Pub Date : 2019-12-12DOI: 10.1103/PHYSREVRESEARCH.2.023203
M. Ozawa, L. Berthier, G. Biroli, G. Tarjus
We numerically study yielding in two-dimensional glasses which are generated with a very wide range of stabilities by swap Monte-Carlo simulations and then slowly deformed at zero temperature. We provide strong numerical evidence that stable glasses yield via a nonequilibrium discontinuous transition in the thermodynamic limit. A critical point separates this brittle yielding from the ductile one observed in less stable glasses. We find that two-dimensional glasses yield similarly to their three-dimensional counterparts but display larger sample-to-sample disorder-induced fluctuations, stronger finite-size effects, and rougher spatial wandering of the observed shear bands. These findings strongly constrain effective theories of yielding.
{"title":"Role of fluctuations in the yielding transition of two-dimensional glasses","authors":"M. Ozawa, L. Berthier, G. Biroli, G. Tarjus","doi":"10.1103/PHYSREVRESEARCH.2.023203","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVRESEARCH.2.023203","url":null,"abstract":"We numerically study yielding in two-dimensional glasses which are generated with a very wide range of stabilities by swap Monte-Carlo simulations and then slowly deformed at zero temperature. We provide strong numerical evidence that stable glasses yield via a nonequilibrium discontinuous transition in the thermodynamic limit. A critical point separates this brittle yielding from the ductile one observed in less stable glasses. We find that two-dimensional glasses yield similarly to their three-dimensional counterparts but display larger sample-to-sample disorder-induced fluctuations, stronger finite-size effects, and rougher spatial wandering of the observed shear bands. These findings strongly constrain effective theories of yielding.","PeriodicalId":8438,"journal":{"name":"arXiv: Disordered Systems and Neural Networks","volume":"7 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-12-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79908601","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-11-26DOI: 10.1103/PHYSREVX.10.031026
C. Baldwin, C. Baldwin, Brian Swingle
We show that any SYK-like model with finite-body interactions among textit{local} degrees of freedom, e.g., bosons or spins, has a fundamental difference from the standard fermionic model: the former fails to be described by an annealed free energy at low temperature. In this respect, such models more closely resemble spin glasses. We demonstrate this by two means: first, a general theorem proving that the annealed free energy is divergent at low temperature in any model with a tensor product Hilbert space; and second, a replica treatment of two prominent examples which exhibit phase transitions from an "annealed" phase to a "non-annealed" phase as a function of temperature. We further show that this effect appears only at $O(N)$'th order in a $1/N$ expansion, even though lower-order terms misleadingly seem to converge. Our results prove that the non-bosonic nature of the particles in SYK is an essential ingredient for its physics, highlight connections between local models and spin glasses, and raise important questions as to the role of fermions and/or glassiness in holography.
{"title":"Quenched vs Annealed: Glassiness from SK to SYK","authors":"C. Baldwin, C. Baldwin, Brian Swingle","doi":"10.1103/PHYSREVX.10.031026","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVX.10.031026","url":null,"abstract":"We show that any SYK-like model with finite-body interactions among textit{local} degrees of freedom, e.g., bosons or spins, has a fundamental difference from the standard fermionic model: the former fails to be described by an annealed free energy at low temperature. In this respect, such models more closely resemble spin glasses. We demonstrate this by two means: first, a general theorem proving that the annealed free energy is divergent at low temperature in any model with a tensor product Hilbert space; and second, a replica treatment of two prominent examples which exhibit phase transitions from an \"annealed\" phase to a \"non-annealed\" phase as a function of temperature. We further show that this effect appears only at $O(N)$'th order in a $1/N$ expansion, even though lower-order terms misleadingly seem to converge. Our results prove that the non-bosonic nature of the particles in SYK is an essential ingredient for its physics, highlight connections between local models and spin glasses, and raise important questions as to the role of fermions and/or glassiness in holography.","PeriodicalId":8438,"journal":{"name":"arXiv: Disordered Systems and Neural Networks","volume":"13 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-11-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87271598","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-11-03DOI: 10.1103/physrevb.102.014207
Kaiyuan Cao, Wenwen Li, Ming Zhong, P. Tong
We study the effects of disorder on the dynamical quantum phase transitions (DQPTs) in the transverse-field anisotropic XY chain by numerically calculating the Loschmidt echo after quench. By comparing the results with that of the homogeneous chain, we find that when the quench crosses the Ising transition, the small disorder will cause a new critical point. As the disorder increases, more critical points of the DQPTs will occur, constituting a critical region. In the quench across the anisotropic transition, since there are already two dynamical phase transitions in the homogeneous chain, the disorder will cause a critical region near the critical point, and the width of the critical region increases by the disordered strength. In the case of quench passing through two critical lines, the small disorder leads to the system to have three additional critical points. When the quench is in the ferromagnetic phase, the large disorder causes the two critical points of the homogeneous case to become a critical region. And for the quench in the paramagnetic phase, the larger disorder will cause the DQPTs to disappear.
{"title":"Influence of weak disorder on the dynamical quantum phase transitions in the anisotropic XY chain","authors":"Kaiyuan Cao, Wenwen Li, Ming Zhong, P. Tong","doi":"10.1103/physrevb.102.014207","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.102.014207","url":null,"abstract":"We study the effects of disorder on the dynamical quantum phase transitions (DQPTs) in the transverse-field anisotropic XY chain by numerically calculating the Loschmidt echo after quench. By comparing the results with that of the homogeneous chain, we find that when the quench crosses the Ising transition, the small disorder will cause a new critical point. As the disorder increases, more critical points of the DQPTs will occur, constituting a critical region. In the quench across the anisotropic transition, since there are already two dynamical phase transitions in the homogeneous chain, the disorder will cause a critical region near the critical point, and the width of the critical region increases by the disordered strength. In the case of quench passing through two critical lines, the small disorder leads to the system to have three additional critical points. When the quench is in the ferromagnetic phase, the large disorder causes the two critical points of the homogeneous case to become a critical region. And for the quench in the paramagnetic phase, the larger disorder will cause the DQPTs to disappear.","PeriodicalId":8438,"journal":{"name":"arXiv: Disordered Systems and Neural Networks","volume":"37 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-11-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77784161","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-10-31DOI: 10.1103/PHYSREVRESEARCH.2.033220
Harukuni Ikeda
We discuss the physics of crystals with small polydispersity near the jamming transition point. For this purpose, we introduce an effective single-particle model taking into account the nearest neighbor structure of crystals. The model can be solved analytically by using the replica method in the limit of large dimensions. In the absence of polydispersity, the replica symmetric solution is stable until the jamming transition point, which leads to the standard scaling of perfect crystals. On the contrary, for finite polydispersity, the model undergoes the full replica symmetry breaking (RSB) transition before the jamming transition point. In the RSB phase, the model exhibits the same scaling as amorphous solids near the jamming transition point. These results are fully consistent with the recent numerical simulations of crystals with polydispersity. The simplicity of the model also allows us to derive the scaling behavior of the vibrational density of states that can be tested in future experiments and numerical simulations.
{"title":"Jamming and replica symmetry breaking of weakly disordered crystals","authors":"Harukuni Ikeda","doi":"10.1103/PHYSREVRESEARCH.2.033220","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVRESEARCH.2.033220","url":null,"abstract":"We discuss the physics of crystals with small polydispersity near the jamming transition point. For this purpose, we introduce an effective single-particle model taking into account the nearest neighbor structure of crystals. The model can be solved analytically by using the replica method in the limit of large dimensions. In the absence of polydispersity, the replica symmetric solution is stable until the jamming transition point, which leads to the standard scaling of perfect crystals. On the contrary, for finite polydispersity, the model undergoes the full replica symmetry breaking (RSB) transition before the jamming transition point. In the RSB phase, the model exhibits the same scaling as amorphous solids near the jamming transition point. These results are fully consistent with the recent numerical simulations of crystals with polydispersity. The simplicity of the model also allows us to derive the scaling behavior of the vibrational density of states that can be tested in future experiments and numerical simulations.","PeriodicalId":8438,"journal":{"name":"arXiv: Disordered Systems and Neural Networks","volume":"66 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-10-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78831159","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-10-30DOI: 10.1103/PHYSREVB.102.094207
R. Wang, P. Wang, K. L. Zhang, Z. Song
A moire pattern occurs when two periodic structures in a system have a slight mismatch period, resulting the coexistence of distinct phases in different large-scale spacial regions of the same system. Two periodic structures can arise from periodic electric and magnetic fields, respectively. We investigated the moire pattern via a dimerized Kitaev spin chain with a periodic transverse field, which can be mapped onto the system of dimerized spinless fermions with p-wave superconductivity. The exact solution for staggered field demonstrated that the ground state has two distinct phases: (i) Neel magnetic phase for nonzero field, (ii) Spin liquid phase due to the emergence of isolated flat Bogoliubov--de Gennes band for vanishing field. We computed the staggered magnetization and local density of states (textrm{LDOS}) for the field with a slight difference period to the chain lattice. Numerical simulation demonstrated that such two phases appear alternatively along the chain with a long beat period. Additionally, we proposed a dynamic scheme to detect the Moire fringes based on the measurement of Loschmidt echo (textrm{LE}) in the presence of local perturbation.
当一个系统中的两个周期结构有轻微的错配周期时,就会出现云纹图案,从而导致同一系统的不同大尺度空间区域中不同相位的共存。两种周期结构可以分别由周期电场和周期磁场产生。我们通过一个具有周期性横向场的二聚基塔耶夫自旋链研究了云纹图案,它可以映射到具有p波超导性的二聚无自旋费米子系统。交错场的精确解表明,基态有两个不同的相位:(i)非零场的Neel磁相位;(ii)消失场的自旋液相,由于孤立的平坦Bogoliubov- de Gennes带的出现。我们计算了与链晶格有轻微差异周期的场的交错磁化强度和局部态密度(textrm{LDOS})。数值模拟结果表明,这两个相沿链交替出现,并且具有较长的拍频周期。此外,我们提出了一种基于局部扰动存在下的洛施密特回波(textrm{LE})测量的动态莫尔条纹检测方案。
{"title":"Moiré pattern of a spin liquid and a Néel magnet in the Kitaev model","authors":"R. Wang, P. Wang, K. L. Zhang, Z. Song","doi":"10.1103/PHYSREVB.102.094207","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVB.102.094207","url":null,"abstract":"A moire pattern occurs when two periodic structures in a system have a slight mismatch period, resulting the coexistence of distinct phases in different large-scale spacial regions of the same system. Two periodic structures can arise from periodic electric and magnetic fields, respectively. We investigated the moire pattern via a dimerized Kitaev spin chain with a periodic transverse field, which can be mapped onto the system of dimerized spinless fermions with p-wave superconductivity. The exact solution for staggered field demonstrated that the ground state has two distinct phases: (i) Neel magnetic phase for nonzero field, (ii) Spin liquid phase due to the emergence of isolated flat Bogoliubov--de Gennes band for vanishing field. We computed the staggered magnetization and local density of states (textrm{LDOS}) for the field with a slight difference period to the chain lattice. Numerical simulation demonstrated that such two phases appear alternatively along the chain with a long beat period. Additionally, we proposed a dynamic scheme to detect the Moire fringes based on the measurement of Loschmidt echo (textrm{LE}) in the presence of local perturbation.","PeriodicalId":8438,"journal":{"name":"arXiv: Disordered Systems and Neural Networks","volume":"19 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-10-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82934351","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-10-23DOI: 10.1103/physrevresearch.2.033262
P. Crowley, A. Chandran
We investigate the stability of an Anderson localised chain to the inclusion of a single finite interacting thermal seed. This system models the effects of rare low-disorder regions on many-body localised chains. Above a threshold value of the mean localisation length, the seed causes runaway thermalisation in which a finite fraction of the orbitals are absorbed into a thermal bubble. This `partially avalanched' regime provides a simple example of a delocalised, non-ergodic dynamical phase. We derive the hierarchy of length scales necessary for typical samples to exhibit the avalanche stability, and show that the required seed size diverges at the avalanche threshold. We introduce a new dimensionless statistic that measures the effective size of the thermal bubble, and use it to numerically confirm the predictions of avalanche theory in the Anderson chain at infinite temperature.
{"title":"Avalanche induced coexisting localized and thermal regions in disordered chains","authors":"P. Crowley, A. Chandran","doi":"10.1103/physrevresearch.2.033262","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevresearch.2.033262","url":null,"abstract":"We investigate the stability of an Anderson localised chain to the inclusion of a single finite interacting thermal seed. This system models the effects of rare low-disorder regions on many-body localised chains. Above a threshold value of the mean localisation length, the seed causes runaway thermalisation in which a finite fraction of the orbitals are absorbed into a thermal bubble. This `partially avalanched' regime provides a simple example of a delocalised, non-ergodic dynamical phase. We derive the hierarchy of length scales necessary for typical samples to exhibit the avalanche stability, and show that the required seed size diverges at the avalanche threshold. We introduce a new dimensionless statistic that measures the effective size of the thermal bubble, and use it to numerically confirm the predictions of avalanche theory in the Anderson chain at infinite temperature.","PeriodicalId":8438,"journal":{"name":"arXiv: Disordered Systems and Neural Networks","volume":"48 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-10-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88015856","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-10-02DOI: 10.1103/physrevb.102.054206
S. Taylor, M. Schulz, F. Pollmann, R. Moessner
Recent work has focused on exploring many-body localization (MBL) in systems without quenched disorder: one such proposal is Stark MBL in which small perturbations to a strong linear potential yield localization. However, as with conventional MBL, it is challenging to experimentally distinguish between non-interacting localization and true MBL. In this paper we show that several existing experimental probes, designed specifically to differentiate between these scenarios, work similarly in the Stark MBL setting. In particular we show that a modified spin-echo response (DEER) shows clear signs of a power-law decay for Stark MBL while quickly saturating for disorder-free Wannier-Stark localization. Further, we observe the characteristic logarithmic-in-time spreading of quantum mutual information in the Stark MBL regime, and an absence of spreading in a non-interacting Stark-localized system. We also show that there are no significant differences in several existing MBL measures for a system consisting of softcore bosons with repulsive on-site interactions. Lastly we show why curvature or small disorder are needed for an accurate reproduction of MBL phenomenology, and how this may be illustrated in experiment. This also connects with recent progress on Hilbert space fragmentation in ``fractonic'' models with conserved dipole moment.
{"title":"Experimental probes of Stark many-body localization","authors":"S. Taylor, M. Schulz, F. Pollmann, R. Moessner","doi":"10.1103/physrevb.102.054206","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.102.054206","url":null,"abstract":"Recent work has focused on exploring many-body localization (MBL) in systems without quenched disorder: one such proposal is Stark MBL in which small perturbations to a strong linear potential yield localization. However, as with conventional MBL, it is challenging to experimentally distinguish between non-interacting localization and true MBL. In this paper we show that several existing experimental probes, designed specifically to differentiate between these scenarios, work similarly in the Stark MBL setting. In particular we show that a modified spin-echo response (DEER) shows clear signs of a power-law decay for Stark MBL while quickly saturating for disorder-free Wannier-Stark localization. Further, we observe the characteristic logarithmic-in-time spreading of quantum mutual information in the Stark MBL regime, and an absence of spreading in a non-interacting Stark-localized system. We also show that there are no significant differences in several existing MBL measures for a system consisting of softcore bosons with repulsive on-site interactions. Lastly we show why curvature or small disorder are needed for an accurate reproduction of MBL phenomenology, and how this may be illustrated in experiment. This also connects with recent progress on Hilbert space fragmentation in ``fractonic'' models with conserved dipole moment.","PeriodicalId":8438,"journal":{"name":"arXiv: Disordered Systems and Neural Networks","volume":"29 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89900540","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-09-03DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.30449.84329
R. Garc'ia, Arturo C. Mart'i, C. Cabeza, N. Rubido
A main goal in the analysis of a complex system is to infer its underlying network structure from time-series observations of its behaviour. The inference process is often done by using bi-variate similarity measures, such as the cross-correlation (CC), however, the main factors favouring or hindering its success are still puzzling. Here, we use synthetic neuron models in order to reveal the main topological properties that frustrate or facilitate inferring the underlying network from CC measurements. Specifically, we use pulse-coupled Izhikevich neurons connected as in the Caenorhabditis elegans neural networks as well as in networks with similar randomness and small-worldness. We analyse the effectiveness and robustness of the inference process under different observations and collective dynamics, contrasting the results obtained from using membrane potentials and inter-spike interval time-series. We find that overall, small-worldness favours network inference and degree heterogeneity hinders it. In particular, success rates in C. elegans networks -- that combine small-world properties with degree heterogeneity -- are closer to success rates in Erdos-Renyi network models rather than those in Watts-Strogatz network models. These results are relevant to understand better the relationship between topological properties and function in different neural networks.
{"title":"Small-worldness favours network inference","authors":"R. Garc'ia, Arturo C. Mart'i, C. Cabeza, N. Rubido","doi":"10.13140/RG.2.2.30449.84329","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.30449.84329","url":null,"abstract":"A main goal in the analysis of a complex system is to infer its underlying network structure from time-series observations of its behaviour. The inference process is often done by using bi-variate similarity measures, such as the cross-correlation (CC), however, the main factors favouring or hindering its success are still puzzling. Here, we use synthetic neuron models in order to reveal the main topological properties that frustrate or facilitate inferring the underlying network from CC measurements. Specifically, we use pulse-coupled Izhikevich neurons connected as in the Caenorhabditis elegans neural networks as well as in networks with similar randomness and small-worldness. We analyse the effectiveness and robustness of the inference process under different observations and collective dynamics, contrasting the results obtained from using membrane potentials and inter-spike interval time-series. We find that overall, small-worldness favours network inference and degree heterogeneity hinders it. In particular, success rates in C. elegans networks -- that combine small-world properties with degree heterogeneity -- are closer to success rates in Erdos-Renyi network models rather than those in Watts-Strogatz network models. These results are relevant to understand better the relationship between topological properties and function in different neural networks.","PeriodicalId":8438,"journal":{"name":"arXiv: Disordered Systems and Neural Networks","volume":"75 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76513696","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-08-07DOI: 10.1103/PHYSREVRESEARCH.2.023325
Justin H. Wilson, Yixing Fu, S. Sarma, J. Pixley
We develop a theory for a qualitatively new type of disorder in condensed matter systems arising from local twist-angle fluctuations in two strongly coupled van der Waals monolayers twisted with respect to each other to create a flat band moire superlattice. The new paradigm of 'twist angle disorder' arises from the currently ongoing intense research activity in the physics of twisted bilayer graphene. In experimental samples of pristine twisted bilayer graphene, which are nominally free of impurities and defects, the main source of disorder is believed to arise from the unavoidable and uncontrollable non-uniformity of the twist angle across the sample. To address this new physics of twist-angle disorder, we develop a real-space, microscopic model of twisted bilayer graphene where the angle enters as a free parameter. In particular, we focus on the size of single-particle energy gaps separating the miniband from the rest of the spectrum, the Van Hove peaks, the renormalized Dirac cone velocity near charge neutrality, and the minibandwidth. We find that the energy gaps and minibandwidth are strongly affected by disorder while the renormalized velocity remains virtually unchanged. We discuss the implications of our results for the ongoing experiments on twisted bilayer graphene. Our theory is readily generalized to future studies of twist angle disorder effects on all electronic properties of moire superlattices created by twisting two coupled van der Waals materials with respect to each other.
{"title":"Disorder in twisted bilayer graphene","authors":"Justin H. Wilson, Yixing Fu, S. Sarma, J. Pixley","doi":"10.1103/PHYSREVRESEARCH.2.023325","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVRESEARCH.2.023325","url":null,"abstract":"We develop a theory for a qualitatively new type of disorder in condensed matter systems arising from local twist-angle fluctuations in two strongly coupled van der Waals monolayers twisted with respect to each other to create a flat band moire superlattice. The new paradigm of 'twist angle disorder' arises from the currently ongoing intense research activity in the physics of twisted bilayer graphene. In experimental samples of pristine twisted bilayer graphene, which are nominally free of impurities and defects, the main source of disorder is believed to arise from the unavoidable and uncontrollable non-uniformity of the twist angle across the sample. To address this new physics of twist-angle disorder, we develop a real-space, microscopic model of twisted bilayer graphene where the angle enters as a free parameter. In particular, we focus on the size of single-particle energy gaps separating the miniband from the rest of the spectrum, the Van Hove peaks, the renormalized Dirac cone velocity near charge neutrality, and the minibandwidth. We find that the energy gaps and minibandwidth are strongly affected by disorder while the renormalized velocity remains virtually unchanged. We discuss the implications of our results for the ongoing experiments on twisted bilayer graphene. Our theory is readily generalized to future studies of twist angle disorder effects on all electronic properties of moire superlattices created by twisting two coupled van der Waals materials with respect to each other.","PeriodicalId":8438,"journal":{"name":"arXiv: Disordered Systems and Neural Networks","volume":"45 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-08-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80253547","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-06-25DOI: 10.21468/scipostphys.7.5.064
Luis Colmenarez, P. McClarty, M. Haque, D. J. Luitz
Ergodic quantum many-body systems satisfy the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis (ETH). However, strong disorder can destroy ergodicity through many-body localization (MBL) -- at least in one dimensional systems -- leading to a clear signal of the MBL transition in the probability distributions of energy eigenstate expectation values of local operators. For a paradigmatic model of MBL, namely the random-field Heisenberg spin chain, we consider the full probability distribution of eigenstate correlation functions across the entire phase diagram. We find gaussian distributions at weak disorder, as predicted by pure ETH. At intermediate disorder -- in the thermal phase -- we find further evidence for anomalous thermalization in the form of heavy tails of the distributions. In the MBL phase, we observe peculiar features of the correlator distributions: a strong asymmetry in $S_i^z S_{i+r}^z$ correlators skewed towards negative values; and a multimodal distribution for spin-flip correlators. A quantitative quasi-degenerate perturbation theory calculation of these correlators yields a surprising agreement of the full distribution with the exact results, revealing, in particular, the origin of the multiple peaks in the spin-flip correlator distribution as arising from the resonant and off-resonant admixture of spin configurations. The distribution of the $S_i^zS_{i+r}^z$ correlator exhibits striking differences between the MBL and Anderson insulator cases.
{"title":"Statistics of correlation functions in the random Heisenberg chain","authors":"Luis Colmenarez, P. McClarty, M. Haque, D. J. Luitz","doi":"10.21468/scipostphys.7.5.064","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21468/scipostphys.7.5.064","url":null,"abstract":"Ergodic quantum many-body systems satisfy the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis (ETH). However, strong disorder can destroy ergodicity through many-body localization (MBL) -- at least in one dimensional systems -- leading to a clear signal of the MBL transition in the probability distributions of energy eigenstate expectation values of local operators. For a paradigmatic model of MBL, namely the random-field Heisenberg spin chain, we consider the full probability distribution of eigenstate correlation functions across the entire phase diagram. We find gaussian distributions at weak disorder, as predicted by pure ETH. At intermediate disorder -- in the thermal phase -- we find further evidence for anomalous thermalization in the form of heavy tails of the distributions. In the MBL phase, we observe peculiar features of the correlator distributions: a strong asymmetry in $S_i^z S_{i+r}^z$ correlators skewed towards negative values; and a multimodal distribution for spin-flip correlators. A quantitative quasi-degenerate perturbation theory calculation of these correlators yields a surprising agreement of the full distribution with the exact results, revealing, in particular, the origin of the multiple peaks in the spin-flip correlator distribution as arising from the resonant and off-resonant admixture of spin configurations. The distribution of the $S_i^zS_{i+r}^z$ correlator exhibits striking differences between the MBL and Anderson insulator cases.","PeriodicalId":8438,"journal":{"name":"arXiv: Disordered Systems and Neural Networks","volume":"46 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-06-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89098544","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}