We study the low-energy physics of a broad class of time-reversal invariant and SU(2)-symmetric one-dimensional spin-
S systems in the presence of quenched disorder via a strong-disorder renormalization-group technique. We show that, in general, there is an antiferromagnetic phase with an emergent
SU(2S+1) symmetry. The ground state of this phase is a random singlet state in which the singlets are formed by pairs of spins. For integer spins, there is an additional antiferromagnetic phase which does not exhibit any emergent symmetry (except for
S=1). The corresponding ground state is a random singlet one but the singlets are formed mostly by trios of spins. In each case the corresponding low-energy dynamics is activated, i.e., with a formally infinite dynamical exponent, and related to distinct infinite-randomness fixed points. The phase diagram has two other phases with ferromagnetic tendencies: a disordered ferromagnetic phase and a large spin phase in which the effective disorder is asymptotically finite. In the latter case, the dynamical scaling is governed by a conventional power law with a finite dynamical exponent.
The interplay of disorder and interactions is a challenging topic of condensed matter physics, where correlations are crucial and exotic phases develop. In one spatial dimension, a particularly successful method to analyze such problems is the strong-disorder renormalization group (SDRG). This method, which is asymptotically exact in the limit of large disorder, has been successfully employed in the study of several phases of random magnetic chains. Here we develop an SDRG scheme capable of providing in-depth information on a large class of strongly disordered one-dimensional magnetic chains with a global invariance under a generic continuous group. Our methodology can be applied to any Lie-algebra valued spin Hamiltonian, in any representation. As examples, we focus on the physically relevant cases of SO(
N) and Sp(
N) magnetism, showing the existence of different randomness-dominated phases. These phases display emergent SU(
N) symmetry at low energies and fall into two distinct classes, with meson-like or baryon-like characteristics. Our methodology is here explained in detail and helps to shed light on a general mechanism for symmetry emergence in disordered systems.
It was proposed by Chen et al., [Phys. Rev. Lett. 114, 145301 (2015)] that spin-2 chains display an extended critical phase with enhanced
SU(3) symmetry. This hypothesis is highly unexpected for a spin-2 system and, as we argue, would imply an unconventional mechanism for symmetry emergence. Yet, the absence of convenient critical points for renormalization group perturbative expansions, allied with the usual difficulty in the convergence of numerical methods in critical or small-gapped phases, renders the verification of this hypothetical
SU(3)-symmetric phase a non-trivial matter. By tracing parallels with the well-understood phase diagram of spin-1 chains and searching for signatures robust against finite-size effects, we draw criticism on the existence of this phase. We perform non-Abelian density matrix renormalization group studies of the multipolar static correlation function, energy spectrum scaling, single-mode approximation, and entanglement spectrum to shed light on the problem. We determine that the hypothetical
SU(3) spin-2 phase is, in fact, dominated by ferro-octupolar correlations and also observe a lack of Luttinger-liquid-like behavior in correlation functions that suggests that is perhaps not critical. We further construct an infinite family of spin-
S systems with similar ferro-octupolar-dominated quasi-
SU(3)-like phenomenology; curiously, we note that the spin-3 version of the problem is located in a subspace of exact
G2 symmetry, making this a point of interest for search of Fibonacci topological properties in magnetic systems.
We study the quantum critical phase of an SU(2) symmetric spin-2 chain obtained from spin-2 bosons in a one-dimensional lattice. We obtain the scaling of the finite-size energies and entanglement entropy by exact diagonalization and density-matrix renormalization group methods. From the numerical results of the energy spectra, central charge, and scaling dimension we identify the conformal field theory describing the whole critical phase to be the SU(3)_{1} Wess-Zumino-Witten model. We find that, while the Hamiltonian is only SU(2) invariant, in this critical phase there is an emergent SU(3) symmetry in the thermodynamic limit.
The zero-temperature phase diagram of the anisotropic, strongly disordered antiferromagnetic quantum spin-1 chain is investigated, within the framework of a real-space renormalization-group approach. In the presence of uniform anisotropy there occurs a phase transition from a random singlet phase to an Ising antiferromagnetic phase controlled by a fixed point that does not have Heisenberg symmetry. We find evidence of a fixed point due to randomness in the anisotropy similar to that which occurs for quantum Heisenberg spin-
21 chains.
We exhibit an exactly solvable example of a SU(2) symmetric Majorana spin liquid phase, in which quenched disorder leads to random-singlet phenomenology of emergent magnetic moments. More precisely, we argue that a strong-disorder fixed point controls the low temperature susceptibility χ(T) of an exactly solvable S=1/2 model on the decorated honeycomb lattice with vacancy and/or bond disorder, leading to χ(T)=C/T+DT^{α(T)-1}, where α(T)→0 slowly as the temperature T→0. The first term is a Curie tail that represents the emergent response of vacancy-induced spin textures spread over many unit cells: it is an intrinsic feature of the site-diluted system, rather than an extraneous effect arising from isolated free spins. The second term, common to both vacancy and bond disorder [with different α(T) in the two cases] is the response of a random singlet phase, familiar from random antiferromagnetic spin chains and the analogous regime in phosphorus-doped silicon (Si:P).