A quantum phase transition in a quantum external field: Superposing two magnetic phases

Autor(en)

Marek Rams, Michael Zwolak, Bogdan Damski

Abstrakt

We study an Ising chain undergoing a quantum phase transition in a quantum magnetic field. Such a field can be emulated by coupling the chain to a central spin initially in a superposition state. We show that - by adiabatically driving such a system - one can prepare a quantum superposition of any two ground states of the Ising chain. In particular, one can end up with the Ising chain in a superposition of ferromagnetic and paramagnetic phases - a scenario with no analogue in prior studies of quantum phase transitions.

 

Remarkably, the resulting magnetization of the chain encodes the position of the critical point and universal critical exponents, as well as the ground state fidelity.

Organisation(en)

Quantenoptik, Quantennanophysik und Quanteninformation

Externe Organisation(en)

Oregon State University, Los Alamos National Laboratory

Journal

Scientific Reports

Band

2

Anzahl der Seiten

6

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1038/srep00655

Publikationsdatum

2012

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ÖFOS 2012

103024 Quantenfeldtheorie, 103025 Quantenmechanik

Link zum Portal

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/aabe6134-4943-4da4-b024-dec6715fb9c6