Complexity in the Lipkin-Meshkov-Glick model

Abstract

We study complexity in a spin system with infinite-range interaction, via the paradigmatic Lipkin-Meshkov-Glick (LMG) model, in the thermodynamic limit. Exact expressions for the Nielsen complexity (NC) and the Fubini-Study complexity (FSC) are derived, which helps us to establish several distinguishing features compared to complexity in other known spin models. In a time-independent LMG model, close to phase transition, the NC diverges logarithmically, much like the entanglement entropy. Remarkably, however, in a time-dependent scenario, this divergence is replaced by a finite discontinuity, as we show by using the Lewis-Riesenfeld theory of time-dependent invariant operators. The FSC of a variant of the LMG model shows different behavior compared to quasifree spin models. Namely, it diverges logarithmically when the target (or reference) state is near the separatrix. Numerical analysis indicates that this is due to the fact that geodesics starting with arbitrary boundary conditions are "attracted" toward the separatrix and that near this line, a finite change in the affine parameter of the geodesic produces an infinitesimal change of the geodesic length. The same divergence is shared by the NC of this model as well.