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arXiv:1812.04003 · Physical review. B./Physical review. B

Nonlocal string order parameter in the S=12 Kitaev-Heisenberg ladder

Andrei Catuneanu, Erik Schwartz Sørensen, Hae‐Young Kee

Published May 7, 2019• 46 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We study the spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ Kitaev-Heisenberg (KJ) model in a two-leg ladder. Without a Heisenberg interaction, the Kitaev phase in the ladder model has Majorana fermions with local ${Z}_{2}$ gauge fields, and is usually described as a disordered phase without any order parameter. Here we identify a long-range nonlocal string order parameter (SOP) in the Kitaev phase which survives with a finite Heisenberg interaction. The SOP is obtained by relating the Kitaev ladder, through a nonlocal unitary transformation, to a one-dimensional $XY$ chain with an Ising coupling to a dangling spin at every site. This differentiates the Kitaev phases from other nearby phases including a rung singlet. Two phases with nonzero SOP corresponding to ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic Kitaev interactions are identified. The full phase diagram of the KJ ladder is determined using exact diagonalization and density matrix renormalization group methods, which shows a striking similarity to the KJ model on a two-dimensional honeycomb lattice.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.99.195112

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We study the spin-12\frac{1}{2}21​ Kitaev-Heisenberg (KJ) model in a two-leg ladder. Without a Heisenberg interaction, the Kitaev phase in the ladder model has Majorana fermions with local Z2{Z}_{2}Z2​ gauge fields, and is usually described as a disordered phase without any order parameter. Here we identify a long-range nonlocal string order parameter (SOP) in the Kitaev phase which survives with a finite Heisenberg interaction. The SOP is obtained by relating the Kitaev ladder, through a nonlocal unitary transformation, to a one-dimensional XYXYXY chain with an Ising coupling to a dangling spin at every site. This differentiates the Kitaev phases from other nearby phases including a rung singlet. Two phases with nonzero SOP corresponding to ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic Kitaev interactions are identified. The full phase diagram of the KJ ladder is determined using exact diagonalization and density matrix renormalization group methods, which shows a striking similarity to the KJ model on a two-dimensional honeycomb lattice.
Abstract Finding the Kitaev spin liquid in candidate materials involves understanding the entire phase diagram, including other allowed interactions. One of these interactions, called the Gamma (Γ) interaction, causes magnetic frustration and its interplay with the Kitaev (K) interaction is crucial to comprehend Kitaev materials. Due to the complexity of the combined KΓ model, quasi-one-dimensional models have been investigated. While several disordered phases are found in the 2-leg ladder, the nature of the phases are yet to be determined. Here we focus on the disordered phase near the antiferromagnetic Γ limit (denoted by AΓ phase) next to the ferromagnetic Kitaev phase. We report a distinct non-local string order parameter characterizing the AΓ phase, different from the string order parameter in the Kitaev phase. This string order parameter becomes evident only after two unitary transformation, referred to as a twice hidden string order parameter. The related entanglement spectrum, edge states, magnetic field responses, and the symmetry protecting the phase are presented, and its relevance to the two-dimensional Kitaev materials is discussed. Two newly identified disordered phases in the phase diagram of KΓ ladder is also reported.
We study the ground state and low-lying excited states of the Kitaev-Heisenberg model on a two-leg ladder geometry using the density-matrix renormalization-group and Lanczos exact diagonalization methods. The Kitaev and Heisenberg interactions are parametrized as $K=sin\ensuremath{\phi}$ and $J=cos\ensuremath{\phi}$ with an angle parameter $\ensuremath{\phi}$. Based on the results for several types of order parameters, excitation gaps, string order parameter, and entanglement spectra, the $\ensuremath{\phi}$-dependent ground state phase diagram is determined. Remarkably, the phase diagram is quite similar to that of the Kitaev-Heisenberg model on a honeycomb lattice, exhibiting the same long-range-ordered states, namely rung singlet (analog to N\'eel in three dimensions), zigzag, ferromagnetic, and stripy, and the presence of gapped spin liquids around the exactly solvable Kitaev points $\ensuremath{\phi}=\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}\ensuremath{\pi}/2$. We also calculate the expectation value of a plaquette operator corresponding to a $\ensuremath{\pi}$-flux state in order to establish how the gapped Kitaev spin liquid extends away from the $\ensuremath{\phi}=\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}\ensuremath{\pi}/2$. Furthermore, we determine the dynamical spin structure factor and discuss the effect of the Kitaev interaction on the spin-triplet dispersion.
We have calculated order parameters for the phases of the Kitaev chain with interaction and dimerization at a special symmetric point applying the Jordan-Wigner and other duality transformations. We use string order parameters (SOPs) defined via the correlation functions of the Majorana string operators. The SOPs are mapped onto the local order parameters of some dual Hamiltonians and easily calculated. We have shown that the phase diagram of the interacting dimerized chain comprises the phases with the conventional local order as well as the phases with nonlocal SOPs. From the results for the critical indices, we infer the two-dimensional Ising universality class of criticality at the particular symmetry point where the model is exactly solvable.
Two-leg spin-1/21/21/2 ladders with anisotropy and two different dimerization patterns are analyzed at zero temperature. This model is equivalent to a modulated interacting (Kitaev) ladder. The Hartree-Fock mean-field approximation reduces the model to a sum of two quadratic effective Majorana Hamiltonians, which are dual to two quantum transverse XY chains. The mapping between the effective Hamiltonian of the ladder and a pair of chains considerably simplifies calculations of the order parameters and analysis of the hidden symmetry breaking. The ground-state phase diagram of the staggered ladder contains nine phases, four of them are conventional antiferromagnets, while the other five possess nonlocal brane orders. Using the dualities and the newly found exact results for the local and string order parameters of the transverse XY chains, we were able to find analytically all the magnetizations and the brane order parameters for the staggered case, as functions of the renormalized couplings of the effective Hamiltonian. The columnar ladder has three ground-state phases and does not possess magnetic long-ranged order. The brane order parameters for these three phases are calculated numerically from the Toeplitz determinants. All brane-ordered phases are spin liquids with identified distinct order parameters, winding numbers, and sets of the Majorana edge modes. Disorder lines and the special points of disentanglement are found in both dimerization patterns. We expect this study to motivate the search for the real spin-Peierls anisotropic ladder compounds which manifest predicted properties.
We have introduced a novel Majorana representation of S=1/2 spins using the Jordan-Wigner transformation and have shown that a generalized spin model of Kitaev defined on a brick-wall lattice is equivalent to a model of noninteracting Majorana fermions with Z2 gauge fields without redundant degrees of freedom. The quantum phase transitions of the system at zero temperature are found to be of topological type and can be characterized by nonlocal string order parameters (SOP). In appropriate dual representations, these SOP become local order parameters and the basic concept of Landau theory of continuous phase transition can be applied.
We analyzed quantum phase transitions in the antiferromagnetic dimerized spin-1/2 XY chain and two-leg ladders. Their gapped phases possess distinct nonlocal string order parameters (SOPs) and the hidden symmetry breaking in each phase is identified. After mapping of the original spin Hamiltonians onto the tight-binding models with Dirac or Majorana fermions and the mean-field approximation (for ladders), the essential physics of nonlocal orders can be grasped analytically. By utilizing duality transformations the calculation of SOPs is mapped onto the local order problem in some dual representation and done without further approximations. The phases with hidden orders can also be distinguished by topological winding numbers. The latter provide a complimentary description. Our main result is the framework to treat nonlocal orders and hidden symmetries which unifies the key elements of the Landau paradigm with the new concept of topological order. This unified framework can be straightforwardly applied for spin chain and ladders, topological insulators and superconductors. Applications of this theory to other systems are under way.