2018/07/31 by Xiao Yan Xu, Yang Qi, Long Zhang +3 · 90 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Condensed Matter Physics #Condensed matter physics #Deconfinement #Gauge theory #Lattice gauge theory #Monte Carlo method #Phase transition #Physics #Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism #Quantum #Quantum Monte Carlo #Quantum many-body systems #Quantum mechanics #Quantum phase transition #Quantum phases #Quantum spin liquid #Theoretical physics #Topological quantum computer #cond-mat.str-el #hep-lat
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevx.9.021022
published in Physical Review X 9(2) (American Physical Society) · 16 pages, 16 figures
openalex created_date 2018/08/03 · openalex publication_date 2019/05/02 · arxiv created 2019/05/03 · arxiv updated 2019/05/06 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
The interplay between lattice gauge theories and fermionic matter accounts for fundamental physical phenomena ranging from the deconfinement of quarks in particle physics to quantum spin liquid with fractionalized anyons and emergent gauge structures in condensed matter physics. However, except for certain limits (for instance, a large number of flavors of matter fields), analytical methods can provide few concrete results. Here we show that the problem of compact U1 lattice gauge theory coupled to fermionic matter in 2 1D is possible to access via sign-problem-free quantum Monte Carlo simulations. One can hence map out the phase diagram as a function of fermion flavors and the strength of gauge fluctuations. By increasing the coupling constant of the gauge field, gauge confinement in the form of various spontaneous-symmetrybreaking phases such as the valence-bond solid (VBS) and Nel antiferromagnet emerge. Deconfined phases with algebraic spin and VBS correlation functions are also observed. Such deconfined phases are incarnations of exotic states of matter, i.e., the algebraic spin liquid, which is generally viewed as the parent state of various quantum phases. The phase transitions between the deconfined and confined phases, as well as that between the different confined phases provide various manifestations of deconfined quantum criticality. In particular, for four flavors N f 4, our data suggest a continuous quantum phase transition between the VBS and Nel order. We also provide preliminary theoretical analysis for these quantum phase transitions.