Quantum Model System: A New Approach to Understand Materials

New materials like transition metal oxides, manganates, ruthinates, and iridates have attracted a lot of attention in recent years because of their unique properties, such as sensitivity to small perturbations, high-temperature superconductivity, colossal magnetoresistance, and multiferroicity. These properties make them promising for advanced applications in devices like sensors, GPS, and memory RAM. However, these materials are difficult to understand using conventional frameworks, such as the widely used density functional theory. Therefore, there is a need for new theoretical models that can capture the essential features of these materials and explain their unusual behaviors.

Quantum model system for new materials

Researchers from India have identified a quantum model system that can help understand the properties of new materials that are near to a quantum critical point. A quantum critical point is a situation in quantum physics where a material undergoes a drastic change in its phase or order at zero temperature. For example, some materials can switch from being insulators to metals or vice versa when subjected to small changes in pressure or temperature.

The quantum model system is based on a theoretical model called the modified periodic Anderson model (MPAM), which studies the behavior of electrons in materials near to a quantum critical point. The MPAM considers two types of electrons: localized electrons that are bound to specific sites and itinerant electrons that can move freely between sites. The MPAM also includes the interactions between these electrons and the external conditions, such as temperature and pressure.

The researchers, led by Prof. N. S. Vidhyadhiraja from Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), an autonomous unit of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), used numerical simulations to explore the MPAM and found that it contains a whole range of quantum critical points. They also found that the MPAM can capture the essential features of some new materials like transition metal oxides, manganates, ruthinates, and iridates, which exhibit similar behaviors near to a quantum critical point.

The study, published in Physical Review B on 1 May 2023, was supported by the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), an attached institution of the Department of Science and Technology (DST). SERB has now been subsumed into ANRF.

Implications for entanglement and quantum computing

The researchers say that their quantum model system can help understand the emergence of collective phenomena in condensed matter physics, such as superconductivity, magnetism, and topological phases. These phenomena are related to the correlations and entanglement between electrons in materials. Entanglement is a phenomenon where two or more particles share a quantum state and behave as one unit, even when they are separated by large distances.

The researchers also say that their quantum model system can be useful for studying entanglement and quantum computing, which are based on the principles of quantum mechanics. Quantum computing is a field that aims to use entangled particles to perform computations that are faster and more secure than classical computers.

The researchers hope that their quantum model system will inspire further experimental and theoretical investigations into the properties of new materials and their applications in quantum technologies.

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