arXiv subjects

Ning Xi

Publications and source records attributed to Ning Xi.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2024

Thermal Tensor Network Approach for Spin-Lattice Relaxation in Quantum Magnets

Low-dimensional quantum magnets, particularly those with strong spin frustration, are characterized by their notable spin fluctuations. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) serves as a sensitive probe of low-energy fluctuations that offers valuable insight into rich magnetic phases and emergent phenomena in quantum magnets. Although experimentally accessible, the numerical simulation of NMR relaxation rates, specifically the spin-lattice relaxation rate $1/T_1$, remains a significant challenge. Analytical continuation based on Monte Carlo calculations are hampered by the notorious negative sign for frustrated systems, and the real-time simulations incur significant costs to capture low-energy fluctuations. Here we propose computing the relaxation rate using thermal tensor networks (TTNs), which provides a streamlined approach by calculating its imaginary-time proxy. We showcase the accuracy and versatility of our methodology by applying it to one-dimensional spin chains and two-dimensional lattices, where we find that the critical exponents $η$ and $zν$ can be extracted from the low-temperature scalings of the simulated $1/T_1$ near quantum critical points. Our results also provide insights into the low-dimensional and frustrated magnetic materials, elucidating universal scaling behaviors in the Ising chain compound CoNb$_2$O$_6$ and revealing the renormalized classical behaviors in the triangular-lattice antiferromagnet Ba$_8$CoNb$_6$O$_{24}$. We apply the approach to effective model of the family of frustrated magnets AYbCh$_2$ (A = Na, K, Cs, and Ch = O, S, Se), and find dramatic changes from spin ordered to the proposed quantum spin liquid phase. Overall, with high reliability and accuracy, the TTN methodology offers a systematic strategy for studying the intricate dynamics observed across a broad spectrum of quantum magnets and related fields.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

Emergent $D_8^{(1)}$ spectrum and topological soliton excitation in CoNb$_2$O$_6$

Quantum integrability emerging near a quantum critical point (QCP) is manifested by exotic excitation spectrum that is organized by the associated algebraic structure. A well known example is the emergent $E_8$ integrability near the QCP of a transverse field Ising chain (TFIC), which was long predicted theoretically and initially proposed to be realized in the quasi-one-dimensional (q1D) quantum magnet CoNb$_2$O$_6$. However, later measurements on the spin excitation spectrum of this material revealed a series of satellite peaks that cannot be described by the $E_8$ Lie algebra. Motivated by these experimental progresses, we hereby revisit the spin excitations of CoNb$_2$O$_6$ by combining numerical calculation and analytical analysis. We show that, as effects of strong interchain fluctuations, the spectrum of the system near the 1D QCP is characterized by the $D_{8}^{(1)}$ Lie algebra with robust topological soliton excitation. We further show that the $D_{8}^{(1)}$ spectrum can be realized in a broad class of interacting quantum systems. Our results advance the exploration of integrability and manipulation of topological excitations in quantum critical systems.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2023

Observation of a 1/3 Magnetisation Plateau Phase as Evidence for the Kitaev Interaction in a Honeycomb-Lattice Antiferromagnet

Fractional magnetisation plateaus, in which the magnetisation is pinned at a fraction of its saturated value within a range of external magnetic field, are spectacular macroscopic manifestations of the collective quantum behaviours. One prominent example of the plateau phase is found in spin-1/2 triangular-lattice antiferromagnets featuring strong geometrical frustration, and is often interpreted as quantum-fluctuation-stabilised state in magnetic field via the "order-by-disorder" mechanism. Here, we observe an unprecedented 1/3 magnetisation plateau between 5.2 and 7.4 T at 2 K in a spin-1 antiferromagnet Na$_3$Ni$_2$BiO$_6$ with a honeycomb lattice, where conventionally no geometrical frustration is anticipated. By carrying out elastic neutron scattering measurements, we propose the spin structure of the plateau phase to be an unusual partial spin-flop ferrimagnetic order, transitioning from the zigzag antiferromagnetic order in zero field. Our theoretical calculations show that the plateau phase is stabilised by the bond-anisotropic Kitaev interaction. These results provide a new paradigm for the exploration of rich quantum phases in frustrated magnets and exotic Kitaev physics in high-spin systems.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2023

Plaquette Singlet Transition, Magnetic Barocaloric Effect, and Spin Supersolidity in the Shastry-Sutherland Model

Inspired by recent experimental measurements [Guo \textit{et al.}, Phys. Rev. Lett.~\textbf{124}, 206602 (2020); Jiménez \textit{et al.}, Nature \textbf{592}, 370 (2021)] on frustrated quantum magnet SrCu$_2$(BO$_3$)$_2$ under combined pressure and magnetic fields, we study the related spin-$1/2$ Shastry-Sutherland (SS) model using state-of-the-art tensor network methods. By calculating thermodynamics, correlations and susceptibilities, we find, in zero magnetic field, not only a line of first-order plaquette-singlet (PS) to dimer-singlet phase transition ending with a critical point, but also signatures of the ordered PS transition with its critical endpoint terminating on this first-order line. Moreover, we uncover prominent magnetic barocaloric responses, a novel type of quantum correlation induced cooling effect, in the strongly fluctuating supercritical regime. Under finite fields, we identify a quantum phase transition from the PS phase to the spin supersolid phase that breaks simultaneously lattice translational and spin rotational symmetries. The present findings on the SS model are accessible in current experiments and would shed new light on exotic critical and supercritical phenomena in archetypal frustrated quantum magnets.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2023

CToMP: A Cycle-task-oriented Memory Protection Scheme for Unmanned Systems

Memory corruption attacks (MCAs) refer to malicious behaviors of system intruders that modify the contents of a memory location to disrupt the normal operation of computing systems, causing leakage of sensitive data or perturbations to ongoing processes. Unlike general-purpose systems, unmanned systems cannot deploy complete security protection schemes, due to their limitations in size, cost and performance. MCAs in unmanned systems are particularly difficult to defend against. Furthermore, MCAs have diverse and unpredictable attack interfaces in unmanned systems, severely impacting digital and physical sectors. In this paper, we first generalize, model and taxonomize MCAs found in unmanned systems currently, laying the foundation for designing a portable and general defense approach. According to different attack mechanisms, we found that MCAs are mainly categorized into two types--return2libc and return2shellcode. To tackle return2libc attacks, we model the erratic operation of unmanned systems with cycles and then propose a cycle-task-oriented memory protection (CToMP) approach to protect control flows from tampering. To defend against return2shellcode attacks, we introduce a secure process stack with a randomized memory address by leveraging the memory pool to prevent Shellcode from being executed. Moreover, we discuss the mechanism by which CToMP resists the ROP attack, a novel variant of return2libc attacks. Finally, we implement CToMP on CUAV V5+ with Ardupilot and Crazyflie. The evaluation and security analysis results demonstrate that the proposed approach CToMP is resilient to various MCAs in unmanned systems with low footprints and system overhead.

cs.CR↗

arXiv2023

Emergent criticality in fully frustrated quantum magnets

Phase transitions in condensed matter are often linked to exotic emergent properties. We study the fully frustrated bilayer Heisenberg antiferromagnet to demonstrate that an applied magnetic field creates a novel emergent criticality. The quantum phase diagram contains four states, the DS (singlets on every interlayer dimer bond), DTAF (all triplets with antiferromagnetic order), TC (a singlet-triplet checkerboard) and FM (saturated ferromagnet). The thermal phase diagram is dominated by a wall of discontinuities extending from the zero-field DTAF-DS transition to a quantum critical endpoint where the field drives the DTAF and TC into the FM. This first-order wall is terminated at finite temperatures by a line of critical points, where the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transition of the DTAF and the thermal Ising transition of the TC also terminate. We demonstrate by quantum Monte Carlo simulations that the BKT transition does not change the Ising nature of the DTAF-DS critical line. By contrast, the combination of symmetries merging on the multicritical DTAF-TC line leads to a 4-state Potts universality not contained in the microscopic Hamiltonian, which we associate with the Ashkin-Teller model. Our results represent a systematic step in understanding emergent phenomena in quantum magnetic materials including the ``Shastry-Sutherland compound'' SrCu$_2$(BO$_3$)$_2$.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2023

Nature of the 1/9-magnetization plateau in the spin-1/2 kagome Heisenberg antiferromagnet

The nature of the 1/9-magnetization plateau of the spin-1/2 kagome Heisenberg antiferromagnet remains controversial due to the exotic physical properties and high complexity induced by the geometrical frustration. Instead of a Z3 quantum spin liquid revealed on a cylinder, we show on an infinite-size lattice that the 1/9 plateau can be described by a valence bond crystal (VBC) that breaks spatial translational invariance. Consistent results are achieved by two accurate tensor network methods, namely the full-update infinite projected-entangled pair states and the projected-entangled simplex states. The VBC exhibits an hourglass pattern with $\sqrt{3}\times\sqrt{3}$ spatial symmetry, demonstrated by magnetizations, bond energies, and three-body correlators. The spatial inversion symmetry in the $\sqrt{3}\times\sqrt{3}$ VBC is instantly broken with the presence of the difference between the coupling strengths in the up and down triangles, suggesting the existence of gapless excitations. The gapless nature of the 1/9 plateau is further indicated by the scaling behaviors of the entanglement entropy and the correlation length, which indicate a c=1 conformal field theory.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2023

Dipolar Spin Liquid Ending with Quantum Critical Point in a Gd-based Triangular Magnet

By performing experiment and model studies on a triangular-lattice dipolar magnet KBaGd(BO$_3$)$_2$ (KBGB), we find the highly frustrated magnet with a planar anisotropy hosts a strongly fluctuating dipolar spin liquid (DSL), which originates from the intriguing interplay between dipolar and Heisenberg interactions. The DSL constitutes an extended regime in the field-temperature phase diagram, which gets lowered in temperature as field increases and eventually ends with an unconventional quantum critical point (QCP) at $B_c\simeq 0.75$~T. Based on dipolar Heisenberg model calculations, we identify the DSL as a Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) phase with emergent U(1) symmetry. Due to the tremendous entropy accumulation that can be related to the strong BKT and quantum fluctuations, unprecedented magnetic cooling effects are observed in the DSL regime and particularly near the QCP, making KBGB a superior dipolar coolant to commercial Gd-based refrigerants. We establish the phase diagram for triangular-lattice dipolar quantum magnets where emergent symmetry plays an essential role, and provide a basis and opens an avenue for their applications in sub-Kelvin refrigeration.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2022

Proximate deconfined quantum critical point in SrCu2(BO3)2

The deconfined quantum critical point (DQCP) represents a paradigm shift in quantum matter studies, presenting a "beyond Landau" scenario for order--order transitions. Its experimental realization, however, has remained elusive. Using high-pressure $^{11}$B NMR measurements on the quantum magnet SrCu$_2$(BO$_3$)$_2$, we here demonstrate a magnetic-field induced plaquette-singlet to antiferromagnetic transition above 1.8 GPa at a remarkably low temperature, $T_{\rm c}\simeq 0.07$ K. First-order signatures of the transition weaken with increasing pressure, and we observe quantum critical scaling at the highest pressure, 2.4 GPa. Supported by model calculations, we suggest that these observations can be explained by a proximate DQCP inducing critical quantum fluctuations and emergent O(3) symmetry of the order parameters. Our findings take the DQCP from a theoretical concept to a concrete experimental platform.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2022

Ultra-sensitive Flexible Sponge-Sensor Array for Muscle Activities Detection and Human Limb Motion Recognition

Human limb motion tracking and recognition plays an important role in medical rehabilitation training, lower limb assistance, prosthetics design for amputees, feedback control for assistive robots, etc. Lightweight wearable sensors, including inertial sensors, surface electromyography sensors, and flexible strain/pressure, are promising to become the next-generation human motion capture devices. Herein, we present a wireless wearable device consisting of a sixteen-channel flexible sponge-based pressure sensor array to recognize various human lower limb motions by detecting contours on the human skin caused by calf gastrocnemius muscle actions. Each sensing element is a round porous structure of thin carbon nanotube/polydimethylsiloxane nanocomposites with a diameter of 4 mm and thickness of about 400 μm. Ten human subjects were recruited to perform ten different lower limb motions while wearing the developed device. The motion classification result with the support vector machine method shows a macro-recall of about 97.3% for all ten motions tested. This work demonstrates a portable wearable muscle activity detection device with a lower limb motion recognition application, which can be potentially used in assistive robot control, healthcare, sports monitoring, etc.

eess.SP↗

arXiv2022

Dynamical signatures of the one-dimensional deconfined quantum critical point

We study the critical scaling and dynamical signatures of fractionalized excitations at two different deconfined quantum critical points (DQCPs) in an $S = 1/2$ spin chain by using the time evolution of infinite matrix product states. The scaling of the correlation functions and the dispersion of the conserved current correlations explicitly show the emergence of enhanced continuous symmetries at these DQCPs. The dynamical structure factors in several different channels reveal the development of deconfined fractionalized excitations at the DQCPs. Furthermore, we find an effective spin-charge separation at the DQCP between the ferromagnetic (FM) and valence bond solid (VBS) phases, and identify two continua associated to different types of fractionalized excitations at the DQCP between the $X$-direction and $Z$-direction FM phases. Our findings not only provide direct evidence for the DQCP in one dimension but also shed light on exploring the DQCP in higher dimensions.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2022

Emergent O(4) symmetry at an one-dimensional deconfined quantum tricritical point

We show an $\rm O(4)$ symmetry emerges at a deconfined quantum tricritical point of a valence bond solid and two ferromagnetic phases in an $S = 1/2$ frustrated spin chain by combining analytical analysis and numerical calculations with the time evolution of infinite matrix product states. With this symmetry, the valence-bond solid and the three magnetic order parameters form an $\rm O(4)$ pseudovector in the infrared limit, and can continuously rotate into each other. We numerically determine the location of the quantum tricritical point and study the scaling of the correlation functions of the $\rm O(4)$ vector components and associated conserved currents. The critical behaviors of these correlation functions are all in accord with field theoretical results. The emergent $\rm O(4)$ symmetry at the tricritical point is justified by the integer value of the scaling dimension of the emergent Noether conserved currents. Our findings not only give direct evidence of such a high emergent symmetry at an one-dimensional valence bond solid to magnetic transition but also shed light on exploring emergent symmetries in higher dimensions.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2021

First-order transition between the plaquette valence bond solid and antiferromagnetic phases of the Shastry-Sutherland model

We study the ground state phase diagram of the Shastry-Sutherland model by using the variational optimization of the infinite tensor network states, and find a weakly first-order transition between the plaquette and the antiferromagnetic states. The full plaquette state strongly competes with the empty plaquette ground state, with an energy difference less than $10^{-4}J$. We show a staggered ring exchange interaction that preserves the Shastry-Sutherland lattice symmetry can stabilize the full plaquette ground state. In light of this, we propose the triple point where the full plaquette, empty plaquette, and antiferromagnetic phases meet as a deconfined quantum critical point.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2021

Information flow based defensive chain for data leakage detection and prevention: a survey

Mobile and IoT applications have greatly enriched our daily life by providing convenient and intelligent services. However, these smart applications have been a prime target of adversaries for stealing sensitive data. It poses a crucial threat to users' identity security, financial security, or even life security. Research communities and industries have proposed many Information Flow Control (IFC) techniques for data leakage detection and prevention, including secure modeling, type system, static analysis, dynamic analysis, \textit{etc}. According to the application's development life cycle, although most attacks are conducted during the application's execution phase, data leakage vulnerabilities have been introduced since the design phase. With a focus on lifecycle protection, this survey reviews the recent representative works adopted in different phases. We propose an information flow based defensive chain, which provides a new framework to systematically understand various IFC techniques for data leakage detection and prevention in Mobile and IoT applications. In line with the phases of the application life cycle, each reviewed work is comprehensively studied in terms of technique, performance, and limitation. Research challenges and future directions are also pointed out by consideration of the integrity of the defensive chain.

cs.CR↗

arXiv2012

Cultural evolution and personalization

In social sciences, there is currently no consensus on the mechanism for cultural evolution. The evolution of first names of newborn babies offers a remarkable example for the researches in the field. Here we perform statistical analyses on over 100 years of data in the United States. We focus in particular on how the frequency-rank distribution and inequality of baby names change over time. We propose a stochastic model where name choice is determined by personalized preference and social influence. Remarkably, variations on the strength of personalized preference can account satisfactorily for the observed empirical features. Therefore, we claim that personalization drives cultural evolution, at least in the example of baby names.

physics.soc-ph↗

arXiv2012

Suppressing nano-scale stick-slip motion by feedback

When a micro cantilever with a nano-scale tip is manipulated on a substrate with atomic-scale roughness, the periodic lateral frictional force and stochastic fluctuations may induce stick-slip motion of the cantilever tip, which greatly decreases the precision of the nano manipulation. This unwanted motion cannot be reduced by open-loop control especially when there exist parameter uncertainties in the system model, and thus needs to introduce feedback control. However, real-time feedback cannot be realized by the existing virtual reality virtual feedback techniques based on the position sensing capacity of the atomic force microscopy (AFM). To solve this problem, we propose a new method to design real-time feedback control based on the force sensing approach to compensate for the disturbances and thus reduce the stick-slip motion of the cantilever tip. Theoretical analysis and numerical simulations show that the controlled motion of the cantilever tip tracks the desired trajectory with much higher precision. Further investigation shows that our proposal is robust under various parameter uncertainties. Our study opens up new perspectives of real-time nano manipulation.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2005

The Economic Mobility in Money Transfer

In this paper, we investigate the economic mobility in some money transfer models which have been applied into the research on wealth distribution. We demonstrate the mobility by recording the time series of agents' ranks and observing their volatility. We also compare the mobility quantitatively by employing an index, "the per capita aggregate change in log-income", raised by economists. Like the shape of distribution, the character of mobility is also decided by the trading rule in these transfer models. It is worth noting that even though different models have the same type of distribution, their mobility characters may be quite different.

physics.soc-ph↗

arXiv2005

Prospects for Money Transfer Models

Recently, in order to explore the mechanism behind wealth or income distribution, several models have been proposed by applying principles of statistical mechanics. These models share some characteristics, such as consisting of a group of individual agents, a pile of money and a specific trading rule. Whatever the trading rule is, the most noteworthy fact is that money is always transferred from one agent to another in the transferring process. So we call them money transfer models. Besides explaining income and wealth distributions, money transfer models can also be applied to other disciplines. In this paper we summarize these areas as statistical distribution, economic mobility, transfer rate and money creation. First, money distribution (or income distribution) can be exhibited by recording the money stock (flow). Second, the economic mobility can be shown by tracing the change in wealth or income over time for each agent. Third, the transfer rate of money and its determinants can be analyzed by tracing the transferring process of each one unit of money. Finally, money creation process can also be investigated by permitting agents go into debts. Some future extensions to these models are anticipated to be structural improvement and generalized mathematical analysis.

physics.soc-ph↗