Quantum topological phase transition at the microscopic level

Claudio Castelnovo and Claudio Chamon
Phys. Rev. B 77, 054433 – Published 26 February 2008

Abstract

We study a quantum phase transition between a phase which is topologically ordered and one which is not. We focus on a spin model, an extension of the toric code, for which we obtain the exact ground state for all values of the coupling constant that takes the system across the phase transition. We compute the entanglement and the topological entropy of the system as a function of this coupling constant and show that the topological entropy remains constant all the way up to the critical point and jumps to zero beyond it. Despite the jump in the topological entropy, the transition is second order as detected via local observables.

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  • Received 13 July 2007

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.77.054433

©2008 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Claudio Castelnovo1 and Claudio Chamon2

  • 1Rudolf Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3NP, United Kingdom
  • 2Physics Department, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA

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Issue

Vol. 77, Iss. 5 — 1 February 2008

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