Abstract
We study a spin-boson chain that exhibits a local symmetry. We investigate the quantum phase diagram of the model by means of perturbation theory, mean-field theory, and the density matrix renormalization group method. Our calculations show the existence of a first-order phase transition in the region where the boson quantum dynamics is slow compared to the spin-spin interactions. Our model can be implemented with trapped-ion quantum simulators, leading to a realization of minimal models showing local gauge invariance and first-order phase transitions.
3 More- Received 16 March 2015
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.92.013624
©2015 American Physical Society