Exact Quantum Many-Body Scar States in the Rydberg-Blockaded Atom Chain.

A recent experiment in the Rydberg atom chain observed unusual oscillatory quench dynamics with a charge density wave initial state, and theoretical works identified a set of many-body "scar states" showing nonthermal behavior in the Hamiltonian as potentially responsible for the atypical dynamics. In the same nonintegrable Hamiltonian, we discover several eigenstates at an infinite temperature that can be represented exactly as matrix product states with a finite bond dimension, for both periodic boundary conditions (two exact E=0 states) and open boundary conditions (two E=0 states and one each E=±sqrt[2]). This discovery explicitly demonstrates the violation of the strong eigenstate thermalization hypothesis in this model and uncovers exact quantum many-body scar states. These states show signatures of translational symmetry breaking with a period-2 bond-centered pattern, despite being in one dimension at an infinite temperature. We show that the nearby many-body scar states can be well approximated as "quasiparticle excitations" on top of our exact E=0 scar states and propose a quasiparticle explanation of the strong oscillations observed in experiments.

Bosonic Analogue of Dirac Composite Fermi Liquid.

We introduce a particle-hole-symmetric metallic state of bosons in a magnetic field at odd-integer filling. This state hosts composite fermions whose energy dispersion features a quadratic band touching and corresponding 2π Berry flux protected by particle-hole and discrete rotation symmetries. We also construct an alternative particle-hole symmetric state-distinct in the presence of inversion symmetry-without Berry flux. As in the Dirac composite Fermi liquid introduced by Son [Phys. Rev. X 5, 031027 (2015)], breaking particle-hole symmetry recovers the familiar Chern-Simons theory. We discuss realizations of this phase both in 2D and on bosonic topological insulator surfaces, as well as signatures in experiments and simulations.

Vacancy-Induced Low-Energy States in Undoped Graphene.

We demonstrate that a nonzero concentration n_{v} of static, randomly placed vacancies in graphene leads to a density w of zero-energy quasiparticle states at the band center ε=0 within a tight-binding description with nearest-neighbor hopping t on the honeycomb lattice. We show that w remains generically nonzero in the compensated case (exactly equal number of vacancies on the two sublattices) even in the presence of hopping disorder and depends sensitively on n_{v} and correlations between vacancy positions. For low, but not-too-low, |ε|/t in this compensated case, we show that the density of states ρ(ε) exhibits a strong divergence of the form ρ_{Dyson}(ε)∼|ε|^{-1}/[log(t/|ε|)]^{(y+1)}, which crosses over to the universal low-energy asymptotic form (modified Gade-Wegner scaling) expected on symmetry grounds ρ_{GW}(ε)∼|ε|^{-1}e^{-b[log(t/|ε|)]^{2/3}} below a crossover scale ε_{c}≪t. ε_{c} is found to decrease rapidly with decreasing n_{v}, while y decreases much more slowly.

Explicit Derivation of Duality between a Free Dirac Cone and Quantum Electrodynamics in (2+1) Dimensions.

We explicitly derive the duality between a free electronic Dirac cone and quantum electrodynamics in (2+1) dimensions (QED_{3}) with N=1 fermion flavors. The duality proceeds via an exact, nonlocal mapping from electrons to dual fermions with long-range interactions encoded by an emergent gauge field. This mapping allows us to construct parent Hamiltonians for exotic topological-insulator surface phases, derive the particle-hole-symmetric field theory of a half-filled Landau level, and nontrivially constrain QED_{3} scaling dimensions. We similarly establish duality between bosonic topological insulator surfaces and N=2 QED_{3}.

The half-filled Landau level: The case for Dirac composite fermions.

In a two-dimensional electron gas under a strong magnetic field, correlations generate emergent excitations distinct from electrons. It has been predicted that "composite fermions"--bound states of an electron with two magnetic flux quanta--can experience zero net magnetic field and form a Fermi sea. Using infinite-cylinder density matrix renormalization group numerical simulations, we verify the existence of this exotic Fermi sea, but find that the phase exhibits particle-hole symmetry. This is self-consistent only if composite fermions are massless Dirac particles, similar to the surface of a topological insulator. Exploiting this analogy, we observe the suppression of 2k(F) backscattering, a characteristic of Dirac particles. Thus, the phenomenology of Dirac fermions is also relevant to two-dimensional electron gases in the quantum Hall regime.

Plaquette ordered phase and quantum phase diagram in the spin-1/2 J(1)-J(2) square Heisenberg model.

We study the spin-1/2 Heisenberg model on the square lattice with first- and second-neighbor antiferromagnetic interactions J(1) and J(2), which possesses a nonmagnetic region that has been debated for many years and might realize the interesting Z(2) spin liquid. We use the density matrix renormalization group approach with explicit implementation of SU(2) spin rotation symmetry and study the model accurately on open cylinders with different boundary conditions. With increasing J(2), we find a Néel phase and a plaquette valence-bond (PVB) phase with a finite spin gap. From the finite-size scaling of the magnetic order parameter, we estimate that the Néel order vanishes at J(2)/J(1)≃0.44. For 0.5

Non-Fermi-liquid d-wave metal phase of strongly interacting electrons.

Developing a theoretical framework for conducting electronic fluids qualitatively distinct from those described by Landau's Fermi-liquid theory is of central importance to many outstanding problems in condensed matter physics. One such problem is that, above the transition temperature and near optimal doping, high-transition-temperature copper-oxide superconductors exhibit 'strange metal' behaviour that is inconsistent with being a traditional Landau Fermi liquid. Indeed, a microscopic theory of a strange-metal quantum phase could shed new light on the interesting low-temperature behaviour in the pseudogap regime and on the d-wave superconductor itself. Here we present a theory for a specific example of a strange metal--the 'd-wave metal'. Using variational wavefunctions, gauge theoretic arguments, and ultimately large-scale density matrix renormalization group calculations, we show that this remarkable quantum phase is the ground state of a reasonable microscopic Hamiltonian--the usual t-J model with electron kinetic energy t and two-spin exchange J supplemented with a frustrated electron 'ring-exchange' term, which we here examine extensively on the square lattice two-leg ladder. These findings constitute an explicit theoretical example of a genuine non-Fermi-liquid metal existing as the ground state of a realistic model.

Spin Bose-metal and valence bond solid phases in a spin-1/2 model with ring exchanges on a four-leg triangular ladder.

We study a spin-1/2 system with Heisenberg plus ring exchanges on a four-leg triangular ladder using the density matrix renormalization group and Gutzwiller variational wave functions. Near an isotropic lattice regime, for moderate to large ring exchanges we find a spin Bose-metal phase with a spinon Fermi sea consisting of three partially filled bands. Going away from the triangular towards the square lattice regime, we find a staggered dimer phase with dimers in the transverse direction, while for small ring exchanges the system is in a featureless rung phase. We also discuss parent states and a possible phase diagram in two dimensions.

Exotic gapless mott insulators of bosons on multileg ladders.

We present evidence for an exotic gapless insulating phase of hard-core bosons on multileg ladders with a density commensurate with the number of legs. In particular, we study in detail a model of bosons moving with direct hopping and frustrating ring exchange on a 3-leg ladder at ν=1/3 filling. For sufficiently large ring exchange, the system is insulating along the ladder but has two gapless modes and power law transverse density correlations at incommensurate wave vectors. We propose a determinantal wave function for this phase and find excellent comparison between variational Monte Carlo and density matrix renormalization group calculations on the model Hamiltonian, thus providing strong evidence for the existence of this exotic phase. Finally, we discuss extensions of our results to other N-leg systems and to N-layer two-dimensional structures.

Possible exciton bose liquid in a hard-core boson ring model.

We present a quantum Monte Carlo study of a hard-core boson model with ring-only exchanges on a square lattice, where a K1 term acts on 1×1 plaquettes and a K2 term acts on 1×2 and 2×1 plaquettes. At half-filling, the phase diagram reveals charge density wave for small K2, valence bond solid for intermediate K2, and possibly for large K2 the novel exciton Bose liquid (EBL) phase first proposed by Paramekanti et al [Phys. Rev. B 66, 054526 (2002)10.1103/PhysRevB.66.054526]. Away from half-filling, the EBL phase is present already for intermediate K2 and remains stable for a range of densities below 1/2 before phase separation sets in at lower densities.

Interlayer coherent composite Fermi liquid phase in quantum Hall bilayers.

We introduce an interlayer coherent composite Fermi liquid for nu = 1/2 + 1/2 bilayers, in which interlayer Coulomb repulsion drives exciton condensation of composite fermions. As a result, composite fermions propagate coherently between layers--even though electrons do not--and form bonding and antibonding Fermi seas. This phase is compressible with respect to symmetric currents but quantum Hall-like in the counterflow channel. Quantum oscillations of the composite Fermi seas generate a new series of incompressible states at nu = p/[2(p +/- 1)] per layer (p an integer), which is a bilayer analogue of Jain's sequence.

Algebraic vortex liquid in spin-1/2 triangular antiferromagnets: scenario for Cs2CuCl4.

Motivated by inelastic neutron scattering data on Cs2CuCl4, we explore spin-1/2 triangular lattice antiferromagnets with both spatial and easy-plane exchange anisotropies, the latter due to an observed Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction. Exploiting a duality mapping followed by a fermionization of the dual vortex degrees of freedom, we find a novel critical spin-liquid phase described in terms of Dirac fermions with an emergent global SU(4) symmetry minimally coupled to a noncompact U(1) gauge field. This "algebraic vortex liquid" supports gapless spin excitations and universal power-law correlations in the dynamical spin structure factor which are consistent with those observed in Cs2CuCl4. We suggest future neutron scattering experiments that should help distinguish between the algebraic vortex liquid and other spin liquids and quantum critical points previously proposed in the context of Cs2CuCl4.