Universal construction of order parameters for translation-invariant quantum lattice systems with symmetry-breaking order

Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys. 2012 Aug;86(2 Pt 1):020102. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevE.86.020102. Epub 2012 Aug 15.

Abstract

For any translation-invariant quantum lattice system with a symmetry group G, we propose a practical and universal construction of order parameters which identify quantum phase transitions with symmetry-breaking order. They are defined in terms of the fidelity between a ground state and its symmetry-transformed counterpart, and are computed through tensor network representations of the ground-state wave function. To illustrate our scheme, we consider three quantum systems on an infinite lattice in one spatial dimension, namely, the quantum Ising model in a transverse magnetic field, the quantum spin-1/2XYX model in an external magnetic field, and the quantum spin-1 XXZ model with single-ion anisotropy. All these models have symmetry group Z(2) and exhibit broken-symmetry phases. We also discuss the role of the order parameters in identifying factorized states.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't