We present a bond-operator theory (BOT) for analytical consideration of the
t-
J model and its extensions with longer-rage hopping terms. This technique is based on previously suggested representation of electron operators via localized spins 1/2 and spinless Fermi-operators of mobile holons which requires no constraint between them. We introduce a representation of operators of spins, holons, and electrons in (extended) unit cell containing several lattice sites via a zoo of Bose- and Fermi-operators acting in the Hilbert space of all quantum states of the whole unit cell. BOT provides a regular expansion of physical quantities in powers of
1/n using conventional diagrammatic technique, where
n≥1 is the maximum number of introduced quasiparticles (bosons and fermions) which can occupy a unit cell. The suggested representation reproduces commutation algebra of all operators at any
n>0 and allows to consider both magnetically ordered and disordered phases. Some elementary excitations described in the BOT by separate bosons or fermions appear in common approaches as bound states of conventional quasiparticles. In particular, there are two-hole bound states (Cooper pairs of two holes) which are described within the BOT by separate bosons. We discuss in detail properties of the
t-
J model on the square lattice with no more than two holes (polarons). Although the expansion parameter
1/n is not small in the physically meaningful case of
n=1, we obtain a good quantitative agreement with previous numerical findings at
n=1 even in the first order in
1/n after taking into account a few simple diagrams. Self-consistent calculations in the first order in
1/n bring our results to a very good quantitative agreement with previous numerical findings of the ground state energy, staggered magnetization, and spectra of magnons, polarons, and lowest-energy two-hole bound states.
We discuss the spin-
21J1−−J2 model on the triangular lattice using recently proposed bond-operator theory (BOT). In agreement with previous discussions of this system, we obtain four phases upon
J2 increasing: the phase with ${120}^{\ensuremath{\circ}}$ ordering of three sublattices, the spin-liquid phase, the state with the collinear stripe order, and the spiral phase. The ${120}^{\ensuremath{\circ}}$ and the stripe phases are discussed in detail. All calculated static characteristics of the model are in good agreement with previous numerical findings. In the ${120}^{\ensuremath{\circ}}$ phase, we observe the evolution of the quasiparticles' spectra and dynamical structure factors (DSFs) upon approaching the spin-liquid phase. Some of the considered elementary excitations were introduced first in our recent study of this system at
J2=0 using the BOT. In the stripe phase, we observe that the doubly degenerate magnon spectrum known from the spin-wave theory (SWT) is split by quantum fluctuations, which are taken into account more accurately in the BOT. As compared with other known findings of the SWT in the stripe state, we observe additional spin-1 and spin-0 quasiparticles which give visible anomalies in the transverse and longitudinal DSFs. We obtain also a special spin-0 quasiparticle named the singlon that produces a peak only in the four-spin correlator and which is invisible in the longitudinal DSF. We show that the singlon spectrum lies below energies of all spin-0 and spin-1 excitations in some parts of the Brillouin zone. The singlon spectrum at zero momentum can be probed by the Raman scattering.
We discuss spin-
21 Heisenberg antiferromagnet on simple square lattice in magnetic field
H using a recently proposed bond-operator technique. It is well known that magnetically ordered phases of quantum magnets are well described at least qualitatively by the conventional spin-wave theory that only introduces quantum corrections into the classical solution of the problem. We observe that quantum fluctuations change drastically dynamical properties of the considered model at
H close to its saturation value: the dynamical structure factor shows anomalies corresponding to Green's function poles which have no counterparts in the spin-wave theory. That is, quantum fluctuations produce multiple short-wavelength magnon modes not changing qualitatively the long-wavelength spin dynamics. Our results are in agreement with previous quantum Monte Carlo simulations and exact diagonalization of finite clusters.
In the study of strongly interacting condensed-matter systems controlled microscopic theories hold a key position. Spin-wave theory, large-N expansion, and
epsilon-expansion are some of the few successful cornerstones. In this doctoral thesis work, we have developed a novel large-
d expansion method,
d being the spatial dimension, to study model Hamiltonians hosting a quantum phase transition between a paramagnet and a magnetically ordered phase. A highlight of this technique is that it can consistently describe the entire phase diagram of the above mentioned models, including the quantum critical point. Note that most analytical techniques either efficiently describe only one of the phases or suffer from divergences near the critical point. The idea of large-
d formalism is that in this limit, non-local fluctuations become unimportant and that a suitable product state delivers exact expectation values for local observables, with corrections being suppressed in powers of
1/d. It turns out that, due to momentum summation properties of the interaction structure factor, all diagrams are suppressed in powers of
1/d leading to an analytic expansion. We have demonstrated this method in two important systems namely, the coupled-dimer magnets and the transverse-field Ising model. Coupled-dimer magnets are Heisenberg spin systems with two spins, coupled by intra-dimer antiferromagnetic interaction, per crystallographic unit cell (dimer). In turn, spins from neighboring dimers interact via some inter-dimer interaction. A quantum paramagnet is realized for a dominant intra-dimer interaction, while a magnetically ordered phase exists for a dominant (or of the same order as intra-dimer interaction) inter-dimer interaction. These two phases are connected by a quantum phase transition, which is in the Heisenberg O(3) universality class. Microscopic analytical theories to study such systems have been restricted to either only one of the phases or involve uncontrolled approximations. Using a non-linear bond-operator theory for spins with S=
1/2, we have calculated the
1/d expansion of static and dynamic observables for coupled dimers on a hypercubic lattice at zero temperature. Analyticity of the
1/d expansion, even at the critical point, is ensured by correctly identifying suitable observables using the mean-field critical exponents. This method yields gapless excitation modes in the continuous symmetry broken phase, as required by Goldstone\'s theorem. In appropriate limits, our results match with perturbation expansion in small ratio of inter-dimer and intra-dimer coupling, performed using continuous unitary transformations, as well as the spin-wave theory for spin-
1/2 in arbitrary dimensions. We also discuss the Brueckner approach, which relies on small quasiparticle density, and derive the same
1/d expansion for the dispersion relation in the disordered phase. Another success of our work is in describing the amplitude (Higgs) mode in coupled-dimer magnets. Our novel method establishes the popular bond-operator theory as a controlled approach. In
d=2, the results from our calculations are in qualitative agreement with the quantum Monte Carlo study of the square-lattice bilayer Heisenberg AF spin-
1/2 model. In particular, our results are useful to identify the amplitude (Higgs) mode in the QMC data. The ideas of large-
d are also successfully applied to the transverse-field Ising model on a hypercubic lattice. Similar to bond operators, we have introduced auxiliary Bosonsic operators to set up our method in this case. We have also discussed briefly the bilayer Kitaev model, constructed by antiferromagnetically coupling two layers of the Kitaev model on a honeycomb lattice. In this case, we investigate the dimer quantum paramagnetic phase, realized in the strong inter-layer coupling limit. Using bond-operator theory, we calculate the mode dispersion in this phase, within the harmonic approximation. We also conjecture a zero-temperature phase diagram for this model.
This thesis investigates two-dimensional quantum antiferromagnets, with a focus on the spin-
21 antiferromagnetic easy-axis XXZ model on a square and a honeycomb lattice. Describing the excitations and interactions of magnons in these models is of substantial interest, as magnons are the fundamental quasiparticles and can thus explain experimental observations. Already for the paradigmatic antiferromagnetic spin-
21 Heisenberg model on the square lattice, high-energy features of the magnon dispersion are understood via strong magnon-magnon interactions. Besides that, interesting high-energy features were recently observed in the honeycomb lattice, including a possible decay of the single-magnon mode. The goal of this thesis is to obtain effective descriptions of the aforementioned systems that capture the relevant features of the magnon excitations and their interactions. To study these features, this thesis employs continuous similarity transformations (CSTs), which enables a systematic derivation of an effective quasiparticle picture via so-called flow equations. The approach enables decoupling different magnon sectors and thus for investigating ground-state properties, single-magnon excitations, and multi-magnon bound states. The magnon description is derived from the non-Hermitian Dyson-Maleev representation, which describes fluctuations around a long-range magnetically ordered ground state. The flow equations are set up in momentum space, truncated by the scaling dimension, retaining only operators up to scaling dimension of two, and solved numerically. For the square lattice, a magnon-conserving effective Hamiltonian is obtained across the full anisotropy range by interpolating between the Ising limit and the Heisenberg limit. The ground-state energy, staggered magnetization, dispersion, and critical exponents are in excellent agreement with the literature, supporting the validity of CST also for gapped phases. Two-magnon excitations in the
Sz=0 subspace comprise four bound states, which are tracked across the anisotropy range. Their successive decay into the two-magnon continuum is determined by using the inverse participation ratio. For the honeycomb lattice, the magnon-conserving CST is reliable only up to
λ≲0.57; an adapted CST scheme that decouples only the ground state while preserving couplings between different higher-magnon sectors yields effective descriptions for all
λ and confirms stable long-range order. The low-energy properties determined in this way match the literature values. However, in the Heisenberg limit, the adapted approach fails to capture high-energy features, such as the experimentally observed decay into the multi-particle continuum at corners of the Brillouin zone. A termination of the magnon-conserving flow equations at a finite flow parameter before the divergence reveals a single-magnon decay at high energies, which is connected to a crossing of a two-magnon bound state with the single-magnon mode. The observed energy dip qualitatively agrees with Quantum Monte Carlo results, but magnon–magnon interactions are overestimated, hindering a fully quantitative characterization of the single-magnon dispersion. Analyzing multi-magnon bound states over the anisotropy range unveils that the crossing of a three-magnon bound state with the single-magnon mode accounts for the breakdown of the magnon-conserving CST at higher
λ. This work demonstrates that CST with scaling-dimension truncation provides a powerful framework for studying two-dimensional quantum magnets, capturing low-energy properties and bound states. Nevertheless, challenges remain in accurately describing high-energy features arising from a persistent overlap of magnon sectors due to strong binding effects.