Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:2004.01107 · Physical review. B./Physical review. B

Chemistry of the spin- 12 kagome Heisenberg antiferromagnet

Yuan Yao, Cyrus J. Umrigar, Veit Elser

Published Jul 10, 2020• 4 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We believe that a necessary first step in understanding the ground-state properties of the spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ kagome Heisenberg antiferromagnet is a better understanding of this model's very large number of low-energy singlet states. A description of the low-energy states that is both accurate and amenable for numerical work may ultimately prove to have greater value than knowing only what these properties are, in particular, when they turn on the delicate balance of many small energies. We demonstrate how this program would be implemented using the basis of spin-singlet dimerized states, though other bases that have been proposed may serve the same purpose. The quality of a basis is evaluated by its participation in all low-energy singlets, not just the ground state. From an experimental perspective, and again in light of the small energy scales involved, methods that can deliver all low-energy states promise more robust predictions than methods that only refine a fraction of these states.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.102.014413

Related papers

Low-Energy Singlets in the Heisenberg Antiferromagnet on the Kagome Lattice

R. Budnik, Assa Auerbach

The spin-1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet on the kagomé lattice, is mapped by contractor renormalization to a spin-pseudospin Hamiltonian on the triangular superlattice. Variationally, we find a ground state with columnar dimer order. Dimer orientation fluctuations are described by an effective O(2) model at energies above an exponentially suppressed clock mass scale. Our results explain the large density of low-energy singlets observed numerically, and the nonmagnetic T2 specific heat observed experimentally.

Physical Review Letters•Oct 29, 2004•90 citations

Physics of low-energy singlet states of the Kagome lattice quantum Heisenberg antiferromagnet

Predrag Nikolić, T. Senthil

This paper is concerned with physics of the low-energy singlet excitations found to exist below the spin gap in numerical studies of the Kagome lattice quantum Heisenberg antiferromagnet. Insight into the nature of these excitations is obtained by exploiting an approximate mapping to a fully frustrated transverse-field Ising model on the dual dice lattice. This Ising model is shown to possess at least two phases---an ordered phase that also breaks translational symmetry with a large unit cell, and a paramagnetic phase. The former is argued to be a likely candidate for the ground state of the original Kagome magnet which thereby exhibits a specific pattern of dimer ordering with a large unit cell. Comparisons with available numerical results are made.

arXiv:cond-mat/0305189•Physical review. B, Condensed matter•Dec 12, 2003•156 citations

Low Energy Singlets in the Heisenberg Kagome Antiferromagnet

Ran Budnik, Assa Auerbach

The spin half Heisenberg antiferromagnet on the Kagome lattice, is mapped by Contractor Renormalization to a Spin-Pseudospin Hamiltonian on the triangular superlattice. Variationally, we find a ground state with columnar dimer order. Dimer orientation fluctuations are described by an effective O(2) model at energies above an exponentially suppressed clock mass scale. Our results explain the large density of low energy singlets observed numerically, and the non magnetic T-squared specific heat observed experimentally.

arXiv:cond-mat/0406651•Jun 25, 2004•0 citations

Microscopic theory of the nearest-neighbor valence bond sector of the spin- 12 kagome antiferromagnet

Arnaud Ralko, Frédéric Mila, Ioannis Rousochatzakis

The spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ Heisenberg model on the kagome lattice, which is closely realized in layered Mott insulators such as ${\mathrm{ZnCu}}_{3}{(\mathrm{OH})}_{6}{\mathrm{Cl}}_{2}$, is one of the oldest and most enigmatic spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ lattice models. While the numerical evidence has accumulated in favor of a quantum spin liquid, the debate is still open as to whether it is a ${Z}_{2}$ spin liquid with very short-range correlations (some kind of resonating valence bond spin liquid), or an algebraic spin liquid with power-law correlations. To address this issue, we have pushed the program started by Rokhsar and Kivelson in their derivation of the effective quantum dimer model description of Heisenberg models to unprecedented accuracy for the spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ kagome, by including all the most important virtual singlet contributions on top of the orthogonalization of the nearest-neighbor valence bond singlet basis. Quite remarkably, the resulting picture is a competition between a ${Z}_{2}$ spin liquid and a diamond valence bond crystal with a 12-site unit cell, as in the density-matrix renormalization group simulations of Yan et al. Furthermore, we found that, on cylinders of finite diameter $d$, there is a transition between the ${Z}_{2}$ spin liquid at small $d$ and the diamond valence bond crystal at large $d$, the prediction of the present microscopic description for the two-dimensional lattice. These results show that, if the ground state of the spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ kagome antiferromagnet can be described by nearest-neighbor singlet dimers, it is a diamond valence bond crystal, and, a contrario, that, if the system is a quantum spin liquid, it has to involve long-range singlets, consistent with the algebraic spin liquid scenario.

arXiv:1707.09666•Physical review. B./Physical review. B•Mar 1, 2018•24 citations

Quantum dimer calculations on the spin-1/2 kagome ´ Heisenberg antiferromagnet

Chen Zeng, Veit Elser

In analogy to the quantum dimer model on the square lattice introduced by Rokhsar and Kivelson, we identify the low-energy Hilbert space of the spin-1/2 kagom\'e Heisenberg antiferromagnet with the set of dimerized states (nearest-neighbor singlets) and derive an effective Hamiltonian which describes resonance and includes fluctuations into next-nearest-neighbor singlets. Complete diagonalization of this effective Hamiltonian for systems as large as 36 spins makes possible the study of the low-energy thermodynamics of this quantum antiferromagnet and strongly supports the double peak feature in the heat capacity.

Physical review. B, Condensed matter•Apr 1, 1995•123 citations

Ground state of the spin-1/2 kagome-lattice Heisenberg antiferromagnet

Rajiv R. P. Singh, David A. Huse

Using series expansions around the dimer limit, we find that the ground state of the spin-1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet on the kagome lattice appears to be a valence bond crystal (VBC) with a 36 site unit cell, and ground-state energy per site $E=\ensuremath{-}0.433\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.001\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{J}$. It consists of a honeycomb lattice of ``perfect hexagons.'' The energy difference between the ground state and other ordered states with the maximum number of perfect hexagons, such as a stripe-ordered state, is of order $0.001\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{J}$. The expansion is also done for the 36 site system with periodic boundary conditions; its energy per site is $0.005\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.001\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{J}$ lower than the infinite system, consistent with exact diagonalization results. Every unit cell of the VBC has two singlet states whose degeneracy is not lifted to sixth order in the expansion. We estimate this energy difference to be less than $0.001\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{J}$. The dimerization order parameter is found to be robust. Two leading orders of perturbation theory give lowest triplet excitations to be dispersionless and confined to the perfect hexagons.

arXiv:0707.0892•Physical Review B•Nov 28, 2007•257 citations
We believe that a necessary first step in understanding the ground-state properties of the spin-12\frac{1}{2}21​ kagome Heisenberg antiferromagnet is a better understanding of this model's very large number of low-energy singlet states. A description of the low-energy states that is both accurate and amenable for numerical work may ultimately prove to have greater value than knowing only what these properties are, in particular, when they turn on the delicate balance of many small energies. We demonstrate how this program would be implemented using the basis of spin-singlet dimerized states, though other bases that have been proposed may serve the same purpose. The quality of a basis is evaluated by its participation in all low-energy singlets, not just the ground state. From an experimental perspective, and again in light of the small energy scales involved, methods that can deliver all low-energy states promise more robust predictions than methods that only refine a fraction of these states.
The spin-1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet on the kagomé lattice, is mapped by contractor renormalization to a spin-pseudospin Hamiltonian on the triangular superlattice. Variationally, we find a ground state with columnar dimer order. Dimer orientation fluctuations are described by an effective O(2) model at energies above an exponentially suppressed clock mass scale. Our results explain the large density of low-energy singlets observed numerically, and the nonmagnetic T2 specific heat observed experimentally.
This paper is concerned with physics of the low-energy singlet excitations found to exist below the spin gap in numerical studies of the Kagome lattice quantum Heisenberg antiferromagnet. Insight into the nature of these excitations is obtained by exploiting an approximate mapping to a fully frustrated transverse-field Ising model on the dual dice lattice. This Ising model is shown to possess at least two phases---an ordered phase that also breaks translational symmetry with a large unit cell, and a paramagnetic phase. The former is argued to be a likely candidate for the ground state of the original Kagome magnet which thereby exhibits a specific pattern of dimer ordering with a large unit cell. Comparisons with available numerical results are made.
The spin half Heisenberg antiferromagnet on the Kagome lattice, is mapped by Contractor Renormalization to a Spin-Pseudospin Hamiltonian on the triangular superlattice. Variationally, we find a ground state with columnar dimer order. Dimer orientation fluctuations are described by an effective O(2) model at energies above an exponentially suppressed clock mass scale. Our results explain the large density of low energy singlets observed numerically, and the non magnetic T-squared specific heat observed experimentally.
The spin-12\frac{1}{2}21​ Heisenberg model on the kagome lattice, which is closely realized in layered Mott insulators such as ZnCu3(OH)6Cl2{\mathrm{ZnCu}}_{3}{(\mathrm{OH})}_{6}{\mathrm{Cl}}_{2}ZnCu3​(OH)6​Cl2​, is one of the oldest and most enigmatic spin-12\frac{1}{2}21​ lattice models. While the numerical evidence has accumulated in favor of a quantum spin liquid, the debate is still open as to whether it is a Z2{Z}_{2}Z2​ spin liquid with very short-range correlations (some kind of resonating valence bond spin liquid), or an algebraic spin liquid with power-law correlations. To address this issue, we have pushed the program started by Rokhsar and Kivelson in their derivation of the effective quantum dimer model description of Heisenberg models to unprecedented accuracy for the spin-12\frac{1}{2}21​ kagome, by including all the most important virtual singlet contributions on top of the orthogonalization of the nearest-neighbor valence bond singlet basis. Quite remarkably, the resulting picture is a competition between a Z2{Z}_{2}Z2​ spin liquid and a diamond valence bond crystal with a 12-site unit cell, as in the density-matrix renormalization group simulations of Yan et al. Furthermore, we found that, on cylinders of finite diameter ddd, there is a transition between the Z2{Z}_{2}Z2​ spin liquid at small ddd and the diamond valence bond crystal at large ddd, the prediction of the present microscopic description for the two-dimensional lattice. These results show that, if the ground state of the spin-12\frac{1}{2}21​ kagome antiferromagnet can be described by nearest-neighbor singlet dimers, it is a diamond valence bond crystal, and, a contrario, that, if the system is a quantum spin liquid, it has to involve long-range singlets, consistent with the algebraic spin liquid scenario.
In analogy to the quantum dimer model on the square lattice introduced by Rokhsar and Kivelson, we identify the low-energy Hilbert space of the spin-1/2 kagom\'e Heisenberg antiferromagnet with the set of dimerized states (nearest-neighbor singlets) and derive an effective Hamiltonian which describes resonance and includes fluctuations into next-nearest-neighbor singlets. Complete diagonalization of this effective Hamiltonian for systems as large as 36 spins makes possible the study of the low-energy thermodynamics of this quantum antiferromagnet and strongly supports the double peak feature in the heat capacity.
Using series expansions around the dimer limit, we find that the ground state of the spin-1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet on the kagome lattice appears to be a valence bond crystal (VBC) with a 36 site unit cell, and ground-state energy per site $E=\ensuremath{-}0.433\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.001\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{J}$. It consists of a honeycomb lattice of ``perfect hexagons.'' The energy difference between the ground state and other ordered states with the maximum number of perfect hexagons, such as a stripe-ordered state, is of order 0.001J0.001\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{J}0.001J. The expansion is also done for the 36 site system with periodic boundary conditions; its energy per site is $0.005\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.001\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{J}$ lower than the infinite system, consistent with exact diagonalization results. Every unit cell of the VBC has two singlet states whose degeneracy is not lifted to sixth order in the expansion. We estimate this energy difference to be less than 0.001J0.001\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{J}0.001J. The dimerization order parameter is found to be robust. Two leading orders of perturbation theory give lowest triplet excitations to be dispersionless and confined to the perfect hexagons.