Fermion-induced quantum critical point in Dirac semimetals: a sign-problem-free quantum Monte Carlo study

TL;DR

This study uses sign-problem-free quantum Monte Carlo simulations to demonstrate that fermion-induced quantum critical points occur in 2D Dirac semimetals for all positive integer flavors, including the previously unstudied case of N=1.

Contribution

First microscopic simulation confirming fermion-induced quantum critical points for N=1 in 2D Dirac semimetals, extending previous results to the minimal flavor case.

Findings

Fermion-induced quantum critical points occur at N=1.

Quantum Monte Carlo results support FIQCP for all N≥1.

The lower bound N_c for FIQCP is 1.

Abstract

According to Landau criterion, a phase transition should be first order when cubic terms of order parameters are allowed in its effective Ginzburg-Landau free energy. Recently, it was shown by renormalization group (RG) analysis that continuous transition can happen at putatively first-order $Z_3$ transitions in 2D Dirac semimetals and such non-Landau phase transitions were dubbed "fermion-induced quantum critical points" (FIQCP) [Li et al., Nature Communications 8, 314 (2017)]. The RG analysis, controlled by the 1/$N$ expansion with $N$ the number of flavors of four-component Dirac fermions, shows that FIQCP occurs for $N\geq N_c$. Previous QMC simulations of a microscopic model of SU($N$) fermions on the honeycomb lattice showed that FIQCP occurs at the transition between Dirac semimetals and Kekule-VBS for $N\geq 2$. However, precise value of the lower bound $N_c$ has not been established. Especially, the case of $N=1$ has not been explored by studying microscopic models so far. Here, by introducing a generalized SU($N$) fermion model with $N=1$ (namely spinless fermions on the honeycomb lattice), we perform large-scale sign-problem-free Majorana quantum Monte Carlo simulations and find convincing evidence of FIQCP for $N=1$. Consequently, our results suggest that FIQCP can occur in 2D Dirac semimetals for all positive integers $N\geq 1$.