Symmetric Mass Generation as a Multicritical Point with Enhanced Symmetry

Abstract

We explore the phase diagram of a lattice fermion model that exhibits three distinct phases: a massless fermion phase, a massive fermion phase with spontaneous symmetry breaking induced by a fermion bilinear condensate, and a massive fermion phase with symmetric mass generation. Using the fermion-bag Monte Carlo method on large cubical lattices, we find evidence for traditional second-order critical points separating the first two and the latter two phases. Remarkably, these critical points appear to merge at a multicritical point with enhanced symmetry when the symmetry breaking parameter is tuned to zero, giving rise to the recently discovered direct second-order transition between the massless and symmetric massive fermion phases.

arXiv commentPublished in Physical Review Letters; 6 pages, 4 figures