Publications

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• Universal suppression of superfluid weight by non-magnetic disorder in $s$-wave superconductors independent of quantum geometry and band dispersion

  Alexander Lau, Sebastiano Peotta, Dmitry I. Pikulin, Enrico Rossi, Timo Hyart

  SciPost Phys. 13, 086 (2022) · published 7 October 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Motivated by the experimental progress in controlling the properties of the energy bands in superconductors, significant theoretical efforts have been devoted to study the effect of the quantum geometry and the flatness of the dispersion on the superfluid weight. In conventional superconductors, where the energy bands are wide and the Fermi energy is large, the contribution due to the quantum geometry is negligible, but in the opposite limit of flat-band superconductors the superfluid weight originates purely from the quantum geometry of Bloch wave functions. Here, we study how the energy band dispersion and the quantum geometry affect the disorder-induced suppression of the superfluid weight. In particular, we consider non-magnetic disorder and $s$-wave superconductivity. Surprisingly, we find that the disorder-dependence of the superfluid weight is universal across a variety of models, and independent of the quantum geometry and the flatness of the dispersion. Our results suggest that a flat-band superconductor is as resilient to disorder as a conventional superconductor.

  2 citations

• Essential renormalisation group

  Alessio Baldazzi, Riccardo Ben Alì Zinati, Kevin Falls

  SciPost Phys. 13, 085 (2022) · published 7 October 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We propose a novel scheme for the exact renormalisation group motivated by the desire of reducing the complexity of practical computations. The key idea is to specify renormalisation conditions for all inessential couplings, leaving us with the task of computing only the flow of the essential ones. To achieve this aim, we utilise a renormalisation group equation for the effective average action which incorporates general non-linear field reparameterisations. A prominent feature of the scheme is that, apart from the renormalisation of the mass, the propagator evaluated at any constant value of the field maintains its unrenormalised form. Conceptually, the simplifications can be understood as providing a description based only on quantities that enter expressions for physical observables since the redundant, non-physical content is automatically disregarded. To exemplify the scheme's utility, we investigate the Wilson-Fisher fixed point in three dimensions at order two in the derivative expansion. In this case, the scheme removes all order $\partial^2$ operators apart from the canonical term. Further simplifications occur at higher orders in the derivative expansion. Although we concentrate on a minimal scheme that reduces the complexity of computations, we propose more general schemes where inessential couplings can be tuned to optimise a given approximation. We further discuss the applicability of the scheme to a broad range of physical theories.

  7 citations

• Periodically, Quasi-periodically, and Randomly Driven Conformal Field Theories (II): Furstenberg's Theorem and Exceptions to Heating Phases

  Xueda Wen, Yingfei Gu, Ashvin Vishwanath, Ruihua Fan

  SciPost Phys. 13, 082 (2022) · published 5 October 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  In this sequel (to [Phys. Rev. Res. 3, 023044(2021)], arXiv:2006.10072), we study randomly driven $(1+1)$ dimensional conformal field theories (CFTs), a family of quantum many-body systems with soluble non-equilibrium quantum dynamics. The sequence of driving Hamiltonians is drawn from an independent and identically distributed random ensemble. At each driving step, the deformed Hamiltonian only involves the energy-momentum density spatially modulated at a single wavelength and therefore induces a M\"obius transformation on the complex coordinates. The non-equilibrium dynamics is then determined by the corresponding sequence of M\"obius transformations, from which the Lyapunov exponent $\lambda_L$ is defined. We use Furstenberg's theorem to classify the dynamical phases and show that except for a few \emph{exceptional points} that do not satisfy Furstenberg's criteria, the random drivings always lead to a heating phase with the total energy growing exponentially in the number of driving steps $n$ and the subsystem entanglement entropy growing linearly in $n$ with a slope proportional to central charge $c$ and the Lyapunov exponent $\lambda_L$. On the contrary, the subsystem entanglement entropy at an exceptional point could grow as $\sqrt{n}$ while the total energy remains to grow exponentially. In addition, we show that the distributions of the operator evolution and the energy density peaks are also useful characterizations to distinguish the heating phase from the exceptional points: the heating phase has both distributions to be continuous, while the exceptional points could support finite convex combinations of Dirac measures depending on their specific type. In the end, we compare the field theory results with the lattice model calculations for both the entanglement and energy evolution and find remarkably good agreement.

  8 citations

• Time-evolution of local information: thermalization dynamics of local observables

  Thomas Klein Kvorning, Loïc Herviou, Jens H. Bardarson

  SciPost Phys. 13, 080 (2022) · published 4 October 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Quantum many-body dynamics generically results in increasing entanglement that eventually leads to thermalization of local observables. This makes the exact description of the dynamics complex despite the apparent simplicity of (high-temperature) thermal states. For accurate but approximate simulations one needs a way to keep track of essential (quantum) information while discarding inessential one. To this end, we first introduce the concept of the information lattice, which supplements the physical spatial lattice with an additional dimension and where a local Hamiltonian gives rise to well defined locally conserved von Neumann information current. This provides a convenient and insightful way of capturing the flow, through time and space, of information during quantum time evolution, and gives a distinct signature of when local degrees of freedom decouple from long-range entanglement. As an example, we describe such decoupling of local degrees of freedom for the mixed field transverse Ising model. Building on this, we secondly construct algorithms to time-evolve sets of local density matrices without any reference to a global state. With the notion of information currents, we can motivate algorithms based on the intuition that information for statistical reasons flow from small to large scales. Using this guiding principle, we construct an algorithm that, at worst, shows two-digit convergence in time-evolutions up to very late times for diffusion process governed by the mixed field transverse Ising Hamiltonian. While we focus on dynamics in 1D with nearest-neighbor Hamiltonians, the algorithms do not essentially rely on these assumptions and can in principle be generalized to higher dimensions and more complicated Hamiltonians.

  10 citations

• An Ising model on a 3D honeycomb zigzag-ladder lattice: a solution to the ground-state problem

  Yuriy I. Dublenych, Oleg A. Petrenko

  SciPost Phys. Core 5, 047 (2022) · published 30 September 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  A complex, seven-parameter ground-state problem for an Ising model on a 3D honeycomb zigzag-ladder lattice, containing two types of magnetic sites, is considered in the presence of an external field using the method of basic rays and basic sets of cluster configurations. It is shown that the geometrical frustration due to the presence of triangle elements leads to the emergence of a large variety of magnetic phases, the majority of which are highly degenerate. The obtained theoretical results are used to elucidate the sequence of phase transitions in the family of rare-earth oxides with a honeycomb zigzag-ladder lattice. New phases predicted by our model and observed experimentally do not appear in previously considered simpler models for noninteracting zigzag-ladders.

  1 citation

• High-frequency transport and zero-sound in an array of SYK quantum dots

  Aleksey. V. Lunkin, Mikhail . V. Feigel'man

  SciPost Phys. 13, 073 (2022) · published 29 September 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We study an array of strongly correlated quantum dots of complex SYK type and account for the effects of quadratic terms added to the SYK Hamiltonian; both local terms and inter-dot tunneling are considered in the non-Fermi-liquid temperature range $T \gg T_{FL}$. We take into account soft-mode fluctuations and demonstrate their relevance for physical observables. Electric $\sigma(\omega,p)$ and thermal $\kappa(\omega,p)$ conductivities are calculated as functions of frequency and momentum for arbitrary values of the particle-hole asymmetry parameter $\mathcal{E}$. At low-frequencies $\omega \ll T$ we find the Lorenz ratio $L = \kappa(0,0)/T\sigma(0,0)$ to be non-universal and temperature-dependent. At $\omega \gg T$ the conductivity $\sigma(\omega,p)$ contains a pole with nearly linear dispersion $\omega \approx sp\sqrt{\ln\frac{\omega}{T}}$ reminiscent of the "zero-sound", known for Fermi-liquids. We demonstrate also that the developed approach makes it possible to understand the origin of heavy Fermi liquids with anomalously large Kadowaki-Woods ratio.

  2 citations

• Generalised Onsager Algebra in Quantum Lattice Models

  Yuan Miao

  SciPost Phys. 13, 070 (2022) · published 28 September 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The Onsager algebra is one of the cornerstones of exactly solvable models in statistical mechanics. Starting from the generalised Clifford algebra, we demonstrate its relations to the graph Temperley-Lieb algebra, and a generalisation of the Onsager algebra. We present a series of quantum lattice models as representations of the generalised Clifford algebra, possessing the structure of a special type of the generalised Onsager algebra. The integrability of those models is presented, analogous to the free fermionic eight-vertex model. We also mention further extensions of the models and physical properties related to the generalised Onsager algebras, hinting at a general framework that includes families of quantum lattice models possessing the structure of the generalised Onsager algebras.

  6 citations

• Topological Orders in (4+1)-Dimensions

  Theo Johnson-Freyd, Matthew Yu

  SciPost Phys. 13, 068 (2022) · published 27 September 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We investigate the Morita equivalences of (4+1)-dimensional topological orders. We show that any (4+1)-dimensional super (fermionic) topological order admits a gapped boundary condition -- in other words, all (4+1)-dimensional super topological orders are Morita trivial. As a result, there are no inherently gapless super (3+1)-dimensional theories. On the other hand, we show that there are infinitely many algebraically Morita-inequivalent bosonic (4+1)-dimensional topological orders.

  4 citations

• Mechanisms of Andreev reflection in quantum Hall graphene

  Antonio L. R. Manesco, Ian Matthias Flór, Chun-Xiao Liu, Anton R. Akhmerov

  SciPost Phys. Core 5, 045 (2022) · published 27 September 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We simulate a hybrid superconductor-graphene device in the quantum Hall regime to identify the origin of downstream resistance oscillations in a recent experiment [Zhao et. al. Nature Physics 16, (2020)]. In addition to the previously studied Mach-Zehnder interference between the valley-polarized edge states, we consider disorder-induced scattering, and the previously overlooked appearance of the counter-propagating states generated by the interface density mismatch. Comparing our results with the experiment, we conclude that the observed oscillations are induced by the interfacial disorder, and that lattice-matched superconductors are necessary to observe the alternative ballistic effects.

  12 citations

• Higher central charges and topological boundaries in 2+1-dimensional TQFTs

  Justin Kaidi, Zohar Komargodski, Kantaro Ohmori, Sahand Seifnashri, Shu-Heng Shao

  SciPost Phys. 13, 067 (2022) · published 26 September 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  A 2+1-dimensional topological quantum field theory (TQFT) may or may not admit topological (gapped) boundary conditions. A famous necessary, but not sufficient, condition for the existence of a topological boundary condition is that the chiral central charge $c_-$ has to vanish. In this paper, we consider conditions associated with "higher" central charges, which have been introduced recently in the math literature. In terms of these new obstructions, we identify necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of a topological boundary in the case of bosonic, Abelian TQFTs, providing an alternative to the identification of a Lagrangian subgroup. Our proof relies on general aspects of gauging generalized global symmetries. For non-Abelian TQFTs, we give a geometric way of studying topological boundary conditions, and explain certain necessary conditions given again in terms of the higher central charges. Along the way, we find a curious duality in the partition functions of Abelian TQFTs, which begs for an explanation via the 3d-3d correspondence.

  25 citations