The magnetization process and elementary excitation spectra of the spin-1/2 trimerized quantum Heisenberg chain are investigated by means of Green's function theory combined with Jordan-Wigner transformation. At zero temperature, a 1/3 magnetization plateau of the system is observed. Meanwhile, we obtain the ground state phase diagram, in which the Luttinger liquid phase, the magnetization plateau state, the gapless phase and the ferromagnetic state are revealed. At finite temperatures, the magnetization behaves differently, implying the system lies in different states under different magnetic fields. It is shown that the elementary excitation spectra can unpuzzle the magnetization process. It is also found that the energy gap in the spectra is responsible for the observed 1/3 magnetization plateau.
The magnetization process and elementary excitation spectra of the spin-1/2 trimerized quantum Heisenberg chain are investigated by means of Green's function theory combined with Jordan-Wigner transformation. At zero temperature, a 1/3 magnetization plateau of the system is observed. Meanwhile, we obtain the ground state phase diagram, in which the Luttinger liquid phase, the magnetization plateau state, the gapless phase and the ferromagnetic state are revealed. At finite temperatures, the magnetization behaves differently, implying the system lies in different states under different magnetic fields. It is shown that the elementary excitation spectra can unpuzzle the magnetization process. It is also found that the energy gap in the spectra is responsible for the observed 1/3 magnetization plateau.
We study the elementary excitations and magnetization of a one-dimensional spin-1/2 XX chain comprising trimer-dimer units (the J1-J1-J2-J3-J2 topology) under a transverse magnetic field h. Using Green's function theory and the Jordan-Wigner transformation, we map the system onto spinless fermions and focus on antiferromagnetic (AFM) interactions. At zero temperature, distinct 1/5 and 3/5 magnetization plateaus emerge, determined by the global periodicity Q=5, with the number of plateaus matching the number of excitation gaps above the Fermi level of the spinless fermions. The magnetic phase diagram in the (h-Js) plane features a Luttinger liquid (LL) state, a gapless AFM state, two magnetization plateau states, and a fully polarized gapped magnetic state. The widths of the LL and gapless AFM phases are found to be proportional to the bandwidths gamma = |E(k=0)-E(k=pi)| of the corresponding elementary excitations, whereas the widths of the magnetization plateau states are governed by the excitation gaps. Our study opens new directions for exploring interacting trimer-dimer spin chains in quantum magnetism using experimental techniques such as neutron scattering, as well as theoretical and numerical approaches including quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) and density-matrix renormalization group (DMRG) methods. Furthermore, we extend the Oshikawa-Yamanaka-Affleck (OYA) condition to generalized cluster chains, demonstrating that the allowed magnetization plateaus are governed by the global periodicity of the chain (e.g., Q=5 for a trimer-dimer chain), rather than by the local periodicity of individual units (Q=3 for a trimer or Q=2 for a dimer).
The quantum criticality and thermodynamics for the trimerized spin-1/2 isotropic XY chain with three-spin interactions in an external magnetic field are investigated by means of the Green's function theory combined with Jordan–Wigner transformation. The ground-state phase diagrams are explored, in which various phases are identified and described by typical M–h curves. Therein, two cusps emerge for strong three-spin interactions in two gapless phases at low and high fields, respectively. Moreover, the spin correlations and two-site entanglement entropy are calculated for a further understanding of quantum phase transition (QPT). It is also found that the magnetic-field-driven quantum criticality is closely related to the energy spectrum, in which an energy gap responsible for the appearance of 1/3 magnetization plateau can be opened up by three-spin interactions. The critical behavior disappears when the temperature becomes nonzero, yielding only a crossover behavior. In addition, the gapped low-lying excitations are responsible for the observed thermodynamic behaviors, wherein a structure with three peaks in the temperature dependence of specific heat is unveiled.
We used the Jordan–Wigner transform and the invariant eigenoperator method to study the magnetic phase diagram and the magnetization curve of the spin-1/2 alternating ferrimagnetic diamond chain in an external magnetic field at finite temperature. The magnetization versus external magnetic field curve exhibits a 1/3 magnetization plateau at absolute zero and finite temperatures, and the width of the 1/3 magnetization plateau was modulated by tuning the temperature and the exchange interactions. Three critical magnetic field intensities H CB, H CE and H CS were obtained, in which the H CB and H CE correspond to the appearance and disappearance of the 1/3 magnetization plateau, respectively, and the higher H CS correspond to the appearance of fully polarized magnetization plateau of the system. The energies of elementary excitation ℏ ω σ,k (σ = 1, 2, 3) present the extrema of zero at the three critical magnetic fields at 0 K, i.e., [ℏ ω 3,k (H CB)]min = 0, [ℏ ω 2,k (H CE)]max = 0 and [ℏ ω 2,k (H CS)]min = 0, and the magnetic phase diagram of magnetic field versus different exchange interactions at 0 K was established by the above relationships. According to the relationships between the system’s magnetization curve at finite temperatures and the critical magnetic field intensities, the magnetic field-temperature phase diagram was drawn. It was observed that if the magnetic phase diagram shows a three-phase critical point, which is intersected by the ferrimagnetic phase, the ferrimagnetic plateau phase, and the Luttinger liquid phase, the disappearance of the 1/3 magnetization plateau would inevitably occur. However, the 1/3 magnetization plateau would not disappear without the three-phase critical point. The appearance of the 1/3 magnetization plateau in the low temperature region is the macroscopic manifestations of quantum effect.
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.
The magnetization process, the susceptibility, and the specific heat of the spin-1∕2 antiferromagnet (AF)-AF-ferromagnet (F) and F-F-AF trimerized quantum Heisenberg chains have been investigated by means of the transfer matrix renormalization group (TMRG) technique as well as the modified spin-wave (MSW) theory. A magnetization plateau at m=1∕6 for both trimerized chains is observed at low temperature. The susceptibility and the specific heat show various behaviors for different ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic interactions and in different magnetic fields. The TMRG results of susceptibility and the specific heat can be nicely fitted by a linear superposition of double two-level systems, where two fitting equations are proposed. Three branch excitations, one gapless excitation and two gapful excitations, for both systems are found within the MSW theory. It is observed that the MSW theory captures the main characteristics of the thermodynamic behaviors at low temperatures. The TMRG results are also compared with the possible experimental data.
Trimerized Spin-1/2 Chain: Emergent Low-Energy Hamiltonian, Higher-Energy Excitations, and Magnetic and Thermodynamic Responses
We investigate a spin-1/2 antiferromagnetic chain with trimerized exchange couplings relevant to Na2Cu3Ge4O12. We show that the low-energy Hilbert space maps onto an effective Heisenberg chain of composite spin-1/2 trimer degrees of freedom with positive coupling, enabling an exact spinon excitations via the Bethe ansatz. To access higher-energy dynamics, we develop a self-consistent Jordan-Wigner mean-field theory that yields three fermionic bands reflecting the underlying trimer structure. Remarkably, this approach reproduces the exact low-energy spinon continuum while predicting two additional higher-energy excitation bands consistent with the experimental observations and previous numerical simulations. The theory further captures the 1/3 magnetization plateau under an applied magnetic field, and provides testable predictions in magnetic susceptibility and specific heat. Our results establish a unified framework connecting low- and high-energy excitations in trimerized quantum spin chains.