Geometry of quantum phase transitions (Q2187811)

The article provides a review of novel differential-geometric methods employed in the analysis of quantum phase transitions and non-equilibrium dissipative phase transitions. Phase transitions are characterised by dramatic differences in some system's observables under infinitesimal variation of one or more control parameters, which are embodied in major structural changes of the state of the system. One may attempt to compare the states associated to infinitesimally close values of the pertinent parameters by some ``similarity'' measures, and other ``closeness'' or distance functions. Major structural changes in the state might be captured in the singular behaviour of a distance function. The Uhlmann fidelity provides a quantitative distance measure, called the Bures metric. Quantum criticalities are accompanied by a qualitative change in the nature of correlations in the ground state of a quantum system, and describing these changes is clearly one of the major interests in condensed matter physics. Typical examples are metal-insulator transitions, or paramagnetic-ferromagnetic transitions for spin chains, where the two phases are associated with distinct local vs. global properties of the quantum state. In a quantum phase transition (QPT), one may look at these dramatic changes as the manifestation of level crossings, occurring at the thermodynamic limit, which involve ground state and low lying part of the energy spectrum. A quantitative account of these effects is provided by the infinitesimal counterpart of the Berry phase, the Berry curvature. Driving the system close to or around the singularities results in changes of the state geometry, which are encoded in geometric phase instabilities of the quantum state. Geometric phases are at the core of the characterisation of topological phase transitions, and have been employed in the description and detection of quantum phase transitionas, both theoretically and experimentally. Effectively, the present review focuses on the role of the geometric phases in the investigation of equilibrium and non-equilibrium quantum phase transitions. Since the geometric phase is known to be a signature of the curvature, and in general of the geometry of the state manifold, it is an indispensable tool for the analysis of systems near quantum phase transitions. The heuristic explanation for the non-trivial behaviour of Berry curvature in the proximity of criticality relies on the idea of level crossings, occurring at the thermodynamic limit, which involve ground state and low lying part of the energy spectrum. Level crossings can be identified as the origin of the curvature in the phase space manifold. iIn the paper there are interesting mentions about an interplay between theory and experiment, lik e.g. these about many proposals to measure the Uhlmann geometric phase that have been put forward [186--188], and demonstrated experimentally. In fact, fidelity susceptibility, Fisher information, geometric phases and geometric curvature can be probed through experimentally viable procedures. An extensive list of references (401) contains earlier authors' contributions to the subject, as well.