Quantum clock models with infinite-range interactions

Abstract

We study the phase diagram, both at zero and finite temperature, in a class of ${\mathbb{Z}}_q$ models with infinite range interactions. We are able to identify the transitions between a symmetry-breaking and a trivial phase by using a mean-field approach and a perturbative expansion. We perform our analysis on a Hamiltonian with $2p$-body interactions and we find first-order transitions for any $p>1$; in the case $p=1$, the transitions are first-order for $q=3$ and second-order otherwise. In the infinite-range case there is no trace of gapless incommensurate phase but, when the transverse field is maximally chiral, the model is in a symmetry-breaking phase for arbitrarily large fields. We analytically study the transtion in the limit of infinite $q$, where the model possesses a continuous $U(1)$ symmetry.