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.
We apply continuous similarity transformations (CSTs) to study the zero-temperature breakdown of long-range ordered quantum antiferromagnets. The CST flow equations are truncated in momentum space by the scaling dimension so that all operators with scaling dimension up to two are taken into account. We determine the quantum phase transition out of the N\'eel-ordered phase in the unfrustrated square lattice Heisenberg bilayer as well as the quantum melting of the N\'eel-ordered and columnar phase in the highly frustrated ${J}_{1}\text{\ensuremath{-}}{J}_{2}$ model on the square lattice. In all cases the CST is set up to isolate the ground state so that the stability of the flow equations, the ground-state energy, and the sublattice magnetization are used to explore the long-range ordered phases. We extract quantum critical points, which agree well with values in the literature. Further, we estimate the associated critical exponents $\ensuremath{\alpha}$ and $\ensuremath{\beta}$, which turns out to be a challenging task for the CST approach.
In this thesis the elementary excitations of the spin-1=2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet on the square lattice are studied. This fundamental model is a paradigmatic example for long range ordered quantum phases and the spontaneous breaking of a continuous symmetry in condensed matter. The elementary excitations at long wavelengths are well understood by quantized spin waves, i.e., magnons, which are the gapless Goldstone bosons of the broken SU(2) symmetry. However, recent findings reveal an anomalous energy dip at short wavelengths, which cannot be explained by the conventional spin wave theory. The nature of spin waves at short wavelengths remains unclear to this day. A central aim of this thesis is the derivation of an effective magnon description for the square lattice antiferromagnet which is quantitatively valid for all length scales. For this purpose, the method of continuous unitary transformations (CUT) is extended to its use for gapless excitations. CUT methods provide a powerful tool for the derivation of effective quasi-particle descriptions by means of flow equations. However, typical approaches are truncated in real space restricting their scope of application to gapped quantum phases. In order to circumvent these limitations a CUT approach in momentum space is developed. The scaling dimension of operator terms is established as a suitable truncation criterion for gapless quasi-particles. Moreover, a diagrammatic representation of operator terms is introduced which simplifies the derivation and interpretation of flow equations in momentum space. The developed approach is used to transform the Heisenberg Hamiltonian into an effective Hamiltonian which conserves the number of magnons. In addition, effective observables required for the theoretical description of inelastic neutron scattering are derived. The initial magnon operators before the transformation are defined by the Dyson-Maleev representation which leads to a superficially non-hermitian Hamiltonian. As a result, the transformation constitutes a continuous similarity transformation (CST). This formalism enables the formulation of spin wave interactions by means of quartic boson operators. A crucial step of the transformation is the proper renormalization of the spin wave interaction which is achieved by a selfsimilar CST for scaling dimension d = 2. The resulting effective magnon description is consistent at all length scales. In particular, the magnon dispersion exhibits an energy dip at short wavelengths which is in quantitative agreement with recent numerical and experimental data. Further analysis of the spectral properties indicates a strong attraction between spin waves giving rise to a resonance in the longitudinal two-magnon channel. This resonance can be interpreted as the amplitude or Higgs mode of the continuously broken SU(2) symmetry with finite lifetime. The origin of the anomalous dispersion is ascribed to a scattering between the Higgs resonance and single magnon states. The theoretical results are directly compared with experimental data obtained by inelastic neutron scattering and various numerical results which support this view. The quantitative agreement between the effective spin wave approach and numerous numerical and experimental findings shows that magnons are a valid description of the elementary excitations at all length scales. Therefore, this thesis provides a final settlement of the question about the nature of the elementary excitations in the square lattice quantum antiferromagnet.
We investigate quantum effects on magnon excitations in a minimal spin-1/2 Heisenberg model for 2D altermagnets on the square lattice. A continuous similarity transformation is applied in momentum space to derive an effective Hamiltonian that conserves the number of magnon excitations. This allows us to quantitatively calculate the one-magnon dispersion, the effects of magnon-magnon interactions, and the dynamic structure factor in a certain range of parameters. In particular, we focus on the altermagnetic spin splitting of the magnon bands and the size of the roton minimum. We further map out divergencies of the continuous similarity transformation for different types of generators, which signal either the breakdown of the Néel-ordered phase or the presence of significant magnon decay.
The quantitative description of long-range order remains a challenge in quantum many-body physics. We provide zero-temperature results from two complementary methods for the ground-state energy per site, the sublattice magnetization, the spin gap, and the transverse spin correlation length for the spin-1/2 quantum XXZ antiferromagnet on the square lattice. On the one hand, we use exact, large-scale quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) simulations. On the other hand, we use the semianalytic approach based on continuous similarity transformations in terms of elementary magnon excitations. Our findings confirm the applicability and quantitative validity of both approaches along the full parameter axis from the Ising point to the symmetry-restoring phase transition at the Heisenberg point and further provide quantitative reference results in the thermodynamic limit. In addition, we analytically derive the relation between the dispersion and the correlation length at zero temperature in arbitrary dimension, and discuss improved second-moment QMC estimators.
We propose a versatile approach to treat commonly arising constraints. It is illustrated for interacting magnons of the Heisenberg antiferromagnet on a square lattice. For systems of $L\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}L$ sites a nonperturbative continuous unitary transformation (CUT) is used to derive an effective Hamiltonian conserving the number of magnons. They are bosonic particles with a hard-core constraint which is captured by a local, repulsive interaction
U. The limits $U\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\infty}$ and $L\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\infty}$ are achieved by extrapolation. The residual spin gap ${\ensuremath{\Delta}}_{1}$ is smaller than
0.01J reflecting the gapless nature of the magnons. The one-magnon dispersion displays all known characteristics.