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Physical Review Letters

Absence of Ferromagnetism or Antiferromagnetism in One- or Two-Dimensional Isotropic Heisenberg Models

N. David Mermin, H. Wagner

Published Nov 28, 1966• 8,362 citations
Publisher

Abstract

It is rigorously proved that at any nonzero temperature, a one- or two-dimensional isotropic spin-$S$ Heisenberg model with finite-range exchange interaction can be neither ferromagnetic nor antiferromagnetic. The method of proof is capable of excluding a variety of types of ordering in one and two dimensions.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.17.1133

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It is rigorously proved that at any nonzero temperature, a one- or two-dimensional isotropic spin-SSS Heisenberg model with finite-range exchange interaction can be neither ferromagnetic nor antiferromagnetic. The method of proof is capable of excluding a variety of types of ordering in one and two dimensions.
The method of Mermin and Wagner [Phys. Rev. Lett. 17, 1133 (1966)] is used to show that one- and two-dimensional spin systems interacting with a general isotropic interaction H=12 ∑ ijn Iij(n) (Si·Sj)n,where the exchange interactionsIij(n) are of finite range, cannot order in the sense that 〈Oi〉=0for all traceless operators Oi defined at a single site i. Mermin and Wagner have proved the above for the case n = 1 with Oi = Si, i.e., for the Heisenberg Hamiltonian. The proof allows us to rule out the possibility that a small isotropic biquadratic exchange (Si·Sj)2 could induce ferromagnetism or antiferromagnetism in a two-dimensional Heisenberg system.
The Mermin-Wagner theorem is strengthened so as to rule out magnetic long-range order at T>0T>0T>0 in one- or two-dimensional Heisenberg and XY systems with long-range interactions decreasing as ${R}^{\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\alpha}}$ with a sufficiently large exponent $\ensuremath{\alpha}$. For oscillatory interactions, ferromagnetic long-range order at T>0T>0T>0 is ruled out if $\ensuremath{\alpha}\ensuremath{\ge}1(D\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}1)$ or $\ensuremath{\alpha}>5/2(D\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}2)$. For systems with monotonically decreasing interactions, ferro- or antiferromagnetic long-range order at T>0T>0T>0 is ruled out if $\ensuremath{\alpha}\ensuremath{\ge}2D$.
We study the ground-state and finite-temperature properties of the one-dimensional isotropic spin-1/2 Heisenberg magnet with ferromagnetic nearest-neighbor and antiferromagnetic next-nearest-neighbor interactions which compete with each other. Extrapolating the exact results for finite-size systems of up to 20 spins, we estimate the ground-state energy and the ground-state two-spin correlation function in the infinite-size limit. Using the cluster transfer matrix method, we also calculate the temperature dependence of the internal energy and the specific heat and that of the inverse correlation length and the wave number, by both of which the asymptotic behavior of the two-spin correlation function in the long-distance limit is characterized. We compare the results of these calculations with those obtained previously for the case where the nearest-neighbor interaction is antiferromagnetic.
We study quantum ferrimagnets in one, two, and three dimensions by using a variety of methods and approximations. These include: (i) a treatment based on the spin coherent state path-integral formulation of quantum ferrimagnets by taking into account the leading order quantum and thermal fluctuations (ii) a field-theoretical (non-linear σσσ-model type) formulation of the special case of one-dimensional quantum ferrimagnets at zero temperature (iii) an effective description in terms of dimers and quantum rotors, and (iv) a quantum renormalization group study of ferrimagnetic Heisenberg chains. Some of the formalism discussed here can be used for a unified treatment of both ferromagnets and antiferromagnets in the semiclassical limit. We show that the low (high) energy effective Hamiltonian of a (S_1, S_2) Heisenberg ferrimagnet is a ferromagnetic (antiferromagnetic) Heisenberg model. We also study the phase diagram of quantum ferrimagnets in the presence of an external magnetic field h (hc1<h<hc2h_{c1} < h < h_{c2}hc1​<h<hc2​) and show that the low- and the high-field phases correspond respectively to the classical Néel and the fully polarized ferromagnetic states. We also calculate the transition temperature for the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless phase transition in the special case of two-dimensional quantum ferrimagnets.
We give a rigorous proof of the existence of long-range antiferromagnetic order in the ground state of several two-dimensional spin-1/2 Heisenberg systems.Three types of systems are considered.The first type consists of an even number, N , of coupled square lattices with antiferromagnetic nearest-neighbor Heisenberg interactions.In this case, we prove the existence of long-range order (LRO) in the ground state for an interplane to inplane coupling ratio r in the range 0.16 ≤ r ≤ 2.1 for N ≥ 4. Further, we prove that the antiferromagnetic bilayer with ferromagnetic next-nearest-neighbor (nnn) interplane couplings possesses LRO in the ground state for 0.21 ≤ r < 1/4, where r is the absolute value of the ratio of the ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic couplings.The final example consists of two antiferromagnetic spin-1/2 square lattices that are coupled via an antiferromagnetic nnn interplane coupling r.For r = 1, this system is effectively a spin-1 square lattice and has an ordered ground state.We show that LRO exists in the region 0.85 ≤ r ≤ 1. * ) Note that E r q in the notation of KLS corresponds to 2 + r -E q in our notation.