Behavior of the antiferromagnetic phase transition near the fermion condensation quantum phase transition in YbRh2Si2

Low-temperature specific-heat measurements on YbRh₂Si₂ at the second order antiferromagnetic (AF) phase transition reveal a sharp peak at TN=72 mK. The corresponding critical exponent α turns out to be α=0.38, which differs significantly from that obtained within the framework of the fluctuation theory of second order phase transitions based on the scale invariance, where α?0.1. We show that under the application of magnetic field the curve of the second order AF phase transitions passes into a curve of the first order ones at the tricritical point leading to a violation of the critical universality of the fluctuation theory. This change of the phase transition is generated by the fermion condensation quantum phase transition. Near the tricritical point the Landau theory of second order phase transitions is applicable and gives α?1/2. We demonstrate that this value of α is in good agreement with the specific-heat measurements.     

Energy scales and magnetoresistance at a quantum critical point

The magnetoresistance (MR) of CeCoIn₅ is notably different from that in many conventional metals. We show that a pronounced crossover from negative to positive MR at elevated temperatures and fixed magnetic fields is determined by the scaling behavior of quasiparticle effective mass. At a quantum critical point (QCP) this dependence generates kinks (crossover points from fast to slow growth) in thermodynamic characteristics (like specific heat, magnetization, etc.) at some temperatures when a strongly correlated electron system transits from the magnetic field induced Landau-Fermi liquid (LFL) regime to the non-Fermi liquid (NFL) one taking place at rising temperatures. We show that the above kink-like peculiarity separates two distinct energy scales in QCP vicinity - low temperature LFL scale and high temperature one related to NFL regime. Our comprehensive theoretical analysis of experimental data permits to reveal for the first time new MR and kinks scaling behavior as well as to identify the physical reasons for above energy scales.     

Random field effects in field-driven quantum critical points

We investigate the role of disorder for field-driven quantum phase transitions of metallic antiferromagnets. For systems with sufficiently low symmetry, the combination of a uniform external field and non-magnetic impurities leads effectively to a random magnetic field which strongly modifies the behavior close to the critical point. Using perturbative renormalization group, we investigate in which regime of the phase diagram the disorder affects critical properties. In heavy fermion systems where even weak disorder can lead to strong fluctuations of the local Kondo temperature, the random field effects are especially pronounced. We study possible manifestation of random field effects in experiments and discuss in this light neutron scattering results for the field driven quantum phase transition in CeCu_5.8Au_0.2.     

Magnetic quantum criticality in quasi‐one‐dimensional Heisenberg antiferromagnet

We analyze exciting recent measurements [Phys. Rev. Lett. 114 (2015) 037202] of the magnetization, differential susceptibility and specific heat on one dimensional Heisenberg antiferromagnet Cu(C₄H₄N₂)(NO₃)₂ (CuPzN) subjected to strong magnetic fields. Using the mapping between magnons (bosons) in CuPzN and fermions, we demonstrate that magnetic field tunes the insulator towards quantum critical point related to so‐called fermion condensation quantum phase transition (FCQPT) at which the resulting fermion effective mass diverges kinematically. We show that the FCQPT concept permits to reveal the scaling behavior of thermodynamic characteristics, describe the experimental results quantitatively, and derive for the first time the (temperature—magnetic field) phase diagram, that contains Landau‐Fermi‐liquid, crossover and non‐Fermi liquid parts, thus resembling that of heavy‐fermion compounds.     

Spin correlations in the two-dimensional spin-5/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet

We report a neutron scattering study of the instantaneous spin correlations in the two-dimensional spin S =5/2 square-lattice Heisenberg antiferromagnet Rb₂MnF₄. The measured correlation lengths are quantitatively described, with no adjustable parameters, by high-temperature series expansion results and by a theory based on the quantum self-consistent harmonic approximation. Conversely, we find that the data, which cover the range from about 1 to 50 lattice constants, are outside of the regime corresponding to renormalized classical behavior of the quantum non-linear model. In addition, we observe a crossover from Heisenberg to Ising critical behavior near the Néel temperature; this crossover is well described by a mean-field model with no adjustable parameters. Received: 3 March 1998 / Received in final form: 4 May 1998 / Accepted: 19 May 1998     

Disordered loops in the two-dimensional antiferromagnetic spin–fermion model

The spin–fermion model has long been used to describe the quantum-critical behavior of 2d electron systems near an antiferromagnetic (AFM) instability. Recently, the standard procedure to integrate out the fermions and obtain an effective action for spin waves has been questioned in the clean case. We show that, in the presence of disorder, the single fermion loops display two crossover scales: upon lowering the energy, the singularities of the clean fermionic loops are first cut off, but below a second scale new singularities arise that lead again to marginal scaling. In addition, impurity lines between different fermion loops generate new relevant couplings which dominate at low energies. We outline a non-linear σ model formulation of the single-loop problem, which allows to control the higher singularities and provides an effective model in terms of low-energy diffusive as well as spin modes.     

Entropy majorization, thermal adiabatic theorem, and quantum phase transitions

Let a general quantum many-body system at a low temperature adiabatically cross through the vicinity of the system’s quantum critical point. We show that the system’s temperature is significantly suppressed due to both the entropy majorization theorem in quantum information science and the entropy conservation law in reversible adiabatic processes. We take the one-dimensional transverse-field Ising model and the spinless fermion system as concrete examples to show that the inverse temperature might become divergent around the systems’ critical points. Since the temperature is a measurable quantity in experiments, it can be used, via reversible adiabatic processes at low temperatures, to detect quantum phase transitions in the perspectives of quantum information science and quantum statistical mechanics.     

Charge transport near pressure-induced antiferromagnetic quantum critical point in Magnéli-phase vanadium oxides

Resistivity (ρ) measurements on Magnéli phases V₇O₁₃ and V₈O₁₅ were performed under high pressures up to 3.5GPa. We have achieved a pressure-induced transition from an antiferromagnetic metal to a paramagnetic metal (PM) at critical pressures P_c≈3.4 and 3.3 GPa for V₇O₁₃ and V₈O₁₅, respectively. The critical behavior of ρ(T) near P_c turned out to be quite unusual in that no noticeable precursor effect was observed. This strongly contrasts with the canonical quantum critical point behavior observed in chemically modified systems such as Ni(S,Se)₂ and V₂O₃. We propose that the presence of two distinct Fermi surface segments is responsible for the observed unusual behaviors.     

Understanding the heavy fermion phenomenology from a microscopic model

We solve the 3D periodic Anderson model using a two impurity cluster dynamical mean field theory. We obtain the temperature versus hybridization phase diagram. Approaching the quantum critical point (QCP) both the Néel and lattice Kondo temperatures decrease and they do not cross at the lowest temperature we reached. While strong ferromagnetic spin fluctuation on the Kondo side is observed, our result suggests the critical static spin susceptibility is local in space at the QCP. We observe in the crossover region a logarithmic temperature dependence in the specific heat coefficient and spin susceptibility.     

Quantum correction to conductivity close to a ferromagnetic quantum critical point in two dimensions

We study the temperature dependence of the conductivity due to quantum interference processes for a two-dimensional disordered itinerant electron system close to a ferromagnetic quantum critical point. Near the quantum critical point, the crossover between diffusive and ballistic regimes of quantum interference effects occurs at a temperature T*=1/taugamma(E(F)tau)2, where gamma is the parameter associated with the Landau damping of the spin fluctuations, tau is the impurity scattering time, and E(F) is the Fermi energy. For a generic choice of parameters, T* is smaller than the nominal crossover scale 1/tau. In the ballistic quantum critical regime, the conductivity behaves as T1/3.     

Random and aperiodic quantum spin chains: A comparative study

According to the Harris-Luck criterion the relevance of a fluctuating interaction at the critical point is connected to the value of the fluctuation exponent . Here we consider different types of relevant fluctuations in the quantum Ising chain and investigate the universality class of random as well as deterministic-aperiodic models. At the critical point the random and aperiodic systems behave similarly, due to the same type of extreme broad distribution of the energy scales at low energies. The critical exponents of some averaged quantities are found to be a universal function of , but some others do depend on other parameters of the distribution of the couplings. In the off-critical region there is an important difference between the two systems: there are no Griffiths singularities in aperiodic models. Received: 18 November 1997 / Received in final form: 24 November 1997 / Accepted: 8 January 1997     

Quantum rotors with regular frustration and the quantum Lifshitz point

We have discussed the zero-temperature quantum phase transition in n-component quantum rotor Hamiltonian in the presence of regular frustration in the interaction. The phase diagram consists of ferromagnetic, helical and quantum paramagnetic phase, where the ferro-para and the helical-para phase boundary meets at a multicritical point called a (d,m) quantum Lifshitz point where (d,m) indicates that the m of the d spatial dimensions incorporate frustration. We have studied the Hamiltonian in the vicinity of the quantum Lifshitz point in the spherical limit and also studied the renormalisation group flow behaviour using standard momentum space renormalisation technique (for finite n). In the spherical limit ()one finds that the helical phase does not exist in the presence of any nonvanishing quantum fluctuation for m =d though the quantum Lifshitz point exists for all d > 1+m/2, and the upper critical dimensionality is given by d _u = 3 +m/2. The scaling behaviour in the neighbourhood of a quantum Lifshitz point in d dimensions is consistent with the behaviour near the classical Lifshitz point in (d+z) dimensions. The dynamical exponent of the quantum Hamiltonian z is unity in the case of anisotropic Lifshitz point (d>m) whereas z=2 in the case of isotropic Lifshitz point (d=m). We have evaluated all the exponents using the renormalisation flow equations along-with the scaling relations near the quantum Lifshitz point. We have also obtained the exponents in the spherical limit (). It has also been shown that the exponents in the spherical model are all related to those of the corresponding Gaussian model by Fisher renormalisation. Received: 23 December 1997 / Received in final form: 6 January 1998 / Accepted: 7 January 1998     

Incompressible paired hall state, stripe order, and the composite fermion liquid phase in half-filled landau levels

We consider the two lowest Landau levels at half filling. In the higher Landau level (nu = 5/2), we find a first-order phase transition separating a compressible striped phase from a paired quantum Hall state, which is identified as the Moore-Read state. The critical point is very near the Coulomb potential and the transition can be driven by increasing the width of the electron layer. We find a much weaker transition (either second-order or a crossover) from pairing to the composite fermion Fermi-liquid behavior. A very similar picture is obtained for the lowest Landau level, but the transition point is not near the Coulomb potential.     

Electron self-trapping at quantum and classical critical points

Using Feynman path integral technique estimations of the ground state energy have been found for a conduction electron interacting with order parameter fluctuations near quantum critical points. In some cases only singular perturbation theory in the coupling constant emerges for the electron ground state energy. It is shown that an autolocalized state (quantum fluctuon) can be formed and its characteristics have been calculated depending on critical exponents for both weak and strong coupling regimes. The concept of fluctuon is considered also for the classical critical point (at finite temperatures) and the difference between quantum and classical cases has been investigated. It is shown that, whereas the quantum fluctuon energy is connected with a true boundary of the energy spectrum, for classical fluctuon it is just a saddle-point solution for the chemical potential in the exponential density of states fluctuation tail.     

Exact results of a dimerized S=1 Ising chain with single-ion anisotropy

The dimerized spin-1 Ising chain with both longitude and transverse single-ion anisotropies D_z and D_x is solved exactly by means of a mapping to the spin- Ising chain with the alternating transverse fields and the Jordan-Wigner transformation. The analytical expressions of the quasi-particles’ spectra Λ_k, the minimal energy gap Δ₀ for exciting a fermion quasi-particle, the minimal energy gap Δ_h for exciting a hole, and the ground-state energy E_g are obtained. The phase diagram of the ground state is also given. The results show that the system exhibits a series of quantum phase transitions depending on the dimerization strength of the crystal fields, while the quantum critical points are determined exactly.     

Spectral densities of response functions for the O(3) symmetric Anderson and two channel Kondo models

The O(3) symmetric Anderson model is an example of a system which has a stable low energy marginal Fermi liquid fixed point for a certain choice of parameters. It is also exactly equivalent, in the large U limit, to a localized model which describes the spin degrees of freedom of the linear dispersion two channel Kondo model. We first use an argument based on conformal field theory to establish this precise equivalence with the two channel model. We then use the numerical renormalization group (NRG) approach to calculate both one-electron and two-electron response functions for a range of values of the interaction strength U. We compare the behaviours about the marginal Fermi liquid and Fermi liquid fixed points and interpret the results in terms of a renormalized Majorana fermion picture of the elementary excitations. In the marginal Fermi liquid case the spectral densities of all the Majorana fermion modes display a dependence on the lowest energy scale, and in addition the zero Majorana mode has a delta function contribution. The weight of this delta function is studied as a function of the interaction U and is found to decrease exponentially with U for large U. Using the equivalence with the two channel Kondo model in the large U limit, we deduce the dynamical spin susceptibility of the two channel Kondo model over the full frequency range. We use renormalized perturbation theory to interpret the results and to calculate the coefficient of the ln divergence found in the low frequency behaviour of the T=0 dynamic susceptibility. Received 29 January 1999