Two-dimensional density-matrix renormalization group method is employed to examine the ground-state phase diagram of the Hubbard model on the triangular lattice at half-filling. The calculation reveals two discontinuities in the double occupancy with increasing the repulsive Hubbard interaction
U at ${U}_{\mathrm{c}1}\ensuremath{\sim}7.8t$ and ${U}_{\mathrm{c}2}\ensuremath{\sim}9.9t$ (
t being the hopping integral), indicating that there are three phases separated by first-order transitions. The absence of any singularity in physical quantities for $0\ensuremath{\le}U<{U}_{\mathrm{c}1}$ implies a metallic phase in this regime. For
U>Uc2, the local spin density induced by an applied pinning magnetic field exhibits a three sublattice feature, which is compatible with the ${120}^{\ensuremath{\circ}}$ N\'eel-ordered state realized in the limit of $U\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\infty}$. For
Uc1<U<Uc2, a response to the applied pinning magnetic field is comparable to that in the metallic phase with a relatively large spin correlation length, but showing neither valence bond nor chiral magnetic order, which therefore resembles gapless spin liquid. However, the spin structure factor for the intermediate phase exhibits the maximum at the
K and ${\mathrm{K}}^{\ensuremath{'}}$ points in the momentum space, which is not compatible to spin liquid with a large spinon Fermi surface. The calculation also finds that the pairing correlation function monotonically decreases with increasing
U and thus the superconductivity is unlikely in the intermediate phase.
We investigate the half-filled Hubbard model on an isotropic triangular lattice with the variational cluster approximation. By decreasing the on-site repulsion U (or equivalently increasing pressure) we go from a phase with long-range, three-sublattice, spiral magnetic order, to a nonmagnetic Mott insulating phase--a spin liquid--and then, for U less or similar to 6.7t, to a metallic phase. Clusters of sizes 3, 6, and 15 with open boundary conditions are used in these calculations, and an extrapolation to infinite size is argued to lead to a disordered phase at U = 8t, but to a spiral order at U greater or similar to 12.
Motivated by the recent discovery of a spin-liquid phase for the Hubbard model on the honeycomb lattice at half-filling (Meng et al 2010 Nature 88 487), we apply both perturbative and non-perturbative techniques to derive effective spin Hamiltonians describing the low-energy physics of the Mott-insulating phase of the system. Exact diagonalizations of the so-derived models on small clusters are performed, in order to assess the quality of the effective low-energy theory in the spin-liquid regime. We show that six-spin interactions on the elementary loop of the honeycomb lattice are the dominant sub-leading effective couplings. A minimal spin model is shown to reproduce most of the energetic properties of the Hubbard model on the honeycomb lattice in its spin-liquid phase. Surprisingly, a more elaborate effective low-energy spin model obtained by a systematic graph expansion rather disagrees beyond a certain point with the numerical results for the Hubbard model at intermediate couplings.
Abstract. Motivated by the recent discovery of a spin liquid phase for the Hubbard model on the honeycomb lattice at half-filling [11], we apply both perturbative and non-perturbative techniques to derive effective spin Hamiltonians describing the low-energy physics of the Mott-insulating phase of the system. Exact diagonalizations of the so-derived models on small clusters are performed, in order to assess the quality of the effective low-energy theory in the spin-liquid regime. We show that six-spin interactions on the elementary loop of the honeycomb lattice are the dominant sub-leading effective couplings. A minimal spin model is shown to reproduce most of the energetic properties of the Hubbard model on the honeycomb lattice in its spin-liquid phase. Surprisingly, a more elaborate effective low-energy spin model obtained by a systematic graph expansion rather disagrees beyond a certain point with the numerical results for the Hubbard model at intermediate couplings.
We investigate the metal-insulator transition in the half-filled Hubbard model on the two-dimensional triangular lattice using both the Kotliar-Ruckenstein slave-boson technique and an exact numerical diagonalization of finite clusters. Contrary to the case of a square lattice, where a perfect nesting of the Fermi surface leads to a metal-insulator transition at arbitrarily small values of U, always accompanied by antiferromagnetic ordering, on a triangular lattice, due to the lack of perfect nesting, the transition takes place at a finite value of U, and frustration induces a nontrivial competition among different magnetic phases. Indeed, within the mean-field approximation in the slave-boson approach, as the interaction grows the paramagnetic metal turns into a metallic phase with incommensurate spiral ordering. Increasing the interaction further, a linear spin-density wave is stabilized, and finally for strong coupling the latter phase undergoes a first-order transition toward an antiferromagnetic insulator. No trace of the intermediate phases is seen in the exact diagonalization results, indicating a transition between a paramagnetic metal and an antiferromagnetic insulator.
In this paper, we explore the relationship between strong spin-orbit coupling and spin liquid physics. We study a very general model on the triangular lattice where spin-orbit coupling leads to the presence of highly anisotropic interactions. We use variational Monte Carlo to study both U(1) U ( 1 ) quantum spin liquid states and ordered ones, via the Gutzwiller projected fermion construction. We thereby obtain the ground state phase diagram in this phase space. We furthermore consider effects beyond the Gutzwiller wavefunctions for the spinon Fermi surface quantum spin liquid, which are of particular importance when spin-orbit coupling is present.