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arXiv:1006.4511 · Physical Review E

Projection operator approach to spin diffusion in the anisotropic Heisenberg chain at high temperatures

Robin Steinigeweg, Roman Schnalle

Published Oct 14, 2010• 25 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Spin transport in the anisotropic Heisenberg chain is typically investigated theoretically with respect to the finiteness of transport coefficients only. Assuming their finiteness at high temperatures, we develop a concrete quantitative picture of the diffusion constant/(dc-)conductivity as a function of both the anisotropy parameter Δ and the spin quantum number s, going beyond the most commonly considered case s=1/2. Using this picture, we enable the comparison of finite transport coefficients from complementary theoretical methods on a quantitative level, having more significance than the finiteness alone. Our method is essentially based on an application of the time-convolutionless projection operator technique to current autocorrelations. This technique, although being a perturbation theory in Δ, is found to be applicable, even if Δ is not small. This finding supports the applicability to a wider class of strongly interacting many-particle quantum systems.

DOI
10.1103/physreve.82.040103

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Spin transport in the anisotropic Heisenberg chain is typically investigated theoretically with respect to the finiteness of transport coefficients only. Assuming their finiteness at high temperatures, we develop a concrete quantitative picture of the diffusion constant/(dc-)conductivity as a function of both the anisotropy parameter Δ and the spin quantum number s, going beyond the most commonly considered case s=1/2. Using this picture, we enable the comparison of finite transport coefficients from complementary theoretical methods on a quantitative level, having more significance than the finiteness alone. Our method is essentially based on an application of the time-convolutionless projection operator technique to current autocorrelations. This technique, although being a perturbation theory in Δ, is found to be applicable, even if Δ is not small. This finding supports the applicability to a wider class of strongly interacting many-particle quantum systems.
We investigate transport in several translationally invariant spin-12\frac{1}{2}21​ chains in the limit of high temperatures. We concretely consider spin transport in the anisotropic Heisenberg chain, the pure Heisenberg chain within an alternating field, and energy transport in an Ising chain which is exposed to a tilted field. Our approach is essentially based on a connection between the evolution of the variance of an inhomogeneous nonequilibrium density and the current-autocorrelation function at finite times. Although this relationship is not restricted to the case of diffusive transport, it allows to extract a quantitative value for the diffusion constant in that case. By means of numerically exact diagonalization we indeed observe diffusive behavior in the considered spin chains for a range of model parameters and confirm the diffusion coefficients which were obtained for these systems from nonequilibrium bath scenarios.
We analytically and numerically study spin transport in a one-dimensional Heisenberg model in linear-response regime at infinite temperature. It is shown that as the anisotropy parameter Δ is varied spin transport changes from ballistic for Δ<1 to anomalous at the isotropic point Δ=1, to diffusive for finite Δ>1, ending up as a perfect isolator in the Ising limit of infinite Δ. Using perturbation theory for large Δ a quantitative prediction is made for the dependence of diffusion constant on Δ.
Using numerical diagonalization techniques, we explore the effect of local and bond disorder on the finite-temperature spin and thermal conductivities of the one-dimensional anisotropic spin-1/2 Heisenberg model. High-temperature results for local disorder show that the dc conductivities are finite, apart from the uncorrelated XYXYXY case where dc transport vanishes. Moreover, at strong disorder, we find finite dc conductivities at all temperatures TTT except at T=0T=0T=0. The low-frequency conductivities are characterized by a nonanalytic cusp shape. Similar behavior is found for bond disorder.
We investigate the role of momentum for the transport of magnetization in the spin-1/2 Heisenberg chain above the isotropic point at finite temperature and momentum. Using numerical and analytical approaches, we analyze the autocorrelations of density and current and observe a finite region of the Brillouin zone with diffusive dynamics below a cutoff momentum, and a diffusion constant independent of momentum and time, which scales inversely with anisotropy. Lowering the temperature over a wide range, starting from infinity, the diffusion constant is found to increase strongly while the cutoff momentum for diffusion decreases. Above the cutoff momentum diffusion breaks down completely.
The studies of this paper on the spin- 1 / 2 XXZ chain at finite temperatures T > 0 have two complementary goals. The first is to identify the spin carriers of all its S q > 0 energy eigenstates and to show that their spin elementary currents fully control the spin-transport quantities. Here, S q is the q -spin of the continuous S U q ( 2 ) symmetry of the model for anisotropy Δ > 1 . To achieve this goal, our studies rely on a suitable exact valid in throughout the Hilbert space and associated with normal spin operators, rather than fractionalized particles such as spinons. Both the spin stiffness and the zero-field spin-diffusion constant are expressed in terms of thermal expectation values of the square of the elementary currents carried by the spin carriers. Our second goal is to confirm that the zero-field and finite-temperature spin transport is normal diffusive for Δ > 1 . We use two complementary methods that rely on an inequality for the T > 0 spin stiffness and the above thermal expectation values, respectively, to show that the contributions to ballistic spin transport vanish. Complementarily, for T > 0 and Δ > 1 , the spin-diffusion constant is found to be finite and enhanced upon lowering T , reaching its largest yet finite values at low temperatures. Evidence suggests that it diverges in the Δ → 1 limit for T > 0 , consistent with T > 0 anomalous superdiffusive spin transport at Δ = 1 and zero field.
Abstract The gapped spin- 12{1\over 2}21​ XXZ chain with spin anisotropy Δ>1\Delta > 1Δ>1 is a strongly correlated quantum system of great interest in a variety of physical contexts. It is well established that, at zero magnetic field, the spin-diffusion constant associated with the regular part of the spin conductivity is finite both at very low and at high temperatures. It is therefore expected that the spin-diffusion constant remains finite at all temperatures. However, a direct calculation of the spin-diffusion constant over the full temperature range is typically intractable. In this paper, we review recent results showing that, at zero magnetic field, the spin-diffusion constant is finite for all temperatures when Δ>1\Delta > 1Δ>1 , and diverges in the limit Δ→1\Delta \rightarrow 1Δ→1 . Consequently, at zero magnetic field, finite-temperature spin transport is diffusive for Δ>1\Delta > 1Δ>1 , but becomes superdiffusive as Δ→1\Delta \rightarrow 1Δ→1 . These results are in agreement with predictions from the generalized hydrodynamics framework. However, the precise values of the spin-diffusion constant remains unknown except in certain temperature limits.