Stochastic strong zero modes and their dynamical manifestations.

Strong zero modes (SZMs) are conserved operators localized at the edges of certain quantum spin chains, which give rise to long coherence times of edge spins. Here we define and analyze analogous operators in one-dimensional classical stochastic systems. For concreteness, we focus on chains with single occupancy and nearest-neighbor transitions, in particular particle hopping and pair creation and annihilation. For integrable choices of parameters we find the exact form of the SZM operators. Being in general nondiagonal in the classical basis, the dynamical consequences of stochastic SZMs are very different from those of their quantum counterparts. We show that the presence of a stochastic SZM is manifested through a class of exact relations between time-correlation functions, absent in the same system with periodic boundaries.

Lattice Supersymmetry and Order-Disorder Coexistence in the Tricritical Ising Model.

We introduce and analyze a quantum spin or Majorana chain with a tricritical Ising point separating a critical phase from a gapped phase with order-disorder coexistence. We show that supersymmetry is not only an emergent property of the scaling limit but also manifests itself on the lattice. Namely, we find explicit lattice expressions for the supersymmetry generators and currents. Writing the Hamiltonian in terms of these generators allows us to find the ground states exactly at a frustration-free coupling. These confirm the coexistence between two (topologically) ordered ground states and a disordered one in the gapped phase. Deforming the model by including explicit chiral symmetry breaking, we find the phases persist up to an unusual chiral phase transition where the supersymmetry becomes exact even on the lattice.

Geometric mutual information at classical critical points.

A practical use of the entanglement entropy in a 1D quantum system is to identify the conformal field theory describing its critical behavior. It is exactly (c/3)lnℓ for an interval of length ℓ in an infinite system, where c is the central charge of the conformal field theory. Here we define the geometric mutual information, an analogous quantity for classical critical points. We compute this for 2D conformal field theories in an arbitrary geometry, and show in particular that for a rectangle cut into two rectangles, it is proportional to c. This makes it possible to extract c in classical simulations, which we demonstrate for the critical Ising and three-state Potts models.

Fibonacci topological order from quantum nets.

We analyze a model of quantum nets and show it has a non-Abelian topological order of doubled-Fibonacci type. The ground state has the same topological behavior as that of the corresponding string-net model, but our Hamiltonian can be defined on any lattice, has less complicated interactions, and its excitations are dynamical, not fixed. This Hamiltonian includes terms acting on the spins around a face, around a vertex, and special "Jones-Wenzl" terms that serve to couple long loops together. We provide strong evidence for a gap by exact diagonalization, completing the list of ingredients necessary for topological order.

Boson pairing and unusual criticality in a generalized XY model.

We discuss the unusual critical behavior of a generalized XY model containing both 2π-periodic and π-periodic couplings between sites, allowing for ordinary vortices and half-vortices. The phase diagram of this system includes both single-particle condensate and pair-condensate phases. Using a field theoretic formulation and worm algorithm Monte Carlo simulations, we show that in two dimensions it is possible for the system to pass directly from the disordered (high temperature) phase to the single particle (quasi)condensate via an Ising transition, a situation reminiscent of the "deconfined criticality" scenario.

Spin Hamiltonians with resonating-valence-bond ground states.

Quantum dimer models exhibit quantum critical points and liquid states when the ground state is the resonating-valence bond (RVB) state. We construct SU(2)-invariant spin-1/2 Hamiltonians with the same RVB ground state. The main technical obstacle overcome is the fact that different dimer configurations in the spin model are not orthogonal. We show that the physics depends on how dimers are related to the spins, and find a Hamiltonian that is likely to be quantum critical.

Nonequilibrium transport through a point contact in the nu = 5/2 non-Abelian quantum Hall state.

We analyze charge-e/4 quasiparticle tunneling between the edges of a point contact in a non-Abelian model of the nu = 5/2 quantum Hall state in the presence of a finite voltage difference using the time-dependent density-matrix renormalization group method. We confirm that, as the voltage decreases, the system is broken into two pieces. In the limits of small and large voltage, we recover the results expected from perturbation theory about the infrared and ultraviolet fixed points. We test our methods by finding the analogous nonequilibrium current through a point contact at nu = 1/3.

Charge frustration and quantum criticality for strongly correlated fermions.

We study a model of strongly correlated electrons on the square lattice which exhibits charge frustration and quantum critical behavior. The potential is tuned to make the interactions supersymmetric. We establish a rigorous mathematical result which relates quantum ground states to certain tiling configurations on the square lattice. For periodic boundary conditions this relation implies that the number of ground states grows exponentially with the linear dimensions of the system. We present substantial analytic and numerical evidence that for open boundary conditions the system has gapless edge modes.

Order parameter statistics in the critical quantum Ising chain.

The probability distribution of the order parameter is expected to take a universal scaling form at a phase transition. In a spin system at a quantum critical point, this corresponds to universal statistics in the distribution of the total magnetization in the low-lying states. We obtain this scaling function exactly for the ground state and first excited state of the critical quantum Ising spin chain. This is achieved through a remarkable relation to the partition function of the anisotropic Kondo problem, which can be computed by exploiting the integrability of the system.

Gauge symmetry and non-Abelian topological sectors in a geometrically constrained model on the honeycomb lattice.

We study a constrained statistical-mechanical model in two dimensions that has three useful descriptions. They are (i) the Ising model on the honeycomb lattice, constrained to have three up spins and three down spins on every hexagon, (ii) the three-color and fully packed loop model on the links of the honeycomb lattice, with loops around a single hexagon forbidden, and (iii) three Ising models on interleaved triangular lattices, with domain walls of the different Ising models not allowed to cross. Unlike the three-color model, the configuration space on the sphere or plane is connected under local moves. On higher-genus surfaces there are infinitely many dynamical sectors, labeled by a noncontractible set of nonintersecting loops. We demonstrate that at infinite temperature the transfer matrix admits an unusual structure related to a gauge symmetry for the same model on an anisotropic lattice. This enables us to diagonalize the original transfer matrix for up to 36 sites, finding an entropy per plaquette S/k{B} approximately 0.3661 ... centered and substantial evidence that the model is not critical. We also find the striking property that the eigenvalues of the transfer matrix on an anisotropic lattice are given in terms of Fibonacci numbers. We comment on the possibility of a topological phase, with infinite topological degeneracy, in an associated two-dimensional quantum model.

Dynamical disentanglement across a point contact in a non-Abelian quantum Hall state.

We analyze the tunneling of non-Abelian quasiparticles between the edges of a quantum Hall droplet at the Landau level filling fraction nu=5/2, assuming that the electrons in the first excited Landau level organize themselves in the non-Abelian Moore-Read Pfaffian state. By bosonizing the edge theory, we show that an effective spin-1/2 degree of freedom emerges in the description of a point contact. We show how the crossover from the high-temperature regime of weak quasiparticle tunneling between the edges of the droplet, with the 4-terminal Rxx approximately T(-3/2), to the low-temperature limit, with Rxx(-1/10)(h/e2) approximately-T4, is closely related to the two-channel Kondo effect. We give a physical interpretation for the entropy loss of ln(2[square root of 2) in this crossover.

Exact results for strongly correlated fermions in 2 + 1 dimensions.

We derive exact results for a model of strongly interacting spinless fermions hopping on a two-dimensional lattice. By exploiting supersymmetry, we find the number and type of ground states exactly. Exploring various lattices and limits, we show how the ground states can be frustrated, quantum critical, or combine frustration with a Wigner crystal. We show that on generic lattices the model is in an exotic "superfrustrated" state characterized by an extensive ground-state entropy.

Lattice models with N=2 supersymmetry.

We introduce lattice models with explicit N=2 supersymmetry. In these interacting models, the supersymmetry generators Q+/- yield the Hamiltonian H=(Q(+),Q(-)) on any graph. The degrees of freedom can be described as either fermions with hard cores, or as quantum dimers; the Hamiltonian of our simplest model contains a hopping term and a repulsive potential. We analyze these models using conformal field theory, the Bethe ansatz, and cohomology. The simplest model provides a manifestly supersymmetric lattice regulator for the supersymmetric point of the massless (1+1)-dimensional Thirring (Luttinger) model. Generalizations include a quantum monomer-dimer model on a two-leg ladder.