Terminable Transitions in a Topological Fermionic Ladder

Physical Review Letters, vol. 132, pp. 136501

Abstract

Interacting fermionic ladders are versatile platforms to study quantum phases of matter, such as different types of Mott insulators. In particular, there are D-Mott and S-Mott states that hold preformed fermion pairs and become paired-fermion liquids upon doping (d wave and s wave, respectively). We show that the D-Mott and S-Mott phases are in fact two facets of the same topological phase and that the transition between them is terminable. These results provide a quantum analog of the well-known terminable liquid-to-gas transition. However, the phenomenology we uncover is even richer, as the order of the transition may alternate between continuous and first order, depending on the interaction details. Most importantly, the terminable transition is robust in the sense that it is guaranteed to appear for weak, but arbitrary couplings. We discuss a minimal model where some analytical insights can be obtained, a generic model where the effect persists; and a model-independent field-theoretical study demonstrating the general phenomenon. The role of symmetry and the edge states is briefly discussed. The numerical results are obtained using the variational uniform matrix-product state (VUMPS) formalism for infinite systems, as well as the density-matrix renormalization group (DMRG) algorithm for finite systems.

Authors 4

1. Yuchi He Aachen Institut für Theorie der Statistischen Physik

   University of Oxford · Jülich Aachen Research Alliance · RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Institut für Theorie der Statistischen Physik, RWTH Aachen University and JARA—Fundamentals of Future Information Technology, 52056 Aachen, Germany

   Rudolf Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics, Clarendon Laboratory, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PU, United Kingdom

2. Dante Marvin Kennes Aachen Institut für Theorie der Statistischen Physik

   Jülich Aachen Research Alliance · Center for Free-Electron Laser Science · Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter · RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Institut für Theorie der Statistischen Physik, RWTH Aachen University and JARA—Fundamentals of Future Information Technology, 52056 Aachen, Germany

   Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter, Center for Free Electron Laser Science, 22761 Hamburg, Germany

3. Christoph Karrasch

   Technische Universität Braunschweig

   Affiliation as printed

   Technische Universität Braunschweig, Institut für Mathematische Physik, Mendelssohnstraße 3, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany

4. Roman Rausch

   Technische Universität Braunschweig

   Affiliation as printed

   Technische Universität Braunschweig, Institut für Mathematische Physik, Mendelssohnstraße 3, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany