The pseudofermion representation for $S=1/2$ quantum spins introduces unphysical states in the Hilbert space, which can be projected out using the Popov-Fedotov trick. However, state-of-the-art implementation of the functional renormalization group method for pseudofermions have so far omitted the Popov-Fedotov projection. Instead, restrictions to zero temperature were made and the absence of unphysical contributions to the ground state was assumed. We question this belief by exact diagonalization of several small-system counterexamples where unphysical states do contribute to the ground state. We then introduce Popov-Fedotov projection to pseudofermion functional renormalization, enabling finite-temperature computations with only minor technical modifications to the method. At large and intermediate temperatures, our results are perturbatively controlled and we confirm their accuracy in benchmark calculations. At lower temperatures, the accuracy degrades due to truncation errors in the hierarchy of flow equations. Interestingly, these problems cannot be alleviated by switching to the parquet approximation. We introduce the spin projection as a method-intrinsic quality check. We also show that finite-temperature magnetic-ordering transitions can be studied via finite-size scaling.
The pseudofermion representation for S=1/2 quantum spins introduces unphysical states in the Hilbert space, which can be projected out using the Popov-Fedotov trick. However, state-of-the-art implementation of the functional renormalization group method for pseudofermions have so far omitted the Popov-Fedotov projection. Instead, restrictions to zero temperature were made and the absence of unphysical contributions to the ground state was assumed. We question this belief by exact diagonalization of several small-system counterexamples where unphysical states do contribute to the ground state. We then introduce Popov-Fedotov projection to pseudofermion functional renormalization, enabling finite-temperature computations with only minor technical modifications to the method. At large and intermediate temperatures, our results are perturbatively controlled and we confirm their accuracy in benchmark calculations. At lower temperatures, the accuracy degrades due to truncation errors in the hierarchy of flow equations. Interestingly, these problems cannot be alleviated by switching to the parquet approximation. We introduce the spin projection as a method-intrinsic quality check. We also show that finite-temperature magnetic-ordering transitions can be studied via finite-size scaling.
The pseudofermion functional renormalization group (PFFRG) method has proven to be a powerful numerical approach to treat frustrated quantum spin systems. In its usual implementation, however, the complex fermionic representation of spin operators introduces unphysical Hilbert-space sectors which render an application at finite temperatures inaccurate. In this work we formulate a general functional renormalization group approach based on Majorana fermions to overcome these difficulties. We, particularly, implement spin operators via an SO(3) symmetric Majorana representation which does not introduce any unphysical states and, hence, remains applicable to quantum spin models at finite temperatures. We apply this scheme, dubbed pseudo-Majorana functional renormalization group (PMFRG) method, to frustrated Heisenberg models on small spin clusters as well as square and triangular lattices. Computing the finite-temperature behavior of spin correlations and thermodynamic quantities such as free energy and heat capacity, we find good agreement with exact diagonalization and the high-temperature series expansion down to moderate temperatures. We observe a significantly enhanced accuracy of the PMFRG compared to the PFFRG at finite temperatures. More generally, we conclude that the development of functional renormalization group approaches with Majorana fermions considerably extends the scope of applicability of such methods.
The pseudofermion functional renormalization group (pf-FRG) has been put forward as a semianalytical scheme that, for a given microscopic spin model, allows to discriminate whether the low-temperature states exhibit magnetic ordering or a tendency toward the formation of quantum spin liquids. However, the precise nature of the putative spin-liquid ground state has remained hard to infer from the original (single-site) pf-FRG scheme. Here, we introduce a cluster pf-FRG approach, which allows for a more stringent connection between a microscopic spin model and its low-temperature spin-liquid ground states. In particular, it allows to calculate spatially structured fermion bilinear expectation values on spatial clusters, which are formed by splitting the original lattice into several sublattices, thereby allowing for the positive identification of a family of bilinear spin-liquid states. As an application of this cluster pf-FRG approach, we consider the ${J}_{1}\text{\ensuremath{-}}{J}_{2}\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}\mathrm{SU}(N)$ Heisenberg model on a square lattice, which is a paradigmatic example for a frustrated quantum magnet exhibiting quantum spin-liquid behavior for intermediate coupling strengths. In the well-established large-N limit of this model, we show that our approach correctly captures the emergence of the $\ensuremath{\pi}$-flux spin-liquid state at low temperatures. For small N, where the precise nature of the ground state remains controversial, we focus on the widely studied case of N=2, for which we determine the low-temperature phase diagram near the strongly frustrated regime after implementing the fermion-number constraint by the flowing Popov-Fedotov method. Our results suggest that the ${J}_{1}\text{\ensuremath{-}}{J}_{2}$ Heisenberg model does not support the formation of a fermion bilinear spin-liquid state.
The pseudofermion functional renormalization group (pf-FRG) is one of the few numerical approaches that has been demonstrated to quantitatively determine the ordering tendencies of frustrated quantum magnets in two and three spatial dimensions. The approach, however, relies on a number of presumptions and approximations, in particular the choice of pseudofermion decomposition and the truncation of an infinite number of flow equations to a finite set. Here we generalize the pf-FRG approach to SU(N)-spin systems with arbitrary N and demonstrate that the scheme becomes exact in the large-N limit. Numerically solving the generalized real-space renormalization group equations for arbitrary N, we can make a stringent connection between the physically most significant case of SU(2) spins and more accessible SU(N) models. In a case study of the square-lattice SU(N) Heisenberg antiferromagnet, we explicitly demonstrate that the generalized pf-FRG approach is capable of identifying the instability indicating the transition into a staggered flux spin liquid ground state in these models for large, but finite, values of N. In a companion paper [Roscher et al., Phys. Rev. B 97, 064416 (2018)] we formulate a momentum-space pf-FRG approach for SU(N) spin models that allows us to explicitly study the large-N limit and access the low-temperature spin liquid phase.
Multiloop pseudofermion functional renormalization for quantum spin systems: Application to the spin-21 kagome Heisenberg model
We present a multiloop pseudofermion functional renormalization group (pffRG) approach to quantum spin systems. As a test case, we study the spin-21 Heisenberg model on the kagome lattice, a prime example of a geometrically frustrated magnet believed to host a quantum spin liquid. Our main physical result is that, at pure nearest-neighbor coupling, the system shows indications for an algebraic spin liquid through slower-than-exponential decay with distance for the static spin susceptibility, while the pseudofermion self-energy develops intriguing low-energy features. Methodologically, the pseudofermion representation of spin models inherently yields a strongly interacting system, and the quantitative reliability of a truncated fRG flow is \textit{a priori} unclear. Our main technical result is the demonstration of convergence in loop number within multiloop pffRG. Through correspondence with the self-consistent parquet equations, this provides further evidence for the internal consistency of the approach. The loop order required for convergence of the pseudofermion vertices is rather large, but the spin susceptibility is more benign, appearing almost fully converged for loop orders ℓ≥5. The multiloop flow remains stable as the infrared cutoff Λ is reduced relative to the microscopic exchange interaction J, allowing us to reach values of Λ/J on the subpercent level in the spin-liquid phase. By contrast, solving the parquet equations via direct fixed-point iteration becomes increasingly difficult for low Λ/J. We also scrutinize the pseudofermion constraint of single occupation per site, which is only fulfilled on average in pffRG, by explicitly computing fermion-number fluctuations. Although the latter are not entirely suppressed, we find that they do not affect the qualitative conclusions drawn from the spin susceptibility.
We develop a generalized pseudofermion functional renormalization group (PFFRG) approach that can be applied to arbitrary Heisenberg models with spins ranging from the quantum case S=1/2 to the classical limit $S\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\infty}$. Within this framework, spins of magnitude S are realized by implementing M=2S copies of spin-1/2 degrees of freedom on each lattice site. We confirm that even without explicitly projecting onto the highest spin sector of the Hilbert space, ground states tend to select the largest possible local spin magnitude. This justifies the average treatment of the pseudofermion constraint in previous spin-1/2 PFFRG studies. We apply this method to the antiferromagnetic ${J}_{1}\text{\ensuremath{-}}{J}_{2}$ honeycomb Heisenberg model with nearest-neighbor J1>0 and second-neighbor J2>0 interactions. Mapping out the phase diagram in the ${J}_{2}/{J}_{1}\text{\ensuremath{-}}S$ plane, we find that upon increasing S, quantum fluctuations are rapidly decreasing. In particular, already at S=1 we find no indication for a magnetically disordered phase. In the limit $S\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\infty}$, the known phase diagram of the classical system is exactly reproduced. More generally, we prove that for $S\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\infty}$ the PFFRG approach is identical to the Luttinger-Tisza method.
We present diagrammatic approximations to the spin dynamics of the 2d Heisenberg antiferromagnet for all temperatures, employing an auxiliary-fermion representation. The projection onto the physical subspace is effected by introducing an imaginary-valued chemical potential as proposed by Popov and Fedotov. The method requires that the fermion number at any lattice site is strictly conserved. We compare results obtained within a self-consistent approximation using two different auxiliary-particle projection schemes, (1) exact and (2) on average. Significant differences between the two are found at higher temperatures, whereas in the limit of zero temperature (approaching the magnetically ordered ground state) identical results emerge from (1) and (2), providing the qualitatively correct dynamical scaling behavior. An interpretation of these findings is given. We also present in some detail the derivation of the approximation, which goes far beyond mean-field theory and is formulated in terms of complex-valued spectral functions of auxiliary fermions.