Related papers: Chain-like transitions in Wigner crystals: Sequent…
We study the competing order and chaos in a first-order quantum phase transition with a high barrier. The boson model Hamiltonian employed, interpolates between its U(5) (spherical) and SU(3) (deformed) limits. A classical analysis reveals…
Metal oxides such as VO$_2$ undergo structural transitions to low-symmetry phases characterized by intricate crystalline order, accompanied by rich electronic behavior. We derive a minimal ionic Hamiltonian based on symmetry and local…
Disorder, traditionally believed to hinder the propagation of waves. has recently been shown to prompt the occurrence of topological phase transitions. For example, when disorder strength continuously increases and surpasses certain…
Strongly disordered spin chains invariant under the SO(N) group are shown to display random-singlet phases with emergent SU(N) symmetry without fine tuning. The phases with emergent SU(N) symmetry are of two kinds: one has a ground state…
The structural phase transition in Ta$_2$NiSe$_5$ has been envisioned as driven by the formation of an excitonic insulating phase. However, the role of structural and electronic instabilities on crystal symmetry breaking has yet to be…
Topological insulators have been extended to higher-order versions that possess topological hinge or corner states in lower dimensions. However, their robustness against disorder is still unclear. Here, we theoretically investigate the…
Quantum transitions between the Mott insulator and metals by controlling filling in two-dimensional square lattice are characterized by a large dynamical exponent $z=4$ where the origin of unusual metallic properties near the Mott insulator…
We investigate the low-energy properties of the orthogonal-dimer spin chain characterized by a frustrated dimer-plaquette structure. When the competing antiferromagnetic couplings are varied, the first-order quantum phase transition occurs…
Topological phase transitions challenge conventional paradigms in many-body physics by separating phases that are locally indistinguishable yet globally distinct. Using a quantum simulator of interacting erbium atoms in an optical lattice,…
We investigate the ground state properties of a newly discovered phase of one dimensional lattice bosons with extended interactions (see E. G. Dalla Torre et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. \textbf{97}, 260401 (2006)). The new phase, termed the…
Quantum information processing exploits all the features quantum mechanics offers. Among them there is the possibility to induce nonlinear maps on a quantum system by involving two or more identical copies of the given system in the same…
We investigate the Landau-Zener (LZ) process in spin-orbit coupled systems of single or multiple two-level (spin-$\frac{1}{2}$) particles. The coupling between internal spin states and external vibrational states, a simple spin-orbit…
We use a simple iterative perturbation theory to study the singlet-triplet (ST) transition in lateral and vertical quantum dots, modeled by the non-equilibrium two-level Anderson model. To a great surprise, the region of stable perturbation…
We have used mesoscale simulations to study the effect of immobile particles on microstructure formation during spinodal decomposition in ternary mixtures such as polymer blends. Specifically, we have explored a regime of interparticle…
First-order irreversible phase transitions (IPT's) between an active regime and an absorbing state are studied in two models by means of both simulations and mean-field stability analysis. Hysteresis around coexistence is the result of the…
We develop a microscopic theory of multipole interactions and orderings in 5$d^2$ transition metal ion compounds. In a cubic environment, the ground state of 5$d^2$ ions is a non-Kramers $E_g$ doublet, which is nonmagnetic but hosts…
Topologically ordered quantum systems have robust physical properties, such as quasiparticle statistics and ground-state degeneracy, which do not depend on the microscopic details of the Hamiltonian. We consider topological phase…
When driven by nonequilibrium fluctuations, particle systems may display phase transitions and physical behaviour with no equilibrium counterpart. We study a two-dimensional particle model initially proposed to describe driven non-Brownian…
The random first-order transition (RFOT) theory of the structural glass transition is reviewed in a pedagogical fashion. The rigidity that emerges in crystals and glassy liquids is of the same fundamental origin. In both cases, it…
Liquid crystals in two dimensions undergo a first-order isotropic-to-quasi-nematic transition, provided the particle interactions are sufficiently ``sharp and narrow''. This implies phase coexistence between isotropic and quasi-nematic…