arXiv subjects

Zi Yang Meng

Publications and source records attributed to Zi Yang Meng.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Unraveling the Kagome Antiferromagnetic $3J$ Model and Its Materials: An Integrated Approach

We investigate the ground-state and finite-temperature properties of the kagome antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model with three inequivalent couplings, dubbed the 3J model, which is designed for the candidate Dirac quantum spin liquid (QSL) material YCu$_3$(OH)$_6$Br$_2$[Br$_{1-x}$(OH)$_x$] (see, e.g., Zeng et al., 2024). Employing large-scale density-matrix renormalization group (DMRG) supplemented by neural quantum states (NQS) simulations, we identify an intermediate QSL phase between two magnetically ordered phases. We also find that this QSL is separated from the kagome spin liquid ground state at the isotropic limit. To establish a direct comparison with experiments, we compute the specific heat of the model by means of advanced exponential (XTRG) and tangent-space (tanTRG) thermal tensor-network methods. In the magnetically ordered phase, the specific heat over temperature exhibits a shoulder at a temperature that is a fraction of the coupling strength $J_{hex}$, which disappears in the QSL phase. These universal behaviors are consistent with the experimentally observed specific heat in 3J materials for both ordered and QSL candidate samples. Our work thus connects microscopic models with experimentally measurable signatures, exemplifying an integrated approach (see Meng et al., 2026) to understanding QSL phenomena in frustrated quantum magnets, with 3J materials serving as a representative case and providing a foundation for future studies.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2026

Discrete Shift and Polarization from Response to Symmetry Defects in Interacting Topological Phases

We extend the previous study of extracting crystalline symmetry-protected topological invariants to the correlated regime. We construct the interacting Hofstadter model defined on square lattice with the rotation and translation symmetry defects: disclination and dislocation. The model realizes Chern insulator and the charge density wave state as one tunes interactions. Employing the density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) method, we calculate the excess charge around the defects and find that the topological invariants remain quantized in both phases, with the topological quantity extracted to great precision. This study paves the way for utilizing matrix product state, and potentially other quantum many-body computation methods, to efficiently study crystalline symmetry defects on 2D interacting lattice systems.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2026

Strain-Tuned Incommensurate Kekulé Spiral Order in Twisted Bilayer Graphene: a Quantum Many-Body Study

The physics of twisted bilayer graphene away from the exactly solvable chiral limit and the quantum Monte Carlo sign-problem-free charge neutrality point is elusive due to the exponential increase in the computational complexity, which has rendered explanations of experimentally observed insulating and superconducting phases restricted largely to the perturbative level. Here we focus on the filling factor $ν=\pm2$ and address the question of the strain dependence of the interacting ground state by approximate quantum Monte Carlo (AQMC), state-of-the-art exact diagonalization (ED) and Hartree-Fock (HF) mean field, in order to investigate the strain-tuned transition from the Kramers intervalley coherent (KIVC) state to the incommensurate Kekulé spiral (IKS) state. While all three methods capture the KIVC order, only ED and HF detect the weaker IKS order that AQMC does not capture adequately. As the AQMC is still capable of capturing stronger orders like the KIVC, our combined protocol may open the door for further understanding of the rich phases of twisted bilayer graphene and other strongly-correlated systems.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2026

Local spectroscopy of loop current order with individual magnetic atoms

Hidden ordered states--characterized by order parameters that elude conventional probes--pose a fundamental challenge for their identification in quantum materials. Recent experiments report evidence for time-reversal symmetry breaking orbital magnetic order and anomalous transport signatures in the $2a\times2a$ charge density wave state of the kagome metal CsV$_3$Sb$_5$ at a temperature $T<30\,$K. Theoretical analyses propose that a time-reversal symmetry breaking loop-current order could exist as the ground state of this charge density wave. However, this microscopic interpretation remains debated and experimentally unverified. In this work, we employ individual magnetic atoms as local quantum sensors to examine the quasiparticle excitations of the charge density wave in CsV$_3$Sb$_5$ with the scanning tunneling microscope. Our spectroscopic measurements show that the magnetic moment of Co induces a spatially localized $dI/dV$ peak inside the spectral gap of the charge density wave near the Fermi energy. Conducting temperature-dependent spectroscopy, we find that this spectral feature emerges at $T<30\,$K. By comparing our experimental observations with results of quantum many-body simulations and realistic tight-binding model calculations, we show that this spectroscopic signature can be naturally interpreted as a local flux defect in a loop current ordered state, arising from the Kondo coupling of the magnetic moment of Co with the loop current electrons. The excellent agreement between our experimental and theoretical results suggests the presence of loop-current order in the $2a\times2a$ charge density wave of CsV$_3$Sb$_5$ at $T<30\,$K. Our results provide a microscopic picture to the observation of time-reversal symmetry breaking orbital magnetism and anomalous transport signatures detected in measurements of the macroscopic material properties.

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arXiv2026

Higher-Order Topological States with Cleavage-Dependent Dirac Mass

Topological quantum chemistry based on local charge profiles lacks predictive power for the crystalline cleavage of higher-order topological insulators (HOTIs). By cleaving an obstructed atomic insulator, we discover a topological phase characterized by e/2-fractional charges localized at precisely half of the corners, while the remaining empty corners host complementary vacancies of interstice charge. These zero-energy charge vacancies and topological corners form a spatially balanced geometry, separately localized at four corners. Crucially, we demonstrate that the emergence of corner zero modes dictates that specific dangling bonds acting as the mass of a Dirac fermion-must explicitly expose in, and subtly slope toward, the corner regions. This strict directionality is verified by the anisotropic evolution of the mass term within a (2+1) dimensional parameter space. Moreover, we find that the topological corners acquire lower entanglement entropy compared to the bulk, a behavior opposite to that of the real-space energy distribution which forms an energy-entropy compensation, essentially derived from the topological charge compensation. Our work paves the way for the local chemical environment at topological boundaries, and demonstrates the higher order quantum transport counterparts for high energy Dirac physics.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2026

Many-Anyon Braiding in Non-Abelian Fractional Quantum Hall Effect with Hybrid Monte Carlo Simulation

We employ the hybrid Monte Carlo method to efficiently compute the many-anyon non-Abelian braiding matrices associated with different braiding schemes of the Moore-Read quasiholes. A novel proposal in this work is that anyon braiding schemes based on a global rotation are robust against finite-size effects, as demonstrated by benchmarking their errors in the braiding matrix against those of a simple two-anyon exchange. Moreover, we investigate how electron-electron interactions and local electrostatic trapping potentials influence the energetic preference of different fusion channels. Their effect on the non-Abelian braiding matrices has been verified, a surprising phenomenon that demonstrates long-range entanglement of non-Abelian states. Our results are relevant to the experimental realization of non-Abelian physics in fractional quantum Hall and other analogous systems, including the fast-growing field of fractional quantum anomalous Hall states in moiré materials.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2026

Numerical evidence of a critical point in the (2+1)D SO(5) nonlinear sigma model with Wess-Zumino-Witten term

We develop an optimized continuous-field quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) algorithm to investigate the projected SO(5) nonlinear sigma model with a Wess-Zumino-Witten term, which describes half-filled Dirac fermions in 2+1 space-time dimensions akin to graphene and Yukawa coupled to a quintuplet of compatible mass terms. Our algorithm reduces the computational complexity to $O(βN_{\mathbf{q}} N_ϕ^2)$, yielding a speedup of a factor of $N_ϕ$ (the number of magnetic fluxes, i.e., system size) relative to prior works [1-4]. This advance enables us to simulate system sizes up to $N_ϕ=140$ on the torus and $N_ϕ=59$ on the sphere, far exceeding the maximum sizes previously accessed, and to map out the universal phase diagram of the model on both geometries. Most notably, we identify and characterize a critical point that separates an SO(5)-broken ordered phase at small coupling from an SO(5)-symmetric disordered phase at large coupling. The critical point becomes multicritical upon the inclusion of terms that break the SO(5) symmetry down to $\mathrm{U}(1) \times \mathrm{SU}(2)$, relevant for the deconfined phase transition between Néel antiferromagnetic and valence-bond-solid orders in quantum magnets. Our finding of a multicritical point in the phase diagram of the SO(5) nonlinear sigma model with Wess-Zumino-Witten term resolves the long-standing open question of its global structure, and our QMC algorithm opens a new avenue for systematic studies of projected Hamiltonians, ranging from correlated flat bands to fractional quantum (anomalous) Hall systems.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2026

Deconfined criticality between an antiferromagnetic insulator and a nodal d-wave superconductor: a quantum Monte Carlo study

We present a quantum Monte Carlo study of the transition between the insulating Néel state and the nodal $d$-wave superconductor on the square lattice at half-filling. We access a regime of frustrated magnetic order without a sign problem using a parton representation of the electron in terms of fermionic spinons and bosonic chargons. Both partons move in a background $π$-flux (so the electron experiences no net flux) and are coupled to a quantum fluctuating SU(2) lattice gauge field. In contrast to earlier studies directly on the electronic degrees of freedom, we find evidence for a second-order deconfined quantum phase transition at which both the Néel and $d$-wave superconductivity orders vanish continuously. We compute correlators of the spinon-chargon composite with the same quantum numbers as the electron: we find a gapless Dirac dispersion inside the $d$-wave superconductor, turning into a gapped dispersion in the antiferromagnet.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2026

Trion Excitations in Twisted Bilayer Graphene: A Quantum Monte Carlo Study

Determining the nature of charge carriers is a fundamental goal in the study of strongly correlated electron systems. Here, we employ the continuous-field momentum-space quantum Monte Carlo method to reveal exotic "Dirac trion" excitations in the finite-temperature normal state of twisted bilayer graphene. While the ground state is a symmetry-breaking insulator with gapped ($\sim$ 20 meV) electron-like excitations, we show that a small temperature ($\sim$ 3 meV), well below the interaction scale, drives the system into a strongly fluctuating symmetric normal state. We demonstrate that this normal state hosts gapless excitations consisting of three-particle bound states, two electrons and one hole, that are exactly orthogonal to the higher-energy electrons at the zero-momentum gapless point. These Dirac trions have the remarkable property of being arbitrarily light despite being composed of heavy constituents, and their spectra can be easily tuned by varying the twist angle and interlayer hopping strength. Our unbiased quantum many-body computation sheds light on the Dirac trions in a projected correlated flat-band setting and opens the door for further investigation of many-body excitations in strongly correlated topological bands beyond Landau levels.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2026

Probing Non-Fermi-Liquid Behaviour of Composite Fermi Liquid via Efficient Thermal Simulations

The physics of two-dimensional electron gas in a perpendicular magnetic field, i.e., the quantum Hall system, is remarkably rich. At half filling of the lowest Landau level, it has been predicted that "composite fermions"---emergent quasiparticles consisting of an electron attached to two magnetic flux quanta---experience zero net magnetic field and form a Fermi sea, dubbed composite Fermi liquid (CFL). However, despite its seemingly simple appearance, CFL is a strongly correlated quantum many-body state in disguise, and solving it in a controlled manner is extremely difficult, to the extent that the thermodynamic properties of CFL remain largely unknown. In this work, we perform state-of-the-art thermal tensor network simulations of the $ν=1/2$ Landau level system and observe low-temperature power-law behaviour of the specific heat, signaling the gapless nature of CFL. More importantly, the power is extracted to be close to $2/3$, clearly deviating from the ordinary linear-$T$ behaviour of Fermi liquid, suggesting coupling between the CFs and the dynamical emergent gauge field and thereby revealing the quantum many-body nature of the CFL state.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2026

Unconventional Quantum Criticality in Long-Range Spin-1 Chains: Insights from Entanglement Entropy and Bipartite Fluctuations

We study the ground-state phase diagram of a spin-1 Heisenberg chain with staggered long-range (LR) interactions decaying as $\propto r^{-α}$ using a quantum Monte Carlo approach based on the split-spin representation. This formulation enables efficient large-scale simulations by mapping the spin-1 model onto spin-$1/2$ degrees of freedom with local projection constraints. We resolve the continuous quantum phase transition between the gapped Haldane phase at large $α$ (short-range regime) and a gapless antiferromagnetically ordered Néel phase at small $α$ (LR regime), where the continuous SU(2) symmetry is broken. From finite-size scaling and crossing point analyses, we determine the critical point to be at $α_c = 2.49(1)$ and extract the associated critical exponents, which indicate unconventional criticality. In particular, the transition is found to be nonconformal, characterized by a dynamical exponent $z \neq 1$. We further analyze the scaling of entanglement entropy and bipartite fluctuations across the transition, and determine the corresponding universal scalings in both phases and at criticality.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2026

Chiral Graviton Modes in Non-Abelian lattice Fractional Quantum Hall states

Synthetic quantum matter provides a highly tunable route to fractional quantum Hall physics beyond the constraints of conventional electronic materials. However, previous theoretical studies have mostly focused on their ground state properties. It remains unclear to what extent such platforms could reveal key excitation properties of fractional quantum Hall states. Here, we study charge-neutral collective excitations in a non-abelian lattice fractional quantum Hall state realized in the bosonic Harper-Hofstadter model at unity filling factior, realizing a Moore-Read ground state. Combining full exact diagonalization, band-projected exact diagonalization, and matrix-product-state simulations, we demonstrate the existence of a long-lived chiral graviton mode, probed by chiral 3-body correlators, for the first time on lattice non-Abelian states. The graviton signal is topological sector-independent and could be observed via geometric quenches in small open droplets directly relevant to current cold-atom experiments, while other neutral modes, such as the magnetoroton and neutral fermion, are less resolved at presently achievable volumes.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2026

An integrated theoretical and numerical approach to understand modern experiments on quantum magnetism

In recent decades, the study of quantum magnets, which feature unconventional behaviour such as exotic quantum phase transitions and quantum spin liquids, and unconventional magnetic states of matter, has made remarkable progress. However, each of the three foundational pillars -- numerical simulations, analytical methods and, to a lesser extent, materials synthesis and experiments -- often tends to view itself as the primary driver of the field. Even though the need for collaboration among theory, numerics and experiment to understand the complex phases of quantum magnets is well established, in our view there remains a persistent perception from experts in one area that the other two serve merely as supporting tools, primarily useful for validating the dominant ideas of one speciality, and less relevant to shaping the underlying scientific narrative. We refer to this mindset as the "pride and prejudice" in modeling and understanding modern quantum magnetism. In this Perspective, we advocate for a different, more integrated approach to overcome the challenges faced by quantum magnetism researchers. We argue that this alternative mindset has already started to advance the understanding of several important quantum magnetic models and their materials realizations.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2026

Chiral Graviton Modes in Fermionic Fractional Chern Insulators

Chiral graviton modes are hallmark collective excitations of Fractional Quantum Hall (FQH) liquids. However, their existence on the lattice, where continuum symmetries that protect them from decay are lost, is still an open and urgent question, especially considering the recent advances in the realization of Fractional Chern Insulators (FCI) in transition metal dichalcogenides and rhombohedral pentalayer graphene. Here we present a comprehensive theoretical and numerical study of graviton-modes in fermionic FCI, and thoroughly demonstrate their existence. We first derive a lattice stress tensor operator in the context of the fermionic Harper-Hofstadter(HH) model which captures the graviton in the flat band limit. Importantly, we discover that such lattice stress-tensor operators are deeply connected to lattice quadrupolar density correlators, readily generalizable to generic Chern bands. We then explicitly show the adiabatic connection between FQH and FCI chiral graviton modes by interpolating from a low flux HH model to a Checkerboard lattice model that hosts a topological flat band. In particular, using state-of-the-art matrix product state and exact diagonalization simulations, we provide strong evidence that chiral graviton modes are long-lived excitations in FCIs despite the lack of continuous symmetries and the scattering with a two-magnetoroton continuum. By means of a careful finite-size analysis, we show that the lattice generates a finite but small intrinsic decay rate for the graviton mode. We discuss the relevance of our results for the exploration of graviton modes in FCI phases realized in solid state settings, as well as cold atom experiments.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2026

Interaction-induced nematic Dirac semimetal from quadratic band touching: A constrained-path quantum Monte Carlo study

Electronic systems with quadratic band touchings, commonly found in two- and three-dimensional materials such as Bernal-stacked bilayer graphene, kagome metals, HgTe, and pyrochlore iridates, have attracted significant interest concerning the role of interactions in shaping their electronic properties. However, even in the simplest model of spinless fermions on a two-dimensional checkerboard lattice, the quantum phase diagram as a function of nearest-neighbor interaction remains under debate. We employ constrained-path quantum Monte Carlo simulations (CP-QMC) simulations to investigate the problem using a two-dimensional torus geometry. We cross-validate our results on small lattices by comparing them with density-matrix renormalization group calculations, finding quantitative agreement. In particular, we implement an improved optimization scheme within the CP-QMC simulations, enabling the identification of a bond-nematic Dirac semimetal phase that was found in tensor-network studies on cylindrical geometries, but remains inaccessible to Hartree-Fock mean-field methods. The CP-QMC approach makes it possible to establish the emergence of this phase in a geometry that preserves lattice rotational symmetry and permits extrapolation to the thermodynamic limit. Our results show that the quantum phase diagram of spinless fermions on the checkerboard lattice with nearest-neighbor repulsion features three interaction-induced phases at half filling: a quantum anomalous Hall insulator at weak coupling, a bond-nematic Dirac semimetal at intermediate coupling, and a site-nematic insulator at strong coupling.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2026

Precise computation of universal corner entanglement entropy at 2+1 dimension: From Ising to Gaussian quantum critical points

Computing the subleading logarithmic term in the entanglement entropy (EE) of (2+1)d quantum many-body systems remains a significant challenge, despite its central role in revealing universal information about quantum states and quantum critical points (QCPs). Building on recent algorithmic advances that enable the stable calculation of EE as an exponential observable~\cite{zhouIncremental2024,zhangIntegral2024,liaoExtracting2024}, we develop a {\it bubble basis} projector quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) algorithm to precisely and efficiently compute the universal corner of EE at QCPs in a (2+1)d square-lattice transverse-field Ising model augmented with a four-body interaction. Turning on this interaction allows us to trace an Ising critical line, reaching the tricritical point, and then a line of first-order phase transition. In (2+1)d, the tricritical point is described by the Gaussian theory, where a theoretical calculation of the corner logarithmic term in the 2nd Rényi entropy term is available~\cite{UniversalCasini2007}. Our QMC results are in quantitative agreement with this theoretical value, providing a highly nontrivial benchmark of the algorithm. Furthermore, we also study the Rényi EE at the Ising critical line and on the first-order transition line, obtaining results consistent with theoretical expectations. These findings establish the long-sought connection between the universal values of an exactly solvable limit and those of a strongly correlated regime at (2+1)d.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2026

Quantum Fisher Information as a Thermal Probe in Frustrated Magnets through Insights from Quantum Spin Ice

Quantum Fisher information (QFI) is a measure of multipartite entanglement accessible via inelastic neutron scattering. Here we demonstrate that QFI reveals thermal and dynamical properties of quantum spin ice (QSI), a three-dimensional quantum spin liquid with fractionalized excitations. By developing a multi-directed loop update quantum Monte Carlo algorithm, along with exact diagonalization and gauge mean-field theory, we compute the QFI for the pyrochlore lattice. The temperature and momentum dependence of QFI maps the phase diagram, distinguishing the ferromagnetic ordered phase, its critical region, the zero-flux QSI, and the $π$-flux QSI. QFI also captures two crossover scales: from trivial paramagnet to classical spin ice, then to QSI. We discuss the $π$-flux QSI in light of experiments on cerium-based pyrochlores. Our results suggest that QFI not only detects entanglement but also serves as a sensitive thermal and dynamical probe for frustrated quantum magnets.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2026

Generic integer and fractional quantum anomalous Hall crystals from interaction-driven band folding

Among the extensive studies of fractional quantum anomalous Hall (FQAH) states, there recently appears a growing interest in the topological states with coexisting charge density wave (CDW) orders. Such states are referred to as Hall crystals. However, compared to those with integer Hall conductivities, the FQAH crystal (FQAHC) is still elusive even at the level of microscopic model. In this work, we numerically study a topological flat-band model on triangular lattice with spinless fermions. At fractional filling of the Chern band, the nearest-neighbor interaction leads to a commensurate and topologically trivial CDW state. Interestingly, the folded mini-band above the CDW gap is non-trivial, and we focus on the doping of it without any projection. A series of (F)QAHC states at (fractional) integer fillings of this mini-band are discovered and some FQAHC state might even exist in less "ideal" conditions. The ground-state degeneracies of such (F)QAHC states are enlarged by the CDW degeneracy and the Hall conductivities -- determined by the fillings of the mini-band -- are different from the fillings of the original Chern band. We also study the thermodynamics of an FQAHC state and find a compressible CDW phase at intermediate temperatures, which might serve as a precursor of lower temperature FQAHC phase. Moreover, we numerically demonstrate that such a generic scheme of doping CDW-folded topological mini-band could be applied to bosonic systems, broadening the platforms of Hall-crystal physics and motivating its exploration in quantum moire and cold-atom systems.

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