Topological phase transitions driven by gauge fields in an exactly solvable model

2010/03/31 by Ville Lahtinen, Jiannis K. Pachos · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #cond-mat.str-el #cond-mat.mes-hall #hep-th

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevb.81.245132

published as Phys.Rev.B81:245132,2010 · 5 pages, 5 figures, published version

arxiv created 2010/07/01 · arxiv updated 2014/11/20

Abstract

We demonstrate the existence of a new topologically ordered phase in Kitaev's honeycomb lattice model. This new phase appears due to the presence of a vortex lattice and it supports chiral Abelian anyons. We characterize the phase by its low-energy behavior that is described by a distinct number of Dirac fermions. We identify two physically distinct types of topological phase transitions and obtain analytically the critical behavior of the extended phase space. The Fermi surface evolution associated with the transitions is shown to be due to the Dirac fermions coupling to chiral gauge fields. Finally, we describe how the new phase can be understood in terms of interactions between the anyonic vortices.

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• Exact Organization of Density Matrices and Entanglement Structure in the Kitaev Spin Liquid

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