arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to John Cardy.
We consider a quantum quench in a system of free bosons, starting from a thermal initial state. As in the case where the system is initially in the ground state, any finite subsystem eventually reaches a stationary thermal state with a momentum-dependent effective temperature. We find that this can, in some cases, even be lower than the initial temperature. We also study lattice effects and discuss more general types of quenches.
After a brief review of the historical role of analyticity in the study of critical phenomena, an account is given of recent discoveries of discretely holomorphic observables in critical two-dimensional lattice models. These are objects whose correlation functions satisfy a discrete version of the Cauchy-Riemann relations. Their existence appears to have a deep relation with the integrability of the model, and they are presumably the lattice versions of the truly holomorphic observables appearing in the conformal field theory (CFT) describing the continuum limit. This hypothesis sheds light on the connection between CFT and integrability, and, if verified, can also be used to prove that the scaling limit of certain discrete curves in these models is described by Schramm-Loewner evolution (SLE).
We define parafermionic observables in various lattice loop models, including examples where no Kramers-Wannier duality holds. For a particular rhombic embedding of the lattice in the plane and a value of the parafermionic spin these variables are discretely holomorphic (they satisfy a lattice version of the Cauchy-Riemann equations) as long as the Boltzmann weights satisfy certain linear constraints. In the cases considered, the weights then also satisfy the critical Yang-Baxter equations, with the spectral parameter being related linearly to the angle of the elementary rhombus.
Using conformal field theoretic methods we calculate correlation functions of geometric observables in the loop representation of the O(n) model at the critical point. We focus on correlation functions containing twist operators, combining these with anchored loops, boundaries with SLE processes and with double SLE processes. We focus further upon n=0, representing self-avoiding loops, which corresponds to a logarithmic conformal field theory (LCFT) with c=0. In this limit the twist operator plays the role of a zero weight indicator operator, which we verify by comparison with known examples. Using the additional conditions imposed by the twist operator null-states, we derive a new explicit result for the probabilities that an SLE_{8/3} wind in various ways about two points in the upper half plane, e.g. that the SLE passes to the left of both points. The collection of c=0 logarithmic CFT operators that we use deriving the winding probabilities is novel, highlighting a potential incompatibility caused by the presence of two distinct logarithmic partners to the stress tensor within the theory. We provide evidence that both partners do appear in the theory, one in the bulk and one on the boundary and that the incompatibility is resolved by restrictive bulk-boundary fusion rules.
We carry out a systematic study of entanglement entropy in relativistic quantum field theory. This is defined as the von Neumann entropy S_A=-Tr rho_A log rho_A corresponding to the reduced density matrix rho_A of a subsystem A. For the case of a 1+1-dimensional critical system, whose continuum limit is a conformal field theory with central charge c, we re-derive the result S_A\sim(c/3) log(l) of Holzhey et al. when A is a finite interval of length l in an infinite system, and extend it to many other cases: finite systems,finite temperatures, and when A consists of an arbitrary number of disjoint intervals. For such a system away from its critical point, when the correlation length ξis large but finite, we show that S_A\sim{\cal A}(c/6)\logξ, where \cal A is the number of boundary points of A. These results are verified for a free massive field theory, which is also used to confirm a scaling ansatz for the case of finite-size off-critical systems, and for integrable lattice models, such as the Ising and XXZ models, which are solvable by corner transfer matrix methods. Finally the free-field results are extended to higher dimensions, and used to motivate a scaling form for the singular part of the entanglement entropy near a quantum phase transition.
We study the problem of a quantum quench in which the initial state is the ground state of an inhomogeneous hamiltonian, in two different models, conformal field theory and ordinary free field theory, which are known to exhibit thermalisation of finite regions in the homogeneous case. We derive general expressions for the evolution of the energy flow and correlation functions, as well as the entanglement entropy in the conformal case. Comparison of the results of the two approaches in the regime of their common validity shows agreement up to a point further discussed. Unlike the thermal analogue, the evolution in our problem is non-diffusive and can be physically interpreted using an intuitive picture of quasiparticles emitted from the initial time hypersurface and propagating semiclassically.
The lectures provide a pedagogical introduction to the methods of CFT as applied to two-dimensional critical behaviour.
This paper has been withdrawn by the authors owing to a mistake in the proof of the basic lemma.
Boundary conformal field theory (BCFT) is simply the study of conformal field theory (CFT) in domains with a boundary. It gains its significance because, in some ways, it is mathematically simpler: the algebraic and geometric structures of CFT appear in a more straightforward manner; and because it has important applications: in string theory in the physics of open strings and D-branes, and in condensed matter physics in boundary critical behavior and quantum impurity models. In this article, however, I describe the basic ideas from the point of view of quantum field theory, without regard to particular applications nor to any deeper mathematical formulations.
We construct lattice parafermions - local products of order and disorder operators - in nearest-neighbor Z(N) models on regular isotropic planar lattices, and show that they are discretely holomorphic, that is they satisfy discrete Cauchy-Riemann equations, precisely at the critical Fateev-Zamolodchikov (FZ) integrable points. We generalize our analysis to models with anisotropic interactions, showing that, as long as the lattice is correctly embedded in the plane, such discretely holomorphic parafermions exist for particular values of the couplings which we identify as the anisotropic FZ points. These results extend to more general inhomogeneous lattice models as long as the covering lattice admits a rhombic embedding in the plane.
We show that the dynamics resulting from preparing a one-dimensional quantum system in the ground state of two decoupled parts, then joined together and left to evolve unitarily with a translational invariant Hamiltonian (a local quench), can be described by means of quantum field theory. In the case when the corresponding theory is conformal, we study the evolution of the entanglement entropy for different bi-partitions of the line. We also consider the behavior of one- and two-point correlation functions. All our findings may be explained in terms of a picture, that we believe to be valid more generally, whereby quasiparticles emitted from the joining point at the initial time propagate semiclassically through the system.
After a brief introduction to the concept of entanglement in quantum systems, I apply these ideas to many-body systems and show that the von Neumann entropy is an effective way of characterising the entanglement between the degrees of freedom in different regions of space. Close to a quantum phase transition it has universal features which serve as a diagnostic of such phenomena. In the second part I consider the unitary time evolution of such systems following a `quantum quench' in which a parameter in the hamiltonian is suddenly changed, and argue that finite regions should effectively thermalise at late times, after interesting transient effects.
The scaling limit of the spin cluster boundaries of the Ising model with domain wall boundary conditions is SLE with kappa=3. We hypothesise that the three-state Potts model with appropriate boundary conditions has spin cluster boundaries which are also SLE in the scaling limit, but with kappa=10/3. To test this, we generate samples using the Wolff algorithm and test them against predictions of SLE: we examine the statistics of the Loewner driving function, estimate the fractal dimension and test against Schramm's formula. The results are in support of our hypothesis.
We study in general the time-evolution of correlation functions in a extended quantum system after the quench of a parameter in the hamiltonian. We show that correlation functions in d dimensions can be extracted using methods of boundary critical phenomena in d+1 dimensions. For d=1 this allows to use the powerful tools of conformal field theory in the case of critical evolution. Several results are obtained in generic dimension in the gaussian (mean-field) approximation. These predictions are checked against the real-time evolution of some solvable models that allows also to understand which features are valid beyond the critical evolution. All our findings may be explained in terms of a picture generally valid, whereby quasiparticles, entangled over regions of the order of the correlation length in the initial state, then propagate with a finite speed through the system. Furthermore we show that the long-time results can be interpreted in terms of a generalized Gibbs ensemble. We discuss some open questions and possible future developments.
We construct certain eigenfunctions of the Calogero-Sutherland hamiltonian for particles on a circle, with mixed boundary conditions. That is, the behavior of the eigenfunction, as neighbouring particles collide, depend on the pair of colliding particles. This behavior is generically a linear combination of two types of power laws, depending on the statistics of the particles involved. For fixed ratio of each type at each pair of neighboring particles, there is an eigenfunction, the ground state, with lowest energy, and there is a discrete set of eigenstates and eigenvalues, the excited states and the energies above this ground state. We find the ground state and special excited states along with their energies in a certain class of mixed boundary conditions, interpreted as having pairs of neighboring bosons and other particles being fermions. These particular eigenfunctions are characterised by the fact that they are in direct correspondence with correlation functions in boundary conformal field theory. We expect that they have applications to measures on certain configurations of curves in the statistical O(n) loop model. The derivation, although completely independent from results of conformal field theory, uses ideas from the "Coulomb gas" formulation.
We analyse parafermionic operators in the Q-state Potts model from three different perspectives. First, we explicitly construct lattice holomorphic observables in the Fortuin-Kasteleyn representation, and point out some special simplifying features of the particular case Q=2 (Ising model). In particular, away from criticality, we find a lattice generalisation of the massive Majorana fermion equation. We also compare the parafermionic scaling dimensions with known results from CFT and Coulomb gas methods in the continuum. Finally, we show that expectation values of these parafermions correspond to local observables of the SLE process which is conjectured to describe the scaling limit of the Q-state Potts model.
We point out that the probability law of a single domain wall separating clusters in ADE lattice models in a simply connected domain is identical to that of corresponding chordal curves in the lattice O(n) and Q-state Potts models, for suitable n or Q. They are conjectured to be described in the scaling limit by chordal SLE(kappa) with kappa rational and >2. However in a multiply-connected domain the laws can differ from those for the corresponding O(n) or Potts model. The correspondence also sheds light on the scaling limit of multiple curves.
The O(n) spin model in two dimensions may equivalently be formulated as a loop model, and then mapped to a height model which is conjectured to flow under the renormalization group to a conformal field theory (CFT). At the critical point, the order n terms in the partition function and correlation functions describe single self-avoiding loops. We investigate the ensemble of these self-avoiding loops using twist operators, which count loops which wind non-trivially around them with a factor -1. These turn out to have level two null states and hence their correlators satisfy a set of partial differential equations. We show that partly-connected parts of the four point function count the expected number of loops which separate one pair of points from the other pair, and find an explicit expression for this. We argue that the differential equation satisfied by these expectation values should have an interpretation in terms of a stochastic(Schramm)-Loewner evolution (SLE_kappa) process with kappa=6. The two point function in a simply connected domain satisfies a closely related set of equations. We solve these and hence calculate the expected number of single loops which separate both points from the boundary.