Publications

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• Strong Hilbert space fragmentation via emergent quantum drums in two dimensions

  Anwesha Chattopadhyay, Bhaskar Mukherjee, Krishnendu Sengupta, Arnab Sen

  SciPost Phys. 14, 146 (2023) · published 7 June 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We introduce a disorder-free model of $S=1/2$ spins on the square lattice in a constrained Hilbert space where two up-spins are not allowed simultaneously on any two neighboring sites of the lattice. The interactions are given by ring-exchange terms on elementary plaquettes that conserve both the total magnetization as well as dipole moment. We show that this model provides a tractable example of strong Hilbert space fragmentation in two dimensions with typical initial states evading thermalization with respect to the full Hilbert space. Given any product state, the system can be decomposed into disjoint spatial regions made of edge and/or vertex sharing plaquettes that we dub as "quantum drums". These quantum drums come in many shapes and sizes and specifying the plaquettes that belong to a drum fixes its spectrum. The spectra of some small drums is calculated analytically. We study two bigger quasi-one-dimensional drums numerically, dubbed "wire" and a "junction of two wires" respectively. We find that these possess a chaotic spectrum but also support distinct families of quantum many-body scars that cause periodic revivals from different initial states. The wire is shown to be equivalent to the one-dimensional PXP chain with open boundaries, a paradigmatic model for quantum many-body scarring; while the junction of two wires represents a distinct constrained model.

  7 citations

• Loops in 4+1d topological phases

  Xie Chen, Arpit Dua, Po-Shen Hsin, Chao-Ming Jian, Wilbur Shirley, Cenke Xu

  SciPost Phys. 15, 001 (2023) · published 6 July 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  2+1d topological phases are well characterized by the fusion rules and braiding/exchange statistics of fractional point excitations. In 4+1d, some topological phases contain only fractional loop excitations. What kind of loop statistics exist? We study the 4+1d gauge theory with 2-form $\mathbb{Z}_2$ gauge field (the loop-only toric code) and find that while braiding statistics between two different types of loops can be nontrivial, the self "exchange" statistics are all trivial. In particular, we show that the electric, magnetic, and dyonic loop excitations in the 4+1d toric code are not distinguished by their self-statistics. They tunnel into each other across 3+1d invertible domain walls which in turn give explicit unitary circuits that map the loop excitations into each other. The SL(2,$\mathbb{Z}_2$) symmetry that permutes the loops, however, cannot be consistently gauged and we discuss the associated obstruction in the process. Moreover, we discuss a gapless boundary condition dubbed the "fractional Maxwell theory" and show how it can be Higgsed into gapped boundary conditions. We also discuss the generalization of these results from the $\mathbb{Z}_2$ gauge group to $\mathbb{Z}_N$.

  7 citations

• Shot noise distinguishes Majorana fermions from vortices injected in the edge mode of a chiral p-wave superconductor

  C. W. J. Beenakker, D. O. Oriekhov

  SciPost Phys. 9, 080 (2020) · published 23 November 2020 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The chiral edge modes of a topological superconductor support two types of excitations: fermionic quasiparticles known as Majorana fermions and $\pi$-phase domain walls known as edge vortices. Edge vortices are injected pairwise into counter-propagating edge modes by a flux bias or voltage bias applied to a Josephson junction. An unpaired edge mode carries zero electrical current on average, but there are time-dependent current fluctuations. We calculate the shot noise power produced by a sequence of edge vortices and find that it increases logarithmically with their spacing - even if the spacing is much larger than the core size so the vortices do not overlap. This nonlocality produces an anomalous V log V increase of the shot noise in a voltage-biased geometry, which serves as a distinguishing feature in comparison with the linear-in-V Majorana fermion shot noise.

  7 citations

• Finite-size corrections for universal boundary entropy in bond percolation

  Jan de Gier, Jesper Lykke Jacobsen, Anita Ponsaing

  SciPost Phys. 1, 012 (2016) · published 19 December 2016 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We compute the boundary entropy for bond percolation on the square lattice in the presence of a boundary loop weight, and prove explicit and exact expressions on a strip and on a cylinder of size $L$. For the cylinder we provide a rigorous asymptotic analysis which allows for the computation of finite-size corrections to arbitrary order. For the strip we provide exact expressions that have been verified using high-precision numerical analysis. Our rigorous and exact results corroborate an argument based on conformal field theory, in particular concerning universal logarithmic corrections for the case of the strip due to the presence of corners in the geometry. We furthermore observe a crossover at a special value of the boundary loop weight.

  7 citations

• Elaborating the phase diagram of spin-1 anyonic chains

  Eric Vernier, Jesper Lykke Jacobsen, Hubert Saleur

  SciPost Phys. 2, 004 (2017) · published 21 February 2017 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We revisit the phase diagram of spin-1 $su(2)_k$ anyonic chains, originally studied by Gils {\it et. al.} [Phys. Rev. B, {\bf 87} (23) (2013)]. These chains possess several integrable points, which were overlooked (or only briefly considered) so far. Exploiting integrability through a combination of algebraic techniques and exact Bethe ansatz results, we establish in particular the presence of new first order phase transitions, a new critical point described by a $Z_k$ parafermionic CFT, and of even more phases than originally conjectured. Our results leave room for yet more progress in the understanding of spin-1 anyonic chains.

  7 citations

• Lecture notes on Berry phases and topology

  Barry Bradlyn, Mikel Iraola

  SciPost Phys. Lect. Notes 51 (2022) · published 11 May 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  In these notes, we review the role of Berry phases and topology in noninteracting electron systems. Topics including the adiabatic theorem, parallel transport, and Wannier functions are reviewed, with a focus on the connection to topological insulators.

  6 citations

• Multipole theory of optical spatial dispersion in crystals

  Óscar Pozo Ocaña, Ivo Souza

  SciPost Phys. 14, 118 (2023) · published 17 May 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Natural optical activity is the paradigmatic example of an effect originating in the weak spatial inhomogeneity of the electromagnetic field on the atomic scale. In molecules, such effects are well described by the multipole theory of electromagnetism, where the coupling to light is treated semiclassically beyond the electric-dipole approximation. That theory has two shortcomings: it is limited to bounded systems, and its building blocks -the multipole transition moments- are origin dependent. In this work, we recast the multipole theory in a translationally-invariant form that remains valid for crystals. Working in the independent-particle approximation, we introduce "intrinsic" multipole transition moments that are origin independent and transform covariantly under gauge transformations of the Bloch eigenstates. Electric-dipole transitions are given by the interband Berry connection, while magnetic-dipole and electric-quadrupole transitions are described by matrix generalizations of the intrinsic magnetic moment and quantum metric. In addition to multipole-like terms, the response of crystals at first order in the wavevector of light contains band-dispersion terms that have no counterpart in molecular theories. The full response is broken down into magnetoelectric and quadrupolar parts, which can be isolated in the static limit where electric and magnetic fields become decoupled. The rotatory-strength sum rule for crystals is found to be equivalent to the topological constraint for a vanishing chiral magnetic effect in equilibrium, and the formalism is validated by numerical tight-binding calculations.

  6 citations

• Creating better superconductors by periodic nanopatterning

  Milan P. Allan, Mark H. Fischer, Oliver Ostojic, Arjo Andringa

  SciPost Phys. 3, 010 (2017) · published 10 August 2017 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The quest to create superconductors with higher transition temperatures is as old as superconductivity itself. One strategy, popular after the realization that (conventional) superconductivity is mediated by phonons, is to chemically combine different elements within the crystalline unit cell to maximize the electron-phonon coupling. This led to the discovery of NbTi and Nb3Sn, to name just the most technologically relevant examples. Here, we propose a radically different approach to transform a `pristine' material into a better (meta-) superconductor by making use of modern fabrication techniques: designing and engineering the electronic properties of thin films via periodic patterning on the nanoscale. We present a model calculation to explore the key effects of different supercells that could be fabricated using nanofabrication or deliberate lattice mismatch, and demonstrate that specific pattern will enhance the coupling and the transition temperature. We also discuss how numerical methods could predict the correct design parameters to improve superconductivity in materials including Al, NbTi, and MgB2

  6 citations

• Interacting edge states of fermionic symmetry-protected topological phases in two dimensions

  Joseph Sullivan, Meng Cheng

  SciPost Phys. 9, 016 (2020) · published 5 August 2020 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Recently, it has been found that there exist symmetry-protected topological phases of fermions, which have no realizations in non-interacting fermionic systems or bosonic models. We study the edge states of such an intrinsically interacting fermionic SPT phase in two spatial dimensions, protected by $\mathbb{Z}_4\times\mathbb{Z}_2^T$ symmetry. We model the edge Hilbert space by replacing the internal $\mathbb{Z}_4$ symmetry with a spatial translation symmetry, and design an exactly solvable Hamiltonian for the edge model. We show that at low-energy the edge can be described by a two-component Luttinger liquid, with nontrivial symmetry transformations that can only be realized in strongly interacting systems. We further demonstrate the symmetry-protected gaplessness under various perturbations, and the bulk-edge correspondence in the theory.

  6 citations

• Exact solution for the Lindbladian dynamics for the open XX spin chain with boundary dissipation

  Kohei Yamanaka, Tomohiro Sasamoto

  SciPost Phys. 14, 112 (2023) · published 15 May 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We obtain exact formulas for the time-dependence of a few physical observables for the open XX spin chain with Lindbladian dynamics. Our analysis is based on the fact that the Lindblad equation for an arbitrary open quadratic system of $N$ fermions is explicitly solved in terms of diagonalization of a $4N\times4N$ matrix called structure matrix by following the scheme of the third quantization. We mainly focus on the time-dependence of magnetization and spin current. As a short-time behavior at a given site, we observe the plateau regime except near the center of the chain. Basic features of this are explained by the light-cone structure created by propagations of boundary effects from the initial time, but we can explain their more detailed properties analytically using our exact formulas. On the other hand, after the plateau regime, the magnetization and spin current exhibit a slow decay to the steady state values described by the Liouvillian gap. We analytically establish its $O(N^{-3})$ scaling and also determine its coefficient.

  6 citations