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arXiv:1207.1783 · Scientific Reports

Absence of a Spin Liquid Phase in the Hubbard Model on the Honeycomb Lattice

Sandro Sorella, Yuichi Otsuka, Seiji Yunoki

Published Dec 18, 2012• 327 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

A spin liquid is a novel quantum state of matter with no conventional order parameter where a finite charge gap exists even though the band theory would predict metallic behavior. Finding a stable spin liquid in two or higher spatial dimensions is one of the most challenging and debated issues in condensed matter physics. Very recently, it has been reported that a model of graphene, i.e., the Hubbard model on the honeycomb lattice, can show a spin liquid ground state in a wide region of the phase diagram, between a semi-metal (SM) and an antiferromagnetic insulator (AFMI). Here, by performing numerically exact quantum Monte Carlo simulations, we extend the previous study to much larger clusters (containing up to 2592 sites), and find, if any, a very weak evidence of this spin liquid region. Instead, our calculations strongly indicate a direct and continuous quantum phase transition between SM and AFMI.

DOI
10.1038/srep00992

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A spin liquid is a novel quantum state of matter with no conventional order parameter where a finite charge gap exists even though the band theory would predict metallic behavior. Finding a stable spin liquid in two or higher spatial dimensions is one of the most challenging and debated issues in condensed matter physics. Very recently, it has been reported that a model of graphene, i.e., the Hubbard model on the honeycomb lattice, can show a spin liquid ground state in a wide region of the phase diagram, between a semi-metal (SM) and an antiferromagnetic insulator (AFMI). Here, by performing numerically exact quantum Monte Carlo simulations, we extend the previous study to much larger clusters (containing up to 2592 sites), and find, if any, a very weak evidence of this spin liquid region. Instead, our calculations strongly indicate a direct and continuous quantum phase transition between SM and AFMI.
The Hubbard model encapsulates the physics of strongly correlated quantum systems in its most basic form. It has been studied intensively in the context of the high-temperature superconductivity. A number of novel phases were recently proposed for Hubbard-like models on the honeycomb lattice, the structure of graphene. We analyzed the Hubbard model of spin- 12\frac{1}{2}21​ fermions on the honeycomb lattice at half-filling using large-scale quantum Monte Carlo simulations. We find that the weak coupling semimetal and the antiferromagnetic Mott insulator at strong interaction are separated by an extended gapped phase in an intermediate coupling regime. Exploring excitation gaps, various correlation functions as well as probing for flux quantization, we conclude that a quantum spin liquid, lacking any conventional order, emerges with local charge and spin correlations, best described by a resonating valence bonds state.
The half-filled Hubbard model on the honeycomb lattice is investigated by numerically exact large-scale quantum Monte Carlo simulations for lattice sizes up to 2592 sites. By performing careful finite-size scaling for the spin-spin correlation functions, calculated with a high degree of accuracy, we find that the ground state is antiferromagnetically long-range ordered at U / t = 4, where U is the on-site Hubbard interaction and t is the nearest neighbor hopping. Our result is in sharp contrast to a recent report [Meng et al. , Nature 464, 847 (2010)], where instead strong evidence of spin liquid behavior is found.
Recent numerical work [Z. Y. Meng et al., Nature (London) 464, 847 (2010)] indicates the existence of a spin liquid (SL) phase that intervenes between the antiferromagnetic and semimetallic phases of the half filled Hubbard model on a honeycomb lattice. To better understand the nature of this exotic phase, we study the quantum J(1)-J(2) spin model on the honeycomb lattice, which provides an effective description of the Mott insulating region of the Hubbard model. Employing the variational Monte Carlo approach, we analyze the phase diagram of the model. We find three phases-antiferromagnetic, an unusual Z(2) SL state, and a dimerized state with spontaneously broken rotational symmetry. We identify the Z(2) SL state as the likely candidate for the SL phase of the Hubbard model.
We report the cluster dynamical mean field theory calculations performed for the ground state of the half filled Hubbard model on a honeycomb lattice with exact diagonalization on the cluster-impurity solver. Through using elaborate numerical analytic continuation, we identify the existence of a ``spin liquid'' from the on-site interaction U=0U=0U=0 to Uc{U}_{c}Uc​ (between 4.6t4.6t4.6t and 4.85t4.85t4.85t) with a smooth crossover correspondingly from the charge fluctuation dominating phase into the charge correlation dominating phase. The semimetallic state exits only at U=0U=0U=0. We further find that the magnetic phase transition at Uc{U}_{c}Uc​ from the spin liquid to the N\'eel antiferromagnetic Mott insulating phase is a first-order quantum phase transition. We also show that the charge fluctuation plays a substantial role on keeping the spin liquid phase against the emergence of a magnetic order.
The Hubbard and extended Hubbard models on the honeycomb lattice can be seen as prototype models of a single-layer graphene placed in a high dielectric constant environment that screens the Coulomb interaction. Taking advantage of the absence of a sign problem at half-filling, we study this problem with clusters up to 96 sites with the determinant quantum Monte Carlo method as an impurity solver for the dynamical cluster approximation at finite temperatures. After determining the stability of the semimetallic phase to interaction-induced spin-density wave (SDW), charge-density wave (CDW), and Mott insulating phases, we study the single-particle dynamics of the Dirac fermions. We show that when spontaneous symmetry breaking is avoided, the semimetallic phase is a stable Fermi liquid in the presence of repulsive interactions and that Kondo screening dominates the low temperature regime, even though there is a $\ensuremath{\rho}(\ensuremath{\omega})=|\ensuremath{\omega}|$ type local density of states. We also investigate the impact of the correlation effects on the renormalization of the Fermi velocity vF{v}_{F}vF​. We find that vF{v}_{F}vF​ is not renormalized when only on-site repulsion UUU is present, but that near-neighbor repulsion VVV does renormalize vF{v}_{F}vF​. This may explain the variations between different measurements of vF{v}_{F}vF​ in graphene.
We study the repulsive Hubbard model on an anisotropic honeycomb lattice within a mean-field and a slave-rotor treatment. In addition to the known semi-metallic and band-insulating phases, obtained for very weak interactions, and the anti-ferromagnetic phase at large couplings, various insulating spin-liquid phases develop at intermediate couplings. Whereas some of these spin liquids have gapless spinon excitations, a gapped one occupies a large region of the phase diagram and becomes the predominant phase for large hopping anisotropies. This phase can be understood in terms of weakly coupled strongly dimerized states.