Finding hidden order in spin models with persistent homology

Abstract

Persistent homology (PH) is a relatively new field in applied mathematics that studies the components and shapes of discrete data. In this work, we demonstrate that PH can be used as a universal framework to identify phases in spin models, including hidden order such as spin nematic ordering and spin liquids. By converting a small number of spin configurations to barcodes we obtain a descriptive picture of configuration space. Using dimensionality reduction to reduce the barcode space to color space leads to a visualization of the phase diagram.