Low temperature broken symmetry phases of spiral antiferromagnets

We study Heisenberg antiferromagnets with nearest- (J1) and third- (J3) neighbor exchange on the square lattice. In the limit of large spin S, there is a zero temperature (T) Lifshitz point at J3 = (1/4) J1, with long-range spiral spin order at T=0 for J3 > (1/4) J1. We present classical Monte Carlo simulations and a theory for T>0 crossovers near the Lifshitz point: spin rotation symmetry is restored at any T>0, but there is a broken lattice reflection symmetry for 0 <= T < Tc ~ (J3-(1/4) J1) S^2. The transition at T=Tc is consistent with Ising universality. We also discuss the quantum phase diagram for finite S.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

Quantum phase transitions of the diluted O(3) rotor model

We study the phase diagram and the quantum phase transitions of a site-diluted two-dimensional O(3) quantum rotor model by means of large-scale Monte-Carlo simulations. This system has two quantum phase transitions, a generic one for small dilutions, and a percolation transition across the lattice percolation threshold. We determine the critical behavior for both transitions and for the multicritical point that separates them. In contrast to the exotic scaling scenarios found in other random quantum systems, all these transitions are characterized by finite-disorder fixed points with power-law scaling. We relate our findings to a recent classification of phase transitions with quenched disorder according to the rare region dimensionality, and we discuss experiments in disordered quantum magnets.Comment: 11 pages, 14 eps figures, final version as publishe

Scaling in the Fan of an Unconventional Quantum Critical Point

We present results of extensive finite-temperature Quantum Monte Carlo simulations on a SU(2) symmetric S=1/2 quantum antiferromagnet with a four-spin interaction [Sandvik, Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 227202 (2007)]. Our simulations, which are free of the sign-problem and carried out on lattices containing in excess of 1.6 X 10^4 spins, indicate that the four-spin interaction destroys the N\'eel order at an unconventional z=1 quantum critical point, producing a valence-bond solid paramagnet. Our results are consistent with the `deconfined quantum criticality' scenario.Comment: published version, minor change

Specific heat of the S=1/2 Heisenberg model on the kagome lattice: high-temperature series expansion analysis

We compute specific heat of the antiferromagnetic spin-1/2 Heisenberg model on the kagome lattice. We use a recently introduced technique to analyze high-temperature series expansion based on the knowledge of high-temperature series expansions, the total entropy of the system and the low-temperature expected behavior of the specific heat as well as the ground-state energy. In the case of kagome-lattice antiferromagnet, this method predicts a low-temperature peak at T/J<0.1.Comment: 6 pages, 5 color figures (.eps), Revtex 4. Change in version 3: Fig. 5 has been corrected (it now shows data for 3 different ground-state energies). The text is unchanged. v4: corrected an error in the temperature scale of Fig. 5. (text unchanged

Influence of the quantum zero-point motion of a vortex on the electronic spectra of s-wave superconductors

We compute the influence of the quantum zero-point motion of a vortex on the electronic quasiparticle spectra of s-wave superconductors. The vortex is assumed to be pinned by a harmonic potential, and its coupling to the quasiparticles is computed in the framework of BCS theory. Near the core of the vortex, the motion leads to a shift of spectral weight away from the chemical potential, and thereby reduces the zero bias conductance peak; additional structure at the frequency of the harmonic trap is also observed.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures; (v2) added refs; (v3) removed discussion on d-wave superconductors and moved it to cond-mat/060600

On an SO(5) unification attempt for the cuprates

In this note we bring out several problems with the SO(5) unification attempt of Zhang [cond-mat/9610140].Comment: 3 pages, latex (revtex

Quantum critical transport, duality, and M-theory

We consider charge transport properties of 2+1 dimensional conformal field theories at non-zero temperature. For theories with only Abelian U(1) charges, we describe the action of particle-vortex duality on the hydrodynamic-to-collisionless crossover function: this leads to powerful functional constraints for self-dual theories. For the n=8 supersymmetric, SU(N) Yang-Mills theory at the conformal fixed point, exact hydrodynamic-to-collisionless crossover functions of the SO(8) R-currents can be obtained in the large N limit by applying the AdS/CFT correspondence to M-theory. In the gravity theory, fluctuating currents are mapped to fluctuating gauge fields in the background of a black hole in 3+1 dimensional anti-de Sitter space. The electromagnetic self-duality of the 3+1 dimensional theory implies that the correlators of the R-currents obey a functional constraint similar to that found from particle-vortex duality in 2+1 dimensional Abelian theories. Thus the 2+1 dimensional, superconformal Yang Mills theory obeys a "holographic self duality" in the large N limit, and perhaps more generally.Comment: 35 pages, 4 figures; (v2) New appendix on CFT2, corrected normalization of gauge field action, added ref

U(1) spin liquids and valence bond solids in a large-N three-dimensional Heisenberg model

We study possible quantum ground states of the Sp(N) generalized Heisenberg model on a cubic lattice with nearest-neighbor and next-nearest-neighbor exchange interactions. The phase diagram is obtained in the large-N limit and fluctuation effects are considered via appropriate gauge theories. In particular, we find three U(1) spin liquid phases with different short-range magnetic correlations. These phases are characterized by deconfined gapped spinons, gapped monopoles, and gapless ``photons''. As N becomes smaller, a confinement transition from these phases to valence bond solids (VBS) may occur. This transition is studied by using duality and analyzing the resulting theory of monopoles coupled to a non-compact dual gauge field; the condensation of the monopoles leads to VBS phases. We determine the resulting VBS phases emerging from two of the three spin liquid states. On the other hand, the spin liquid state near J_1 \approx J_2 appears to be more stable against monopole condensation and could be a promising candidate for a spin liquid state in real systems.Comment: revtex file 12 pages, 17 figure

Pinning quantum phase transition of photons in a hollow-core fiber

We show that a pinning quantum phase transition for photons could be observed in a hollow-core one-dimensional fiber loaded with a cold atomic gas. Utilizing the strong light confinement in the fiber, a range of different strongly correlated polaritonic and photonic states, corresponding to both strong and weak interactions can be created and probed. The key ingredient is the creation of a tunable effective lattice potential acting on the interacting polaritonic gas which is possible by slightly modulating the atomic density. We analyze the relevant phase diagram corresponding to the realizable Bose-Hubbard (weak) and sine-Gordon (strong) interacting regimes and conclude by describing the measurement process. The latter consists of mapping the stationary excitations to propagating light pulses whose correlations can be efficiently probed once they exit the fiber using available optical technologiesComment: 4 pages, 4 figures. Comments welcome

Quantum Critical Point and Entanglement in a Matrix Product Ground State

In this paper, we study the entanglement properties of a spin-1 model the exact ground state of which is given by a Matrix Product state. The model exhibits a critical point transition at a parameter value a=0. The longitudinal and transverse correlation lengths are known to diverge as a tends to zero. We use three different entanglement measures S(i) (the one-site von Neumann entropy), S(i,j) (the two-body entanglement) and G(2,n) (the generalized global entanglement) to determine the entanglement content of the MP ground state as the parameter a is varied. The entanglement length, associated with S(i,j), is found to diverge in the vicinity of the quantum critical point a=0. The first derivative of the entanglement measure E (=S(i), S(i,j)) w.r.t. the parameter a also diverges. The first derivative of G(2,n) w.r.t. a does not diverge as a tends to zero but attains a maximum value at a=0. At the QCP itself all the three entanglement measures become zero. We further show that multipartite correlations are involved in the QPT at a=0.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figure