Published January 9, 2009 | Version v1
Journal article Metadata-only

Lieb-Robinson Bounds and the Speed of Light from Topological Order

Creators

  • 1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Research Laboratory of Electronics, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 (United States)
  • 2. Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, 31 Caroline Street North, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 2Y5 (Canada)
  • 3. Department of Physics, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1 (Canada)
  • 4. Institute for Quantum Computing and Department of Combinatorics and Optimization, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1 (Canada)

Description

We apply the Lieb-Robinson bounds technique to find the maximum speed of interaction in a spin model with topological order whose low-energy effective theory describes light [see X.-G. Wen, Phys. Rev. B 68, 115413 (2003)]. The maximum speed of interactions in two dimensions is bounded from above by less than e times the speed of emerging light, giving a strong indication that light is indeed the maximum speed of interactions. This result does not rely on mean field theoretic methods. In higher spatial dimensions, the Lieb-Robinson speed is conjectured to increase linearly with the dimension itself. The implications for the horizon problem in cosmology are discussed

Additional details

Identifiers

DOI
10.1103/PhysRevLett.102.017204;
arXiv
arXiv:0808.2495v2;

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Physical Review Letters
Journal Volume
102
Journal Issue
1
Journal Page Range
p. 017204-017204.4
ISSN
0031-9007
CODEN
PRLTAO

INIS

Country of Publication
United States
Country of Input or Organization
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
INIS RN
40054308
Subject category
S71: CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS;
Descriptors DEI
COSMOLOGY; INTERACTIONS; MEAN-FIELD THEORY; SPIN; TOPOLOGY; VELOCITY; VISIBLE RADIATION
Descriptors DEC
ANGULAR MOMENTUM; ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION; MATHEMATICS; PARTICLE PROPERTIES; RADIATIONS

Optional Information

Notes
(c) 2009 The American Physical Society