section
of a bundle. We consider through examples the possible entanglement patterns of
sections.Comment: 15 pages, 0 figure
Area laws in quantum systems: mutual information and correlations
The holographic principle states that on a fundamental level the information
content of a region should depend on its surface area rather than on its
volume. This counterintuitive idea which has its roots in the nonextensive
nature of black-hole entropy serves as a guiding principle in the search for
the fundamental laws of Planck-scale physics. In this paper we show that a
similar phenomenon emerges from the established laws of classical and quantum
physics: the information contained in part of a system in thermal equilibrium
obeys an area law. While the maximal information per unit area depends
classically only on the number of microscopic degrees of freedom, it may
diverge as the inverse temperature in quantum systems. A rigorous relation
between area laws and correlations is established and their explicit behavior
is revealed for a large class of quantum many-body states beyond equilibrium
systems.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, published version with appendi
Entropy and Entanglement in Quantum Ground States
We consider the relationship between correlations and entanglement in gapped
quantum systems, with application to matrix product state representations. We
prove that there exist gapped one-dimensional local Hamiltonians such that the
entropy is exponentially large in the correlation length, and we present strong
evidence supporting a conjecture that there exist such systems with arbitrarily
large entropy. However, we then show that, under an assumption on the density
of states which is believed to be satisfied by many physical systems such as
the fractional quantum Hall effect, that an efficient matrix product state
representation of the ground state exists in any dimension. Finally, we comment
on the implications for numerical simulation.Comment: 7 pages, no figure
Propagation of Correlations in Quantum Lattice Systems
We provide a simple proof of the Lieb-Robinson bound and use it to prove the
existence of the dynamics for interactions with polynomial decay. We then use
our results to demonstrate that there is an upper bound on the rate at which
correlations between observables with separated support can accumulate as a
consequence of the dynamics.Comment: 10 page
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