Liu et al. [Phys. Rev. B 98, 241109 (2018)] used Monte Carlo sampling of the physical degrees of freedom of a projected entangled pair state type wave function for the
S=1/2 frustrated ${J}_{1}\ensuremath{-}{J}_{2}$ Heisenberg model on the square lattice and found a nonmagnetic state argued to be a gapless spin liquid when the coupling ratio
g=J2/J1 is in the range $g\ensuremath{\in}[0.42,0.6]$. Here we show that their definition of the order parameter for another candidate ground state within this coupling window---a spontaneously dimerized state---is problematic. The order parameter as defined will not detect dimer order when lattice symmeties are broken due to open boundaries or asymmetries originating from the calculation itself. Thus, a dimerized phase for some range of
g cannot be excluded (and is likely based on several other recent works).
The spin-
1/2 J1-
J2 Heisenberg model on the square lattice represents one of the simplest examples in which the effects of magnetic interactions may suppress magnetic order, eventually leading to a pure quantum phase with no local order parameters. This model has been extensively studied in the last three decades, with conflicting results. Here, by using Gutzwiller-projected wave functions and recently developed methods to assess the low-energy spectrum, we show the existence of a level crossing between the lowest-energy triplet and singlet excitations for ${J}_{2}/{J}_{1}\ensuremath{\approx}0.54$. This fact supports the existence of a phase transition between a gapless spin liquid (which is stable for $0.48\ensuremath{\lesssim}{J}_{2}/{J}_{1}\ensuremath{\lesssim}0.54$) and a valence-bond solid (for $0.54\ensuremath{\lesssim}{J}_{2}/{J}_{1}\ensuremath{\lesssim}0.6$), even though no clear sign of dimer order is visible in the correlations functions. These results, which confirm recent density-matrix renormalization calculations on cylindrical clusters [L. Wang and A. W. Sandvik, Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 107202 (2018)], reconcile the contradicting results obtained within different approaches over the years.
The spin-
21 ${J}_{1}\ensuremath{-}{J}_{2}$ Heisenberg model on square lattices is investigated via the finite projected entangled pair states (PEPS) method. Using the recently developed gradient optimization method combined with Monte Carlo sampling techniques, we are able to obtain the ground state energies that are competitive with the best results. The calculations show that there is no N\'eel order, dimer order, or plaquette order in the region of $0.42\ensuremath{\lesssim}{J}_{2}/{J}_{1}\ensuremath{\lesssim}0.6$, suggesting a single spin liquid phase in the intermediate region. Furthermore, the calculated staggered spin, dimer, and plaquette correlation functions all have power law decay behaviors, which provide strong evidence that the intermediate nonmagnetic phase is a single gapless spin liquid state.
We studied the ground-state phase diagram of spin-1/2 ${J}_{1}\text{\ensuremath{-}}{J}_{2} XY$ model on the square lattice with first-neighbor
J1 and second-neighbor
J2 antiferromagnetic interactions using both infinite density matrix renormalization group (iDMRG) and DMRG approaches. We show that a plaquette valence bond phase is realized in an intermediate region $0.50\ensuremath{\le}{J}_{2}/{J}_{1}<0.54$ between a N\'eel magnetic ordered phase at
J2/J1<0.50 and a stripy magnetic ordered phase at ${J}_{2}/{J}_{1}\ensuremath{\ge}0.54$. The plaquette valence bond phase is characterized by finite dimer orders in both the horizontal and vertical directions. Contrary to the spin-1/2 ${J}_{1}\text{\ensuremath{-}}{J}_{2}$ Heisenberg model, we do not find numerical evidence for a quantum spin liquid phase in the ${J}_{1}\text{\ensuremath{-}}{J}_{2} XY$ model.
The nature of quantum spin liquids is studied for the spin-
1/2 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model on a square lattice containing exchange interactions between nearest-neighbor sites,
J1, and those between next-nearest-neighbor sites,
J2. We perform variational Monte Carlo simulations together with the quantum-number-projection technique and clarify the phase diagram in the ground state together with its excitation spectra. We obtain the nonmagnetic phase in the region
0.4<J2/J1≤0.6 sandwiched by the staggered and stripe antiferromagnetic (AF) phases. Our direct calculations of the spin gap support the notion that the triplet excitation from the singlet ground state is gapless in the range of
0.4<J2/J1≤0.5, while the gapped valence-bond-crystal (VBC) phase is stabilized for
0.5<J2/J1≤0.6. The VBC order is likely to have the columnar symmetry with a spontaneous symmetry breaking of the
C4v symmetry. The power-law behaviors of the spin-spin and dimer-dimer correlation functions in the gapless region are consistent with the emergence of the algebraic quantum-spin-liquid phase (critical phase). The exponent of the spin correlation
⟨S(0)S(r)⟩∝1/rz+η at a long distance
r appears to increase from
z+η∼1 at
J2/J1∼0.4 toward the continuous transition to the VBC phase at
J1/J1∼0.5. Our results, however, do not fully exclude the possibility of a direct quantum transition between the staggered AF and VBC phases with a wide critical region and deconfined criticality.
The ground state phase of spin-1/2 J_1-J_2 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model on square lattice in the maximally frustrated regime (J_2 ~ 0.5J_1) has been debated for decades. Here we study this model by using a recently proposed novel numerical method - the cluster update algorithm for tensor product states (TPSs). The ground state energies at finite sizes and in the thermodynamic limit (with finite size scaling) are in good agreement with the state of art exact diagonalization study, and the energy differences between these two studies are of the order of 10^{-3}J_1 per site. At the largest bond dimension available D (D=9), we find a paramagnetic ground state without any valence bond solid order in the thermodynamic limit in the range of 0.5 < J_2/J_1 < 0.6, which implies the emergence of a spin-liquid phase. Furthermore, we investigate the topologically ordered nature of such a spin-liquid phase by measuring a nonzero topological entanglement entropy.