Interaction-Driven Instabilities in the Random-Field XXZ Chain.

Despite enormous efforts devoted to the study of the many-body localization (MBL) phenomenon, the nature of the high-energy behavior of the Heisenberg spin chain in a strong random magnetic field is lacking consensus. Here, we take a step back by exploring the weak interaction limit starting from the Anderson localized (AL) insulator. Through shift-invert diagonalization, we find that, below a certain disorder threshold h^{*}, weak interactions necessarily lead to an ergodic instability, whereas at strong disorder the AL insulator directly turns into MBL, in agreement with a simple interpretation of the avalanche theory for restoration of ergodicity.

Universal Features of Entanglement Entropy in the Honeycomb Hubbard Model.

The entanglement entropy is a unique probe to reveal universal features of strongly interacting many-body systems. In two or more dimensions these features are subtle, and detecting them numerically requires extreme precision, a notoriously difficult task. This is especially challenging in models of interacting fermions, where many such universal features have yet to be observed.

Resilient Infinite Randomness Criticality for a Disordered Chain of Interacting Majorana Fermions.

The quantum critical properties of interacting fermions in the presence of disorder are still not fully understood. While it is well known that for Dirac fermions, interactions are irrelevant to the noninteracting infinite randomness fixed point (IRFP), the problem remains largely open in the case of Majorana fermions which further display a much richer disorder-free phase diagram. Here, pushing the limits of density matrix renormalization group simulations, we carefully examine the ground state of a Majorana chain with both disorder and interactions.

Multifractal Scalings Across the Many-Body Localization Transition.

In contrast with Anderson localization where a genuine localization is observed in real space, the many-body localization (MBL) problem is much less understood in Hilbert space, the support of the eigenstates. In this Letter, using exact diagonalization techniques we address the ergodicity properties in the underlying N-dimensional complex networks spanned by various computational bases for up to L=24 spin-1/2 particles (i.e.

Critical properties of the superfluid-bose-glass transition in two dimensions.

We investigate the superfluid (SF) to Bose-glass (BG) quantum phase transition using extensive quantum Monte Carlo simulations of two-dimensional hard-core bosons in a random box potential. T=0 critical properties are studied by thorough finite-size scaling of condensate and SF densities, both vanishing at the same critical disorder Wc=4.80(5).

Universal behavior beyond multifractality in quantum many-body systems.

How many states of a configuration space contribute to a wave function? Attempts to answer this ubiquitous question have a long history in physics and are keys to understanding, e.g., localization phenomena.

Bose-glass transition and spin-wave localization for 2D bosons in a random potential.

A spin-wave approach of the zero temperature superfluid-insulator transition for two-dimensional hard-core bosons in a random potential μ=±W is developed. While at the classical level there is no intervening phase between the Bose-condensed superfluid (SF) and the gapped disordered insulator, the introduction of quantum fluctuations leads to a much richer physics. Upon increasing the disorder strength W, the Bose-condensed fraction disappears first, before the SF.

Detecting quantum critical points using bipartite fluctuations.

We show that the concept of bipartite fluctuations F provides a very efficient tool to detect quantum phase transitions in strongly correlated systems. Using state-of-the-art numerical techniques complemented with analytical arguments, we investigate paradigmatic examples for both quantum spins and bosons. As compared to the von Neumann entanglement entropy, we observe that F allows us to find quantum critical points with much better accuracy in one dimension.

Condensate-free superfluid induced by the frustrated proximity effect.

Since the discovery of superfluidity in 4He and Landau's phenomenological theory, the relationship between Bose condensation and superfluidity has been intensely debated. 4He is known by now to be both superfluid and condensed at low temperature, and more generally, in dimension D≥2, all superfluid bosonic models realized in experiments are condensed in their ground state, the most recent example being provided by ultracold bosonic atoms trapped in an optical lattice. In this Letter, it is shown that a 2D gas of bosons which is not condensed at T=0 can be achieved by populating a layer through a frustrated proximity effect from a superfluid reservoir.

Theory of the field-induced BEC in the frustrated spin-1/2 dimer compound BaCuSi2O6.

Building on recent neutron and NMR experiments, we investigate the field-induced exotic criticality observed in the frustrated compound BaCuSi2O6 using a frustrated model with two types of bilayers. A semiclassical treatment of the effective hard-core boson model shows that perfect interlayer frustration leads to a 2D-like critical exponent varphi=1 without logarithmic corrections and to a 3D low temperature phase with different but nonvanishing triplet populations in both types of bilayers. These further suggest a simple phenomenology in terms of a field-dependent transverse coupling in the context of which we reproduce the entire field-temperature phase diagram with quantum Monte Carlo simulations.

Valence bond entanglement entropy.

We introduce for SU(2) quantum spin systems the valence bond entanglement entropy as a counting of valence bond spin singlets shared by two subsystems. For a large class of antiferromagnetic systems, it can be calculated in all dimensions with quantum Monte Carlo simulations in the valence bond basis. We show numerically that this quantity displays all features of the von Neumann entanglement entropy for several one-dimensional systems.

Quantum and thermal transitions out of the supersolid phase of a 2D quantum antiferromagnet.

We investigate the thermodynamic properties of a field-induced supersolid phase in a 2D quantum antiferromagnet model. Using quantum Monte Carlo simulations, a very rich phase diagram is mapped out in the temperature-magnetic-field plane, with an extended supersolid region where a diagonal (solid) order coexists with a finite XY spin stiffness (superfluid). The various quantum and thermal transitions out of the supersolid state are characterized.

Quantum spin glass and the dipolar interaction.

Anisotropic dipolar systems are considered. Such systems in an external magnetic field are expected to be a good experimental realization of the transverse field Ising model. With random interactions, this model yields a spin glass to paramagnet phase transition as a function of the transverse field.

Boundary effects in the critical scaling of entanglement entropy in 1D systems.

We present exact diagonalization and density matrix renormalization group results for the entanglement entropy of critical spin-1/2 XXZ chains. We find that open boundary conditions induce an alternating term in both the energy density and the entanglement entropy which are approximately proportional, decaying away from the boundary with a power law. The power varies with anisotropy along the critical line and is corrected by a logarithmic factor, which we calculate analytically, at the isotropic point.

Doped coupled frustrated spin-1/2 chains with four-spin exchange.

The role of various magnetic interchain couplings is investigated by numerical methods in doped frustrated quantum spin chains. A nonmagnetic dopant introduced in a gapped spin chain releases a free spin-1/2 soliton. The formation of a local magnetic moment is analyzed in terms of soliton confinement.