We explore the physics of the anisotropic compass model under the influence of perturbing Heisenberg interactions and present the phase diagram with multiple quantum phase transitions. The macroscopic ground-state degeneracy of the compass model is lifted in the thermodynamic limit already by infinitesimal Heisenberg coupling, which selects different ground states with symmetry depending on the sign and size of the coupling constants —then low-energy excitations are spin waves, while the compass states reflecting columnar order are separated from them by a macroscopic gap. Nevertheless, nanoscale structures relevant for quantum computation purposes may be tuned such that the compass states are the lowest-energy excitations, thereby avoiding decoherence, if a size criterion derived by us is fulfilled.
We study the low-energy dynamics of
S=1/2 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg clusters constructed by diluting a square lattice at vacancy concentration
p at and below the percolation threshold ${p}^{\ensuremath{\ast}}\ensuremath{\approx}0.407$. The finite-size scaling behavior of the average excitation gap, $⟨\ensuremath{\Delta}⟩\ensuremath{\sim}{L}^{\ensuremath{-}z}$, where
L is the cluster length, is obtained using quantum Monte Carlo results for an upper bound ${\ensuremath{\Delta}}^{\ensuremath{\ast}}$ to $\ensuremath{\Delta}$, derived from sum rules. At the percolation threshold, we obtain a dynamic exponent $z=3.6\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.1\ensuremath{\approx}2{D}_{f}$ for clusters with singlet
(S=0) ground state. Here
Df=91/48 is the fractal dimensionality of the percolating cluster. We argue that this large dynamic exponent---roughly twice that expected for quantum-rotor excitations---is a consequence of weakly interacting localized effective magnetic moments, which form due to local sublattice imbalance. This picture is supported by an extremal-value analysis of local spectral gaps, which delivers an exponent relation (between
z and two exponents characterizing the local-gap distribution) reproduced by our simulation data. However, the average $⟨{\ensuremath{\Delta}}^{\ensuremath{\ast}}⟩$ over all clusters, which have mostly ground-state spin
S>0, scales with a smaller exponent than for the
S=0 clusters alone; $z\ensuremath{\approx}1.5{D}_{f}$. Lanczos exact diagonalization for small clusters show that typically, $S\ensuremath{\rightarrow}S\ensuremath{-}1$ in the lowest-energy excitations while the dominant spectral weight originates from $S\ensuremath{\rightarrow}S+1$ excitations. Thus, the scaling of $⟨{\ensuremath{\Delta}}^{\ensuremath{\ast}}⟩$ for clusters with ground state
S>0 does not reflect the lowest-energy excitations but the higher $S\ensuremath{\rightarrow}S+1$ excitations. This result can be understood within a valence bond picture. To further explore the scenario of localized moments, we introduce a classical dimer-monomer aggregation model to study the distribution of nearest-neighbor sites forming dimers (which are the objects used in mapping to the quantum-rotor model) and unpaired spins (monomers). The monomers are localized and, thus, effective magnetic moments should form in the spin system. We also study the lowest triplet excitation of
S=0 clusters using quantum Monte Carlo calculations in the valence bond basis. The triplet is concentrated at some of the classical monomer regions, confirming the mechanism of moment formation. The number of spins (and moment regions) affected by the excitation scales as a nontrivial power of the cluster size. For a dimer-diluted bilayer Heisenberg model with weak interlayer coupling (where the system remains N\'eel ordered), there is no sublattice imbalance. In this case we find $z\ensuremath{\approx}{D}_{f}$, consistent with quantum-rotor excitations. For a single layer at $p<{p}^{\ensuremath{\ast}}$ we find $z\ensuremath{\approx}2=D$, which indicates that the weakly interacting localized moment mechanism is valid only exactly at the percolation point. There is a crossover behavior close to the percolation point.
We investigate the quantum dynamics of the spins on different Heisenberg antiferromagnetic spin lattice systems. Firstly, we applied the coupled-cluster method to the spin-1/2 antiferromagnetic \emph{XXZ} model on a square lattice by employing an approximation which contains two-body long-range correlations and high-order four-body local correlations. Improvement is found for the ground-state energy, sublattice magnetization, and the critical anisotropy when comparing with the approximation including the two-body correlations alone. We also obtain the full excitation spectrum which is in good agreement with the quantum Monte Carlo results and the high-order spin-wave theory.Secondly, we study the longitudinal excitations of quantum antiferromagnets on a triangular lattice by a recently proposed microscopic many-body approach based on magnon-density waves. We calculate the full longitudinal excitation spectra of the antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model for a general spin quantum number in the isotropic limit. Similar to the square lattice model, we find that, at the center of the first hexagonal Brillouin zone
Γ(q=0) and at the magnetic ordering wavevectors
±[Q=(4π/3,0)], the excitation spectra become gapless in the thermodynamic limit, due to the slow, logarithmic divergence of the structure factor. However, these longitudinal modes on two-dimensional models may be considered as quasi-gapped, as any finite-size effect or small anisotropy will induce a large energy gap, when compared with the counterpart of the transverse spin-wave excitations. We have also investigated the excited states of the quasi-one-dimensional quantum antiferromagnets on hexagonal lattices, including the longitudinal modes based on the magnon-density waves. A model Hamiltonian with a uniaxial single-ion anisotropy is first studied by a spin-wave theory based on the one-boson method; the ground state thus obtained is employed for the study of the longitudinal modes. The full energy spectra of both the transverse modes (i.e., magnons) and the longitudinal modes are obtained as functions of the nearest-neighbor coupling and the anisotropy constants. We have found two longitudinal modes due to the non-collinear nature of the triangular antiferromagnetic order, similar to that of the phenomenological field theory approach by Affleck. The excitation energy gaps due to the anisotropy and the energy gaps of the longitudinal modes without anisotropy are then investigated. We then compares our results for the longitudinal energy gaps at the magnetic wavevectors with the experimental results for several antiferromagnetic compounds with both integer and non-integer spin quantum numbers, and we find good agreements after the higher-order contributions are included in our calculations.
We study the zero-temperature phase diagram and the low-lying excitations of a square-lattice spin-half Heisenberg antiferromagnet with two types of regularly distributed nearest-neighbor exchange bonds
[J>0 (antiferromagnetic) and $\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\infty}<{J}^{\ensuremath{'}}<\ensuremath{\infty}]$ using the coupled cluster method (CCM) for high orders of approximation (up to LSUB8). We use a N\'eel model state as well as a helical model state as a starting point for the CCM calculations. We find a second-order transition from a phase with N\'eel order to a finite-gap quantum disordered phase for sufficiently large antiferromagnetic exchange constants ${J}^{\ensuremath{'}}>0.$ For frustrating ferromagnetic couplings ${J}^{\ensuremath{'}}<0$ we find indications that quantum fluctuations favor a first-order phase transition from the N\'eel order to a quantum helical state, by contrast with the corresponding second-order transition in the corresponding classical model. The results are compared to those of exact diagonalizations of finite systems (up to 32 sites) and those of spin-wave and variational calculations. The CCM results agree well with the exact diagonalization data over the whole range of the parameters. The special case of ${J}^{\ensuremath{'}}=0,$ which is equivalent to the honeycomb lattice, is treated more closely.
We explore the phase diagram of the Kitaev-Heisenberg model with nearest neighbor interactions on the honeycomb lattice using the exact diagonalization of finite systems combined with the cluster mean field approximation, and supplemented by the insights from analytic approaches: the linear spin-wave and second-order perturbation theories. This study confirms that by varying the balance between the Heisenberg and Kitaev term, frustrated exchange interactions stabilize in this model either one of four phases with magnetic long range order: N\'eel phase, ferromagnetic phase, and two other phases with coexisting antiferromagnetic and ferromagnetic bonds, zigzag and stripy phase, or one of two distinct spin-liquid phases. Out of these latter disordered phases, the one with ferromagnetic Kitaev interactions has a substantially broader range of stability as the neighboring competing ordered phases, ferromagnetic and stripy, have very weak quantum fluctuations. Focusing on the quantum spin-liquid phases, we study spatial spin correlations and dynamic spin structure factor of the model by the exact diagonalization technique, and discuss the evolution of gapped low-energy spin response across the quantum phase transitions between the disordered spin liquid and phases with long range magnetic order.
Compass models provide insights into the properties of Mott-insulating materials that host bond-dependent anisotropic interactions between their pseudospin degrees of freedom. In this article, we explore the classical and quantum ground-state properties of one such model relevant to certain layered perovskite materials akin to
Ba2IrO4---namely, the Heisenberg-compass model on the square lattice. We first investigate the ground-state phase diagram of this model using classical Monte Carlo simulations. These reveal that the low-temperature classical phase diagram is divided into six different classes of long-range ordered phases, including four phases that exhibit an order by disorder selection and two phases that are stabilized energetically. This model admits a special duality transformation, known as the Klein duality, conveniently allowing to map one region of coupling parameters onto another and constraining the phase diagram, and which we exploit in our study. From the analysis of the zero-point energy and the free energy of the spin waves, we find that order by quantum disorder at zero temperature and order by thermal disorder select the same orderings as those found from classical Monte Carlo simulations. We further investigate the quantum ground states of this model using numerical exact diagonalization on small clusters by exploiting the translational symmetry of the square lattice. We obtain a ground-state phase diagram bearing close resemblance to that found from the classical analysis.