Publications

Order by: publication date number of citations

• Quantized Berry winding from an emergent $\mathcal{PT}$ symmetry

  Thibaud Louvet, Pierre Delplace, Mark-Oliver Goerbig, David Carpentier

  SciPost Phys. 15, 129 (2023) · published 3 October 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Linear crossings of energy bands occur in a wide variety of materials. In this paper we address the question of the quantization of the Berry winding characterizing the topology of these crossings in dimension $D=2$. Based on the historical example of $2$-bands crossing occuring in graphene, we propose to relate these Berry windings to the topological Chern number within a $D=3$ dimensional extension of these crossings. This dimensional embedding is obtained through a choice of a gap-opening potential. We show that the presence of an (emergent) $\mathcal{PT}$ symmetry, local in momentum and antiunitary, allows the quantization of the Berry windings as multiples of $\pi$. We illustrate this quantization mechanism on a variety of three-band crossings.

• Tensor network study of the Shastry-Sutherland model with weak interlayer coupling

  Patrick C. G. Vlaar, Philippe Corboz

  SciPost Phys. 15, 126 (2023) · published 2 October 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The layered material SrCu$_2$(BO$_3$)$_2$ has long been studied because of its fascinating physics in a magnetic field and under pressure. Many of its properties are remarkably well described by the Shastry-Sutherland model (SSM) - a two-dimensional frustrated spin system. However, the extent of the intermediate plaquette phase discovered in SrCu$_2$(BO$_3$)$_2$ under pressure is significantly smaller than predicted in theory, which is likely due to the weak interlayer coupling that is present in the material but neglected in the model. Using state-of-the-art tensor network methods we study the SSM with a weak interlayer coupling and show that the intermediate plaquette phase is destabilized already at a smaller value around $J''/J\sim0.04-0.05$ than previously predicted from series expansion. Based on our phase diagram we estimate the effective interlayer coupling in SrCu$_2$(BO$_3$)$_2$ to be around $J''/J\sim 0.027$ at ambient pressure.

• Symmetries and topological operators, on average

  Andrea Antinucci, Giovanni Galati, Giovanni Rizi, Marco Serone

  SciPost Phys. 15, 125 (2023) · published 29 September 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We study Ward identities and selection rules for local correlators in disordered theories where a 0-form global symmetry of a QFT is explicitly broken by a random coupling $h$ but it re-emerges after quenched average. We consider $h$ space-dependent or constant. In both cases we construct the symmetry operator implementing the group action, topological after average. In the first case, relevant in statistical systems with random impurities, such symmetries can be coupled to external backgrounds and can be gauged, like ordinary symmetries in QFTs. We also determine exotic selection rules arising when symmetries emerge after average in the IR, explaining the origin of LogCFTs from symmetry considerations. In the second case, relevant in AdS/CFT to describe the dual boundary theory of certain bulk gravitational theories, the charge operator is not purely codimension-1, it can be defined only on homologically trivial cycles and on connected spaces. Selection rules for average correlators exist, yet such symmetries cannot be coupled to background gauge fields in ordinary ways and cannot be gauged. When the space is disconnected, in each connected component charge violation occurs, as expected from Euclidean wormholes in the bulk theory. Our findings show the obstruction to interpret symmetries emergent after average as gauged in the bulk.

• Logarithmic negativity in out-of-equilibrium open free-fermion chains: An exactly solvable case

  Vincenzo Alba, Federico Carollo

  SciPost Phys. 15, 124 (2023) · published 29 September 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We derive the quasiparticle picture for the fermionic logarithmic negativity in a tight-binding chain subject to gain and loss dissipation. We focus on the dynamics after the quantum quench from the fermionic Néel state. We consider the negativity between both adjacent and disjoint intervals embedded in an infinite chain. Our result holds in the standard hydrodynamic limit of large subsystems and long times, with their ratio fixed. Additionally, we consider the weakly-dissipative limit, in which the dissipation rates are inversely proportional to the size of the intervals. We show that the negativity is proportional to the number of entangled pairs of quasiparticles that are shared between the two intervals, as is the case for the mutual information. Crucially, in contrast with the unitary case, the negativity content of quasiparticles is not given by the Rényi entropy with Rényi index $1/2$, and it is in general not easily related to thermodynamic quantities.

  4 citations

• Unifying constructions of non-invertible symmetries

  Lakshya Bhardwaj, Sakura Schäfer-Nameki, Apoorv Tiwari

  SciPost Phys. 15, 122 (2023) · published 28 September 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  In the past year several constructions of non-invertible symmetries in Quantum Field Theory in $d≥3$ have appeared. In this paper we provide a unified perspective on these constructions. Central to this framework are so-called theta defects, which generalize the notion of theta-angles, and allow the construction of universal and non-universal topological symmetry defects. We complement this physical analysis by proposing a mathematical framework (based on higher-fusion categories) that converts the physical construction of non-invertible symmetries into a concrete computational scheme.

  20 citations

• Quantum oscillations in an impurity-band Anderson insulator

  Nigel R. Cooper, Jack Kelsall

  SciPost Phys. 15, 118 (2023) · published 27 September 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We show that for a system of localized electrons in an impurity band, which form an Anderson insulating state at zero temperature, there can appear quantum oscillations of the magnetization, i.e. the Anderson insulator can exhibit the de Haas-van Alphen effect. This is possible when the electronic band from which the localized states are formed has an extremum that traces out a nonzero area in reciprocal space. Our work extends existing theories for clean band insulators of this form to the situation where they host an impurity band. We show that the energies of these impurity levels oscillate with magnetic field, and compute the conditions under which these oscillations can dominate the de Haas-van Alphen effect. We discuss our results in connection with experimental measurements of quantum oscillations in Kondo insulators, and propose other experimental systems where the impurity band contribution can be dominant.

• Pfaffian invariant identifies magnetic obstructed atomic insulators

  Isidora Araya Day, Anastasiia Varentcova, Daniel Varjas, Anton R. Akhmerov

  SciPost Phys. 15, 114 (2023) · published 25 September 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We derive a $\mathbb{Z}_4$ topological invariant that extends beyond symmetry eigenvalues and Wilson loops and classifies two-dimensional insulators with a $C_4 \mathcal{T}$ symmetry. To formulate this invariant, we consider an irreducible Brillouin zone and constrain the spectrum of the open Wilson lines that compose its boundary. We fix the gauge ambiguity of the Wilson lines by using the Pfaffian at high symmetry momenta. As a result, we distinguish the four $C_4 \mathcal{T}$-protected atomic insulators, each of which is adiabatically connected to a different atomic limit. We establish the correspondence between the invariant and the obstructed phases by constructing both the atomic limit Hamiltonians and a $C_4 \mathcal{T}$-symmetric model that interpolates between them. The phase diagram shows that $C_4 \mathcal{T}$ insulators allow $\pm 1$ and $2$ changes of the invariant, where the latter is overlooked by symmetry indicators.

• First-order photon condensation in magnetic cavities: A two-leg ladder model

  Zeno Bacciconi, Gian M. Andolina, Titas Chanda, Giuliano Chiriacò, Marco Schirò, Marcello Dalmonte

  SciPost Phys. 15, 113 (2023) · published 25 September 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We consider a model of free fermions in a ladder geometry coupled to a non-uniform cavity mode via Peierls substitution. Since the cavity mode generates a magnetic field, no-go theorems on spontaneous photon condensation do not apply, and we indeed observe a phase transition to a photon condensed phase characterized by finite circulating currents, alternatively referred to as the equilibrium superradiant phase. We consider both square and triangular ladder geometries, and characterize the transition by studying the energy structure of the system, light-matter entanglement, the properties of the photon mode, and chiral currents. The transition is of first order and corresponds to a sudden change in the fermionic band structure as well as the number of its Fermi points. Thanks to the quasi-one dimensional geometry we scrutinize the accuracy of (mean field) cavity-matter decoupling against large scale density-matrix renormalization group simulations. We find that light-matter entanglement is essential for capturing corrections to matter properties at finite sizes and for the description of the correct photon state. The latter remains Gaussian in the the thermodynamic limit both in the normal and photon condensed phases.

  4 citations

• Exact effective action for the O(N) vector model in the large N limit

  Han Ma, Sung-Sik Lee

  SciPost Phys. 15, 111 (2023) · published 22 September 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We present the Wilsonian effective action as a solution of the exact RG equation for the critical $O(N)$ vector model in the large $N$ limit. Below four dimensions, the exact effective action can be expressed in a closed form as a transcendental function of two leading scaling operators with infinitely many derivatives. From the exact solution that describes the RG flow from a UV theory to the fixed point theory in the IR, we obtain the mapping between UV operators and IR scaling operators. It is shown that IR scaling operators are given by sums of infinitely many UV operators with infinitely many derivatives.

• Electron addition spectral functions of low-density polaron liquids

  Alberto Nocera, Mona Berciu

  SciPost Phys. 15, 110 (2023) · published 22 September 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Spectral functions are important quantities that contain a wealth of information about the quasiparticles of a system, and that can also be measured experimentally. For systems with electron-phonon coupling, good approximations for the spectral function are available only in the Migdal limit (at Fermi energies much larger than the typical phonon frequency, $E_F\gg \Omega$, requiring a large carrier concentration $x$) and in the single polaron limit (at $x=0$). Here we show that the region with $x\ll 1$ ($E_F <\Omega$) can also be reliably investigated with the Momentum Average (MA) variational approximation, which essentially describes the formation of a polaron above an inert Fermi sea. Specifically, we show that for the one-dimensional spinless Holstein model, the MA spectral functions compare favorably with those calculated using variationally exact density matrix renormalization group simulations (DMRG) evaluated directly in frequency-space, so long as $x<0.1$ and the adiabaticity ratio $\Omega/t>0.5$. Unlike in the Migdal limit, here 'polaronic physics' emerges already at moderate couplings. The relevance of these results for a spinful low-$x$ metal is also discussed.