Excited-State Quantum Phase Transitions in the Anharmonic Lipkin-Meshkov-Glick Model I: Static Aspects

Abstract: The basic Lipkin-Meshkov-Glick model displays a second order ground state quantum phase transition and an excited state quantum phase transition (ESQPT). The inclusion of an anharmonic term in the Hamiltonian implies a second ESQPT of a different nature. We characterize this ESQPT using the mean field limit of the model. The new ESQPT, associated with the changes in the boundary of the finite Hilbert space of the system, can be properly described using the order parameter of the ground state quantum phase transition, the energy gap between adjacent states, the participation ratio, and the quantum fidelity susceptibility.