Quantum critical phase with infinite projected entangled paired states

Abstract

A classification of SU(2)-invariant Projected Entangled Paired States (PEPS) on the square lattice, based on a unique site tensor, has been recently introduced by Mambrini et al.~\cite{Mambrini2016}. It is not clear whether such SU(2)-invariant PEPS can either i) exhibit long-range magnetic order (like in the Néel phase) or ii) describe a genuine quantum critical point (QCP) or quantum critical phase (QCPh) separating two ordered phases. Here, we identify a specific family of SU(2)-invariant PEPS of the classification which provides excellent variational energies for the $J_1-J_2$ frustrated Heisenberg model, especially at $J_2=0.5$, corresponding to the approximate location of the QCP or QCPh separating the Néel phase from a dimerized phase. The PEPS are build from virtual states belonging to the $\frac{1}{2}^{\otimes N} \oplus 0$ SU(2)-representation, i.e. with $N$ "colors" of virtual \hbox{spin-$\frac{1}{2}$}. Using a full update infinite-PEPS approach directly in the thermodynamic limit, based on the Corner Transfer Matrix renormalization algorithm supplemented by a Conjugate Gradient optimization scheme, we provide evidence of i) the absence of magnetic order and of ii) diverging correlation lengths (i.e. showing no sign of saturation with increasing environment dimension) in both the singlet and triplet channels, when the number of colors $N\ge 3$. We argue that such a PEPS gives a qualitative description of the QCP or QCPh of the $J_1-J_2$ model.