arXiv subjects

M. Mühlhauser

Publications and source records attributed to M. Mühlhauser.

11 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2024

Quantum robustness of the toric code in a parallel field on the honeycomb and triangular lattice

We investigate the quantum robustness of the topological order in the toric code on the honeycomb lattice in the presence of a uniform parallel field. For a field in $z$-direction, the low-energy physics is in the flux-free sector and can be mapped to the transverse-field Ising model on the honeycomb lattice. One finds a second-order quantum phase transition in the 3D Ising$^\star$ universality class for both signs of the field. The same is true for a postive field in $x$-direction where an analogue mapping in the charge-free sector yields a ferromagnetic transverse-field Ising model on the triangular lattice and the phase transition is still 3D Ising$^\star$. In contrast, for negative $x$-field, the charge-free sector is mapped to the highly frustrated antiferromagnetic transverse-field Ising model on the triangular lattice which is known to host a quantum phase transition in the 3D XY$^\star$ universality class. Further, the charge-free sector does not always contain the low-energy physics for negative $x$-fields and a first-order phase transition to the polarized phase in the charge-full sector takes place at larger negative field values. We quantify the location of this transition by comparing quantum Monte Carlo simulations and high-field series expansions. The full extension of the topological phase in the presence of $x$- and $z$-fields is determined by perturbative linked-cluster expansions using a full graph decomposition. Extrapolating the high-order series of the charge and the flux gap allows to estimate critical exponents of the gap closing. This analysis indicates that the topological order breaks down by critical lines of 3D Ising$^\star$ and 3D XY$^\star$ type with interesting potential multi-critical crossing points. All findings for the toric code on the honeycomb lattice can be transferred exactly to the toric code on the triangular lattice.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

Order-by-disorder in the antiferromagnetic $J_1$-$J_2$-$J_3$ transverse-field Ising model on the ruby lattice

We investigate the quantum phase diagram of the $J_1$-$J_2$-$J_3$ antiferromagnetic transverse-field Ising model on the ruby lattice. In the low-field limit we derive an effective quantum dimer model, analyzing how the extensive ground-state degeneracy at zero field is lifted by an order-by-disorder scenario. We support our analysis by studying the gap-closing of the high-field phase using series expansions. For $J_2>J_3$, we find a columnar phase at low fields, followed by a clock-ordered phase stabilized by resonating plaquettes at intermediate field values, and an emergent 3d-XY quantum phase transition to the polarized high-field phase. For $J_3>J_2$, an order-by-disorder mechanism stabilizes a distinct $k=(0,0)$ order and a quantum phase transition in the 3d-Ising universality class is observed. Further, we discuss the possible implementation of the columnar- and clock-ordered phase in existing Rydberg atom quantum simulators. When taking into account the full algebraically decaying long-range interactions on the ruby lattice, we find that long-range interactions favor the same ground state as the quantum fluctuations induced by a transverse field, which could make the ruby lattice a promising candidate for the realization of a clock-ordered phase.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

Order-by-disorder and long-range interactions in the antiferromagnetic transverse-field Ising model on the triangular lattice -- A perturbative point of view

We study the low-field ground-state (GS) properties of the antiferromagnetic transverse-field Ising model with long-range interactions (afLRTFIM) on the triangular lattice. We use the method of perturbative continuous unitary transformations (pCUT) to derive an effective model for the degenerate GS space of the antiferromagnetic nearest-neighbour (NN) Ising model on a finite system, by treating the transverse-field (TF) and the long-range interactions (LRI) as a perturbation. We determine a level-crossing between the plain stripe phase at small TF and the clock-ordered phase at intermediate TF at $h\cong0.129$ for $α=6$, $N=36$ spins in order three perturbation theory. We discuss the qualitative layout of the quantum phase diagram of the afLRTFIM on the triangular lattice.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

Incorporating non-local anyonic statistics into a graph decomposition

In this work we describe how to systematically implement a full graph decomposition to set up a linked-cluster expansion for the topological phase of Kitaev's toric code in a field. This demands to include the non-local effects mediated by the mutual anyonic statistics of elementary charge and flux excitations. Technically, we describe how to consistently integrate such non-local effects into a hypergraph decomposition for single excitations. The approach is demonstrated for the ground-state energy and the elementary excitation energies of charges and fluxes in the perturbed topological phase.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2023

Absence of fractal quantum criticality in the quantum Newman-Moore model

The quantum phase transition between the low-field fracton phase with type-II fracton excitations and the high-field polarized phase is investigated in the two-dimensional self-dual quantum Newman-Moore model. We apply perturbative and numerical linked-cluster expansions to calculate the ground-state energy per site in the thermodynamic limit revealing a level crossing at the self-dual point. In addition, high-order series expansions of the relevant low-energy gaps are determined using perturbative continuous unitary transformations indicating no gap-closing. Our results therefore predict a first-order phase transition between the low-field fracton and the high-field polarized phase at the self-dual point.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2022

Competing topological orders in three dimensions: X-cube versus toric code

We study the competition between two different topological orders in three dimensions by considering the X-cube model and the three-dimensional toric code. The corresponding Hamiltonian can be decomposed into two commuting parts, one of which displays a self-dual spectrum. To determine the phase diagram, we compute the high-order series expansions of the ground-state energy in all limiting cases. Apart from the topological order related to the toric code and the fractonic order related to the X-cube model, we found two new phases which are adiabatically connected to classical limits with nontrivial sub-extensive degeneracies. All phase transitions are found to be first order.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2022

Linked Cluster Expansions via Hypergraph Decompositions

We propose a hypergraph expansion which facilitates the direct treatment of quantum spin models with many-site interactions via perturbative linked cluster expansions. The main idea is to generate all relevant subclusters and sort them into equivalence classes essentially governed by hypergraph isomorphism. Concretely, a reduced König representation of the hypergraphs is used to make the equivalence relation accessible by graph isomorphism. During this procedure we determine the embedding factor for each equivalence class, which is used in the final resummation in order to obtain the final result. As an instructive example we calculate the ground-state energy and a particular excitation gap of the plaquette Ising model in a transverse field on the three-dimensional cubic lattice.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2022

Quantum phase transitions in the $K$-layer Ising toric code

We investigate the quantum phase diagram of the $K$-layer Ising toric code corresponding to $K$ layers of two-dimensional toric codes coupled by Ising interactions. While for small Ising interactions the system displays $\mathbb{Z}_2^K$ topological order originating from the toric codes in each layer, the system shows $\mathbb{Z}_2$ topological order in the high-Ising limit. The latter is demonstrated for general $K$ by deriving an effective low-energy model in $K^{\rm th}$-order degenerate perturbation theory, which is given as an effective anisotropic single-layer toric code in terms of collective pseudo-spins 1/2 refering to the two ground states of isolated Ising chain segments. For the specific cases $K=3$ and $K=4$ we apply high-order series expansions to determine the gap series in the low- and high-Ising limit. Extrapolation of the elementary energy gaps gives convincing evidence that the ground-state phase diagram consists of a single quantum critical point in the 3d Ising* universality class for both $K$ separating both types of topological order, which is consistent with former findings for the bilayer Ising toric code.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2021

High-order series expansion of non-Hermitian quantum spin models

We investigate the low-energy physics of non-Hermitian quantum spin models with $PT$-symmetry. To this end we consider the one-dimensional Ising chain and the two-dimensional toric code in a non-Hermitian staggered field. For both systems dual descriptions in terms of non-Hermitian staggered Ising interactions in a conventional transverse field exist. We perform high-order series expansions about the high- and low-field limit for both systems to determine the ground-state energy per site and the one-particle gap. The one-dimensional non-Hermitian Ising chain is known to be exactly solvable. Its ground-state phase diagram consists of second-order quantum phase transitions, which can be characterized by logarithmic singularities of the second derivative of the ground-state energy and, in the symmetry-broken phase, the gap closing of the low-field gap. In contrast, the gap closing from the high-field phase is not accessible perturbatively due to the complex energy and the occurrence of exceptional lines in the high-field gap expression. For the two-dimensional toric code in a non-Hermitian staggered field we study the quantum robustness of the topologically ordered phase by the gap closing of the low-field gap. We find that the well-known second-order quantum phase transition of the toric code in a uniform field extends into a large portion of the non-Hermitian parameter space. However, the series expansions become unreliable for a dominant anti-Hermitian field. Interestingly, the analysis of the high-field gap reveals the potential presence of an intermediate region.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2020

Quantum critical phase transition between two topologically-ordered phases in the Ising toric code bilayer

We demonstrate that two toric code layers on the square lattice coupled by an Ising interaction display two distinct phases with intrinsic topological order. The second-order quantum phase transition between the weakly-coupled $\mathbb{Z}_2\times\mathbb{Z}_2$ and the strongly-coupled $\mathbb{Z}_2$ topological order can be described by the condensation of bosonic quasiparticles from both sides and belongs to the 3d Ising$^*$ universality class. This can be shown by an exact duality transformation to the transverse-field Ising model on the square lattice, which builds on the existence of an extensive number of local $\mathbb{Z}_2$ conserved parities. These conserved quantities correspond to the product of two adjacent star operators on different layers. Notably, we show that the low-energy effective model derived about the limit of large Ising coupling is given by an effective single-layer toric code in terms of the conserved quantities of the Ising toric code bilayer. The two topological phases are further characterized by the topological entanglement entropy which serves as a non-local order parameter.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2020

Quantum robustness of fracton phases

The quantum robustness of fracton phases is investigated by studying the influence of quantum fluctuations on the X-Cube model and Haah's code, which realize a type-I and type-II fracton phase, respectively. To this end a finite uniform magnetic field is applied to induce quantum fluctuations in the fracton phase resulting in zero-temperature phase transitions between fracton phases and polarized phases. Using high-order series expansions and a variational approach, all phase transitions are classified as strongly first order, which turns out to be a consequence of the (partial) immobility of fracton excitations. Indeed, single fractons as well as few-fracton composites can hardly lower their excitation energy by delocalization due to the intriguing properties of fracton phases, as demonstrated in this work explicitly in terms of fracton quasi-particles.

cond-mat.str-el↗