We determine analytically the phase diagram of the toric code model in a parallel magnetic field which displays three distinct regions. Our study relies on two high-order perturbative expansions in the strong- and weak-field limits, as well as a large-spin analysis. Calculations in the topological phase establish a quasiparticle picture for the anyonic excitations. We obtain two second-order transition lines that merge with a first-order line, giving rise to a multicritical point as recently suggested by numerical simulations. We compute the values of the corresponding critical fields and exponents that drive the closure of the gap. We also give the one-particle dispersions of the anyonic quasiparticles inside the topological phase.

We investigate the stability of the topological phase of the toric code model in the presence of a uniform magnetic field by means of variational and high-order series expansion approaches. We find that when this perturbation is strong enough, the system undergoes a topological phase transition whose first- or second-order nature depends on the field orientation. When this transition is of second order, it is in the Ising universality class except for a special line on which the critical exponent driving the closure of the gap varies continuously, unveiling a new topological universality class.

We show that the spin-liquid phase of the half-filled Hubbard model on the triangular lattice can be described by a pure spin model. This is based on a high-order strong coupling expansion (up to order 12) using perturbative continuous unitary transformations. The resulting spin model is consistent with a transition from three-sublattice long-range magnetic order to an insulating spin-liquid phase, and with a jump of the double occupancy at the transition. Exact diagonalizations of both models show that the effective spin model is quantitatively accurate well into the spin-liquid phase, and a comparison with the Gutzwiller projected Fermi sea suggests a gapless spectrum and a spinon Fermi surface.

We investigate the effect of a transverse magnetic field on the toric code model. We show that this problem can be mapped onto the Xu-Moore model and thus onto the quantum compass model, which are known to be self-dual. We analyze the low-energy spectrum by means of perturbative continuous unitary transformations and determine accurately the energy gaps of various symmetry sectors. Our results are in very good agreement with exact diagonalization data for all values of the parameters except at the self-dual point where level crossings are responsible for a first-order phase transition between a topological phase and a polarized phase. Interestingly, bound states of two and four quasiparticles with fermionic and bosonic statistics emerge, and display dispersion relations of reduced dimensionality.

We have performed inelastic neutron scattering on the near ideal spin-ladder compound ${\mathrm{La}}_4{\mathrm{Sr}}_{10}{\mathrm{Cu}}_{24}{\mathrm{O}}_{41}$ as a starting point for investigating doped ladders and their tendency toward superconductivity. A key feature was the separation of one-triplon and two-triplon scattering. Two-triplon scattering is observed quantitatively for the first time and so access is realized to the important strong magnetic quantum fluctuations. The spin gap is found to be $26.4\pm 0.3\mathrm{meV}$. The data are successfully modeled using the continuous unitary transformation method, and the exchange constants are determined by fitting to be $J_{\mathrm{leg}}=186\mathrm{meV}$ and $J_{\mathrm{rung}}=124\mathrm{meV}$ along the leg and rung, respectively; a substantial cyclic exchange of $J_{\mathrm{cyc}}=31\mathrm{meV}$ is confirmed.