arXiv subjects

Francesco Parisen Toldin

Publications and source records attributed to Francesco Parisen Toldin.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2016

Functional renormalization group for three-dimensional quantum magnetism

We formulate a pseudofermion functional renormalization group (PFFRG) scheme to address frustrated quantum magnetism in three dimensions. In a scenario where many numerical approaches fail due to sign problem or small system size, three-dimensional (3D) PFFRG allows for a quantitative investigation of the quantum spin problem and its observables. We illustrate 3D PFFRG for the simple cubic $J_1$-$J_2$-$J_3$ quantum Heisenberg antiferromagnet, and benchmark it against other approaches, if available.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2016

Line contribution to the critical Casimir force between a homogeneous and a chemically stepped surface

Recent experimental realizations of the critical Casimir effect have been implemented by monitoring colloidal particles immersed in a binary liquid mixture near demixing and exposed to a chemically structured substrate. In particular, critical Casimir forces have been measured for surfaces consisting of stripes with periodically alternating adsorption preferences, forming chemical steps between them. Motivated by these experiments, we analyze the contribution of such chemical steps to the critical Casimir force for the film geometry and within the Ising universality class. By means of Monte Carlo simulations, mean-field theory, and finite-size scaling analysis we determine the universal scaling function associated with the contribution to the critical Casimir force due to individual, isolated chemical steps facing a surface with homogeneous adsorption preference or with Dirichlet boundary condition. In line with previous findings, these results allow one to compute the critical Casimir force for the film geometry and in the presence of arbitrarily shaped, but wide stripes. In this latter limit the force decomposes into a sum of the contributions due to the two homogeneous parts of the surface and due to the chemical steps between the stripes. We assess this decomposition by comparing the resulting sum with actual simulation data for the critical Casimir force in the presence of a chemically striped substrate.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2016

Coexistence of charge and ferromagnetic order in fcc Fe

Phase coexistence phenomena have been intensively studied in strongly correlated materials where several ordered states simultaneously occur or compete. Material properties critically depend on external parameters and boundary conditions, where tiny changes result in qualitatively different ground states. However, up to date, phase coexistence phenomena have exclusively been reported for complex compounds composed of multiple elements. Here we show that charge- and magnetically ordered states coexist in double-layer Fe on Rh(001). Scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy measurements reveal periodic charge order stripes below a temperature of 130 K. Close to liquid helium temperature, they are superimposed by ferromagnetic domains as observed by spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy. Temperature-dependent measurements reveal a pronounced cross-talk between charge and spin order at the ferromagnetic ordering temperature about 70 K, which is successfully modeled within an effective Landau theory including sixth-order terms. Our results show that subtle balance between structural modifications can lead to competing ordering phenomena.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2015

Fermionic quantum criticality in honeycomb and $π$-flux Hubbard models: Finite-size scaling of renormalization-group-invariant observables from quantum Monte Carlo

We numerically investigate the critical behavior of the Hubbard model on the honeycomb and the $π$-flux lattice, which exhibits a direct transition from a Dirac semimetal to an antiferromagnetically ordered Mott insulator. We use projective auxiliary-field quantum Monte Carlo simulations and a careful finite-size scaling analysis that exploits approximately improved renormalization-group-invariant observables. This approach, which is successfully verified for the three-dimensional XY transition of the Kane-Mele-Hubbard model, allows us to extract estimates for the critical couplings and the critical exponents. The results confirm that the critical behavior for the semimetal to Mott insulator transition in the Hubbard model belongs to the Gross-Neveu-Heisenberg universality class on both lattices.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2015

Critical Casimir force in the presence of random local adsorption preference

We study the critical Casimir force for a film geometry in the Ising universality class. We employ a homogeneous adsorption preference on one of the confining surfaces, while the opposing surface exhibits quenched random disorder, leading to a random local adsorption preference. Disorder is characterized by a parameter p, which measures, on average, the portion of the surface that prefers one component, so that p=0, 1 correspond to homogeneous adsorption preference. By means of Monte Carlo simulations of an improved Hamiltonian and finite-size scaling analysis, we determine the critical Casimir force. We show that by tuning the disorder parameter p, the system exhibits a crossover between an attractive and a repulsive force. At p=1/2, disorder allows to effectively realize Dirichlet boundary conditions, which are generically not accessible in classical fluids. Our results are relevant for the experimental realizations of the critical Casimir force in binary liquid mixtures.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2014

Entanglement Spectra of Interacting Fermions in Quantum Monte Carlo Simulations

In a recent article T. Grover [Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 130402 (2013)] introduced a simple method to compute Renyi entanglement entropies in the realm of the auxiliary field quantum Monte Carlo algorithm. Here, we further develop this approach and provide a stabilization scheme to compute higher order Renyi entropies and an extension to access the entanglement spectrum. The method is tested on systems of correlated topological insulators.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2013

Critical Casimir forces between homogeneous and chemically striped surfaces

Recent experiments have measured the critical Casimir force acting on a colloid immersed in a binary liquid mixture near its continuous demixing phase transition and exposed to a chemically structured substrate. Motivated by these experiments, we study the critical behavior of a system, which belongs to the Ising universality class, for the film geometry with one planar wall chemically striped, such that there is a laterally alternating adsorption preference for the two species of the binary liquid mixture, which is implemented by surface fields. For the opposite wall we employ alternatively a homogeneous adsorption preference or homogeneous Dirichlet boundary conditions, which within a lattice model are realized by open boundary conditions. By means of mean-field theory, Monte Carlo simulations, and finite-size scaling analysis we determine the critical Casimir force acting on the two parallel walls and its corresponding universal scaling function. We show that in the limit of stripe widths small compared with the film thickness, on the striped surface the system effectively realizes Dirichlet boundary conditions, which generically do not hold for actual fluids. Moreover, the critical Casimir force is found to be attractive or repulsive, depending on the width of the stripes of the chemically patterned surface and on the boundary condition applied to the opposing surface.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2013

Disorder and quasiparticle interference in heavy-fermion materials

Using a large-N approach, we study the effect of disorder in the Kondo-screened phase of heavy-fermion materials. We demonstrate that the strong feedback between the hybridization and the conduction electron charge density magnifies the effect of disorder, such that already small concentrations of defects strongly disorder the materials' local electronic structure, while only weakly affecting their spatially averaged, thermodynamic properties. Finally, we show that the microscopic nature of defects can be identified through their characteristic signatures in the hybridization and quasiparticle interference spectrum.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2011

Finite-size scaling in two-dimensional Ising spin glass models

We study the finite-size behavior of two-dimensional spin-glass models. We consider the +-J model for two different values of the probability of the antiferromagnetic bonds and the model with Gaussian distributed couplings. The analysis of renormalization-group invariant quantities, the overlap susceptibility, and the two-point correlation function confirms that they belong to the same universality class. We analyze in detail the standard finite-size scaling limit in terms of TL^(1/nu) in the +-J model. We find that it holds asymptotically. This result is consistent with the low-temperature crossover scenario in which the crossover temperature, which separates the universal high-temperature region from the discrete low-temperature regime, scales as T_c(L) ~ L^(-theta_S) with theta_S \approx 0.5.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2011

Improvement of Monte Carlo estimates with covariance-optimized finite-size scaling at fixed phenomenological coupling

In the finite-size scaling analysis of Monte Carlo data, instead of computing the observables at fixed Hamiltonian parameters, one may choose to keep a renormalization-group invariant quantity, also called phenomenological coupling, fixed at a given value. Within this scheme of finite-size scaling, we exploit the statistical covariance between the observables in a Monte Carlo simulation in order to reduce the statistical errors of the quantities involved in the computation of the critical exponents. This method is general and does not require additional computational time. This approach is demonstrated in the Ising model in two and three dimensions, where large gain factors in CPU time are obtained.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2010

Critical Casimir forces and adsorption profiles in the presence of a chemically structured substrate

Motivated by recent experiments with confined binary liquid mixtures near demixing, we study the universal critical properties of a system, which belongs to the Ising universality class, in the film geometry. We employ periodic boundary conditions in the two lateral directions and fixed boundary conditions on the two confining surfaces, such that one of them has a spatially homogeneous adsorption preference while the other one exhibits a laterally alternating adsorption preference, resembling locally a single chemical step. By means of Monte Carlo simulations of an improved Hamiltonian, so that the leading scaling corrections are suppressed, numerical integration, and finite-size scaling analysis we determine the critical Casimir force and its universal scaling function for various values of the aspect ratio of the film. In the limit of a vanishing aspect ratio the critical Casimir force of this system reduces to the mean value of the critical Casimir force for laterally homogeneous ++ and +- boundary conditions, corresponding to the surface spins on the two surfaces being fixed to equal and opposite values, respectively. We show that the universal scaling function of the critical Casimir force for small but finite aspect ratios displays a linear dependence on the aspect ratio which is solely due to the presence of the lateral inhomogeneity. We also analyze the order-parameter profiles at criticality and their universal scaling function which allows us to probe theoretical predictions and to compare with experimental data.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2010

Universality of the glassy transitions in the two-dimensional +- J Ising model

We investigate the zero-temperature glassy transitions in the square-lattice +- J Ising model, with bond distribution $P(J_{xy}) = p δ(J_{xy} - J) + (1-p) δ(J_{xy} + J)$; p=1 and p=1/2 correspond to the pure Ising model and to the Ising spin glass with symmetric bimodal distribution, respectively. We present finite-temperature Monte Carlo simulations at p=4/5, which is close to the low-temperature paramagnetic-ferromagnetic transition line located at p=0.89, and at p=1/2. Their comparison provides a strong evidence that the glassy critical behavior that occurs for $1-p_0<p<p_0$, $p_0=0.897$, is universal, i.e., independent of p. Moreover, we show that glassy and magnetic modes are not coupled at the multicritical zero-temperature point where the paramagnetic-ferromagnetic transition line and the T=0 glassy transition line meet. On the theoretical side we discuss the validity of finite-size scaling in glassy systems with a zero-temperature transition and a discrete Hamiltonian spectrum. Because of a freezing phenomenon which occurs in a finite volume at sufficiently low temperatures, the standard finite-size scaling limit in terms of $TL^{1/ν}$ does not exist: the renormalization-group invariant quantity $ξ/L$ should be used instead as basic variable.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2008

Critical and multicritical behavior of the +- J Ising model in two and three dimensions

We report our Monte Carlo results on the critical and multicritical behavior of the +- J Ising model [with a random-exchange probability P(J_{xy}) = p δ(J_{xy} - J) + (1-p) δ(J_{xy} + J)], in two and three dimensions. We study the transition line between the paramagnetic and ferromagnetic phase, which extends from p=1 to a multicritical (Nishimori) point. By a finite-size scaling analysis, we provide strong numerical evidence that in three dimensions the critical behavior along this line belongs to the same universality class as that of the critical transition in the randomly dilute Ising model. In two dimensions we confirm that the critical behavior is controlled by the pure Ising fixed point and that disorder is marginally irrelevant, giving rise to universal logarithmic corrections. In both two and three dimensions, we also determine the location of the multicritical Nishimori point, as well as the renormalization-group dimensions of the operators that control the renormalization-group flow close to it.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2008

Multicritical Nishimori point in the phase diagram of the +- J Ising model on a square lattice

We investigate the critical behavior of the random-bond +- J Ising model on a square lattice at the multicritical Nishimori point in the T-p phase diagram, where T is the temperature and p is the disorder parameter (p=1 corresponds to the pure Ising model). We perform a finite-size scaling analysis of high-statistics Monte Carlo simulations along the Nishimori line defined by $2p-1={\rm Tanh}(1/T)$, along which the multicritical point lies. The multicritical Nishimori point is located at p^*=0.89081(7), T^*=0.9528(4), and the renormalization-group dimensions of the operators that control the multicritical behavior are y_1=0.655(15) and y_2 = 0.250(2); they correspond to the thermal exponent ν= 1/y_2=4.00(3) and to the crossover exponent ϕ= y_1/y_2=2.62(6).

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2007

The 3D +-J Ising model at the ferromagnetic transition line

We study the critical behavior of the three-dimensional $\pm J$ Ising model [with a random-exchange probability $P(J_{xy}) = p δ(J_{xy} - J) + (1-p) δ(J_{xy} + J)$] at the transition line between the paramagnetic and ferromagnetic phase, which extends from $p=1$ to a multicritical (Nishimori) point at $p=p_N\approx 0.767$. By a finite-size scaling analysis of Monte Carlo simulations at various values of $p$ in the region $p_N<p<1$, we provide strong numerical evidence that the critical behavior along the ferromagnetic transition line belongs to the same universality class as the three-dimensional randomly-dilute Ising model. We obtain the results $ν=0.682(3)$ and $η=0.036(2)$ for the critical exponents, which are consistent with the estimates $ν=0.683(2)$ and $η=0.036(1)$ at the transition of randomly-dilute Ising models.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2007

Universality class of 3D site-diluted and bond-diluted Ising systems

We present a finite-size scaling analysis of high-statistics Monte Carlo simulations of the three-dimensional randomly site-diluted and bond-diluted Ising model. The critical behavior of these systems is affected by slowly-decaying scaling corrections which make the accurate determination of their universal asymptotic behavior quite hard, requiring an effective control of the scaling corrections. For this purpose we exploit improved Hamiltonians, for which the leading scaling corrections are suppressed for any thermodynamic quantity, and improved observables, for which the leading scaling corrections are suppressed for any model belonging to the same universality class. The results of the finite-size scaling analysis provide strong numerical evidence that phase transitions in three-dimensional randomly site-diluted and bond-diluted Ising models belong to the same randomly dilute Ising universality class. We obtain accurate estimates of the critical exponents, $ν=0.683(2)$, $η=0.036(1)$, $α=-0.049(6)$, $γ=1.341(4)$, $β=0.354(1)$, $δ=4.792(6)$, and of the leading and next-to-leading correction-to-scaling exponents, $ω=0.33(3)$ and $ω_2=0.82(8)$.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2006

The random-anisotropy model in the strong-anisotropy limit

We investigate the nature of the critical behaviour of the random-anisotropy Heisenberg model (RAM), which describes a magnetic system with random uniaxial single-site anisotropy, such as some amorphous alloys of rare earths and transition metals. In particular, we consider the strong-anisotropy limit (SRAM), in which the Hamiltonian can be rewritten as the one of an Ising spin-glass model with correlated bond disorder: H = - J \sum_{< xy >} j_{xy} σ_x σ_y, where j_{xy} = \vec{u}_x \cdot \vec{u}_y and \vec{u}_x is a random three-component unit vector. We performed Monte Carlo simulations of the SRAM on simple cubic L^3 lattices, up to L=30, measuring correlation functions of the replica-replica overlap, which is the order parameter at a glass transition. The corresponding results show critical behaviour and finite-size scaling. They provide evidence of a finite-temperature continuous transition with critical exponents η_o=-0.24(4) and ν_o=2.4(6). These results are close to the corresponding estimates that have been obtained in the usual Ising spin-glass model with uncorrelated bond disorder, suggesting that the two models belong to the same universality class. This is consistent with arguments that suggest that the disorder correlations present in the SRAM are irrelevant.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2006

Critical behavior of the random-anisotropy model in the strong-anisotropy limit

We investigate the nature of the critical behavior of the random-anisotropy Heisenberg model (RAM), which describes a magnetic system with random uniaxial single-site anisotropy, such as some amorphous alloys of rare earths and transition metals. In particular, we consider the strong-anisotropy limit (SRAM), in which the Hamiltonian can be rewritten as the one of an Ising spin-glass model with correlated bond disorder. We perform Monte Carlo simulations of the SRAM on simple cubic L^3 lattices, up to L=30, measuring correlation functions of the replica-replica overlap, which is the order parameter at a glass transition. The corresponding results show critical behavior and finite-size scaling. They provide evidence of a finite-temperature continuous transition with critical exponents $η_o=-0.24(4)$ and $ν_o=2.4(6)$. These results are close to the corresponding estimates that have been obtained in the usual Ising spin-glass model with uncorrelated bond disorder, suggesting that the two models belong to the same universality class. We also determine the leading correction-to-scaling exponent finding $ω= 1.0(4)$.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗