First-order phase transition in easy-plane quantum antiferromagnets

Abstract

Quantum phase transitions in Mott insulators do not fit easily into the Landau-Ginzburg-Wilson paradigm. A recently proposed alternative to it is the so called deconfined quantum criticality scenario, providing a new paradigm for quantum phase transitions. In this context it has recently been proposed that a second-order phase transition would occur in a two-dimensional spin 1/2 quantum antiferromagnet in the deep easy-plane limit. A check of this conjecture is important for understanding the phase structure of Mott insulators. To this end we have performed large-scale Monte Carlo simulations on an effective gauge theory for this system, including a Berry phase term that projects out the $S=1/2$ sector. The result is a first-order phase transition, thus contradicting the conjecture.

4 pages, 4 figures. Stylistic changes, references added

References in corpus (6)

• "Deconfined" quantum critical points
• Quantum criticality beyond the Landau-Ginzburg-Wilson paradigm
• Field- and temperature induced topological phase transitions in the three-dimensional $N$-component London superconductor
• Vortex sub-lattice melting in a two-component superconductor
• Critical properties of the N-color London model
• Observation of a metallic superfluid in a numerical experiment

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• Large-N estimates of universal amplitudes of the CP^{N-1} theory and comparison with the JQ model
• Compact quantum electrodynamics in 2+1 dimensions and spinon deconfinement: a renormalization group analysis
• An Abelian two-Higgs model of strongly correlated electrons: phase structure, strengthening of phase transition and QCD at finite density
• Deconfined quantum criticality driven by Dirac fermions in SU(2) antiferromagnets
• Universal properties of the U(1) current at deconfined quantum critical points: comparison with predictions from gauge/gravity duality