We investigate the Nagaoka-Thouless ferromagnetic instability in the strongly interacting t − t ′ Hubbard model by continuously breaking particle-hole symmetry on a tunable square-triangular lattice geometry. We use an analytic approach to show that the fully spin-polarized state becomes unstable to a metastable spin polaron when the kinetic frustration t ′ / t exceeds a critical, dimension-dependent value. Large-scale density matrix renormalization group simulations reveal a quantum phase transition from the Nagaoka ferromagnet to a spiral spin-density wave, which evolves continuously into the Haerter-Shastry antiferromagnet in the large-frustration limit. Remarkably, this transition remains robust at low but finite hole density, making it accessible in cold-atom and moiré Hubbard platforms under strong interactions. A variational analysis further captures the instability mechanism at finite hole density via frustration-induced magnon band deformation.
We investigate the Nagaoka-Thouless ferromagnetic instability in the strongly interacting t − t ′ Hubbard model by continuously breaking particle-hole symmetry on a tunable square-triangular lattice geometry. We use an analytic approach to show that the fully spin-polarized state becomes unstable to a metastable spin polaron when the kinetic frustration t ′ / t exceeds a critical, dimension-dependent value. Large-scale density matrix renormalization group simulations reveal a quantum phase transition from the Nagaoka ferromagnet to a spiral spin-density wave, which evolves continuously into the Haerter-Shastry antiferromagnet in the large-frustration limit. Remarkably, this transition remains robust at low but finite hole density, making it accessible in cold-atom and moiré Hubbard platforms under strong interactions. A variational analysis further captures the instability mechanism at finite hole density via frustration-induced magnon band deformation.
We investigate, using the density-matrix renormalization group, the evolution of the Nagaoka state with ${t}^{\ensuremath{'}}$ hopping that frustrates the hole kinetic energy in the $U=\ensuremath{\infty}$ Hubbard model on the square and anisotropic triangular lattices. We find that the Nagaoka ferromagnet survives up to a rather small ${t}_{c}^{\ensuremath{'}}/t\ensuremath{\sim}0.2.$ At this critical value, there is a transition to an antiferromagnetic phase that depends on the lattice: a Q=(Q,0) spiral order, which continuously evolves with ${t}^{\ensuremath{'}}$, for the triangular lattice and the usual $\mathbf{Q}=(\ensuremath{\pi},\ensuremath{\pi})$ N\'eel order for the square lattice. Remarkably, the local magnetization takes its classical value for all considered ${t}^{\ensuremath{'}}$ (${t}^{\ensuremath{'}}/t\ensuremath{\le}1$). Our results show that the recently found classical kinetic antiferromagnetism, a perfect counterpart of Nagaoka ferromagnetism, is a generic phenomenon in these kinetically frustrated electronic systems.
Abstract The fermionic Hubbard model, when combined with frustration, associated with the breaking of particle-hole symmetry, harbors a rich phase diagram. Theoretical findings associated with the nature of magnetism and metallicity across this phase diagram are now being actively investigated in triangular Hubbard cold atom and solid-state (moiré) based emulators. Building on the theoretical work of Haerter and Shastry, we explore the impact of kinetically frustrated magnetism, a phenomenon where antiferromagnetic order emerges without any underlying magnetic interactions, at finite hole density. We numerically study the infinite- U triangular Hubbard model using the density matrix renormalization group algorithm and estimate the stability of the kinetically induced 120 ∘ antiferromagnetic state to hole doping. Beyond the Haerter-Shastry regime, we find an intermediate phase with multimer (involving multiple correlated spins) stripes that eventually gives way to a paramagnet. We also find evidence of gapless charge excitations (metallicity) throughout the phase diagram for finite hole density. We discuss the implications at large, but finite, values of U / t , and investigate whether kinetic magnetism and superexchange collaborate or compete.
We study the single-hole infinite-U Hubbard model on the triangular lattice with nearest- and next-nearest-neighbor hoppings t1 and t2. A frustrating t2 destabilizes Nagaoka ferromagnetism through a Lifshitz transition to a long-wavelength coplanar spiral at t2,c/t1=−0.182. We determine the critical point analytically by reducing the many-body problem to an effective two-body hole--magnon scattering problem in which the hard-core hole--magnon constraint is treated exactly. Numerical calculations confirm the spiral ground state and reveal a coherent spin polaron with quasiparticle weight Z≃0.92 at the Lifshitz-shifted momentum K=−Q∗. These results establish the first quantum instability of the triangular-lattice Nagaoka ferromagnet and provide the magnetic baseline for magnon-mediated pairing at finite doping.
Analog quantum simulation provides a unique toolkit to investigate quantum many-body problems of whose solutions may be incredibly challenging. In particular, using ultracold fermionic atoms in optical lattices it realizes the Fermi Hubbard model, which is a fundamental model in condensed matter physics exhibiting properties relevant to many intriguing strongly-correlated systems. However, most quantum simulators of the Hubbard model have so far restricted to the square geometries. In addition, access to low temperatures where the exotic quantum phases are predicted to develop has still remained elusive. In this thesis, we engineer a novel optical lattice with dynamically tunable geometries and significantly reduced technical noises. We extend for the first time the study of quantum magnetism into the exotic phases in a Fermi Hubbard system with tunable geometric frustration. As we continuously tune our system from a square to a triangular lattice geometry, we observe a transition from a Néel antiferromagnet to a 120-degree spin spiral state. We then study, again for the first time, how doping affects a frustrated quantum magnet. To our surprise, we found an emergent ferromagnetic state with strong particle doping, which is absent on the hole-doped side and is in stark contrast with the particle-hole symmetric doping dependence in a square lattice. To shed light on the role of itinerant dopants in the emergence of these new magnetic properties, we furthermore leverage the unique single-particle resolution capabilities of our platform to probe higher-order density and spin correlations. These measurements hint at a new type of magnetism induced by kinetic frustration, which manifests as local antiferromagnetic correlations around hole dopants and and ferromagnetic correlations around particle dopants. Unlike magnetism induced by exchange or superexchange interactions, the energy associated with this mechanism is the kinetic energy, closely related to the famous rigorous results by Nagaoka. Furthermore, the dynamical tunability of the lattice allows adibatic engineering of quantum states in optical lattices. We discuss the preliminery efforts to prepare strongly-correlated states with significantly reduced temperatures, which may pave the way towards low temperature states in the Hubbard model.
We study the hard-core Fermi-Hubbard model in the crossover between square and triangular lattices near half-filling. As was recognized by Nagaoka in the 1960s, on the square lattice the presence of a single hole leads to ferromagnetic spin ordering. On the triangular lattice, geometric frustration instead leads to a spin-singlet ground state, which can be associated with a 120-degree spiral order. On lattices which interpolate between square and triangular, there is a phase transition at which the ferromagnetic order becomes unstable to a spin spiral. We model this transition, finding the exact location of the spin-spiral instability.
Microscopically understanding competing orders in strongly correlated systems is a key challenge in modern quantum many-body physics. For example, the study of magnetic polarons and their relation to pairing in the Fermi-Hubbard model in different geometries remains one of the central questions, and may help to understand the mechanism underlying unconventional superconductivity in cuprates or transition metal dichalcogenides. With recent advances in analog quantum simulation of the Fermi-Hubbard model on nonbipartite lattices, frustrated physics can now be explored experimentally in systems lacking particle-hole symmetry. Here, we study the singly doped $t\ensuremath{-}J$ model on the triangular lattice, focusing on the competition between kinetic and magnetic frustration as a function of temperature. In doublon doped systems, we uncover a crossover between Nagaoka-type ferromagnetic (FM) correlations at high temperature and exchange mediated antiferromagnetic (AFM) order around the doublon at low temperature. For hole-doped systems, kinetic Haerter-Shastry-type AFM at high temperature as well as exchange interactions at low temperature favor ${120}^{\ensuremath{\circ}}$ order, strengthening magnetic correlations compared to the undoped system. In the ground state, the presence of AFM correlations throughout a wide range of interactions indicates confinement of both types of dopants. In this regime we firmly establish the presence of linear confining potentials via energy scaling arguments, supporting the picture of geometric strings in the frustrated triangular $t\ensuremath{-}J$ model.