Quantum fidelity for one-dimensional Dirac fermions and two-dimensional Kitaev model in the thermodynamic limit

Abstract

We study the scaling behavior of the fidelity ($F$) in the thermodynamic limit using the examples of a system of Dirac fermions in one dimension and the Kitaev model on a honeycomb lattice. We show that the thermodynamic fidelity inside the gapless as well as gapped phases follow power-law scalings, with the power given by some of the critical exponents of the system. The generic scaling forms of $F$ for an anisotropic quantum critical point for both thermodynamic and non-thermodynamic limits have been derived and verified for the Kitaev model. The interesting scaling behavior of $F$ inside the gapless phase of the Kitaev model is also discussed. Finally, we consider a rotation of each spin in the Kitaev model around the z axis and calculate $F$ through the overlap between the ground states for angle of rotation $η$ and $η+dη$, respectively. We thereby show that the associated geometric phase vanishes. We have supplemented our analytical calculations with numerical simulations wherever necessary.

10 pages, 8 figures