1,721,082 research outputs found
Spectral signatures of fractionalization in the frustrated Heisenberg model on the square lattice
Full text linkWe employ a variational Monte Carlo approach to efficiently obtain the dynamical structure factor for the spin-1/2 J(1)-J(2) Heisenberg model on the square lattice. Upon increasing the frustrating ratio J(2)/J(1), the ground state undergoes a continuous transition from a Ned antiferromagnet to a Z(2) gapless spin liquid. We identify the characteristic spectral features in both phases and highlight the existence of a broad continuum of excitations in the proximity of the spin-liquid phase. The magnon branch, which dominates the spectrum of the unfrustrated Heisenberg model, gradually loses its spectral weight, thus releasing nearly deconfined spinons, whose signatures are visible even in the magnetically ordered state. Our results provide an important example on how magnons fractionalize into deconfined spinons across a quantum critical point
Gapless spin liquid and valence-bond solid in the J1 - J2 Heisenberg model on the square lattice: Insights from singlet and triplet excitations
Full text linkThe spin-1/2 J1-J2 Heisenberg model on the square lattice represents one of the simplest examples in which the effects of magnetic interactions may suppress magnetic order, eventually leading to a pure quantum phase with no local order parameters. This model has been extensively studied in the last three decades, with conflicting results. Here, by using Gutzwiller-projected wave functions and recently developed methods to assess the low-energy spectrum, we show the existence of a level crossing between the lowest-energy triplet and singlet excitations for J2/J1≈0.54. This fact supports the existence of a phase transition between a gapless spin liquid (which is stable for 0.48≲J2/J1≲0.54) and a valence-bond solid (for 0.54≲J2/J1≲0.6), even though no clear sign of dimer order is visible in the correlations functions. These results, which confirm recent density-matrix renormalization calculations on cylindrical clusters [L. Wang and A. W. Sandvik, Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 107202 (2018)10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.107202], reconcile the contradicting results obtained within different approaches over the years
Optimization of infinite projected entangled pair states: The role of multiplets and their breaking
No full textThe infinite projected entangled pair states (iPEPS) technique [J. Jordan et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 250602 (2008)] has been widely used in the recent years to assess the properties of two-dimensional quantum systems, working directly in the thermodynamic limit. This formalism, which is based upon a tensor-network representation of the ground-state wave function, has several appealing features, e.g., encoding the so-called area law of entanglement entropy by construction; still, the method presents critical issues when dealing with the optimization of tensors in order to find the best possible approximation to the exact ground state of a given Hamiltonian. Here, we discuss the obstacles that arise in the optimization by imaginary-time evolution within the so-called simple and full updates and connect them to the emergence of a sharp multiplet structure in the “virtual” indices of tensors. In this case, a generic choice of the bond dimension
D is not compatible with the multiplets and leads to a symmetry breaking (e.g., generating a finite magnetic order). In addition, varying the initial guess, different final states may be reached, with very large deviations in the magnetization value. In order to exemplify this behavior, we show the results of the S=1/2 Heisenberg model on an array of coupled ladders, for which a vanishing magnetization below the critical interladder coupling is recovered only for selected values of D, while a blind optimization with a generic D gives rise to a finite magnetization down to the limit of decoupled ladders
Metal-insulator transition and strong-coupling spin liquid in the t-t ' Hubbard model
Full text linkWe study the phase diagram of the frustrated t-t' Hubbard model on the square lattice by using a novel variational wave function. Taking the clue from the backflow correlations that have been introduced long-time ago by Feynman and Cohen and have been used for describing various interacting systems on the continuum (like liquid (3)He, the electron jellium, and metallic Hydrogen), we consider many-body correlations to construct a suitable approximation for the ground state of this correlated model on the lattice. In this way, a very accurate ansatz can be achieved both at weak and strong coupling. We present the evidence that an insulating and non-magnetic phase can be stabilized at strong coupling and sufficiently large frustrating ratio t'/t
Gapless spin liquids in disguise
Full text linkWe show that gapless spin liquids, which are potential candidates to describe the ground state of frustrated Heisenberg models in two dimensions, become trivial insulators on cylindrical geometries with an even number of legs. In particular, we report calculations for Gutzwiller-projected fermionic states on strips of square and kagome lattices. By choosing different boundary conditions for the fermionic degrees of freedom, both gapless and gapped states may be realized, the latter ones having a lower variational energy. The direct evaluation of static and dynamical correlation functions, as well as overlaps between different states, allows us to demonstrate the sharp difference between the ground-state properties obtained within cylinders or directly in the two-dimensional lattice. Our results shed light on the difficulty to detect bona fide gapless spin liquids in such cylindrical geometries
Magnetoelastic effects and magnetization plateaus in two-dimensional systems
No full textWe show the importance of both strong frustration and spin-lattice coupling for the stabilization of magnetization plateaus in translationally invariant two-dimensional systems. We consider a frustrated spin-1/2 Heisenberg model coupled to adiabatic phonons under an external magnetic field. At zero magnetization, simple structures with two or at most four spins per unit cell are stabilized, forming dimers or 2x2 plaquettes, respectively. A much richer scenario is found in the case of magnetization m=1/2, where larger unit cells are formed with nontrivial spin textures and an analogy with the corresponding classical Ising model is detectable. Specific predictions on lattice distortions and local spin values can be directly measured by x rays and nuclear magnetic resonance experiments
Chiral spin liquid wave function and the Lieb-Schultz-Mattis theorem
No full textWe study a chiral spin liquid wave function defined as a Gutzwiller projected BCS state with a complex pairing function. After projection, spontaneous dimerization is found for any odd but finite number of chains, thus satisfying the Lieb-Schultz-Mattis theorem, whereas for an even number of chains there is no dimerization. The two-dimensional thermodynamic limit is consistently reached for a large number of chains since the dimer order parameter vanishes in this limit. This property clearly supports the possibility of a spin liquid ground state in two dimensions with a gap to all physical excitations and with no broken translation symmetry
Hubbard model on triangular N-leg cylinders: Chiral and nonchiral spin liquids
Full text linkThe existence of a gapped chiral spin liquid has been recently suggested in the vicinity of the metal-insulator transition of the Hubbard model on the triangular lattice, by intensive density-matrix renormalization group (DMRG) simulations [A. Szasz, J. Motruk, M. P. Zaletel, and J. E. Moore, Phys. Rev. X 021042 (2020)]. Here, we report the results obtained within the variational Monte Carlo technique based upon Jastrow-Slater wave functions, implemented with backflow correlations. As in DMRG calculations, we consider N-leg cylinders. For N = 4 and in the presence of a next-nearest-neighbor hopping, a chiral spin liquid emerges between the metal and the insulator with magnetic quasi-long-range order. Within our approach, the chiral state is gapped and breaks the reflection symmetry. By contrast, for both N = 5 and 6, the chiral spin liquid is not the state with the lowest variational energy: in the former case, a nematic spin liquid is found in the entire insulating regime, while for the less frustrated case with N = 6 the results are very similar to that obtained on two-dimensional clusters [L. F. Tocchio, A. Montorsi, and F. Becca, Phys. Rev. B 102, 115150 (2020)], with an antiferromagnetic phase close to the metal-insulator transition and a nematic spin liquid in the strong-coupling regime
Quantum phase transition in coupled spin ladders
No full textThe ground state of an array of coupled, spin-1/2 antiferromagnetic ladders is studied using spin-wave theory, exact diagonalization (up to 36 sites), and quantum Monte Carlo techniques (up to 256 sites). Our results clearly indicate the occurrence of a zero-temperature phase transition between a Neel ordered and a nonmagnetic phase at a finite value of the interladder coupling (a(c)similar or equal to0.3). This transition is marked by remarkable changes in the structure of the excitation spectrum
Effects of spin-phonon coupling in frustrated Heisenberg models
Full text linkThe existence and stability of spin-liquid phases represent a central topic in the field of frustrated magnetism. While a few examples of spin-liquid ground states are well established in specific models (e.g., the Kitaev model on the honeycomb lattice), recent investigations have suggested the possibility of their appearance in several Heisenberg-like models on frustrated lattices. An important related question concerns the stability of spin liquids in the presence of small perturbations in the Hamiltonian. In this respect, the magnetoelastic interaction between spins and phonons represents a relevant and physically motivated perturbation, which has been scarcely investigated so far. In this work, we study the effect of the spin-phonon coupling on prototypical models of frustrated magnetism. We adopt a variational framework based upon Gutzwiller-projected wave functions implemented with a spin-phonon Jastrow factor, providing a full quantum treatment of both spin and phonon degrees of freedom. The results on the frustrated J(1)-J(2) Heisenberg model on one- and two-dimensional (square) lattices show that, while a valence-bond crystal is prone to lattice distortions, a gapless spin liquid is stable for small spin-phonon couplings. In view of the ubiquitous presence of lattice vibrations, our results are particularly important to demonstrate the possibility that gapless spin liquids may be realized in real materials
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