Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Universal behavior at continuous phase transitions is encoded in long-wavelength fixed-point theories controlled by dimensionality and symmetries. It is a central question for which systems this universal behavior and the underlying long-wavelength description can be captured by a noninteracting theory allowing for analytical and accurate predictions. In this work we provide a systematic procedure for obtaining the best noninteracting fermionic description of a quantum phase transition through fermionic Gaussian states. We demonstrate the performance of our procedure for the interacting long-range transverse-field Ising chain. This formulation reduces the problem to a self-consistent Euler equation that yields a critical line in close agreement with independent numerical benchmarks, while its singular momentum structure provides analytic predictions for continuously varying critical properties. Yet exact diagonalization shows that Gaussian-state fidelity to the exact ground state is poorest, and non-Gaussianity strongest, near the transition. Thus, accurate predictions for critical properties can emerge from the Gaussian variational description even where its microscopic wave-function approximation is weakest.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Institution: Universidade Federal Fluminense
Language: English
Topic: Quantum many-body systems
Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7223064378