Deconfined Criticality Flow in the Heisenberg Model with Ring-Exchange Interactions

Quantum transition points in the J-Q model-the test bed of the deconfined critical point theory-and the SU(2)-symmetric discrete noncompact CP1 representation of the deconfined critical action are directly compared by the flowgram method. We find that the flows of two systems coincide in a broad region of linear system sizes (10 < L < 50 for the J-Q model), implying that the deconfined critical point theory correctly captures the mesoscopic physics of competition between the antiferromagnetic and valence-bond orders in quantum spin systems. At larger sizes, however, we observe significant deviations between the two flows which both demonstrate strong violations of scale invariance. This reliably rules out the second-order transition scenario in at least one of the two models and suggests the most likely explanation for the nature of the transition in the J-Q model.