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  • Letter
  • Open Access

Incommensurate gapless ferromagnetism connecting competing symmetry-enriched deconfined quantum phase transitions

Anthony Rey1, Ömer M. Aksoy2, Daniel P. Arovas3, Claudio Chamon4,5, and Christopher Mudry1,6

  • 1Condensed Matter Theory Group, PSI Center for Scientific Computing, Theory and Data, 5232 Villigen PSI, Switzerland
  • 2Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
  • 3Department of Physics, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA
  • 4Department of Physics, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA
  • 5Department of Physics and Astronomy, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, USA
  • 6Institut de Physique, EPF Lausanne, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland

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Phys. Rev. B 112, L161110 – Published 7 October, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/71kq-8lc8

Abstract

We present a scenario in which a gapless extended phase serves as a “hub” connecting multiple symmetry-enriched deconfined quantum critical points. As a concrete example, we construct a lattice model with Z2×Z2×Z2 symmetry for quantum spin-1/2 degrees of freedom that realizes four distinct gapful phases supporting antiferromagnetic long-range order and one extended incommensurate gapless ferromagnetic phase. The quantum phase transition between any two of the four gapped and antiferromagnetic phases goes through either a (deconfined) quantum critical point, a quantum tricritical point, or the incommensurate gapless ferromagnetic phase. In this phase diagram, it is possible to interpolate between four deconfined quantum critical points by passing through the extended gapless ferromagnetic phase. We identify the phases in the model and the nature of the transitions between them through a combination of analytical arguments and density matrix renormalization group studies.

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Phys. Rev. B 112, L161110– Published 7 October, 2025
  • Received 19 March 2025
  • Revised 10 June 2025
  • Accepted 19 September 2025
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