In search of diabolical critical points

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors:	Manjunath, Naren, Else, Dominic V.
Format:	Preprint
Published:	2026
Subjects:	Strongly Correlated Electrons High Energy Physics - Theory
Online Access:	Acceder al recurso
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_version_	1866918440388788224
author	Manjunath, Naren Else, Dominic V.
author_facet	Manjunath, Naren Else, Dominic V.
contents	A phase transition is an example of a ``topological defect'' in the space of parameters of a quantum or classical many-body systems. In this paper, we consider phase diagram topological defects of higher codimension. These have the property that equilibrium states undergo some kind of non-trivial winding as one moves around the defect. We show that such topological defects exist even in classical statistical mechanical systems, and describe their general structure in this context. We then introduce the term ``diabolical critical point'' (DCP), which is a higher-codimension analog of a continuous phase transition, with the proximate phases of matter replaced by the non-trivial winding of the proximate equilibrium states. We propose conditions under which a system can have a stable DCP. We also discuss some examples of stable DCPs in (1+1)-dimensional quantum systems.
format	Preprint
id	arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_10783
institution	arXiv
publishDate	2026
record_format	arxiv
spellingShingle	In search of diabolical critical points Manjunath, Naren Else, Dominic V. Strongly Correlated Electrons High Energy Physics - Theory A phase transition is an example of a ``topological defect'' in the space of parameters of a quantum or classical many-body systems. In this paper, we consider phase diagram topological defects of higher codimension. These have the property that equilibrium states undergo some kind of non-trivial winding as one moves around the defect. We show that such topological defects exist even in classical statistical mechanical systems, and describe their general structure in this context. We then introduce the term ``diabolical critical point'' (DCP), which is a higher-codimension analog of a continuous phase transition, with the proximate phases of matter replaced by the non-trivial winding of the proximate equilibrium states. We propose conditions under which a system can have a stable DCP. We also discuss some examples of stable DCPs in (1+1)-dimensional quantum systems.
title	In search of diabolical critical points
topic	Strongly Correlated Electrons High Energy Physics - Theory
url	https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.10783