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Conformal symmetry, emerging at critical points, can be lost when renormalization group fixed points collide. Recently, it was proposed that after collisions, real fixed points transition into the complex plane, becoming complex fixed points described by complex conformal field theories (CFTs). Although this idea is compelling, directly demonstrating such complex conformal fixed points in microscopic models remains highly demanding. Furthermore, these concrete models are instrumental in unraveling the mysteries of complex CFTs and illuminating a variety of intriguing physical problems, including weakly first-order transitions in statistical mechanics and the conformal window of gauge theories. In this work, we have successfully addressed this complex challenge for the (1+1)-dimensional quantum $5$-state Potts model, whose phase transition has long been known to be weakly first-order. By adding an additional non-Hermitian interaction, we successfully identify two conjugate critical points located in the complex parameter space, where the lost conformality is restored in a complex manner. Specifically, we unambiguously demonstrate the radial quantization of the complex CFTs and compute the operator spectrum, as well as new operator product expansion coefficients that were previously unknown., Comment: 6+13 pages

We analyze the internal symmetries and their anomalies in the Kitaev spin-$S$ models. Importantly, these models have a lattice version of a $\mathbb{Z}_2$ 1-form symmetry, denoted by $\mathbb{Z}_2^{[1]}$. There is also an ordinary 0-form $\mathbb{Z}_2^{(x)}\times\mathbb{Z}_2^{(y)}\times\mathbb{Z}_2^T$ symmetry, where $\mathbb{Z}_2^{(x)}\times\mathbb{Z}_2^{(y)}$ are $\pi$ spin rotations around two orthogonal axes, and $\mathbb{Z}_2^T$ is the time reversal symmetry. The anomalies associated with the full $\mathbb{Z}_2^{(x)}\times\mathbb{Z}_2^{(y)}\times\mathbb{Z}_2^T\times\mathbb{Z}_2^{[1]}$ symmetry are classified by $\mathbb{Z}_2^{17}$. We find that for $S\in\mathbb{Z}$ the model is anomaly-free, while for $S\in\mathbb{Z}+\frac{1}{2}$ there is an anomaly purely associated with the 1-form symmetry, but there is no anomaly purely associated with the ordinary symmetry or mixed anomaly between the 0-form and 1-form symmetries. The consequences of these symmetries and anomalies apply to not only the Kitaev spin-$S$ models, but also any of their perturbed versions, assuming that the perturbations are local and respect the symmetries. If these local perturbations are weak, generically these consequences still apply even if the perturbations break the 1-form symmetry. A notable consequence is that there should generically be a deconfined fermionic excitation carrying no fractional quantum number under the $\mathbb{Z}_2^{(x)}\times\mathbb{Z}_2^{(y)}\times\mathbb{Z}_2^T$ symmetry if $S\in\mathbb{Z}+\frac{1}{2}$, which implies symmetry-enforced exotic quantum matter. We also discuss the consequences for $S\in\mathbb{Z}$., Comment: published version

Metals can undergo geometric quantum phase transitions where the local curvature of the Fermi surface changes sign without a change in symmetry or topology. At the inflection points on the Fermi surface, the local curvature vanishes, leading to an anomalous dynamics of quasiparticles. In this paper, we study geometric quantum critical metals that support inflection points in two dimensions, and show that the decay rate of quasiparticles goes as $E^{\alpha}$ with $1<\alpha<2$ as a function of quasiparticle energy $E$ at the inflection points., Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures

The presence of nearby conformal field theories (CFTs) hidden in the complex plane of the tuning parameter was recently proposed as an elegant explanation for the ubiquity of "weakly first-order" transitions in condensed matter and high-energy systems. In this work, we perform an exact microscopic study of such a complex CFT (CCFT) in the two-dimensional $O(n)$ loop model. The well-known absence of symmetry-breaking of the $O(n>2)$ model is understood as arising from the displacement of the non-trivial fixed points into the complex temperature plane. Thanks to a numerical finite-size study of the transfer matrix, we confirm the presence of a CCFT in the complex plane and extract the real and imaginary parts of the central charge and scaling dimensions. By comparing those with the analytic continuation of predictions from Coulomb gas techniques, we determine the range of validity of the analytic continuation to extend up to $n_g \approx 12.34$, beyond which the CCFT gives way to a gapped state. Finally, we propose a beta function which reproduces the main features of the phase diagram and which suggests an interpretation of the CCFT as a liquid-gas critical point at the end of a first-order transition line., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures

Landau Fermi liquid theory is a fixed point theory of metals that includes the forward scattering amplitudes as exact marginal couplings. However, the fixed point theory that only includes the strict forward scatterings is non-local in real space. In this paper, we revisit the Fermi liquid theory using the field-theoretic functional renormalization group formalism and show how the scale invariant fixed point emerges as a local theory, which includes not only the forward scatterings but also non-forward scatterings with small but non-zero momentum transfers. In the low-energy limit, the non-forward scattering amplitude takes a scale invariant form. If the bare coupling is attractive beyond a critical strength, the coupling function exhibits a run-away flow drived by non-forward scattering amplitudes, signifying potential instabilities in particle-hole channels. The pairing interaction also obeys a scaling relation if the center of mass momentum of Cooper pairs is comparable with energy. The coupling functions fully capture the universal low-energy dynamics of the collective modes and instabilities of Fermi liquids. The divergence of the cocupling function in the particle-hole channel beyond a critical interaction suggests an instability toward an ordered phase with a momentum that depends on the interaction strength. At the critical interaction, the instability corresponds to the uniform Pomeranchuk or Stoner instability, but the momentum of the leading instability becomes non-zero for stronger attractive interaction. In the particle-particle channel, the coupling function reveals the dynamics of the unstable mode associated with the BCS instability. When an unstable normal metal evolves into the superconducting state, there exists a period in which a superconducting state with spatially non-uniform phase appears due to the presence of unstable Cooperon modes with non-zero momenta., Comment: 35 pgs. Experimental consequences added

The higher spin Kitaev model prominently features the extensive locally conserved quantities the same as the spin-$1/2$ Kitaev honeycomb model, although it is not exactly solvable. It remains an open question regarding the physical meaning of these conserved quantities in the higher spin model. In this Letter, by introducing a Majorana parton construction for a general spin-$S$ we uncover that these conserved quantities are exactly the $\mathbb Z_2$ gauge fluxes in the general spin-$S$ model, including the case of spin-$1/2$. Particularly, we find an even-odd effect that the $\mathbb Z_2$ gauge charges are fermions in the half integer spin model, but are bosons in the integer spin model. We further prove that the fermionic $\mathbb Z_2$ gauge charges are always deconfined; hence the half integer spin Kitaev model would have non-trivial spin liquid ground states regardless of interaction strengths in the Hamiltonian. The bosonic $\mathbb Z_2$ gauge charges of the integer spin model, on the other hand, could condense, leading to a trivial product state, and this is indeed the case at the anisotropic limit of the model., Comment: 5+4 pages, 3+3 figures, published version

We study the critical bosonic O(N) vector model with quenched random mass disorder in the large N limit. Due to the replicated action which is sometimes not bounded from below, we avoid the replica trick and adopt a traditional approach to directly compute the disorder averaged physical observables. At $N=\infty$, we can exactly solve the disordered model. The resulting low energy behavior can be described by two scale invariant theories, one of which has an intrinsic scale. At finite $N$, we find that the previously proposed attractive disordered fixed point at $d=2$ continues to exist at $d=2+\epsilon$ spatial dimensions. We also studied the system in the $3

We present the Wilsonian effective action as a solution of the exact RG equation for the critical $O(N)$ vector model in the large $N$ limit. Below four dimensions, the exact effective action can be expressed in a closed form as a transcendental function of two leading scaling operators with infinitely many derivatives. From the exact solution that describes the RG flow from a UV theory to the fixed point theory in the IR, we obtain the mapping between UV operators and IR scaling operators. It is shown that IR scaling operators are given by sums of infinitely many UV operators with infinitely many derivatives., Comment: 19+16 pages, 1/N correction added

The $\beta$-functions describe how couplings run under the renormalization group flow in field theories. In general, all couplings that respect the symmetry and locality are generated under the renormalization group flow, and the exact renormalization group flow is characterized by the $\beta$-functions defined in the infinite dimensional space of couplings. In this paper, we show that the renormalization group flow is highly constrained so that the $\beta$-functions defined in a measure zero subspace of couplings completely determine the $\beta$-functions in the entire space of couplings. We provide a quantum renormalization group-based algorithm for reconstructing the full $\beta$-functions from the $\beta$-functions defined in the subspace. As examples, we derive the full $\beta$-functions for the $O(N)$ vector model and the $O_L(N) \times O_R(N)$ matrix model entirely from the $\beta$-functions defined in the subspace of single-trace couplings., Comment: 75 pages, 12 figures, minor changes

We study the famous example of weakly first order phase transitions in the 1+1D quantum Q-state Potts model at Q>4. We numerically show that these weakly first order transitions have approximately conformal invariance. Specifically, we find entanglement entropy on considerably large system sizes fits perfectly with the universal scaling law of this quantity in the conformal field theories (CFTs). This supports that the weakly first order transitions is proximate to complex fixed points, which are described by recent conjectured complex CFTs. Moreover, the central charge extracted from this fitting is close to the real part of the complex central charge of these complex CFTs. We also study the conformal towers and the drifting behaviors of these conformal data (e.g., central charge and scaling dimensions)., Comment: published version

Deconfined quantum critical points are characterized by the presence of an emergent gauge field and exotic fractionalized particles, which exist as well-defined excitations only at the critical point. We here demonstrate the existence of quantum critical points described by an emergent tensor gauge theory featuring subdimensional excitations, in close relation to fracton theories. We begin by reexamining a previously studied deconfined quantum critical point between two valence bond solid (VBS) phases on a bilayer honeycomb lattice. We show that the critical theory maps onto a rank-two tensor gauge theory featuring one-dimensional particles. In a slightly different context, the same tensor gauge theory also describes a deconfined quantum critical point between a two-dimensional superfluid and a finite-momentum Bose condensate, both of which are dual to rank-one gauge theories. This represents an entirely new class of deconfined quantum criticality, in which a critical tensor gauge theory arises on top of a stable conventional gauge theory. Furthermore, we propose that this quantum critical point gives rise to a new finite-temperature phase of bosons, behaving as an exciton Bose condensate, in which excitons (boson-hole pairs) are condensed but individual bosons are not. We discuss how small modifications of this theory give rise to the stable quantum "exciton Bose liquid" phase studied by Paramekanti, Balents, and Fisher., Comment: 16 pages, 9 figures

Fractons are gapped point-like excitations in $d=3$ topological ordered phases whose motion is constrained. They have been discovered in several gapped models but a unifying physical mechanism for generating them is still missing. It has been noticed that in symmetric-tensor ${\rm U}(1)$ gauge theories, charges are fractons and cannot move freely due to, for example, the conservation of not only the charge but also the dipole moment. To connect these theories with fully gapped fracton models, we study Higgs and partial confinement mechanisms in rank-2 symmetric-tensor gauge theories, where charges or magnetic excitations, respectively, are condensed. Specifically, we describe two different routes from the rank-2 ${\rm U}(1)$ scalar charge theory to the X-cube fracton topological order, finding that a combination of Higgs and partial confinement mechanisms is necessary to obtain the fully gapped fracton model. On the other hand, the rank-2 $\mathbb{Z}_2$ scalar charge theory, which is obtained from the former theory upon condensing charge-2 matter, is equivalent to four copies of the $d=3$ toric code and does not support fracton excitations. We also explain how the checkerboard fracton model can be viewed as a rank-2 $\mathbb{Z}_2$ gauge theory with two different Gauss' law constraints on different lattice sites., Comment: 16+epsilon pages, 14 figures

We introduce a new quantity, that we term recoverable information, defined for stabilizer Hamiltonians. For such models, the recoverable information provides a measure of the topological information, as well as a physical interpretation, which is complementary to topological entanglement entropy. We discuss three different ways to calculate the recoverable information, and prove their equivalence. To demonstrate its utility, we compute recoverable information for fracton models using all three methods where appropriate. From the recoverable information, we deduce the existence of emergent $Z_2$ Gauss-law type constraints, which in turn imply emergent $Z_2$ conservation laws for point-like quasiparticle excitations of an underlying topologically ordered phase., Comment: Added additional cluster model calculation (SPT example) and a new section discussing the general benefits of recoverable information

Entanglement entropy provides a powerful characterization of two-dimensional gapped topological phases of quantum matter, intimately tied to their description by topological quantum field theories (TQFTs). Fracton topological orders are three-dimensional gapped topologically ordered states of matter, but the existence of a TQFT description for these phases remains an open question. We show that three-dimensional fracton phases are nevertheless characterized, at least partially, by universal structure in the entanglement entropy of their ground state wave functions. We explicitly compute the entanglement entropy for two archetypal fracton models --- the `X-cube model' and `Haah's code' --- and demonstrate the existence of a topological contribution that scales linearly in subsystem size. We show via Schrieffer-Wolff transformations that the topological entanglement of fracton models is robust against arbitrary local perturbations of the Hamiltonian. Finally, we argue that these results may be extended to characterize localization-protected fracton topological order in excited states of disordered fracton models., Comment: published version

Motivated by recent numerical work, we use the boson-vortex duality to study the possible phases of the frustrated spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ $J_1-J_2$ XXZ models on the honeycomb lattice. By condensing the vortices, we obtain various gapped phases that either break certain lattice symmetry or preserve all the symmetries. The gapped phases breaking lattice symmetries occur when the vortex band structure has two minima. Condensing one of the two vortex flavors leads to an Ising ordered phase, while condensing both vortex flavors gives rise to a valence-bond-solid state. Both of those phases have been observed in the numerical studies of the $J_1-J_2$ XXZ honeycomb model. Furthermore, by tuning the band structure of vortex and condensing it at the $\Gamma$ point, we obtain a featureless paramagnet. But the precise nature of this featureless state is still unclear and needs future study., Comment: Published version

In this work, we develop a coupled layer construction of fracton topological orders in $d=3$ spatial dimensions. These topological phases have sub-extensive topological ground-state degeneracy and possess excitations whose movement is restricted in interesting ways. Our coupled layer approach is used to construct several different fracton topological phases, both from stacked layers of simple $d=2$ topological phases and from stacks of $d=3$ fracton topological phases. This perspective allows us to shed light on the physics of the X-cube model recently introduced by Vijay, Haah, and Fu, which we demonstrate can be obtained as the strong-coupling limit of a coupled three-dimensional stack of toric codes. We also construct two new models of fracton topological order: a semionic generalization of the X-cube model, and a model obtained by coupling together four interpenetrating X-cube models, which we dub the "Four Color Cube model." The couplings considered lead to fracton topological orders via mechanisms we dub "p-string condensation" and "p-membrane condensation," in which strings or membranes built from particle excitations are driven to condense. This allows the fusion properties, braiding statistics, and ground-state degeneracy of the phases we construct to be easily studied in terms of more familiar degrees of freedom. Our work raises the possibility of studying fracton topological phases from within the framework of topological quantum field theory, which may be useful for obtaining a more complete understanding of such phases., Comment: 20 pages, 18 figures, published version

We present design techniques of special optical lattices that allow quantum simulation of spin frustration in two-dimensional systems. By carefully overlaying optical lattices with different periods and orientations, we are able to adjust the ratio between the nearest-neighbor and next-nearest-neighbor interaction strengths in a square spin lattice and realize frustration effects. We show that only laser beams of a single frequency is required, and the parameter space reachable in our design is broad enough to study the important phases in the $J_1$-$J_2$ frustrated Heisenberg model and checkerboard antiferromagnet model. By using the polarization spectroscopy for detection, distinct quantum phases and quantum phase transition points can be characterized straightforwardly. Our design thus offers a suitable setup for simulation of frustrated spin systems., Comment: 7 pages

The formation and local symmetry of spin-lattice polaron has been investigated semiclassically in the planar Holstein t-J-like models within the exact diagonalization method. Due to the interplay of strong correlations and electron-lattice interaction, the doped hole may either move freely or lead to the localized spin-lattice distortion and form a Holstein polaron. The formation of polaron breaks the translational symmetry by suppression of antiferromagnetic correlations and inducement of ferromagnetic correlations locally. Moreover, the breaking of local rotational symmetry around the polaron has been shown. The ground state is generically a parity singlet and the first excited state maybe a parity doublet. Further consequences of the density of states spectra for comparison with future STM experiments are discussed., Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures