Crystalline phases at finite winding densities in a quantum link ladder

Abstract

Condensed matter physics of gauge theories coupled to fermions can exhibit a rich phase structure, butare nevertheless very difficult to study in Monte Carlo simulations when they are afflicted by a signproblem. As an alternate approach, we use tensor network methods to explore the finite density physics ofAbelian gauge theories without dynamical matter. As a concrete example, we consider the Uð1Þ gaugeinvariant quantum link ladder with spin-½ gauge fields in an external electric field, which causes thewinding electric fluxes to condense in the ground state. We demonstrate how the electric flux tubes arrangethemselves in the bulk, giving rise to crystalline patterns, whose period can be controlled by tuning theexternal field. We propose observables to detect the transitions in ground state properties not only innumerical experiments, but also in future cold-atom realizations. A systematic procedure for reaching thethermodynamic limit, as well as extending the studies from ladders to extended geometries is outlined

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Identifiers

ORCID for Debasish Banerjee: orcid.org/0000-0003-0244-4337

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