arXiv subjects

S. H. Simon

Publications and source records attributed to S. H. Simon.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Fractional Chern Insulators and Competing States in a Twisted MoTe$_2$ Lattice Model

We construct an interacting lattice model for twisted $\mathrm{MoTe}_{2}$ bilayers at a twist angle of approximately 3.7\degree. We use the infinite density matrix renormalization group (iDMRG) in a cylinder geometry to identify a variety of competing integer and fractional Chern insulators and charge density wave (CDW) states that emerge upon the spontaneous breaking of time reversal symmetry by valley polarization. We use finite-size analysis to establish the robustness of Chern insulating states even in geometries that admit competing CDWs, and explore the phase transitions between these states driven by increasing sublattice potential or interaction strength. Our work highlights the crucial role played by direct spin exchange in stabilizing the parent valley-polarized Chern ferromagnet band, and by the mixing with higher bands in destabilizing CIs/FCIs in favor of CDW orders.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2019

An ideal Weyl semimetal induced by magnetic exchange

Weyl semimetals exhibit exceptional quantum electronic transport due to the presence of topologically-protected band crossings called Weyl nodes. The nodes come in pairs with opposite chirality, but their number and location in momentum space is otherwise material specific. Following the initial discoveries there is now a need for better material realizations, ideally comprising a single pair of Weyl nodes located at or very close to the Fermi level and in an energy window free from other overlapping bands. Here we propose the layered intermetallic EuCd$_2$As$_2$ to be such a system. We show that Weyl nodes in EuCd$_2$As$_2$ are magnetically-induced via exchange coupling, emerging when the Eu spins are aligned by a small external magnetic field. The identification of EuCd$_2$As$_2$ as a model magnetic Weyl semimetal, evidenced here by ab initio calculations, photoemission spectroscopy, quantum oscillations and anomalous Hall transport measurements, opens the door to fundamental tests of Weyl physics.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2017

Trial wave functions for a Composite Fermi liquid on a torus

We study the two-dimensional electron gas in a magnetic field at filling fraction $ν=\frac{1}{2}$. At this filling the system is in a gapless state which can be interpreted as a Fermi liquid of composite fermions. We construct trial wave functions for the system on a torus, based on this idea, and numerically compare these to exact wave functions for small systems found by exact diagonalization. We find that the trial wave functions give an excellent description of the ground state of the system, as well as its charged excitations, in all momentum sectors. We analyze the dispersion of the composite fermions and the Berry phase associated with dragging a single fermion around the Fermi surface and comment on the implications of our results for the current debate on whether composite fermions are Dirac fermions.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2017

Quantum Hall Physics - hierarchies and CFT techniques

The fractional quantum Hall effect, being one of the most studied phenomena in condensed matter physics during the past thirty years, has generated many groundbreaking new ideas and concepts. Very early on it was realized that the zoo of emerging states of matter would need to be understood in a systematic manner. The first attempts to do this, by Haldane and Halperin, set an agenda for further work which has continued to this day. Since that time the idea of hierarchies of quasiparticles condensing to form new states has been a pillar of our understanding of fractional quantum Hall physics. In the thirty years that have passed since then, a number of new directions of thought have advanced our understanding of fractional quantum Hall states, and have extended it in new and unexpected ways. Among these directions is the extensive use of topological quantum field theories and conformal field theories, the application of the ideas of composite bosons and fermions, and the study of nonabelian quantum Hall liquids. This article aims to present a comprehensive overview of this field, including the most recent developments.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2016

Feynman Path Integrals Over Entangled States

The saddle points of a conventional Feynman path integral are not entangled, since they comprise a sequence of classical field configurations. We combine insights from field theory and tensor networks by constructing a Feynman path integral over a sequence of matrix product states. The paths that dominate this path integral include some degree of entanglement. This new feature allows several insights and applications: i. A Ginzburg-Landau description of deconfined phase transitions. ii. The emergence of new classical collective variables in states that are not adiabatically continuous with product states. iii. Features that are captured in product-state field theories by proliferation of instantons are encoded in perturbative fluctuations about entangled saddles. We develop a general formalism for such path integrals and a couple of simple examples to illustrate their utility.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2014

Enhanced bulk-edge Coulomb coupling in Fractional Fabry-Perot interferometers

We study the effects of bulk-edge Coulomb coupling on quantum Hall Fabry-Perot interferometers. We find that these effects can be appreciable in devices which would not usually be associated with strong bulk-edge Coulomb coupling, provided the devices in question exhibit certain fractional plateaus. With this in mind, we analyze recent experiments at $ν=5/2$ by taking into account a tunnel coupling between localized bulk Majorana states and Majorana edge states. We find that these experimental data are consistent with the widely held view that the $ν=5/2$ state harbors Moore-Read topological order. However, experiments may have measured Coulomb effects rather than an `even-odd effect' due to non-abelian braiding.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2014

Pairing symmetry and dominant band in Sr2RuO4

We study the superconductivity pairing mechanism in Sr2RuO4 in the limit of small interaction by extending a renormalization group calculation developed by Raghu et al. [Phys. Rev. B 81, 224505 (2010)] to include spin-orbit coupling and multiband effects. We show these effects to be crucial to discriminate between the possible order parameters. In contrast to previous results and without the necessity of fine-tuning, we obtain pseudospin-triplet gaps of the same order of magnitude on the two-dimensional gamma band and the quasi-one-dimensional alpha and beta bands. The ratio of the gap amplitude on the different bands varies continuously with the interaction parameter. The favored pairing symmetry is shown to be chiral when gamma is slightly dominant and helical when alpha and beta are slightly dominant.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2013

Entanglement subspaces, trial wavefunctions, and special Hamiltonians in the fractional quantum Hall effect

We consider spaces of trial wavefunctions for ground states and edge excitations in the fractional quantum Hall effect that can be obtained in various ways. In one way, functions are obtained by analyzing the entanglement of the ground state wavefunction, partitioned into two parts. In another, functions are defined by the way in which they vanish as several coordinates approach the same value, or by a projection-operator Hamiltonian that enforces those conditions. In a third way, functions are given by conformal blocks from a conformal field theory (CFT). These different spaces of functions are closely related. The use of CFT methods permits an algebraic formulation to be given for all of them. In some cases, we can prove that there is a ground state, a Hamiltonian, and a CFT such that, for any number of particles, all of these spaces are the same. For such cases, this resolves several questions and conjectures: it gives a finite-size bulk-edge correspondence, and we can use the analysis of functions to construct a projection-operator Hamiltonian that produces those functions as zero-energy states. For a model related to the N=1 superconformal algebra, the corresponding Hamiltonian imposes vanishing properties involving only three particles; for this we determine all the wavefunctions explicitly. We do the same for a sequence of models involving the M(3,p) Virasoro minimal models that has been considered previously, using results from the literature. We exhibit the Hamiltonians for the first few cases of these. The techniques we introduce can be applied in numerous examples other than those considered here.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2013

Phase transitions in three-dimensional topological lattice models with surface anyons

We study the phase diagrams of a family of 3D "Walker-Wang" type lattice models, which are not topologically ordered but have deconfined anyonic excitations confined to their surfaces. We add a perturbation (analogous to that which drives the confining transition in Z_p lattice gauge theories) to the Walker-Wang Hamiltonians, driving a transition in which all or some of the variables associated with the loop gas or string-net ground states of these models become confined. We show that in many cases the location and nature of the phase transitions involved is exactly that of a generalized Z_p lattice gauge theory, and use this to deduce the basic structure of the phase diagram. We further show that the relationship between the phases on opposite sides of the transition is fundamentally different than in conventional gauge theories: in the Walker-Wang case, the number of species of excitations that are deconfined in the bulk can increase across a transition that confines only some of the species of loops or string-nets. The analogue of the confining transition in the Walker-Wang models can therefore lead to bulk deconfinement and topological order.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2012

A Typology for Quantum Hall Liquids

There is a close analogy between the response of a quantum Hall liquid (QHL) to a small change in the electron density and the response of a superconductor to an externally applied magnetic flux - an analogy which is made concrete in the Chern-Simons Landau-Ginzburg (CSLG) formulation of the problem. As the Types of superconductor are distinguished by this response, so too for QHLs: a typology can be introduced which is, however, richer than that in superconductors owing to the lack of any time-reversal symmetry relating positive and negative fluxes. At the boundary between Type I and Type II behavior, the CSLG action has a "Bogomol'nyi point," where the quasi-holes (vortices) are non-interacting - at the microscopic level, this corresponds to the behavior of systems governed by a set of model Hamiltonians which have been constructed to render exact a large class of QHL wavefunctions. All Types of QHLs are capable of giving rise to quantized Hall plateaux.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2011

Braiding of Abelian and Non-Abelian Anyons in the Fractional Quantum Hall Effect

In this paper, we report on the study of Abelian and non-Abelian statistics through Fabry-Perot interferometry of fractional quantum Hall (FQH) systems. Our detection of phase slips in quantum interference experiments demonstrates a powerful, new way of detecting braiding of anyons. We confirm the Abelian anyonic braiding statistics in the $ν= 7/3$ FQH state through detection of the predicted statistical phase angle of $2π/3$, consistent with a change of the anyonic particle number by one. The $ν= 5/2$ FQH state is theoretically believed to harbor non-Abelian anyons which are Majorana, meaning that each pair of quasiparticles contain a neutral fermion orbital which can be occupied or unoccupied and hence can act as a qubit. In this case our observed statistical phase slips agree with a theoretical model where the Majoranas are strongly coupled to each other, and strongly coupled to the edge modes of the interferometer. In particular, an observed phase slip of approximately $π$ is interpreted as a sudden flip of a qubit, or entry of a neutral fermion into the interferometer. Our results provide compelling support for the existence of non-Abelian anyons.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2010

Resources Required for Topological Quantum Factoring

We consider a hypothetical topological quantum computer where the qubits are comprised of either Ising or Fibonacci anyons. For each case, we calculate the time and number of qubits (space) necessary to execute the most computationally expensive step of Shor's algorithm, modular exponentiation. For Ising anyons, we apply Bravyi's distillation method [S. Bravyi, Phys. Rev. A 73, 042313 (2006)] which combines topological and non-topological operations to allow for universal quantum computation. With reasonable restrictions on the physical parameters we find that factoring a 128 bit number requires approximately 10^3 Fibonacci anyons versus at least 3 x 10^9 Ising anyons. Other distillation algorithms could reduce the resources for Ising anyons substantially.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2009

Numerical Analysis of Quasiholes of the Moore-Read Wavefunction

We demonstrate numerically that non-Abelian quasihole excitations of the $ν= 5/2$ fractional quantum Hall state have some of the key properties necessary to support quantum computation. We find that as the quasihole spacing is increased, the unitary transformation which describes winding two quasiholes around each other converges exponentially to its asymptotic limit and that the two orthogonal wavefunctions describing a system with four quasiholes become exponentially degenerate. We calculate the length scales for these two decays to be $ξ_{U} \approx 2.7 \ell_0$ and $ξ_{E} \approx 2.3 \ell_0$ respectively. Additionally we determine which fusion channel is lower in energy when two quasiholes are brought close together.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2009

Topological Quantum Computing with Read-Rezayi States

Read-Rezayi fractional quantum Hall states are among the prime candidates for realizing non-Abelian anyons which in principle can be used for topological quantum computation. We present a prescription for efficiently finding braids which can be used to carry out a universal set of quantum gates on encoded qubits based on anyons of the Read-Rezayi states with $k>2$, $k\neq4$. This work extends previous results which only applied to the case $k = 3$ (Fibonacci) and clarifies why in that case gate constructions are simpler than for a generic Read-Rezayi state.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2007

Aharonov-Bohm-Like Oscillations in Quantum Hall Corrals

Experimental study of quantum Hall corrals reveals Aharonov-Bohm-Like (ABL) oscillations. Unlike the Aharonov-Bohm effect which has a period of one flux quantum, $Φ_{0}$, the ABL oscillations possess a flux period of $Φ_{0}/f$, where $f$ is the integer number of fully filled Landau levels in the constrictions. Detection of the ABL oscillations is limited to the low magnetic field side of the $ν_{c}$ = 1, 2, 4, 6... integer quantum Hall plateaus. These oscillations can be understood within the Coulomb blockade model of quantum Hall interferometers as forward tunneling and backscattering, respectively, through the center island of the corral from the bulk and the edge states. The evidence for quantum interference is weak and circumstantial.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2007

Bulk-edge coupling in the non-abelian $ν=5/2$ quantum Hall interferometer

Recent schemes for experimentally probing non-abelian statistics in the quantum Hall effect are based on geometries where current-carrying quasiparticles flow along edges that encircle bulk quasiparticles, which are localized. Here we consider one such scheme, the Fabry-Perot interferometer, and analyze how its interference patterns are affected by a coupling that allows tunneling of neutral Majorana fermions between the bulk and edge. While at weak coupling this tunneling degrades the interference signal, we find that at strong coupling, the bulk quasiparticle becomes essentially absorbed by the edge and the intereference signal is fully restored.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2007

Topological Quantum Compiling

A method for compiling quantum algorithms into specific braiding patterns for non-Abelian quasiparticles described by the so-called Fibonacci anyon model is developed. The method is based on the observation that a universal set of quantum gates acting on qubits encoded using triplets of these quasiparticles can be built entirely out of three-stranded braids (three-braids). These three-braids can then be efficiently compiled and improved to any required accuracy using the Solovay-Kitaev algorithm.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2007

Impact of spin-orbit coupling on quantum Hall nematic phases

Anisotropic charge transport is observed in a two-dimensional (2D) hole system in a perpendicular magnetic field at filling factors nu=7/2, nu=11/2, and nu=13/2 at low temperature. In stark contrast, the transport at nu=9/2 is isotropic for all temperatures. Isotropic hole transport at nu=7/2 is restored for sufficiently low 2D densities or an asymmetric confining potential. The density and symmetry dependences of the observed anisotropies suggest that strong spin-orbit coupling in the hole system contributes to the unusual transport behavior.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗