Emergent criticality in a constrained boson model

We show, via explicit computation on a constrained bosonic model, that the presence of subsystem symmetries can lead to a quantum phase transition (QPT) where the critical point exhibits an emergent enhanced symmetry. Such a transition separates a unique gapped ground state from a gapless one; the l...

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Main Author: Anirudha Menon, Anwesha Chattopadhyay, Krishnendu Sengupta, Arnab Sen
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SciPost 2025-08-01
Series:SciPost Physics
Online Access:https://scipost.org/SciPostPhys.19.2.055
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author Anirudha Menon, Anwesha Chattopadhyay, Krishnendu Sengupta, Arnab Sen
author_facet Anirudha Menon, Anwesha Chattopadhyay, Krishnendu Sengupta, Arnab Sen
author_sort Anirudha Menon, Anwesha Chattopadhyay, Krishnendu Sengupta, Arnab Sen
collection DOAJ
description We show, via explicit computation on a constrained bosonic model, that the presence of subsystem symmetries can lead to a quantum phase transition (QPT) where the critical point exhibits an emergent enhanced symmetry. Such a transition separates a unique gapped ground state from a gapless one; the latter phase exhibits a broken $Z_2$ symmetry which we tie to the presence of the subsystem symmetries in the model. The intermediate critical point separating these phases exhibits an additional emergent $Z_2$ symmetry which we identify. This emergence leads to a critical theory which seems to be different from those in the Ising universality class. Instead, within the data obtained from finite-size scaling analysis, we find the critical theory to be not inconsistent with Ashkin-Teller universality in the sense that the transitions of the model reproduces a critical line with variable correlation length exponent $\nu$ but constant central charge $c$ close to unity. We verify this scenario via explicit exact-diagonalization computations, provide an effective Landau-Ginzburg theory for such a transition, and discuss the connection of our model to the PXP model describing Rydberg atom arrays.
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spelling doaj-art-26497e0dcc3c4fd093d3f4ab2aad6b682025-08-25T13:04:08ZengSciPostSciPost Physics2542-46532025-08-0119205510.21468/SciPostPhys.19.2.055Emergent criticality in a constrained boson modelAnirudha Menon, Anwesha Chattopadhyay, Krishnendu Sengupta, Arnab SenWe show, via explicit computation on a constrained bosonic model, that the presence of subsystem symmetries can lead to a quantum phase transition (QPT) where the critical point exhibits an emergent enhanced symmetry. Such a transition separates a unique gapped ground state from a gapless one; the latter phase exhibits a broken $Z_2$ symmetry which we tie to the presence of the subsystem symmetries in the model. The intermediate critical point separating these phases exhibits an additional emergent $Z_2$ symmetry which we identify. This emergence leads to a critical theory which seems to be different from those in the Ising universality class. Instead, within the data obtained from finite-size scaling analysis, we find the critical theory to be not inconsistent with Ashkin-Teller universality in the sense that the transitions of the model reproduces a critical line with variable correlation length exponent $\nu$ but constant central charge $c$ close to unity. We verify this scenario via explicit exact-diagonalization computations, provide an effective Landau-Ginzburg theory for such a transition, and discuss the connection of our model to the PXP model describing Rydberg atom arrays.https://scipost.org/SciPostPhys.19.2.055
spellingShingle Anirudha Menon, Anwesha Chattopadhyay, Krishnendu Sengupta, Arnab Sen
Emergent criticality in a constrained boson model
SciPost Physics
title Emergent criticality in a constrained boson model
title_full Emergent criticality in a constrained boson model
title_fullStr Emergent criticality in a constrained boson model
title_full_unstemmed Emergent criticality in a constrained boson model
title_short Emergent criticality in a constrained boson model
title_sort emergent criticality in a constrained boson model
url https://scipost.org/SciPostPhys.19.2.055
work_keys_str_mv AT anirudhamenonanweshachattopadhyaykrishnendusenguptaarnabsen emergentcriticalityinaconstrainedbosonmodel