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arXiv:1703.04652 · Physical review. B./Physical review. B

Finite-temperature dynamics and thermal intraband magnon scattering in Haldane spin-one chains

J. Becker, Thomas Köhler, Alexander C. Tiegel, Salvatore R. Manmana, Stefan Weßel, A. Honecker

Published Aug 3, 2017• 24 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

The antiferromagnetic spin-one chain is considerably one of the most fundamental quantum many-body systems, with symmetry-protected topological order in the ground state. Here, we present results for its dynamical spin structure factor at finite temperatures, based on a combination of exact numerical diagonalization, matrix-product-state calculations, and quantum Monte Carlo simulations. Open finite chains exhibit a subgap band in the thermal spectral functions, indicative of localized edge states. Moreover, we observe the thermal activation of a distinct low-energy continuum contribution to the spin spectral function with an enhanced spectral weight at low momenta and its upper threshold. This emerging thermal spectral feature of the Haldane spin-one chain is shown to result from intraband magnon scattering due to the thermal population of the single-magnon branch, which features a large bandwidth-to-gap ratio. These findings are discussed with respect to possible future studies on spin-one chain compounds based on inelastic neutron scattering.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.96.060403

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The antiferromagnetic spin-one chain is considerably one of the most fundamental quantum many-body systems, with symmetry-protected topological order in the ground state. Here, we present results for its dynamical spin structure factor at finite temperatures, based on a combination of exact numerical diagonalization, matrix-product-state calculations, and quantum Monte Carlo simulations. Open finite chains exhibit a subgap band in the thermal spectral functions, indicative of localized edge states. Moreover, we observe the thermal activation of a distinct low-energy continuum contribution to the spin spectral function with an enhanced spectral weight at low momenta and its upper threshold. This emerging thermal spectral feature of the Haldane spin-one chain is shown to result from intraband magnon scattering due to the thermal population of the single-magnon branch, which features a large bandwidth-to-gap ratio. These findings are discussed with respect to possible future studies on spin-one chain compounds based on inelastic neutron scattering.
Improving matrix-product state techniques based on the purification of the density matrix, we are able to accurately calculate the finite-temperature dynamic response of the infinite spin-1 XXZ\text{XXZ}XXZ chain with single-ion anisotropy in the Haldane, large-DDD, and antiferromagnetic phases. Distinct thermally activated scattering processes make a significant contribution to the spectral weight in all cases. In the Haldane phase, intraband magnon scattering is prominent, and the on-site anisotropy causes the magnon to split into singlet and doublet branches. In the large-DDD phase response, the intraband signal is separated from an exciton-antiexciton continuum. In the antiferromagnetic phase, holons are the lowest-lying excitations, with a gap that closes at the transition to the Haldane state. At finite temperatures, scattering between domain-wall excitations becomes especially important and strongly enhances the spectral weight for momentum transfer $\ensuremath{\pi}$.
The effect of thermal fluctuations on the dynamics of a gapped quantum magnet is studied using inelastic neutron scattering on copper nitrate, a model material for the spin-1/2, one-dimensional (1D) bond alternating Heisenberg chain. A large, highly deuterated, single-crystal sample of copper nitrate is produced using a solution growth method and measurements are made using the high-resolution backscattering spectrometer OSIRIS at the ISIS Facility. Theoretical calculations and numerical analysis are combined to interpret the physical origin of the thermal effects observed in the magnetic spectra. The primary observations are (1) a thermally induced central peak due to intraband scattering, which is similar to Villain scattering familiar from soliton systems in 1D, and (2) the one-magnon quasiparticle pole is seen to develop with temperature into an asymmetric continuum of scattering. We relate this asymmetric line broadening to a thermal strongly correlated state caused by hard-core constraints and quasiparticle interactions. These findings are a counter example to recent assertions of the universality of line broadening in 1D systems and are applicable to a broad range of quantum systems.
We consider the spin-1/2 Heisenberg XXZXXZXXZ chain in the regime of large Ising-type anisotropy $\ensuremath{\Delta}$. By a combination of duality and Jordan-Wigner transformations we derive a mapping to weakly interacting spinless fermions, which represent domain walls between the two degenerate ground states. We develop a perturbative expansion in $1/\ensuremath{\Delta}$ for the transverse dynamical spin structure factor at finite temperatures and in an applied transverse magnetic field. We present a unified description for both the low-energy temperature-activated response and the temperature evolution of the T=0T=0T=0 two-spinon continuum. We find that the two-spinon continuum narrows in energy with increasing temperature. At the same time spectral weight is transferred from the two-spinon continuum to the low-energy intraband scattering continuum, which is strongly peaked around the position of the (single) spinon dispersion (``Villain mode'').
Motivated by the lack of direct evidence with inelastic neutron scattering of the well documented bound state of Heisenberg ferromagnets, we use the time-dependent thermal density matrix renormalization group algorithm to study the temperature dependence of the dynamical spin structure factor of Heisenberg ferromagnetic spin chains. For spin 1/2, we show that the bound state appears as a well defined excitation with significant spectral weight in the temperature range $J/12\ensuremath{\lesssim}T\ensuremath{\lesssim}J/3$, pointing to the possibility of detecting it with inelastic neutron scattering near $k=\ensuremath{\pi}$ provided the temperature is neither too low nor too high---at low temperature, the spectral weight only grows as T3/2{T}^{3/2}T3/2 and, at high temperature, the bound state peak merges with the two-magnon continuum. For spin 1, the situation is more subtle because the bound state with two neighboring spin flips competes with an antibound state with two spin flips on the same site. As a consequence, the relative spectral weight of the bound state is smaller than for spin 1/2 and a weak resonance due to the antibound state appears in the continuum. A clearer signature of the bound state (antibound state) can be obtained if a negative (positive) biquadratic interaction is present.
We present results for the dynamic structure factor of the S=1∕2S=1∕2S=1∕2 bond alternating Heisenberg chain over a large range of frequencies and temperatures. Data are obtained from a numerical evaluation of thermal averages based on the calculation of all eigenvalues and eigenfunctions for chains of up to 20 spins. Interpretation is guided by the exact temperature dependence in the noninteracting dimer limit which remains qualitatively valid up to an interdimer exchange $\ensuremath{\lambda}\ensuremath{\approx}0.5$. The temperature induced central peak around zero frequency is clearly identified and aspects of the crossover to spin diffusion in its variation from low to high temperatures are discussed. The one-magnon peak acquires an asymmetric shape with increasing temperature. The two-magnon peak is dominated by the S=1S=1S=1 bound state which remains well defined up to temperatures of the order of JJJ. The variation with temperature and wave vector of the integrated intensity for one-magnon and two-magnon scattering and of the central peak are discussed.
Low-dimensional quantum magnets at finite temperatures present a complex interplay of quantum and thermal fluctuation effects in a restricted phase space. While some information about dynamical response functions is available from theoretical studies of the one-triplet dispersion in unfrustrated chains and ladders, little is known about the finite-temperature dynamics of frustrated systems. Experimentally, inelastic neutron scattering studies of the highly frustrated two-dimensional material SrCu2(BO3)2{\mathrm{SrCu}}_{2}{({\mathrm{BO}}_{3})}_{2}SrCu2​(BO3​)2​ show an almost complete destruction of the one-triplet excitation band at a temperature only 1/3 of its gap energy, accompanied by strong scattering intensities for apparent multi-triplet excitations. We investigate these questions in the frustrated spin ladder and present numerical results from exact diagonalization for the dynamical structure factor as a function of temperature. We find anomalously rapid transfer of spectral weight out of the one-triplet band and into both broad and sharp spectral features at a wide range of energies, including below the zero-temperature gap of this excitation. These features are multi-triplet bound states, which develop particularly strongly near the quantum phase transition, fall to particularly low energies there, and persist all the way to infinite temperature. Our results offer valuable insight into the physics of finite-temperature spectral functions in SrCu2(BO3)2{\mathrm{SrCu}}_{2}{({\mathrm{BO}}_{3})}_{2}SrCu2​(BO3​)2​ and many other highly frustrated spin systems.