arXiv subjects

Ulrich Schollwöck

Publications and source records attributed to Ulrich Schollwöck.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Exploring confinement transitions in $\mathbb{Z}_2$ lattice gauge theories with dipolar atoms beyond one dimension

Confinement of particles into bound states is a phenomenon spanning from high-energy to condensed matter physics, which can be studied in the framework of lattice gauge theories (LGTs). Achieving a comprehensive understanding of confinement continues to pose a major challenge, in particular at finite matter density and in the presence of strong quantum fluctuations. State-of-the-art quantum simulators constitute a promising platform to address this problem. Here we study confinement in coupled chains of $\mathbb{Z}_2$ LGTs coupled to matter fields, that can be mapped to a mixed-dimensional (mixD) XXZ model. We perform large-scale numerical matrix-product state calculations to obtain the phase diagram of this model, in which we uncover striped phases formed by the $\mathbb{Z}_2$ charges that can be melted at finite temperature or by increasing the tunneling rate. To explore this setting experimentally, we use our quantum simulator constituted by erbium atoms with dipolar interactions in a quantum gas microscope, and observe the predicted melting of a stripe phase by increasing the particle tunneling rate. Our explorative experimental studies of thermal deconfinement of $\mathbb{Z}_2$ charges motivate our further theoretical study of the mixD $\mathbb{Z}_2$ LGT, in which we predict a confined meson gas at finite temperature and low magnetization where thermal fluctuations destroy stripes but enable spontaneous commensurate spin order. Overall, we demonstrate that our platform can be used to study confinement in $\mathbb{Z}_2$ LGTs coupled to matter fields, including long-range interactions and beyond one dimension, paving the way for future research of confinement in the quantum many-body regime.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2026

A Tensor Network Framework for Lindbladian Spectra and Steady States

Quantum systems coupled to (non-)Markovian environments attract increasing attention due to their peculiar physical properties. Exciting prospects such as unconventional non-equilibrium phases beyond the Mermin-Wagner limit or dissipative state preparation demand a systematic analysis of quantum many-body phases out of equilibrium. Akin to the equilibrium case, this requires the computation of the low-lying eigenstates of Lindbladians, a problem challenging conventional approaches for simulating quantum many-body systems. Here, we undertake a first step to overcome this limitation and introduce a tensor-network-based framework to systematically compute not only steady states, but also low-lying excited states for large, driven quantum many-body systems. Our framework is based on recent advances utilizing complex-time Krylov spaces, and we leverage these ideas to create a toolbox tailored to solve the challenging non-Hermitian eigenvalue problem ubiquitous in open quantum systems. At the example of the interacting Bose-Hubbard model driven by dissipation-assisted hopping, we demonstrate the high efficiency and accuracy. From a reliable finite-size scaling analysis of the spectral gap, we find strong evidence for nonlinear hydrodynamic behavior consistent with Kardar-Parisi-Zhang-type superdiffusive relaxation and establish the existence of exponentially accelerated, anomalous relaxation. This method unlocks the capability of spectral analysis of generic open quantum many-body systems, suitable also for non-Markovian environments.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Matter-induced plaquette terms in a $\mathbb{Z}_2$ lattice gauge theory

Lattice gauge theories (LGTs) provide a powerful framework for studying confinement, topological order, and exotic quantum matter. In particular, the paradigmatic phenomenon of confinement, where dynamical matter is coupled to gauge fields and forms bound states, remains an open problem. In addition, LGTs can provide low-energy descriptions of quantum spin liquids, which is the focus of ongoing experimental research. However, the study of LGTs is often limited theoretically by their numerical complexity and experimentally in implementing challenging multi-body interactions, such as the plaquette terms crucial for the realization of many exotic phases of matter. Here we investigate a $(2+1)$D $\mathbb{Z}_2$ LGT coupled to hard-core bosonic matter featuring a global U(1) symmetry, and show that dynamical matter naturally induces sizable plaquette interactions even in the absence of explicit plaquette terms in the Hamiltonian. Using a combination of density matrix renormalization group simulations and neural quantum state calculations up to a system size of $20 \times 20$, we analyze the model across different fillings and electric field strengths. At small coupling strength, we find a large plaquette expectation value, independent of system size, for a wide range of fillings, which decreases in the presence of stronger electric fields. Furthermore, we observe signatures of a confinement-deconfinement transition at weak coupling strengths. Our results demonstrate that dynamical U(1) matter can induce complex multi-body interactions, suggesting a natural route to the realization of strong plaquette terms and paving the way for realizing a topological quantum spin liquid protected by a large gap.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2026

Adaptive Pseudoboson Density-Matrix Renormalization Group for Dilute 2D Systems

Simulating strongly correlated systems in two dimensions is notoriously challenging due to rapid entanglement growth and frustration. Here, we introduce the adaptive projected-purified pseudoboson density-matrix renormalization group (A3P-DMRG) tailored to explore the ground states of dilute lattice models. The method compresses cluster Hilbert spaces by retaining only the most probable low-occupation Fock states, identified via probabilistic bounds and refined through a self-consistent mean-field basis optimization. We demonstrate that A3P-DMRG is advantageous in low-filling and weak-coupling regimes for large system sizes where conventional DMRG struggles. This establishes the method as a versatile tool for studying dilute quantum many-body systems relevant to ultra-cold atom quantum simulators, photonic lattices, Moiré materials and quantum chemistry.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2025

Large Isolated Stripes on Short 18-leg $t$-$J$ Cylinders

Spin-charge stripes belong to the most prominent low-temperature orders besides superconductivity in high-temperature superconductors. This phase is particularly challenging to study numerically due to finite-size effects. By investigating the formation of long, isolated stripes, we offer a perspective complementary to typical finite-doping phase diagrams. We use the density-matrix renormalization group algorithm to extract the ground states of an 18-leg cylindrical strip geometry, making the diameter significantly wider than in previous works. This approach allows us to map out the range of possible stripe filling fractions on the electron versus hole-doped side. We find good agreement with established results, suggesting that the spread of filling fractions observed in the literature is governed by the physics of a single stripe. Taking a microscopic look at stripe formation, we reveal two separate regimes - a high-filling regime captured by a simplified squeezed-space model and a low-filling regime characterized by the structure of individual pairs of dopants. Thereby, we trace back the phenomenology of the striped phase to its microscopic constituents and highlight the different challenges for observing the two regimes in quantum simulation experiments.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2025

From hidden order to skyrmions: Quantum Hall states in an extended Hofstadter-Fermi-Hubbard model

The interplay between topology and strong interactions gives rise to a variety of exotic quantum phases, including fractional quantum Hall (FQH) states and their lattice analogs - fractional Chern insulators (FCIs). Such topologically ordered states host fractionalized excitations and, for spinful systems, are often accompanied by ferromagnetism and skyrmions. Here, we study a Hofstadter-Hubbard model of spinful fermions on a square lattice, extended by nearest-neighbor interactions. Using large-scale density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) simulations, we demonstrate the emergence of a spin-polarized $\frac{1}{3}$-Laughlin-like FCI phase, characterized by a quantized many-body Chern number, a finite charge gap, and hidden off-diagonal long-range order. We further investigate the quantum Hall ferromagnet at $ν=1$ and its skyrmionic excitations upon doping. In particular, we find that nearest-neighbor repulsion is sufficient to stabilize both particle- and hole-skyrmions in the ground state around $ν=1$, whereas we do not find such textures around $ν=\frac{1}{3}$. The diagnostic toolbox presented in this work, based on local densities, correlation functions, and spin-resolved observables, is directly applicable in quantum gas microscopy experiments. Our results open new pathways for experimental exploration of FCIs with spin textures in both ultracold atom and electronic systems.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2025

Mean-field theory of 1+1D $\mathbb{Z}_2$ lattice gauge theory with matter

Lattice gauge theories (LGTs) provide valuable insights into problems in strongly correlated many-body systems. Confinement which arises when matter is coupled to gauge fields is just one of the open problems, where LGT formalism can explain the underlying mechanism. However, coupling gauge fields to dynamical charges complicates the theoretical and experimental treatment of the problem. Developing a simplified mean-field theory is thus one of the ways to gain new insights into these complicated systems. Here we develop a mean-field theory of a paradigmatic 1+1D $\mathbb{Z}_2$ lattice gauge theory with superconducting pairing term, the gauged Kitaev chain, by decoupling charge and $\mathbb{Z}_2$ fields while enforcing the Gauss law on the mean-field level. We first determine the phase diagram of the original model in the context of confinement, which allows us to identify the symmetry-protected topological transition in the Kitaev chain as a confinement transition. We then compute the phase diagram of the effective mean-field theory, which correctly captures the main features of the original LGT. This is furthermore confirmed by the Green's function results and a direct comparison of the ground state energy. This simple LGT can be implemented in state-of-the art cold atom experiments. We thus also consider string-length histograms and the electric field polarization, which are easily accessible quantities in experimental setups and show that they reliably capture the various phases.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2025

Two-dopant origin of competing stripe and pair formation in Hubbard and $t$-$J$ models

Understanding the physics of the two-dimensional Hubbard model is widely believed to be a key step in achieving a full understanding of high-$T_\mathrm{c}$ cuprate superconductors. In recent years, progress has been made by large-scale numerical simulations at finite doping and, on the other hand, by microscopic theories able to capture the physics of individual charge carriers. In this work, we study single pairs of dopants in a cylindrical system using the density-matrix renormalization group algorithm. We identify two coexisting charge configurations that couple to the spin environment in different ways: A tightly bound configuration featuring (next-)nearest-neighbor pairs and a stripe-like configuration of dopants on opposite sides of the cylinder, accompanied by a spin domain wall. Thus, we establish that the interplay between stripe order and uniform pairing, central to the models' phases at finite doping, has its origin at the single-pair level. By interpolating between the Hubbard and the related $t$-$J$ model, we are able to quantitatively understand discrepancies in the pairing properties of the two models through the three-site hopping term usually omitted from the $t$-$J$ Hamiltonian. This term is closely related to a next-nearest-neighbor tunneling $t'$, which we observe to upset the balance between the competing stripe and pair states on the two-dopant level.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2025

Towards effective models for low-dimensional cuprates: From ground state Hamiltonian reconstruction to spectral functions

Understanding which minimal effective model captures the essential physics of cuprates is a key step towards unraveling the mechanism behind high-$T_c$ superconductivity. Recent measurements of the dynamical spin structure factor (DSF) in cuprate ladder compounds have indicated the presence of a large effective attraction in the single-band Hubbard model, possibly mediated by phonons. Here, we demonstrate that similar DSF features can also be captured by $t$-$J$ descriptions with or even without any attractive term. Motivated by this observation, we systematically investigate the strength and origin of different contributions to the single-band Hamiltonians by downfolding either from the three-band Emery model or the electron-phonon coupled Hubbard-Holstein model. For one-dimensional systems, we find that the extended versions of both single-band descriptions can reproduce the experimentally observed DSF signatures. Finally, we extend our analysis to two dimensions by comparing two-hole correlation functions for the different single-band models. Our results provide new insights into the long-standing question of which single-band Hamiltonian can capture the essential physics of cuprates.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2025

LiV2O4: Hund-Assisted Orbital-Selective Mottness

We show that the remarkably small Fermi-liquid coherence scale and large effective mass observed in LiV$_2$O$_4$ are due to the proximity of a Hund-assisted orbital-selective Mott state. Our work is based on an ab initio dynamical mean-field approach, combining several quantum impurity solvers to capture the physics from high to very low temperature. We find that the Hund coupling plays a crucial role in rearranging the orbital populations and in generating the heavy mass and low coherence scale. The latter is found to be approximately 1-2 Kelvin, even though the most correlated orbital is found to be significantly doped ~10% away from half-filling. A flat quasiparticle band appears near the Fermi level as a result of the strong electronic correlations. Finally, we discuss our results in comparison to experiments.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2025

Emergent spinon-holon Feshbach resonance in a doped Majumdar-Ghosh model

Experimental and numerical spectroscopy have revealed rich physics in antiferromagnets, in particular in frustrated and doped systems. The Majumdar-Ghosh (MG) model has an analytically known spin-disordered ground state of dimerized singlets as a result of magnetic frustration. Here we study the single-hole angle-resolved photoemission spectrum (ARPES) of a doped MG model, where we introduce a spin-hole interaction that is experimentally accessible with ultracold molecules. We report a bound spinon-holon ground state and clear signatures of a spinon-holon molecule state and polarons in the ARPES spectrum at different magnetizations. Moreover, we find signatures of an emergent Feshbach resonance with tunable interactions associated with the unbinding of the spinon and the holon. Our results provide new insights into the physics of dopants in frustrated $t$-$J$ models and establish the latter as a new platform for studies of emergent few-body phenomena.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2025

Hund flat band in a frustrated spinel oxide

Electronic flat bands associated with quenched kinetic energy and heavy electron mass have attracted great interest for promoting strong electronic correlations and emergent phenomena such as high-temperature charge fractionalization and superconductivity. Intense experimental and theoretical research has been devoted to establishing the rich non-trivial metallic and heavy fermion phases intertwined with such localized electronic states. Here, we investigate the transition metal oxide spinel LiV2O4, an enigmatic heavy fermion compound lacking localized f orbital states. We use angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and dynamical mean field theory to reveal a new kind of correlation-induced flat band with suppressed inter-atomic electron hopping arising from intra-atomic Hund coupling. The appearance of heavy quasiparticles is ascribed to a proximate orbital-selective Mott state characterized by fluctuating local moments as evidenced by complementary magnetotransport measurements. The spectroscopic fingerprints of long-lived quasiparticles and their disappearance with increasing temperature further support the emergence of a high-temperature bad metal state observed in transport data. This work resolves a long-standing puzzle on the origin of heavy fermion behavior and unconventional transport in LiV2O4. Simultaneously, it opens a new path to achieving flat bands through electronic interactions in d-orbital systems with geometrical frustration, potentially enabling the realization of exotic phases of matter such as the fractionalized Fermi liquids.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

Kinetic magnetism and stripe order in the antiferromagnetic bosonic ${t-J}$ model

Unraveling the microscopic mechanisms governing the physics of doped quantum magnets is key to advancing our understanding of strongly correlated quantum matter. Quantum simulation platforms, e.g., ultracold atoms in optical lattices or tweezer arrays, provide a powerful tool to investigate the interplay between spin and charge motion in microscopic detail. Here, in a new twist, we disentangle the role of particle statistics from the physics of strong correlations by exploring the strong coupling limit of doped \emph{bosonic} quantum magnets, specifically the antiferromagnetic (AFM) bosonic $t-J$ model. Using large-scale density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) calculations, we map out the phase diagram on the 2D square lattice at finite doping. In the low-doping regime, bosonic holes form partially-filled stripes, akin to those observed in high-$T_c$ cuprates. As doping increases, a transition occurs to a partially-polarized ferromagnetic (FM) phase, driven by the motion of mobile bosonic charge carriers forming Nagaoka polarons. At high doping or large $t/J$, the system evolves into a fully-polarized ferromagnet. These findings shed new light on the role of particle statistics in strongly correlated many-body systems, revealing connections to stripe formation and the physics of kinetic (i.e., Nagaoka-type) ferromagnetism. Our results may be realized in state-of-the-art quantum simulation platforms with bosonic quantum gas microscopes and Rydberg atom tweezer arrays, paving the way for future experimental studies of doped bosonic quantum magnets.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2024

Phonon state tomography of electron correlation dynamics in optically excited solids

We introduce phonon state tomography (PST) as a diagnostic probe of electron dynamics in solids whose phonons are optically excited by a laser pulse at initial time. Using a projected-purified matrix-product states algorithm, PST decomposes the exact correlated electron-phonon wavefunction into contributions from purely electronic states corresponding to statistically typical configurations of the optically accessible phononic response, enabling a 'tomographic' reconstruction of the electronic dynamics generated by the phonons. Thus, PST may be used to diagnose electronic behavior in experiments that access only the phonon response, such as thermal diffuse x-ray and electron scattering. We study the dynamics of a metal whose infrared phonons are excited by an optical pulse at initial time and use it to simulate the sample-averaged momentum-resolved phonon occupancy and accurately reconstruct the electronic correlations. We also use PST to analyze the influence of different pulse shapes on the light-induced enhancement and suppression of electronic correlations.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

Robust stripes in the mixed-dimensional $t-J$ model

Microscopically understanding competing orders in strongly correlated systems is a key challenge in modern quantum many-body physics. For example, the origin of stripe order and its relation to pairing in the Fermi-Hubbard model remains one of the central questions, and may help to understand the origin of high-temperature superconductivity in cuprates. Here, we analyze stripe formation in the doped mixed-dimensional (mixD) variant of the $t-J$ model, where charge carriers are restricted to move only in one direction, whereas magnetic SU(2) interactions are two-dimensional. Using the density matrix renormalization group at finite temperature, we find a stable vertical stripe phase in the absence of pairing, featuring incommensurate magnetic order and long-range charge density wave profiles over a wide range of dopings. We find high critical temperatures on the order of the magnetic coupling $\sim J/2$, hence being within reach of current quantum simulators. Snapshots of the many-body state, accessible to quantum simulators, reveal hidden spin correlations in the mixD setting, whereby antiferromagnetic correlations are enhanced when considering purely the magnetic background. The proposed model can be viewed as realizing a parent Hamiltonian of the stripe phase, whose hidden spin correlations lead to the predicted resilience against quantum and thermal fluctuations.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2024

Kinetic-to-magnetic frustration crossover and linear confinement in the doped triangular $t-J$ model

Microscopically understanding competing orders in strongly correlated systems is a key challenge in modern quantum many-body physics. For example, the study of magnetic polarons and their relation to pairing in the Fermi-Hubbard model in different geometries remains one of the central questions, and may help to understand the mechanism underlying unconventional superconductivity in cuprates or transition metal dichalcogenides. With recent advances in analog quantum simulation of the Fermi-Hubbard model on non-bipartite lattices, frustrated physics can now be explored experimentally in systems lacking particle-hole symmetry. Here, we study the singly doped $t-J$ model on the triangular lattice, focusing on the competition between kinetic and magnetic frustration as a function of temperature. In doublon doped systems, we uncover a crossover between Nagaoka-type ferromagnetic (FM) correlations at high temperature and exchange mediated antiferromagnetic (AFM) order around the doublon at low temperature. For hole doped systems, kinetic Haerter-Shastry-type AFM at high temperature as well as exchange interactions at low temperature favor $120^{\circ}$ order, strengthening magnetic correlations compared to the undoped system. In the ground state, the presence of AFM correlations throughout a wide range of interactions indicates confinement of both types of dopants. In this regime we firmly establish the presence of linear confining potentials via energy scaling arguments, supporting the picture of geometric strings in the frustrated triangular $t-J$ model.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

Superconductivity in the pressurized nickelate La$_3$Ni$_2$O$_7$ in the vicinity of a BEC-BCS crossover

Ever since the discovery of high-temperature superconductivity in cuprates, gaining microscopic insights into the nature of pairing in strongly correlated, repulsively interacting fermionic systems has remained one of the greatest challenges in modern condensed matter physics. Following recent experiments reporting superconductivity in the bilayer nickelate La$_3$Ni$_2$O$_7$ (LNO) with remarkably high critical temperatures of $T_c = 80$ K, it has been argued that the low-energy physics of LNO can be described by the strongly correlated, mixed-dimensional bilayer $t-J$ model. Here we investigate this bilayer system and utilize density matrix renormalization group techniques to establish a thorough understanding of the model and the magnetically induced pairing through comparison to the perturbative limit of dominating inter-layer spin couplings. In particular, this allows us to explain appearing finite-size effects, firmly establishing the existence of long-range superconducting order in the thermodynamic limit that is described by the XXZ universality class of hard-core bosons constituted by $s$-wave singlet pairs. As the effective model in the perturbative limit is known to show linear resistivity above the superconducting transition temperature, we propose a pair-based interpretation of the extended strange metal phase observed in LNO. By analyzing binding energies, we predict a BEC-BCS crossover as a function of the Hamiltonian parameters, whereas LNO is anticipated to lie on the BCS side in vicinity of the transition. We find large binding energies of the order of the inter-layer coupling that suggest strikingly high critical temperatures of the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition, raising the question whether (mixD) bilayer superconductors possibly facilitate critical temperatures above room temperature.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

Sub-dimensional magnetic polarons in the one-hole doped SU(3) $t$-$J$ model

The physics of doped Mott insulators is at the heart of strongly correlated materials and is believed to constitute an essential ingredient for high-temperature superconductivity. In systems with higher SU(N) spin symmetries, even richer magnetic ground states appear at a filling of one particle per site compared to the case of SU(2) spins, but their fate upon doping remains largely unexplored. Here we address this question by studying a single hole in the SU(3) $t$-$J$ model, whose undoped ground state features long-range, diagonal spin stripes. By analyzing both ground state and dynamical properties utilizing the density matrix renormalization group, we establish the appearence of magnetic polarons consisting of chargons and flavor defects, whose dynamics is constrained to a single effective dimension along the ordered diagonal. We semi-analytically describe the system using geometric string theory, where paths of hole motion are the fundamental degrees of freedom. With recent advances in the realization and control of SU(N) Fermi-Hubbard models with ultracold atoms in optical lattices, our results can directly be observed in quantum gas microscopes with single-site resolution. Our work suggests the appearance of intricate ground states at finite doping constituted by emergent, coupled Luttinger liquids along diagonals, and is a first step towards exploring a wealth of physics in doped SU(N) Fermi-Hubbard models on various geometries.

cond-mat.str-el↗