2020/07/31 by Matteo Baggioli, Dimitrios Giataganas · 32 citations
Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Amplitude damping channel #Black Holes and Theoretical Physics #Critical point (mathematics) #Geometry #Mathematics #Phase transition #Physics #Quantum #Quantum critical point #Quantum discord #Quantum entanglement #Quantum many-body systems #Quantum mechanics #Quantum phase transition #Quantum phases #Theoretical physics #Topological Materials and Phenomena #Topological order #Topology (electrical circuits) #cond-mat.stat-mech #cond-mat.str-el #hep-th #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.103.026009
published in Physical review. D/Physical review. D. 103(2) (American Physical Society) · v2: matching the published version in PRD
openalex publication_date 2021/01/11 · arxiv created 2021/01/12 · arxiv updated 2021/01/20 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We propose the c-function as a new and accurate probe to detect the location of topological quantum critical points. As a direct application, we consider a holographic model which exhibits a topological quantum phase transition between a topologically trivial insulating phase and a gapless Weyl semimetal. The quantum critical point displays a strong Lifshitz-like anisotropy in the spatial directions, and the quantum phase transition does not follow the standard Landau paradigm. The c-function robustly shows a global feature at the quantum criticality and distinguishes, with great accuracy, the two separate zero temperature phases. Taking into account the relation of the c-function with the entanglement entropy, we conjecture that our proposal is a general feature of quantum phase transitions and that it is applicable beyond the holographic framework.