Dimensionless ratios: Characteristics of quantum liquids and their phase transitions

Abstract

Dimensionless ratios of physical properties can characterize low-temperature phases in a wide variety of materials. As such, the Wilson ratio (WR), the Kadowaki-Woods ratio, and the Wiedemann-Franz law capture essential features of Fermi liquids in metals, heavy fermions, etc. Here we prove that the phases of many-body interacting multicomponent quantum liquids in one dimension (1D) can be described by WRs based on the compressibility, susceptibility, and specific heat associated with each component. These WRs arise due to additivity rules within subsystems reminiscent of the rules for multiresistor networks in series and parallel—a novel and useful characteristic of multicomponent Tomonaga-Luttinger liquids (TLL) independent of microscopic details of the systems. Using experimentally realized multispecies cold atomic gases as examples, we prove that the Wilson ratios uniquely identify phases of TLL, while providing universal scaling relations at the boundaries between phases. Their values within a phase are solely determined by the stiffnesses and sound velocities of subsystems and identify the internal degrees of freedom of said phase such as its spin degeneracy. This finding can be directly applied to a wide range of 1D many-body systems and reveals deep physical insights into recent experimental measurements of the universal thermodynamics in ultracold atoms and spins.