Quantum phase transitions in the alternating XY chain with three-site interactions

TL;DR

This paper provides an exact analysis of quantum phase transitions in an alternating XY chain with three-site interactions, revealing complex phase behavior and the impact of interaction strength on magnetic phases.

Contribution

The study offers an exact solution for the model and characterizes the phase diagram, including the novel weak magnetization phase and its dependence on three-site interaction strength.

Findings

Identified ferromagnetic, paramagnetic, and weak magnetization phases.

Showed the WM phase disappears with increasing three-site interaction.

Analyzed spin correlations and entropy to map phase boundaries.

Abstract

We investigate the quantum phase transition in the alternating XY chain with the XZX+YZY type of three-spin interactions. We present the exact solution derived by means of the Jordan-Wigner transformation and study the average magnetization, spin correlations, and von Neumann entropy to establish the phase diagram. The phase diagram consists of the ferromagnetic phases, the paramagnetic phases, and the phase with weak magnetization (WM). By examining the nearest-neighbor transverse spin correlation, we probe that in the WM phase, the spins within a supercell generate a cluster with a small total spin, but between the nearest-neighbor supercells are distributed randomly. Especially for the dimerized limit case, the spins within a supercell tend to point to opposite directions of the transverse field. In addition, we also investigate the influence of the three-site interaction, and find that the WM phase is absent as the strength of the three-site interaction increases. Our findings shed light on the complex behavior of the alternating XY chain and provide valuable insights for future studies.