We study the ground-state phase diagram of the spin-
1/2 Kitaev-Heisenberg model on the bilayer honeycomb lattice with large-scale tensor network calculations based on the infinite projected entangled pair state technique as well as high-order series expansions. We find that beyond various magnetically ordered phases, including ferromagnetic, zigzag, antiferromagnetic (AFM) and stripy states, two extended quantum spin liquid phases arise in the proximity of the Kitaev limit. While these ordered phases also appear in the monolayer Kitaev-Heisenberg model, our results further show that a valence bond solid state emerges in a relatively narrow range of parameter space between the AFM and stripy phases, which can be adiabatically connected to isolated Heisenberg dimers. Our results highlight the importance of considering interlayer interactions on the emergence of novel quantum phases in the bilayer Kitaev materials.
We study the ground-state phase diagram of the spin-
1/2 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model on the square-kagome lattice using infinite projected entangled-pair states (iPEPS). By systematically varying the ratio of exchange couplings on triangular and square plaquettes, we establish a complete quantum phase diagram in the thermodynamic limit. In the intermediate-coupling regime, we identify four distinct nonmagnetic phases that are unambiguously characterized as valence-bond crystals (VBCs) by their symmetry-inequivalent patterns of strong and weak spin-spin correlations. These include a plaquette crossed-dimer VBC, a loop-six VBC stabilized around the isotropic point, a generalized pinwheel VBC with reduced rotational symmetry, and a decorated loop-six VBC proximate to ferrimagnetic order. We determine the phase boundaries using a combination of bond-resolved correlation functions, entanglement entropy, and magnetization. For transitions not accompanied by sharp entanglement signatures, we extract the spin gap from finite-field simulations, allowing us to distinguish gapped and gapless VBC phases. At larger coupling ratios, the system undergoes transitions into imperfect and perfect ferrimagnetic states. Our results resolve long-standing ambiguities in the square-kagome Heisenberg model and provide a quantitatively reliable reference for future theoretical and experimental studies of frustrated quantum magnets.
Using variational wave functions and Monte Carlo techniques, we study the antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model with first-neighbor
J1 and second-neighbor
J2 antiferromagnetic couplings on the honeycomb lattice. We perform a systematic comparison of magnetically ordered and nonmagnetic states (spin liquids and valence-bond solids) to obtain the ground-state phase diagram. N\'eel order is stabilized for small values of the frustrating second-neighbor coupling. Increasing the ratio
J2/J1, we find strong evidence for a continuous transition to a nonmagnetic phase at ${J}_{2}/{J}_{1}\ensuremath{\approx}0.23$. Close to the transition point, the Gutzwiller-projected uniform resonating valence-bond state gives an excellent approximation to the exact ground-state energy. For $0.23\ensuremath{\lesssim}{J}_{2}/{J}_{1}\ensuremath{\lesssim}0.36$, a gapless
Z2 spin liquid with Dirac nodes competes with a plaquette valence-bond solid. In contrast, the gapped spin liquid considered in previous works has significantly higher variational energy. Although the plaquette valence-bond order is expected to be present as soon as the N\'eel order melts, this ordered state becomes clearly favored only for ${J}_{2}/{J}_{1}\ensuremath{\gtrsim}0.3$. Finally, for $0.36\ensuremath{\lesssim}{J}_{2}/{J}_{1}\ensuremath{\le}0.5$, a valence-bond solid with columnar order takes over as the ground state, being also lower in energy than the magnetic state with collinear order. We perform a detailed finite-size scaling and standard data collapse analysis, and we discuss the possibility of a deconfined quantum critical point separating the N\'eel antiferromagnet from the plaquette valence-bond solid.
We study the extended Kitaev-Heisenberg (EKH) quantum spin model by adding bond-dependent off-diagonal Heisenberg term into the original KH model, which was recently proposed to describe the honeycomb Iridates. A rigorous mathematical mapping of spin operators reveals the intrinsic symmetry of the model Hamiltonian. By employing an unbiased numerical entanglement renormalization method based on tensor network ansatz, we obtain the global phase diagram containing eight distinct quantum phases. By using the dual mapping of spin operators, each of the individual magnetic phase in the global phase diagram can be clearly understood. At last, we show that a valence solid state emerges as the ground state in the quadro-critical region where multiple magnetic phases compete most intensively.
We use the density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) algorithm to study the phase diagram of the spin-
21 Heisenberg model on a honeycomb lattice with first (
J1) and second (
J2) neighbor antiferromagnetic interactions, where a
Z2 spin liquid region has been proposed. By implementing SU(2) symmetry in the DMRG code, we are able to obtain accurate results for long cylinders with a width slightly over 15 lattice spacings and a torus up to the size $N=2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}6\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}6$. With increasing
J2, we find a N\'eel phase with a vanishing spin gap and a plaquette valence-bond (PVB) phase with a nonzero spin gap. By extrapolating the square of the staggered magnetic moment
ms2 on finite-size cylinders to the thermodynamic limit, we find the N\'eel order vanishing at ${J}_{2}/{J}_{1}\ensuremath{\simeq}0.22$. For $0.25<{J}_{2}/{J}_{1}\ensuremath{\le}0.35$, we find a possible PVB order, which shows a fast growing PVB decay length with increasing system width. For
0.22<J2/J1<0.25, both spin and dimer orders vanish in the thermodynamic limit, which is consistent with a possible spin liquid phase. We present calculations of the topological entanglement entropy, compare the DMRG results with the variational Monte Carlo, and discuss possible scenarios in the thermodynamic limit for this region.
Frustrated quantum antiferromagnetism is an important physical phenomena leading to many of the key properties of quantum matter, such as quantum spin liquids and topological order. Here, the authors employ novel techniques based on tensor network methods for the triangle-honeycomb lattice in order to compute ground-state properties of a frustrated quantum antiferromagnet on the star lattice, with high accuracy, in the thermodynamic limit. Importantly, their findings contradict some of the existing results in the literature on this model. In particular, they find a new resonating valence-bond solid (VBS) phase that had not been observed before, as well as a different VBS structure at the isotropic point than the one previously conjectured by other methods. Moreover, by using tensor network techniques, they also determine the existence of a continuous quantum phase transition in the system between different VBS orders.