arXiv subjects

Fakher F. Assaad

Publications and source records attributed to Fakher F. Assaad.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

arXiv2019

Electronic Ground State in Bilayer Graphene with Realistic Coulomb Interactions

Both insulating and conducting electronic behaviors have been experimentally seen in clean bilayer graphene samples at low temperature, and there is still no consensus on the nature of the interacting ground state at half-filling and in the absence of a magnetic field. Theoretically, several possibilities for the insulating ground states have been predicted for weak interaction strength. However, a recent renormalization-group calculation on a Hubbard model for charge-neutral bilayer graphene with short-range interactions suggests the emergence of low-energy Dirac fermions that would stabilize the metallic phase for weak interactions. Using a non-perturbative projective quantum Monte Carlo, we calculate the ground state for bilayer graphene using a realistic model for the Coulomb interaction that includes both short-range and long-range contributions. We find that a finite critical onsite interaction is needed to gap bilayer graphene, thereby confirming the Hubbard model expectations even in the presence of a long-range Coulomb potential, in agreement with our theoretical renormalization group analysis. In addition, we also find that the critical onsite interactions necessary to destabilize the metallic ground state decreases with increasing interlayer coupling.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2019

Emergent Coherent Lattice Behavior in Kondo Nanosystems

How many magnetic moments periodically arranged on a metallic surface are needed to generate a coherent Kondo lattice behavior? We investigate this fundamental issue within the particle-hole symmetric Kondo lattice model using quantum Monte Carlo simulations. Extra magnetic atoms forming closed shells around the initial impurity induce a fast splitting of the Kondo resonance at the inner shells which signals the formation of composite heavy-fermion bands. The onset of the hybridization gap matches well the enhancement of antiferromagnetic spin correlations in the plane perpendicular to the applied magnetic field, a genuine feature of the coherent Kondo lattice. In contrast, the outermost shell remains dominated by a local Kondo physics with spectral features resembling the single-impurity behavior.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2018

Entanglement Hamiltonian of Interacting Fermionic Models

Recent numerical advances in the field of strongly correlated electron systems allow the calculation of the entanglement spectrum and entropies for interacting fermionic systems. An explicit determination of the entanglement (modular) Hamiltonian has proven to be a considerably more difficult problem, and only a few results are available. We introduce a technique to directly determine the entanglement Hamiltonian of interacting fermionic models by means of auxiliary field quantum Monte Carlo simulations. We implement our method on the one-dimensional Hubbard chain partitioned into two segments and on the Hubbard two-leg ladder partitioned into two chains. In both cases, we study the evolution of the entanglement Hamiltonian as a function of the physical temperature.

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arXiv2018

Superconductivity from the Condensation of Topological Defects in a Quantum Spin-Hall Insulator

The discovery that spin-orbit coupling can generate a new state of matter in the form of quantum spin-Hall (QSH) insulators has brought topology to the forefront of condensed matter physics. While QSH states from spin-orbit coupling can be fully understood in terms of band theory, fascinating many-body effects are expected if the state instead results from interaction-generated symmetry breaking. In particular, topological defects of the corresponding order parameter provide a route to exotic quantum phase transitions. Here, we introduce a model in which the condensation of skyrmion defects in an interaction-generated QSH insulator produces a superconducting (SC) phase. Because vortex excitations of the latter carry a spin-$1/2$ degree of freedom numbers, the SC order may be understood as emerging from a gapless spin liquid normal state. The QSH-SC transition is an example of a deconfined quantum critical point (DQCP), for which we provide an improved model with only a single length scale that is accessible to large-scale quantum Monte Carlo simulations.

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arXiv2018

Kondo Breakdown via Fractionalization in a Frustrated Kondo Lattice Model

We consider Dirac electrons on the honeycomb lattice Kondo coupled to spin-1/2 degrees of freedom on the kagome lattice. The interactions between the spins are chosen along the lines of the Balents-Fisher-Girvin model that is known to host a $\mathbb{Z}_2$ spin liquid and a ferromagnetic phase. The model is amenable to sign free auxiliary field quantum Monte Carlo simulations. While in the ferromagnetic phase the Dirac electrons acquire a gap, they remain massless in the $\mathbb{Z}_2$ spin liquid phase due to the breakdown of Kondo screening. Since our model has an odd number of spins per unit cell, this phase is a non-Fermi liquid that violates the conventional Luttinger theorem which relates the Fermi surface volume to the particle density in a Fermi liquid. This non-Fermi liquid is a specific realization of the so called fractionalized Fermi liquid proposed in the context of heavy fermions. We probe the Kondo breakdown in this non-Fermi liquid phase via conventional observables such as the spectral function, and also by studying the mutual information between the electrons and the spins.

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arXiv2018

Half-filled Landau levels: a continuum and sign-free regularization for 3D quantum critical points

We explore a method for regulating 2+1D quantum critical points in which the ultra-violet cutoff is provided by the finite density of states of particles in a magnetic field, rather than by a lattice. Such Landau level quantization allows for numerical computations on arbitrary manifolds, like spheres, without introducing lattice defects. In particular, when half-filling a Landau level with $N=4$ electron flavors, with appropriate interaction anisotropies in flavor space, we obtain a fully continuum regularization of the O(5) non-linear sigma-model with a topological term, which has been conjectured to flow to a deconfined quantum critical point. We demonstrate that this model can be solved by both infinite density matrix renormalization group calculations and sign-free determinantal quantum Monte Carlo. DMRG calculations estimate the scaling dimension of the O(5) vector operator to be in the range $Δ_V \sim 0.55 - 0.7$ depending on the stiffness of the non-linear sigma model. Future Monte Carlo simulations will be required to determine whether this dependence is a finite-size effect or further evidence for a weakly first-order transition.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2018

On the limitations of cRPA downfolding

We check the accuracy of the constrained random phase approximation (cRPA) downfolding scheme by considering one-dimensional two- and three-orbital Hubbard models with a target band at the Fermi level and one or two screening bands away from the Fermi level. Using numerically exact quantum Monte Carlo simulations of the full and downfolded model we demonstrate that depending on filling the effective interaction in the low-energy theory is either barely screened, or antiscreened, in contrast to the cRPA prediction. This observation is explained by a functional renormalization group analysis which shows that the cRPA contribution to the screening is to a large extent cancelled by other diagrams in the direct particle-hole channel. We comment on the implications of this finding for the ab-initio estimation of interaction parameters in low-energy descriptions of solids.

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arXiv2018

Fractionalized Metal in a Falicov-Kimball Model

Quantum Monte Carlo simulations reveal an exotic metallic phase with a single-particle gap but gapless spin and charge excitations and a nonsaturating resistivity in a two-dimensional SU(2) Falicov-Kimball model. An exact duality between this model and an unconstrained slave-spin theory leads to a classification of the phase as a fractionalized or orthogonal metal whose low-energy excitations have different quantum numbers than the original electrons. Whereas the fractionalized metal corresponds to the regime of disordered slave spins, the regime of ordered slave spins is a Fermi liquid. At a critical temperature, an Ising phase transition to a spontaneously generated constrained slave-spin theory of the Hubbard model is observed.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2018

Thermal and quantum lattice fluctuations in Peierls chains

The thermodynamic and spectral properties of electrons coupled to quantum phonons are studied within the spinless Holstein model. Using quantum Monte Carlo simulations, we obtain accurate results for the specific heat and the compressibility, covering the entire range of electron-phonon couplings and phonon frequencies. To this end, we derive an efficient estimator for the specific heat using the properties of the perturbation expansion. This allows us to quantitatively test the predictions of Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid theory as well as the widely used adiabatic approximation for low phonon frequencies. A comparison with the spectral functions of electrons and phonons reveals that the formation of polaron excitations as well as the renormalization of the phonon mode across the Peierls transition have a pronounced effect on the specific heat in the adiabatic regime.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2018

Confinement transition of $\mathbb{Z}_2$ gauge theories coupled to massless fermions: emergent QCD$_3$ and $SO(5)$ symmetry

We study a model of fermions on the square lattice at half-filling coupled to an Ising gauge theory, that was recently shown in Monte Carlo simulations to exhibit $\mathbb{Z}_2$ topological order and massless Dirac fermion excitations. On tuning parameters, a confining phase with broken symmetry (an antiferromagnet in one choice of Hamiltonian) was also established, and the transition between these phases was found to be continuous, with co-incident onset of symmetry breaking and confinement. While the confinement transition in pure gauge theories is well understood in terms of condensing magnetic flux excitations, the same transition in the presence of gapless fermions is a challenging problem owing to the statistical interactions between fermions and the condensing flux excitations. The conventional scenario then proceeds via a two step transition, involving a symmetry breaking transition leading to gapped fermions followed by confinement. In contrast, here, using large scale quantum Monte Carlo simulations, we provide further evidence for a direct, continuous transition and also find numerical evidence for an enlarged $SO(5)$ symmetry rotating between antiferromagnetism and valence bond solid orders proximate to criticality. Guided by our numerical finding, we develop a field theory description of the direct transition involving an emergent non-abelian ($SU(2)$) gauge theory and a matrix Higgs field. We contrast our results with the conventional Gross--Neveu--Yukawa transition.

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arXiv2018

Revisiting the Hybrid Quantum Monte Carlo Method for Hubbard and Electron-Phonon Models

A unique feature of the hybrid quantum Monte Carlo (HQMC) method is the potential to simulate negative sign free lattice fermion models with subcubic scaling in system size. Here we will revisit the algorithm for various models. We will show that for the Hubbard model the HQMC suffers from ergodicity issues and unbounded forces in the effective action. Solutions to these issues can be found in terms of a complexification of the auxiliary fields. This implementation of the HQMC that does not attempt to regularize the fermionic matrix so as to circumvent the aforementioned singularities does not outperform single spin flip determinantal methods with cubic scaling. On the other hand we will argue that there is a set of models for which the HQMC is very efficient. This class is characterized by effective actions free of singularities. Using the Majorana representation, we show that models such as the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger Hamiltonian at half filling and on a bipartite lattice belong to this class. For this specific model sub-cubic scaling is achieved.

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arXiv2017

Quantum Monte Carlo Simulation of Frustrated Kondo Lattice Models

The absence of negative sign problem in quantum Monte Carlo simulations of spin and fermion systems has different origins. World-line based algorithms for spins require positivity of matrix elements whereas auxiliary field approaches for fermions depend on symmetries such as particle-hole. For negative-sign-free spin and fermionic systems, we show that one can formulate a negative-sign-free auxiliary field quantum Monte Carlo algorithm that allows Kondo coupling of fermions with the spins. Using this general approach, we study a half-filled Kondo lattice model on the Honeycomb lattice with geometric frustration. In addition to the conventional Kondo insulator and anti-ferromagnetically ordered phases, we find a partial Kondo screened state where spins are selectively screened so as to alleviate frustration, and the lattice rotation symmetry is broken nematically.

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arXiv2017

Dirac Fermions with Competing Orders: Non-Landau Transition with Emergent Symmetry

We consider a model of Dirac fermions in $2+1$ dimensions with dynamically generated, anticommuting SO(3) Néel and Z$_2$ Kekulé mass terms that permits sign-free quantum Monte Carlo simulations. The phase diagram is obtained from finite-size scaling and includes a direct and continuous transition between the Néel and Kekulé phases. The fermions remain gapped across the transition, and our data support an emergent SO(4) symmetry unifying the two order parameters. While the bare symmetries of our model do not allow for spinon-carrying Z$_3$ vortices in the Kekulé mass, the emergent SO(4) invariance permits an interpretation of the transition in terms of deconfined quantum criticality. The phase diagram also features a tricritical point at which Néel, Kekulé, and semimetallic phases meet. The present, sign-free approach can be generalized to a variety of other mass terms and thereby provides a new framework to study exotic critical phenomena.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2017

Finite-size effects in canonical and grand-canonical quantum Monte Carlo simulations for fermions

We introduce a quantum Monte Carlo method at finite temperature for interacting fermionic models in the canonical ensemble, where the conservation of the particle number is enforced. Although general thermodynamic arguments ensure the equivalence of the canonical and the grand-canonical ensembles in the thermodynamic limit, their approach to the infinite-volume limit is distinctively different. Observables computed in the canonical ensemble generically display a finite-size correction proportional to the inverse volume, whereas in the grand-canonical ensemble the approach is exponential in the ratio of the linear size over the correlation length. We verify these predictions by quantum Monte Carlo simulations of the Hubbard model in one and two dimensions in the grand-canonical and the canonical ensemble. We prove an exact formula for the finite-size part of the free energy density, energy density and other observables in the canonical ensemble and relate this correction to a susceptibility computed in the corresponding grand-canonical ensemble. This result is confirmed by an exact computation of the one-dimensional classical Ising model in the canonical ensemble, which for classical models corresponds to the so-called fixed-magnetization ensemble. Our method is useful for simulating finite systems which are not coupled to a particle bath, such as in nuclear or cold atom physics.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2017

Interplay between the edge-state magnetism and long-range Coulomb interaction in zigzag graphene nanoribbons: quantum Monte Carlo study

We perform projective quantum Monte Carlo simulations of zigzag graphene nanoribbons within a realistic model with long-range Coulomb interactions. Increasing the relative strength of nonlocal interactions with respect to the on-site repulsion does not generate a phase transition but has a number of nontrivial effects. At the single-particle level we observe a marked enhancement of the Fermi velocity at the Dirac points. At the two-particle level, spin- and charge-density-wave fluctuations compete. As a consequence, the edge magnetic moment is reduced but the edge dispersion relation increases in the sense that the single-particle gap at momentum $q=π/|{\pmb a}_1|$ grows. We attribute this to nonlocal charge fluctuations which assist the spin fluctuations to generate the aforementioned gap. In contrast, the net result of the interaction-induced renormalization of different energy scales is a constant spin-wave velocity of the edge modes. However, since the particle-hole continuum is shifted to higher energies---due to the renormalization of the Fermi velocity---Landau damping is reduced. As a result, a roughly linear spin-wave-like mode at the edge spreads out through a larger part of the Brillouin zone.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2017

Directed-Loop Quantum Monte Carlo Method for Retarded Interactions

The directed-loop quantum Monte Carlo method is generalized to the case of retarded interactions. Using the path integral, fermion-boson or spin-boson models are mapped to actions with retarded interactions by analytically integrating out the bosons. This yields an exact algorithm that combines the highly-efficient loop updates available in the stochastic series expansion representation with the advantages of avoiding a direct sampling of the bosons. The application to electron-phonon models reveals that the method overcomes the previously detrimental issues of long autocorrelation times and exponentially decreasing acceptance rates. For example, the resulting dramatic speedup allows us to investigate the Peierls quantum phase transition on chains of up to $1282$ sites.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2017

Quantum phase recognition via unsupervised machine learning

The application of state-of-the-art machine learning techniques to statistical physic problems has seen a surge of interest for their ability to discriminate phases of matter by extracting essential features in the many-body wavefunction or the ensemble of correlators sampled in Monte Carlo simulations. Here we introduce a gener- alization of supervised machine learning approaches that allows to accurately map out phase diagrams of inter- acting many-body systems without any prior knowledge, e.g. of their general topology or the number of distinct phases. To substantiate the versatility of this approach, which combines convolutional neural networks with quantum Monte Carlo sampling, we map out the phase diagrams of interacting boson and fermion models both at zero and finite temperatures and show that first-order, second-order, and Kosterlitz-Thouless phase transitions can all be identified. We explicitly demonstrate that our approach is capable of identifying the phase transition to non-trivial many-body phases such as superfluids or topologically ordered phases without supervision.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2017

The ALF (Algorithms for Lattice Fermions) project release 1.0. Documentation for the auxiliary field quantum Monte Carlo code

The Algorithms for Lattice Fermions package provides a general code for the finite temperature auxiliary field quantum Monte Carlo algorithm. The code is engineered to be able to simulate any model that can be written in terms of sums of single-body operators, of squares of single-body operators and single-body operators coupled to an Ising field with given dynamics. We provide predefined types that allow the user to specify the model, the Bravais lattice as well as equal time and time displaced observables. The code supports an MPI implementation. Examples such as the Hubbard model on the honeycomb lattice and the Hubbard model on the square lattice coupled to a transverse Ising field are provided and discussed in the documentation. We furthermore discuss how to use the package to implement the Kondo lattice model and the $SU(N)$-Hubbard-Heisenberg model. One can download the code from our Git instance at https://alf.physik.uni-wuerzburg.de and sign in to file issues.

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