Fractality of Hofstadter Butterfly in Specific Heat Oscillation

TL;DR

This paper investigates the fractal nature of the Hofstadter butterfly through specific heat oscillations, using a novel quantum transfer matrix method, and suggests experimental detection methods.

Contribution

It introduces a new computational approach to analyze thermodynamical properties of the Hofstadter model and links specific heat oscillations to the fractal structure.

Findings

Identification of intrinsic oscillation features in specific heat

Demonstration of the fractal structure in thermodynamic properties

Proposal of experimental methods to detect the Hofstadter butterfly

Abstract

We calculate thermodynamical properties of the Hofstadter model using a recently developed quantum transfer matrix method. We find intrinsic oscillation features in specific heat that manifest the fractal structure of the Hofstadter butterfly. We also propose experimental approaches which use specific heat as an access to detect the Hofstadter butterfly.