Topological quantum phase transition in bond-alternating spin-1/2 Heisenberg chains

We investigate string correlations in an infinite-size spin-1/2 bond-alternating Heisenberg chain. By employing the infinite matrix product state representation with the infinite time evolving block decimation method, a finite string correlation for extremely large lattice distances is directly observed, in contrast to an extrapolated extreme value for finite size chains. We find that a topological quantum phase transition occurs between two different phases separated and characterized by two different long-range string orders in the space of bond-alternating interactions. Also, the critical exponent beta from the long-range string orders is obtained as beta = 1/12 and the central charge at the critical point is obtained as c similar or equal to 1, which shows that the topological phase transition belongs to the Gaussian universality class. In addition, it is shown that, for the topological quantum phase transition, the phase boundary can be captured by the singular behavior of the von Neumann entropy and the pinch point of the fidelity per site. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.87.054402