arXiv subjects

Alexander Nersesyan

Publications and source records attributed to Alexander Nersesyan.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Critical bifurcation and deconfined quantum criticality in an interacting cluster Ising chain

We investigate the cluster Ising chain with an additional nearest-neighbor interaction using tensor-network methods and a weak-coupling field theory. Without the interaction, the Jordan-Wigner transformation decomposes the model into a triplet of identical Majorana chains related by an exact $O(3)$ flavor symmetry. Their common mass vanishes at the $SU(2)_2$ Wess-Zumino-Novikov-Witten critical point with central charge $c = 3/2$ separating the symmetry-protected topological cluster phase from a ferromagnet. The interaction reduces $O(3)$ to its cyclic subgroup $C_3$, splitting the triplet into a singlet and a doublet whose gaps close separately, producing a critical bifurcation into Ising ($c = 1/2$) and Gaussian ($c = 1$) critical lines. A second ferromagnetic phase opens between these critical lines for repulsive interactions and a disordered phase for attractive ones. The Gaussian line then separates two Landau-incompatible ferromagnets, realizing a deconfined quantum critical line with emergent $O(2)$ symmetry, along which our independently extracted exponents vary continuously yet satisfy the parameter-free relation $β= (2ν- 1)/4$ of the eight-vertex weak universality class. At stronger repulsion this line opens into an extended gapless floating phase with incommensurate algebraic correlations, entered through Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transitions. All of these phases and the transitions between them are captured by the weak-coupling theory. Beyond its regime of validity, our simulations reveal a translation-symmetry-breaking antiferromagnet reached through first-order transitions.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2023

Emergence of non-Abelian SU(2) invariance in Abelian frustrated fermionic ladders

We consider a system of interacting spinless fermions on a two-leg triangular ladder with $π/2$ magnetic flux per triangular plaquette. Microscopically, the system exhibits a U(1) symmetry corresponding to the conservation of total fermionic charge, and a discrete $\mathbb{Z}_2$ symmetry -- a product of parity transformation and chain permutation. Using bosonization, we show that, in the low-energy limit, the system is described by the quantum double-frequency sine-Gordon model. On the basis of this correspondence, a rich phase diagram of the system is obtained. It includes trivial and topological band insulators for weak interactions, separated by a Gaussian critical line, whereas at larger interactions a strongly correlated phase with spontaneously broken $\mathbb{Z}_2$ symmetry sets in, exhibiting a net charge imbalance and non-zero total current. At the intersection of the three phases, the system features a critical point with an emergent SU(2) symmetry. This non-Abelian symmetry, absent in the microscopic description, is realized at low-energies as a combined effect of the magnetic flux, frustration, and many-body correlations. The criticality belongs to the SU(2)$_1$ Wess-Zumino-Novikov-Witten universality class. The critical point bifurcates into two Ising critical lines that separate the band insulators from the strong-coupling symmetry broken phase. We establish an analytical connection between the low-energy description of our model around the critical bifurcation point on one hand, and the Ashkin-Teller model and a weakly dimerized XXZ spin-1/2 chain on the other. We complement our field-theory understanding via tensor network simulations, providing compelling quantitative evidences of all bosonization predictions. Our findings are of interest to up-to-date cold atom experiments utilizing Rydberg dressing, that have already demonstrated correlated ladder dynamics.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2022

Spectrum, Lifshitz transitions and orbital currents in frustrated fermionic ladders with a uniform flux

Ultracold Fermi gases with synthetic gauge field represent an excellent platform to study the combined effect of lattice frustration and an effective magnetic flux close to one flux quantum per particle. The minimal theoretical model to accomplish this task is a system of spinless noninteracting fermions on a triangular two-chain flux ladder. In this paper we consider this model close to half-filling, with interchain hopping amplitudes alternating along the zigzag bonds of the ladder and being small. In such setting qualitative changes in the ground state properties of the model, most notably the flux-induced topological Lifshitz transitions are shifted towards the values of the flux per a diatomic plaquette ($f$) close to the flux quantum ($f\sim 1/2$). Geometrical frustration of the lattice breaks the $k \to π- k$ particle-hole spectral symmetry present in non-frustrated ladders, and leads to splitting of the degeneracies at metal-insulator transitions. A remarkable feature of a translationally invariant triangular ladder is the appearance of isolated Dirac node at the Brillouin zone boundary, rendering the ground state at $f=1/2$ semi-metallic. We calculate the flux dependence of the orbital current and identify Lifshitz critical points by the singularities in this dependence at a constant chemical potential $μ$ and constant particle density $ρ$. The absence of the particle-hole symmetry in the triangular ladder leads to the asymmetry between particle ($ρ>1$) and hole ($ρ<1$) doping and to qualitatively different results for the phase diagram, Lifshitz points and the flux dependence of the orbital current in the settings $ρ={\rm const}$ and $μ={\rm const}$.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2022

Phase diagram of Rydberg-dressed atoms on two-leg triangular ladders

Dressed Rydberg atoms in optical lattices are a promising platform for the quantum simulation of intriguing phenomena emerging in strongly interacting systems. Relevant to such a setup, we investigate the phase diagram of hard-core bosons in a triangular ladder with next-to-nearest-neighbor interaction along each leg and nearest-neighbors interactions without hopping between the legs. For weak interactions, Abelian bosonization predicts a spin density wave and a fully gapless Luttinger liquid phase. Such liquids transition to a 'spin-locked' cluster Luttinger liquid at strong interactions along each leg, as predicted by cluster bosonization. Interestingly, the competition with the zigzag interaction generates a charge density wave, a 'polarized holonic' phase, and a crystalline phase at the filling 2/5, that we address via semi-classical perturbative approach. Exact diagonalization and density matrix renormalization group simulations confirm the predictions and further characterize the phases and their transitions.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2022

Phase diagram of Rydberg-dressed atoms on two-leg square ladders: Coupling supersymmetric conformal field theories on the lattice

We investigate the phase diagram of hard-core bosons in two-leg ladders in the presence of soft-shoulder potentials. We show how the competition between local and non-local terms gives rise to a phase diagram with liquid phases with dominant cluster, spin-, and density-wave quasi-long-range ordering. These phases are separated by Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless, Gaussian, and supersymmetric (SUSY) quantum critical transitions. For the latter, we provide a phenomenological description of coupled SUSY conformal field theories, whose predictions are confirmed by matrix-product state simulations. Our results are motivated by, and directly relevant to, recent experiments with Rydberg-dressed atoms in optical lattices, where ladder dynamics has already been demonstrated, and emphasize the capabilities of these setups to investigate exotic quantum phenomena such as cluster liquids and coupled SUSY conformal field theories.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2011

Quantum phase transitions in a strongly entangled spin-orbital chain: A field-theoretical approach

Motivated by recent experiments on quasi-1D vanadium oxides, we study quantum phase transitions in a one-dimensional spin-orbital model describing a Haldane chain and a classical Ising chain locally coupled by the relativistic spin-orbit interaction. By employing a field-theoretical approach, we analyze the topology of the ground-state phase diagram and identify the nature of the phase transitions. In the strong coupling limit, a long-range Néel order of entangled spin and orbital angular momentum appears in the ground state. We find that, depending on the relative scales of the spin and orbital gaps, the linear chain follows two distinct routes to reach the Néel state. First, when the orbital exchange is the dominating energy scale, a two-stage ordering takes place in which the magnetic transition is followed by melting of the orbital Ising order; both transitions belong to the two-dimensional Ising universality class. In the opposite limit, the low-energy orbital modes undergo a continuous reordering transition which represents a line of Gaussian critical points. On this line the orbital degrees of freedom form a Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid. We argue that the emergence of the Gaussian criticality results from merging of the two Ising transitions in the strong hybridization region where the characteristic spin and orbital energy scales become comparable. Finally, we show that, due to the spin-orbit coupling, an external magnetic field acting on the spins can induce an orbital Ising transition.

cond-mat.str-el↗