Criticality in the (2+1)-dimensional compact Higgs model and fractionalized insulators

We use a novel method of computing the third moment M3 of the action of the (2+1)-dimensional compact Higgs model in the adjoint representation with q=2 to extract correlation length and specific heat exponents ν and α without invoking hyperscaling. Finite-size scaling analysis of M3 yields the ratios (1+α)/ν and 1/ν separately. We find that α and ν vary along the critical line of the theory, which however exhibits a remarkable resilience of Z2 criticality. We propose this novel universality class to be that of the quantum phase transition from a Mott-Hubbard insulator to a charge-fractionalized insulator in two spatial dimensions