Semiclassical bifurcations and topological phase transitions in a one-dimensional lattice of coupled Lipkin-Meshkov-Glick models

Phys Rev E. 2016 Sep;94(3-1):032123. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevE.94.032123. Epub 2016 Sep 21.

Abstract

In this work we study a one-dimensional lattice of Lipkin-Meshkov-Glick models with alternating couplings between nearest-neighbors sites, which resembles the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model. Typical properties of the underlying models are present in our semiclassical-topological hybrid system, allowing us to investigate an interplay between semiclassical bifurcations at mean-field level and topological phases. Our results show that bifurcations of the energy landscape lead to diverse ordered quantum phases. Furthermore, the study of the quantum fluctuations around the mean-field solution reveals the existence of nontrivial topological phases. These are characterized by the emergence of localized states at the edges of a chain with free open-boundary conditions.