We investigate a frustrated four-leg spin-1/2 ladder using density matrix renormalization group calculations. The uniform system displays three regimes: short-range antiferromagnetic legs, short-range ferromagnetic legs, and an effective spin-2 Heisenberg chain, separated by a crossover and a first-order transition. The spin-2 regime is confirmed through its finite string order parameter, edge-localized excitations, and excellent agreement with a projected Sr = 2 effective Hamiltonian. Recasting the model as two frustrated two-leg ladders coupled by rung and diagonal interactions, we track how the trivial and Haldane phases of an isolated ladder evolve as interladder couplings are introduced. The resulting phase diagrams reveal crossover and first-order lines whose locations are captured by the spin-2 projection and show how singlet- and triplet-dominated regimes reorganize when two ladders merge into a four-leg structure, clarifying the emergence of effective spin-1 versusspin-2 behavior.
We study the ground-state phase diagram of a spin-
21 frustrated XXZ ladder, in which two antiferromagnetic chains are coupled by competing rung and diagonal interactions, ${J}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}$ and ${J}_{\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}}$. Previous studies on the isotropic model have revealed that a fluctuation-induced effective dimer attraction between the legs stabilizes the columnar dimer (CD) phase in the highly frustrated regime ${J}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}\ensuremath{\approx}2{J}_{\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}}$, especially for ferromagnetic ${J}_{\ensuremath{\perp},\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}}<0$. By means of effective field theory and numerical analyses, we extend this analysis to the XXZ model, and we obtain a rich phase diagram. The diagram includes four gapped featureless phases with no symmetry breaking: the rung singlet (RS) and Haldane phases as well as their twisted variants, the RS* and Haldane* phases, which are all distinct in the presence of certain symmetries. Significantly, the Haldane-CD transition point in the isotropic model turns out to be a crossing point of two transition lines in the XXZ model, and the stripe N\'eel and RS* phases appear between these lines. This indicates a nontrivial interplay between the effective dimer attraction and the exchange anisotropy. In the easy-plane regime, the four featureless phases and two critical phases are found to compete in a complex manner depending on the signs of ${J}_{\ensuremath{\perp},\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}}$.
The goal of this project is to study the ground-state properties of frustrated spin-1/2 two- and three-leg Heisenberg ladders, and to investigate possible effects of diagonal couplings on spin gaps. The ground-state and the first-excited-state energies of these two systems are calculated systematically by using the density matrix renormalization group method. The ground state phase diagrams for these two systems are obtained. For the frustrated two-leg ladder, we found that the spin gap is insensitive to the change of the FM diagonal coupling constant. This is in agreement with experimental suggestions. For the frustrated three-leg ladder, we conclusively proved that introducing AF diagonal couplings can not change the gapless property of the ground state.
The frustrated ladder with alternate ferromagnetic(F) exchange
−JF and AF exchange
JA to first neighbors and F exchange
−JL to second neighbors is studied by exact diagonalization (ED) and density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) calculations in systems of
2N spins-1/2 with periodic boundary conditions. The ground state is a singlet
(S=0) and the singlet-triplet gap
εT is finite for the exchanges considered. Spin-1/2 string correlation functions
g1(N) and
g2(N) are defined for an even number
N of consecutive spins in systems with two spins per unit cell; the ladder has string order
g2(∞)>0 and
g1(∞)=0. The minimum
N∗ of
g2(N) is related to the range of ground-state spin correlations. Convergence to
g2(∞) is from below, and
g1(N) decreases exponentially for
N≥N∗. Singlet valence bond (VB) diagrams account for the size dependencies. The frustrated ladder at special values of
JF,
JL and
JA reduces to well-known models such as the spin-1 Heisenberg antiferromagnet and the
J1−J2 model, among others. Numerical analysis of ladders matches previous results for spin-1 gaps or string correlation functions and extends them to spin-1/2 systems. The nondegenerate singlet ground state of ladder is a bond-order wave, a Kekulé VB diagrams at
JL=JF/2≤JA, that is reversed on interchanging
−JF and
JA. Inversion symmetry is spontaneously broken in the dimer phase of the
J1−J2 model where the Kekulé diagrams are the doubly degenerate ground states at
J2/J1=1/2.
Abstract Ladders with 2 N spins-1/2 and singlet ( S = 0) ground states are studied numerically using exact diagonalization and density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) calculations. The curvatures E ″ ( s ) of states with the lowest energy E ( s ) at spin s = S / N ≤ 1 are obtained in the thermodynamic limit. All states have E ″ ( s ) > 0 in two phases, one with strong F exchange J F in rungs, the other with strong F exchange J L in legs. The Dimer phase with frustrated F exchanges has one or more states with E ″ ( s ) < 0. All three phases have finite gaps to the lowest triplet state. The ladder at J F → ∞ is adiabatically connected to the spin-1 Heisenberg AF chain, and at J L → ∞ to the J 1 − J 2 model.
Dimerized spin-1/2 ladders exhibit a variety of phase structures, which depend on the intra-chain and inter-chain spin exchange energies as well as on the dimerization pattern of the ladder. Using the density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) algorithm, we study critical properties of the bond-alternating two-leg Heisenberg spin ladder with diagonal interaction J ×. Two types of spin systems, staggered dimerized antiferromagnetic ladder and columnar dimerized ferro-antiferromagnetic couplings ladder, are investigated. To clarify the phase transition behaviors, we simultaneously analyze the string order parameter (SOP), the twisted order parameter (TOP), as well as a measurement of the quantum information analysis. Based on measuring this different observables, we establish the phase diagram accurately and give the fitting functions of the phase boundaries. In addition, the phase transition of cross-coupled spin ladder (in the absence of intrinsic dimerization) is also discussed.
We investigate a spin-
1/2 two-leg honeycomb ladder with frustrating next-nearest-neighbor (NNN) coupling along the legs, which is equivalent to two ${J}_{1}\text{\ensuremath{-}}{J}_{2}$ spin chains coupled with ${J}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}$ at odd rungs. The full parameter region of the model is systematically studied using conventional and infinite density-matrix renormalization group as well as bosonization. The rich phase diagram consists of five distinct phases: a Haldane phase, a NNN-Haldane phase, and a staggered dimer phase when ${J}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}<0$; a rung singlet phase and a columnar dimer phase when ${J}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}>0$. An interesting reentrant behavior from the dimerized phase into the Haldane phase is found as the frustration
J2 increases. The universalities of the critical phase transitions are fully analyzed. Phase transitions between dimerized and disordered phases belong to the two-dimensional Ising class with a central charge
c=1/2. The transition from the Haldane phase to NNN-Haldane phase is of a weak topological first order, while the continuous transition between the Haldane phase and rung singlet phase has a central charge
c=2.