Physics – Condensed Matter – Strongly Correlated Electrons
Scientific paper
2011-03-18
Science 327, 177 (2010)
Physics
Condensed Matter
Strongly Correlated Electrons
18 pages with embedded figures
Scientific paper
Quantum phase transitions take place between distinct phases of matter at zero temperature. Near the transition point, exotic quantum symmetries can emerge that govern the excitation spectrum of the system. A symmetry described by the E8 Lie group with a spectrum of 8 particles was long predicted to appear near the critical point of an Ising chain. We realize this system experimentally by tuning the quasi-one-dimensional Ising ferromagnet CoNb2O6 through its critical point using strong transverse magnetic fields. The spin excitations are observed to change character from pairs of kinks in the ordered phase to spin-flips in the paramagnetic phase. Just below the critical field, the spin dynamics shows a fine structure with two sharp modes at low energies, in a ratio that approaches the golden mean as predicted for the first two meson particles of the E8 spectrum. Our results demonstrate the power of symmetry to describe complex quantum behaviours.
Coldea Radu
Habicht Klaus
Kiefer Klaus
Prabhakaran Dharmalingam
Smeibidl P.
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