Rounding by disorder of first-order quantum phase transitions: emergence of quantum critical points

Abstract

We give a heuristic argument for disorder rounding of a first order quantum phase transition into a continuous phase transition. From both weak and strong disorder analysis of the the N-color quantum Ashkin-Teller model in one spatial dimension, we find that for $N\ge 3$, the first order transition is rounded to a continuous transition and the physical picture is the same as the random transverse field Ising model for a limited parameter regime. The results are strikingly different from the corresponding classical problem in two dimensions where the fate of the renormalization group flows is a fixed point corresponding to N-decoupled pure Ising models.

arXiv commentTitle is modified as requested by the PRL editor, minor stylistic changes, typos corrected, and a few new references added. It is published in PRL

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Cited by in corpus (26)

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• Universality from disorder in the random-bond Blume-Capel model
• Proof of Rounding by Quenched Disorder of First Order Transitions in Low-Dimensional Quantum Systems
• Emerging criticality in the disordered three-color Ashkin-Teller model
• Rounding of a first-order quantum phase transition to a strong-coupling critical point
• Entanglement and local extremes at an infinite-order quantum phase transition
• Bond disorder induced criticality of the three-color Ashkin-Teller model
• Strong-randomness phenomena in quantum Ashkin-Teller models
• Strong-randomness infinite-coupling phase in a random quantum spin chain
• The effect of quenched bond disorder on first-order phase transitions
• On Spin Systems with Quenched Randomness: Classical and Quantum
• Droplet formation near first-order phase transitions: A mechanism for heterogeneity and phase separation away from the coexistence curve
• Monte Carlo simulations of the disordered three-color quantum Ashkin-Teller chain
• The Future of the Correlated Electron Problem
• Activated scaling in disorder rounded first-order quantum phase transitions
• Numerical evidence of a super-universality of the 2D and 3D random quantum Potts models
• Exact relations between damage spreading and thermodynamic functions for the N-color Ashkin-Teller model
• Improved Matrix Product Operator Renormalization Group: application to the N-color random Ashkin-Teller chain
• Emerging critical behavior at a first-order phase transition rounded by disorder
• Emergent universal critical behavior of the 2D $N$-color Ashkin-Teller model in the presence of correlated disorder
• Smeared phase transition in the dissipative random quantum Ashkin-Teller model
• Interplay of Quantum and Thermal Fluctuations in Two-Dimensional Randomly Pinned Charge Density Waves