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Emergent Ashkin-Teller criticality in a constrained boson model
by Anirudha Menon, Anwesha Chattopadhyay, K. Sengupta, Arnab Sen
Submission summary
Authors (as registered SciPost users): | Krishnendu Sengupta |
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Preprint Link: | https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.12107v3 (pdf) |
Date submitted: | 2024-08-08 03:38 |
Submitted by: | Sengupta, Krishnendu |
Submitted to: | SciPost Physics |
Ontological classification | |
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Academic field: | Physics |
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Approach: | Theoretical |
Abstract
We show, via explicit computation on a constrained bosonic model, that the presence of subsystem symmetries can lead to a quantum phase transition (QPT) where the critical point exhibits an emergent enhanced symmetry. Such a transition separates a unique gapped ground state from a gapless one; the latter phase exhibits a broken $Z_2$ symmetry which we tie to the presence of the subsystem symmetries in the model. The intermediate critical point separating these phases exhibits an additional emergent $Z_2$ symmetry which we identify; this emergence leads to a critical theory in the Ashkin-Teller, instead of the expected Ising, universality class. We show that the transitions of the model reproduces the Askhin-Teller critical line with variable correlation length exponent $\nu$ but constant central charge $c$. We verify this scenario via explicit exact-diagonalization computations, provide an effective Landau-Ginzburg theory for such a transition, and discuss the connection of our model to the PXP model describing Rydberg atom arrays.
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Anonymous on 2024-09-12 [id 4768]
I apologize for not being able to review this paper.
I went through it and my main concern is that the claimed Z2 phase is in fact Z4. Selected boundary conditions might prevent the authors from seeing the true bulk degeneracy, in particular, on such small clusters. Said this, the appearance of the Ashkin-Teller transition is therefore not surprising. Furthermore, as the authors do not include longer-range interactions, it is also natural that the transition remains conformal.