The low-energy dynamics of the anti-ferromagnetic Heisenberg spin S chain in the semiclassical limit is known to map onto the O (3) nonlinear σ-model with a θ term in 1+1 dimension. Guided by the underlying dual symmetry of the spin chain, as well as by the recently established topological significance of "dangling edge spins", we report an exact mapping onto the O (3) model that avoids the conventional large- S approximation altogether. Our new methodology demonstrates all the super universal features of the θ-angle concept that previously arose in the theory of the quantum Hall effect. It explains why Haldane's original ideas remarkably yield the correct answer in spite of the fundamental complications that generally exist in the idea of semiclassical expansions.
The low-energy dynamics of the anti-ferromagnetic Heisenberg spin S chain in the semiclassical limit is known to map onto the O (3) nonlinear σ-model with a θ term in 1+1 dimension. Guided by the underlying dual symmetry of the spin chain, as well as by the recently established topological significance of "dangling edge spins", we report an exact mapping onto the O (3) model that avoids the conventional large- S approximation altogether. Our new methodology demonstrates all the super universal features of the θ-angle concept that previously arose in the theory of the quantum Hall effect. It explains why Haldane's original ideas remarkably yield the correct answer in spite of the fundamental complications that generally exist in the idea of semiclassical expansions.
We introduce the concept of superuniversality in quantum Hall liquids and spin liquids. This concept has emerged from previous studies of the quantum Hall effect and states that all the fundamental features of the quantum Hall effect are generically displayed as general topological features of the $\ensuremath{\theta}$ parameter in nonlinear $\ensuremath{\sigma}$ models in two dimensions. To establish superuniversality in spin liquids we revisit the mapping by Haldane who argued that the antiferromagnetic Heisenberg spin-s chain in 1+1 space-time dimensions is effectively described by the O(3) nonlinear $\ensuremath{\sigma}$ model with a $\ensuremath{\theta}$ term. By combining the path integral representation for the dimerized spin s=1∕2 chain with renormalization-group decimation techniques we generalize the Haldane approach to include a more complicated theory, the fermionic rotor chain, involving four different renormalization-group parameters. We show how the renormalization-group calculation technique can be used to build a bridge between the fermionic rotor chain and the O(3) nonlinear $\ensuremath{\sigma}$ model with the $\ensuremath{\theta}$ term. As an integral and fundamental aspect of the mapping we establish the topological significance of the dangling spin at the edge of the chain. The edge spin in spin liquids is in all respects identical to the massless chiral edge excitations in quantum Hall liquids. We consider various different geometries of the spin chain such as open and closed chains, chains with an even and odd number of sides. We show that for each of the different geometries the $\ensuremath{\theta}$ term has a distinctly different physical meaning. We compare each case with a topologically equivalent quantum Hall liquid.
The well known Haldane map from spin chains into the O(3) nonlinear sigma model is generalized to the case of spin ladders. This map allows us to explain the different qualitative behaviour between even and odd ladders, in exactly the same way as it explains the difference between integer and half-integer spin chains. Namely, for even ladders the topological term in the sigma model action is absent, while for odd ladders the parameter, which multiplies the topological term, is equal to , where S is the spin of the ladder. Hence even ladders should have a dynamically generated spin gap, while odd ladders with half-integer spin should stay gapless and physically equivalent to a perturbed Wess - Zumino - Witten model in the infrared regime. We also derive some consequences from the dependence of the sigma model coupling constant on the ladder Heisenberg couplings constants.
The structure of edge states in general finite antiferromagnetic quantum spin chains with arbitrary spin value S is discussed within the framework of the nonlinear-sigma model (NL\ensuremath{\sigma}M) plus a topological \ensuremath{\theta} term. Based on a large-N theory of SU(N) quantum antiferromagnets and strong-coupling expansion, we argue that edge states with fractionalized spin quantum number S' exist in all spin chains with S\ensuremath{\ge}1, with S'=S/2 for integer spin chains and S'=(S-1/2)/2 for half-integer spin chains.
Since the Heisenberg spin chain can be considered the simplest realistic model of magnetism, surprise and some degree of controversy have resulted from recent work of Haldane. The prediction is that quantum spin chains with half-integer spin should all display T=0 phase behavior equivalent to that of the Bethe Ansatz integrable (solvable) spin-1/2 quantum chain. More remarkably, the class of integer spin chains is predicted to show very different phase behavior. In particular, a gap should be present in the spectrum of a Heisenberg antiferromagnetic chain. This remarkable feature is counterintuitive in terms of accepted wisdom in magnetism (spin-wave theory, spin-Peierls theory) and critical phenomena. Consequently the vertification of the prediction is of great interest. A considerable amount of numerical work has been done, involving finite-chain, finite-size scaling, variational, Monte Carlo and other calculations, which will be reviewed here. The present consensus is that the weight of numerical evidence supports the prediction, although puzzling features still remain. Adding additional interactions to the basic Heisenberg Hamiltonian such as spin (XXZ) anisotropy, single-ion anisotropy, biquadratic exchange, and an applied magnetic field, generates a rich and complicated phase diagram for chains with spin >1/2, particularly for the case of integer spin. The s=1 phase diagram seems to display critical behavior of a type not previously encountered. A theoretical appraisal of the Haldane phenomenon will include a discussion of the possible role of nonintegrability. Mention will also be made of current progress in experimental investigation of the phenomenon, including problems that might be encountered. More recent work of Affleck has greatly generalized the field-theoretic mappings which underlay the original work of Haldane. A number of interesting problems have been mapped into quantum spin chains of various types, including field theoretic phenomena and the localization problem of the quantum Hall effect.
The antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model on a chain with nearest- and next-nearest-neighbor couplings is mapped onto the SO(3) nonlinear sigma model in the continuum limit. In one spatial dimension this model is always in its disordered phase and a gap opens to excited states. The latter form a doubly degenerate spin-1 branch at all orders in 1/N. We argue that this feature should be present in the spin-1 Heisenberg model itself. Exact diagonalizations are used to support this claim. The inapplicability of this model to half-integer spin chains is discussed.
In this thesis we study various one-dimensional quantum spin systems with SU(2) and SU(N) symmetry. We investigate the short-distance behavior of the SU(2) Heisenberg model in the limit of large spin and show that there exists an extended regime where perturbation theory, in the form of spin-wave theory, can be successfully applied. The reason for this perturbative regime stems from the asymptotic freedom of the nonlinear sigma model onto which the Heisenberg model can be mapped. When considering observables which respect the rotational invariance of the model, we observe a cancellation of infrared divergences in the perturbative expansions, leading to a meaningful description of correlation functions. We then turn to the study of SU(N) models. Building on the representation theory of the SU(N) group and on the matrix product state (MPS) formalism, we introduce a generic method to construct Affleck-Kennedy-Lieb-Tasaki (AKLT) models having edge states described by any self-conjugate irreducible representation (irrep) of SU(N). A simple example is given by a spin-1 AKLT model having spin-1 edge states. The phase transition between this model and the original AKLT model is shown to be continuous and to correspond to a topological phase transition described by the SU(2) level-1 Wess-Zumino-Witten conformal field theory universality class. In addition we study an SU(3) AKLT model for the 3-box symmetric irrep at each site. We demonstrate that the edge states are adjoint edge irreps, we extract its correlation length and provide a useful construction as an optimal MPS. Finally, we develop a density matrix renormalization group algorithm based on standard Young tableaus and subduction coefficients to make full use of the non-abelian symmetry and to investigate the SU(3) Heisenberg model with 3-box symmetric irrep at each site. We show that the model has a finite gap above the singlet ground state, in agreement with an extension of the Haldane conjecture to SU(3) chains in the fully symmetric irreps. We also argue that there are five branches of elementary excitations living in four different irreps, each of which is gapped.