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arXiv:1009.1040 · Europhysics Letters (EPL)

Vison excitations in near-critical quantum dimer models

Grégory Strübi, Dmitri A. Ivanov

Published May 24, 2011• 2 citations
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Abstract

We study vison excitations in a quantum dimer model interpolating between the Rokhsar-Kivelson models on the square and triangular lattices. In the square-lattice case, the model is known to be critical and characterized by U (1) topological quantum numbers. Introducing diagonal dimers brings the model to a Z 2 resonating-valence-bond phase. We study variationally the emergence of vison excitations at low concentration of diagonal dimers, close to the critical point. We find that, in this regime, vison excitations are large in size and their structure resembles vortices in type-II superconductors.

DOI
10.1209/0295-5075/94/57003

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We study vison excitations in a quantum dimer model interpolating between the Rokhsar-Kivelson models on the square and triangular lattices. In the square-lattice case, the model is known to be critical and characterized by U (1) topological quantum numbers. Introducing diagonal dimers brings the model to a Z 2 resonating-valence-bond phase. We study variationally the emergence of vison excitations at low concentration of diagonal dimers, close to the critical point. We find that, in this regime, vison excitations are large in size and their structure resembles vortices in type-II superconductors.
After reviewing the concept of vison excitations in Z2{\mathbb{Z}}_{2}Z2​ dimer liquids, we study the liquid-crystal transition of the quantum dimer model on the triangular lattice by means of a semiclassical spin-wave approximation to the dispersion of visons in the context of a ``soft-dimer'' version of the model. This approach captures some important qualitative features of the transition: continuous nature of the transition, linear dispersion at the critical point, and $\sqrt{12}\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}\sqrt{12}$ symmetry-breaking pattern. In a second part, we present a variational calculation of the vison dispersion relation at the Rokhsar-Kivelson (RK) point, which reproduces the qualitative shape of the dispersion relation and the order of magnitude of the gap. This approach provides a simple but reliable approximation of the vison wave functions at the RK point.
We show that there are two types of resonating-valence-bond (RVB) liquid phases present in three-dimensional quantum dimer models, corresponding to the deconfining phases of U(1)U(1)U(1) and Z2{Z}_{2}Z2​ gauge theories in d=3+1.d=3+1.d=3+1. The former is found on the bipartite cubic lattice and is the generalization of the critical point in the square lattice quantum dimer model found originally by Rokhsar and Kivelson. The latter exists on the nonbipartite face-centered cubic lattice and generalizes the RVB phase found earlier by us on the triangular lattice. We discuss the excitation spectrum and the nature of the ordering in both cases. Both phases exhibit gapped spinons. In the U(1)U(1)U(1) case we find a collective, linearly dispersing, transverse excitation, which is the photon of the low-energy Maxwell Lagrangian and we identify the ordering as quantum order in Wen's sense. In the Z2{Z}_{2}Z2​ case all collective excitations are gapped and, as in d=2,d=2,d=2, the low-energy description of this topologically ordered state is the purely topological BF action. As a byproduct of this analysis, we unearth a further gapless excitation, the pi0n, in the square lattice quantum dimer model at its critical point.
The spin-orbital model for triply degenerate t2g{t}_{2g}t2g​ electrons on a triangular lattice has been shown to be dominated by dimers. The phase diagram contains both strongly resonating, compound spin-orbital dimer states and quasistatic, spin-singlet valence-bond (VB) states. To elucidate the nature of the true ground state in these different regimes, the model is mapped to a number of quantum dimer models (QDMs), each of which has three dimer colors. The generic multicolored QDM, illustrated for the two- and three-color cases, possesses a topological color structure, ``color vison'' excitations, and broad regions of resonating VB phases. The specific models are analyzed to gain further insight into the likely ground states in the superexchange and direct-exchange limits of the electronic Hamiltonian, and they suggest a strong tendency toward VB order in all cases.
We show that the liquid-to-crystal quantum phase transition in the Rokhsar-Kivelson dimer model on the two-dimensional triangular lattice occurs as a condensation of vortexlike excitations called ``visons.'' This conclusion is drawn from numerical studies of the vison spectrum in the liquid phase by using the Green's function Monte Carlo method. We find that visons remain the lowest excitation throughout the liquid phase and that their gap decreases continuously to zero at the phase transition. The nature of the crystal phase and the second order of the phase transition are in agreement with an earlier prediction of Moessner and Sondhi [Phys. Rev. B 63, 224401 (2001)].
We consider the doped Rokhsar-Kivelson quantum dimer model on the triangular lattice with one mobile hole (monomer) at the Rokhsar-Kivelson point. The motion of the hole is described by two branches of excitations: the hole may either move with or without a trapped Z2{\mathrm{Z}}_{2}Z2​ vortex (vison). We perform a study of the hole dispersion in the limit where the hole-hopping amplitude is much smaller than the interdimer interaction. In this limit, the hole without vison moves freely and has a tight-binding spectrum. On the other hand, the hole with a trapped vison is strongly constrained due to interference effects and can only move via higher-order virtual processes.
The plaquette phase of the square-lattice quantum dimer model is studied using a continuous-time reptation quantum Monte Carlo method for lattices of sizes up to $48\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}48$ sites. We determine the location of the phase transition between the columnar and plaquette phases to occur at ${V}_{c}∕J=0.60\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.05$ which is significantly larger than inferred from previous exact diagonalization studies on smaller lattices. Off diagonal correlation functions are obtained. They exhibit long-range order in the plaquette phase but not at the Rokhsar-Kivelson point. We also observe significant finite-size corrections to scaling for the transition between the plaquette phase and the critical resonating valence bond liquid. This study demonstrates the importance of understanding finite-size effects when considering critical properties of the square-lattice quantum dimer model.