Publications

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Real-space spectral simulation of quantum spin models: Application to generalized Kitaev models

Francisco M. O. Brito, Aires Ferreira

SciPost Phys. Core 7, 006 (2024) · published 21 February 2024 | · pdf

The proliferation of quantum fluctuations and long-range entanglement presents an outstanding challenge for the numerical simulation of interacting spin systems with exotic ground states. Here, we present a toolset of Chebyshev polynomial-based iterative methods that provides a unified framework to study the thermodynamical properties, critical behavior and dynamics of frustrated quantum spin models with controlled accuracy. Similar to previous applications of the Chebyshev spectral methods to condensed matter systems, the algorithmic complexity scales linearly with the Hilbert space dimension and the Chebyshev truncation order. Using this approach, we study two paradigmatic quantum spin models on the honeycomb lattice: the Kitaev-Heisenberg (K-H) and the Kitaev-Ising (K-I) models. We start by applying the Chebyshev toolset to compute nearest-neighbor spin correlations, specific heat and entropy of the K-H model on a 24-spin cluster. Our results are benchmarked against exact diagonalization and a popular iterative method based on thermal pure quantum states. The transitions between a variety of magnetic phases, namely ferromagnetic, Néel, zigzag and stripy antiferromagnetic and quantum spin liquid phases are obtained accurately and efficiently. We also determine the temperature dependence of the spin correlations, over more than three decades in temperature, by means of a finite temperature Chebyshev polynomial method introduced here. Finally, we report novel dynamical signatures of the quantum phase transitions in the K-I model. Our findings suggest that the efficiency, versatility and low-temperature stability of the Chebyshev framework developed here could pave the way for previously unattainable studies of quantum spin models in two dimensions.
Unraveling complexity: Singular value decomposition in complex experimental data analysis

Judith F. Stein, Aviad Frydman, Richard Berkovits

SciPost Phys. Core 7, 061 (2024) · published 11 September 2024 | · pdf

Analyzing complex experimental data with multiple parameters is challenging. We propose using Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) as an effective solution. This method, demonstrated through real experimental data analysis, surpasses conventional approaches in understanding complex physics data. Singular values and vectors distinguish and highlight various physical mechanisms and scales, revealing previously challenging elements. SVD emerges as a powerful tool for navigating complex experimental landscapes, showing promise for diverse experimental measurements.
Scaling laws of shrinkage induced fragmentation phenomena

Roland Szatmári, Akio Nakahara, So Kitsunezaki, Ferenc Kun

SciPost Phys. 19, 142 (2025) · published 1 December 2025 | · pdf

We investigate the shrinkage induced breakup of thin layers of heterogeneous materials attached to a substrate, a ubiquitous natural phenomenon with a wide range of potential applications. Focusing on the evolution of the fragment ensemble, we demonstrate that the system has two distinct phases: damage phase, where the layer is cracked, however, a dominant piece persists retaining the structural integrity of the layer, and a fragmentation phase, where the layer disintegrates into numerous small pieces. Based on finite size scaling we show that the transition between the two phases occurs at a critical damage analogous to continuous phase transitions. At the critical point a fully connected crack network emerges whose structure is controlled by the strength of adhesion to the substrate. In the strong adhesion limit, damage arises from random microcrack nucleation, resembling bond percolation, while weak adhesion facilitates stress concentration and the growth of cracks to large extensions. The critical exponents of the damage to fragmentation transition agree to a reasonable accuracy with those of two-dimensional bond percolation. Our findings provide a novel insights into the mechanism of shrinkage-induced cracking revealing generic scaling laws of the phenomenon.
Impurity effect and vortex cluster phase in mesoscopic type-1.5 superconductors

Tian-Yi Han, Guo Wang, Jie Li, Hai Huang

SciPost Phys. 19, 140 (2025) · published 28 November 2025 | · pdf

Based on two-band time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau theory, we study the electromagnetic properties of two-band mesoscopic superconductors. We perform the numerical simulations with the finite element method, and determine the minimum sample size $L_c$ for the existence of the type-1.5 superconductivity from the obtained phase diagram in the absence of impurity. Meanwhile in the presence of an isotropic impurity, our numerical results reveal that the vortex cluster state induced by the attractive defect potential will gradually appear in the mesoscopic system with the sample size $L < L_c$, and the critical defect strength is about 0.2 in the $T_c$ disorder model. In addition, we also investigate the effect of anisotropic defect structures and multiple correlated disorders on the patterns of magnetic vortex distributions. Our theoretical study thus indicates that the diversity of impurity depositions has a significant influence on the semi-Meissner state in mesoscopic type-1.5 superconductors.
A large-$N$ approach to magnetic impurities in superconductors

Chen-How Huang, Alejandro M. Lobos, Miguel A. Cazalilla

SciPost Phys. 18, 087 (2025) · published 10 March 2025 | · pdf

Quantum spin impurities coupled to superconductors are under intense investigation for their relevance to fundamental research as well as the prospects to engineer novel quantum phases of matter. Here we develop a large-$N$ mean-field theory of a strongly coupled spin-$\tfrac{1}{2}$ quantum impurity in a conventional $s$-wave superconductor. The approach is benchmarked against Wilson's numerical renormalization group (NRG). While the large-$N$ method is not applicable in the weak-coupling regime where the Kondo temperature $T_K$ is smaller than the superconducting gap $\Delta$, it performs very well in the strong coupling regime where $T_K \gtrsim \Delta$, thus allowing us to obtain a reasonably accurate description of experimentally relevant quantities. The latter include the energy of the Yu-Shiba-Rusinov subgap states, their spectral weight, as well as the local density of continuum states. The method provides a reliable analytical tool that complements other perturbative and non-perturbative methods, and can be extended to more complex impurity models for which NRG may not be easily applicable.
Gaussian state approximation of quantum many-body scars

Wouter Buijsman, Yevgeny Bar Lev

SciPost Phys. 17, 055 (2024) · published 15 August 2024 | · pdf

Quantum many-body scars are atypical, highly nonthermal eigenstates embedded in a sea of thermal eigenstates that have been observed in, for example, kinetically constrained quantum many-body models. These special eigenstates are characterized by a bipartite entanglement entropy that scales as most logarithmically with the subsystem size. We use numerical optimization techniques to investigate if quantum many-body scars of the experimentally relevant PXP model can be well approximated by Gaussian states. Gaussian states are described by a number of parameters that scales quadratically with system size, thereby having a much lower complexity than generic quantum many-body states, for which this number scales exponentially. We find that while quantum many-body scars can typically be well approximated by (symmetrized) Gaussian states, this is not the case for ergodic (thermal) eigenstates. This observation suggests that the non-ergodic part of the PXP Hamiltonian is related to certain quadratic parent Hamiltonians, thereby hinting on the origin of the quantum many-body scars.
Electronic structure of liquid xenon in the context of light dark matter direct detection

Riccardo Catena, Luca Marin, Marek Matas, Nicola A. Spaldin, Einar Urdshals

SciPost Phys. 19, 064 (2025) · published 3 September 2025 | · pdf

We present a description of the electronic structure of xenon within the density-functional theory formalism with the goal of accurately modeling dark-matter-induced ionisation in liquid xenon detectors. We compare the calculated electronic structures of the atomic, liquid and crystalline solid phases, and find that the electronic charge density and its derivatives in momentum space are similar in the atom and the liquid, consistent with the weak interatomic van der Waals bonding. The only notable difference is a band broadening of the highest occupied $5p$ levels, reflected in the densities of states of the condensed phases, as a result of the inter-atomic interactions. We therefore use the calculated density of states of the liquid phase, combined with the standard literature approach for the isolated atom, to recompute ionisation rates and exclusion limit curves for the XENON10 and XENON1T experiments. We find that the broadening of the 5$p$ levels induced by the liquid phase is relevant only for dark matter masses below 6 MeV, where it increases the ionisation rate relative to that of the isolated atom. For most of the explored mass range, the energies of the discrete 4$d$ and 5$s$ levels have the strongest effect on the rate. Our findings suggest a simple scheme for calculating dark matter-electron scattering rates in liquid noble gas detectors, using the calculated values for the atom weighted by the density of states of the condensed phase.
Interpolating between the gauge and Schrödinger pictures of quantum dynamics

Sayak Guha Roy, Kevin Slagle

SciPost Phys. Core 6, 081 (2023) · published 24 November 2023 | · pdf

Although spatial locality is explicit in the Heisenberg picture of quantum dynamics, spatial locality is not explicit in the Schrödinger picture equations of motion. The gauge picture is a modification of Schrödinger's picture such that locality is explicit in the equations of motion. In order to achieve this explicit locality, the gauge picture utilizes (1) a distinct wavefunction associated with each patch of space, and (2) time-dependent unitary connections to relate the Hilbert spaces associated with nearby patches. In this work, we show that by adding an additional spatially-local term to the gauge picture equations of motion, we can effectively interpolate between the gauge and Schrödinger pictures, such that when this additional term has a large coefficient, all of the gauge picture wavefunctions approach the Schrödginer picture wavefunction (and the connections approach the identity).
Catalogue of phonon modes in several cuprate high-temperature superconductors from density functional theory

Noah J. Jabusch, Pavan Dayal, Alexander F. Kemper

SciPost Phys. Core 6, 018 (2023) · published 23 March 2023 | · pdf

Cuprates are promising candidates for study in developing higher temperature superconductors. A thorough understanding of a material's phonon modes enables further investigation of its emergent properties, however, no complete reference of the phonon modes exists. Here, using density functional theory, we evaluate the phonon frequencies and atomic displacements for $\text{La}_2\text{CuO}_4$, $\text{Bi}_2\text{Sr}_2\text{CuO}_6$, and $\text{Bi}_2\text{Sr}_2\text{CaCu}_2\text{O}_8$, in their tetragonal structures. The phonon modes for all materials agree with those expected from space group symmetry and display instabilities corresponding to known low-temperature structural phase transitions.
Electronic structure of CeAuAl$_3$ using density functional theory

André Deyerling, Marc A. Wilde, Christian Pfleiderer

SciPost Phys. Proc. 11, 008 (2023) · published 5 June 2023 | · pdf

We studied the magnetic properties and electronic structure of $CeAuAl_3$ using density functional theory. This compound shows a large Sommerfeld coefficient, a Kondo temperature, ${T_K=4\,K}$ and antiferromagnetic order below ${T_N=1.1\,K}$. We calculated the magnetic groundstate of ${CeAuAl_3}$ and the magnetic anisotropy energies. Treating the 4f-electrons as localized with DFT+U we obtain a good match with the magnetic properties observed experimentally. We also report salient features of the electronic structure of ${CeAuAl_3}$, including features of the Fermi surface and associated quantum oscillatory spectra, when the 4f-electrons are treated either as localized or itinerant.

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