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arXiv:2602.16661

A Tale of Two Plateaus: Competing Orders in Spin-1 and Spin-$\tfrac{3}{2}$ Pyrochlore Magnets

Imre Hagymási

Published Feb 18, 2026• 0 citations
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Abstract

We use large-scale density-matrix renormalization group simulations with bond dimensions up to $20\ 000$ to determine the magnetization curves of spin-1 and spin-$\tfrac{3}{2}$ pyrochlore Heisenberg antiferromagnets. Both models exhibit a robust half-magnetization plateau, and we find that the same 16-site state (quadrupled unit cell) is selected in both cases on the largest 64-site cubic cluster we consider for the plateau state. This contrasts sharply with the effective quantum dimer model prediction which favors the ``R'' state, and demonstrates the breakdown of the perturbative mechanism at the Heisenberg point. These results provide a nonperturbative characterization of field-induced phases in pyrochlore magnets and predictive guidance for spin-1 and spin-$\tfrac{3}{2}$ materials.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.2602.16661

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A Tale of Two Plateaus: Competing Orders in Spin-1 and Spin-32\tfrac{3}{2}23​ Pyrochlore Magnets
We use large-scale density-matrix renormalization group simulations with bond dimensions up to 20 00020\ 00020 000 to determine the magnetization curves of spin-1 and spin-32\tfrac{3}{2}23​ pyrochlore Heisenberg antiferromagnets. Both models exhibit a robust half-magnetization plateau, and we find that the same 16-site state (quadrupled unit cell) is selected in both cases on the largest 64-site cubic cluster we consider for the plateau state. This contrasts sharply with the effective quantum dimer model prediction which favors the ``R'' state, and demonstrates the breakdown of the perturbative mechanism at the Heisenberg point. These results provide a nonperturbative characterization of field-induced phases in pyrochlore magnets and predictive guidance for spin-1 and spin-32\tfrac{3}{2}23​ materials.
We use large-scale density-matrix renormalization group simulations with bond dimensions up to 20000 to determine the magnetization curves of spin-1 and spin-3/2 pyrochlore Heisenberg antiferromagnets. Both models exhibit a robust half-magnetization plateau. On the largest cubic cluster for which controlled energy extrapolations are feasible, containing 64 sites, we find that a plateau state with a 16-site magnetic unit cell (quadrupled structural unit cell) consistently has lower energy than competing ordering patterns for both spin lengths. This contrasts sharply with the prediction of the effective quantum dimer model and suggests a breakdown of the perturbative mechanism at the Heisenberg point. These results provide a nonperturbative characterization of field-induced phases in pyrochlore magnets and predictive guidance for spin-1 and spin-3/2 materials.
We study the S=12S=\frac{1}{2}S=21​ pyrochlore Heisenberg antiferromagnet in a magnetic field. Using large-scale density-matrix renormalization group calculations for clusters with up to 128 spins, we find indications of a finite triplet gap, causing a threshold field to nonzero magnetization in the magnetization curve. We obtain a robust saturation field consistent with a magnon crystal, although the corresponding 5/65/65/6 magnetization plateau is very slim and possibly unstable. Most remarkably, there is a pronounced and apparently robust 1/21/21/2 magnetization plateau where the ground state breaks the rotational symmetry of the lattice, exhibiting oppositely polarized spins on alternating kagome and triangular planes. Reminiscent of the kagome ice plateau of the pyrochlore Ising antiferromagnet known as spin ice, it arises via a much more subtle ``quantum order by disorder'' mechanism.
We address the ground-state properties of the long-standing and much-studied three-dimensional quantum spin liquid candidate, the S=1/2 pyrochlore Heisenberg antiferromagnet. By using SU(2) density-matrix renormalization group (DMRG), we are able to access cluster sizes of up to 128 spins. Our most striking finding is a robust spontaneous inversion symmetry breaking, reflected in an energy density difference between the two sublattices of tetrahedra, familiar as a starting point of earlier perturbative treatments. We also determine the ground-state energy, E_{0}/N_{sites}=-0.490(6)J, by combining extrapolations of DMRG with those of a numerical linked cluster expansion. These findings suggest a scenario in which a finite-temperature spin liquid regime gives way to a symmetry-broken state at low temperatures.
The spin-12\frac{1}{2}21​ Heisenberg model on a kagome lattice is a typical frustrated quantum spin system. The basic structure of a kagome lattice is also present in the kagome-strip lattice in one dimension, where a similar type of frustration is expected. We thus study the magnetization plateaus of the spin-12\frac{1}{2}21​ Heisenberg model on a kagome-strip chain with three-independent antiferromagnetic exchange interactions using the density-matrix renormalization-group method. In a certain range of exchange parameters, we find twelve kinds of magnetization plateaus, nine of which have magnetic structures breaking translational and/or reflection symmetry spontaneously. The structures are classified by an array of five-site unit cells with specific bond-spin correlations. In a case with a nontrivial plateau, namely a 3/10 plateau, we find long-period magnetic structure with a period of four unit cells.
We investigate the ground-state properties of the nearest-neighbor S=1S=1S=1 pyrochlore Heisenberg antiferromagnet using two complementary numerical methods, the density-matrix renormalization group (DMRG) and pseudofermion functional renormalization group (PFFRG). Within DMRG, we are able to reliably study clusters with up to 48 spins by keeping 20 000 SU(2) states. The investigated 32-site and 48-site clusters both show indications of a robust C3{C}_{3}C3​ rotation symmetry breaking of the ground-state spin correlations and the 48-site cluster additionally features inversion symmetry breaking. Our PFFRG analysis of various symmetry-breaking perturbations corroborates the findings of either C3{C}_{3}C3​ or a combined C3{C}_{3}C3​/inversion symmetry breaking. Moreover, in both methods the symmetry-breaking tendencies appear to be more pronounced than in the S=1/2S=1/2S=1/2 system.
The spin-1/2 Ising-Heisenberg branched chain composed of regularly alternating Ising spins and Heisenberg dimers involving an additional side branching is rigorously solved in a magnetic field by the transfer-matrix approach. The ground-state phase diagram, the magnetization process and the concurrence measuring a degree of bipartite entanglement within the Heisenberg dimers are examined in detail. Three different ground states were found depending on a mutual interplay between the magnetic field and two different coupling constants: the modulated quantum antiferromagnetic phase, the quantum ferrimagnetic phase, and the classical ferromagnetic phase. Two former quantum ground states are manifested in zero-temperature magnetization curves as intermediate plateaus at zero and one-half of the saturation magnetization, whereas the one-half plateau disappears at a triple point induced by a strong-enough ferromagnetic Ising coupling. The ground-state phase diagram and zero-temperature magnetization curves of the analogous spin-1/2 Heisenberg branched chain were investigated using density-matrix renormalization group calculations. The latter fully quantum Heisenberg model involves, besides two gapful phases manifested as zero and one-half magnetization plateaus, gapless quantum spin-liquid phase. The intermediate one-half plateau of the spin-1/2 Heisenberg branched chain vanishes at Kosterlitz-Thouless quantum critical point between gapful and gapless quantum ground states unlike the triple point of the spin-1/2 Ising-Heisenberg branched chain.