Physica Scripta

Néel order versus spin liquid in quantum Heisenberg antiferromagnets on triangular and Kagomé lattices

B. Bernu, P. Lecheminant, C. Lhuillier, Laurent Pierre

Published Jan 1, 1993• 19 citations

Abstract

We have realized a thorough quantum mechanical analysis of an extensive number of low lying levels of the Heisenberg Hamiltonian on small periodic samples. Striking qualitative differences appear between the spectra of the triangular lattice and those of the Kagomé lattice. Symmetries and finite size scaling of the low lying levels of the triangular antiferromagnetic point to an à la Néel symmetry breaking, and the dynamical structure factors corroborate this conclusion. The Kagomé antiferromagnet spectra are qualitatively different: no signature of a symmetry breaking has been exhibited and the dynamical structure factors of the low lying levels display broad bands. The Heisenberg antiferromagnet on a Kagomé lattice is a serious candidate for a spin liquid.

DOI: 10.1088/0031-8949/1993/t49a/032

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Physica Scripta

Néel order versus spin liquid in quantum Heisenberg antiferromagnets on triangular and Kagomé lattices

B. Bernu, P. Lecheminant, C. Lhuillier, Laurent Pierre

Published Jan 1, 1993• 19 citations

Publisher

Abstract

DOI: 10.1088/0031-8949/1993/t49a/032

Related papers

S=12 kagome Heisenberg antiferromagnet revisited

Andreas Martin Läuchli, Julien Sudan, Roderich Moessner

We examine the perennial quantum spin liquid candidate $S=\frac{1}{2}$ Heisenberg antiferromagnet on the kagome lattice. Our paper is based on achieving Lanczos diagonalization of the Hamiltonian on a 48 site cluster in sectors with dimensions as large as $5\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{11}$. The results reveal intricate structures in the low-lying energy spectrum. These structures by no means unambiguously support a ${\mathbb{Z}}_{2}$ spin liquid ground state, but instead appear compatible with several scenarios, including fourfold topological degeneracy, inversion symmetry breaking, and a combination thereof. We discuss finite-size effects, such as the apparent absence of the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis, and note that, while considerably reduced, some are still present for the largest cluster. Finally, we observe that an XXZ model in the Ising limit reproduces remarkably well the most striking features of finite-size spectra.We examine the perennial quantum spin liquid candidate $S=\frac{1}{2}$ Heisenberg antiferromagnet on the kagome lattice. Our paper is based on achieving Lanczos diagonalization of the Hamiltonian on a 48 site cluster in sectors with dimensions as large as $5\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{11}$. The results reveal intricate structures in the low-lying energy spectrum. These structures by no means unambiguously support a ${\mathbb{Z}}_{2}$ spin liquid ground state, but instead appear compatible with several scenarios, including fourfold topological degeneracy, inversion symmetry breaking, and a combination thereof. We discuss finite-size effects, such as the apparent absence of the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis, and note that, while considerably reduced, some are still present for the largest cluster. Finally, we observe that an XXZ model in the Ising limit reproduces remarkably well the most striking features of finite-size spectra.

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Dynamical signatures of symmetry-broken and liquid phases in an S = 12 Heisenberg antiferromagnet on the triangular lattice

Markus Drescher, Laurens Vanderstraeten, Roderich Moessner +1 more

We present the dynamical spin structure factor of the antiferromagnetic spin-$\frac{1}{2} {J}_{1}\text{\ensuremath{-}}{J}_{2}$ Heisenberg model on a triangular lattice obtained from large-scale matrix-product state simulations. The high frustration due to the combination of antiferromagnetic nearest- and next-nearest-neighbor interactions yields a rich phase diagram. We resolve the low-energy excitations both in the ${120}^{\ensuremath{\circ}}$ ordered phase and in the putative spin-liquid phase at ${J}_{2}/{J}_{1}=0.125$ . In the ordered phase, we observe an avoided decay of the lowest magnon branch, demonstrating the robustness of this phenomenon in the presence of gapless excitations. Our findings in the spin-liquid phase chime with the field-theoretical predictions for a gapless Dirac spin liquid, in particular the picture of low-lying monopole excitations at the corners of the Brillouin zone. We comment on possible practical difficulties of distinguishing proximate liquid and solid phases based on the dynamical structure factor.We present the dynamical spin structure factor of the antiferromagnetic spin-$\frac{1}{2} {J}_{1}\text{\ensuremath{-}}{J}_{2}$ Heisenberg model on a triangular lattice obtained from large-scale matrix-product state simulations. The high frustration due to the combination of antiferromagnetic nearest- and next-nearest-neighbor interactions yields a rich phase diagram. We resolve the low-energy excitations both in the ${120}^{\ensuremath{\circ}}$ ordered phase and in the putative spin-liquid phase at ${J}_{2}/{J}_{1}=0.125$. In the ordered phase, we observe an avoided decay of the lowest magnon branch, demonstrating the robustness of this phenomenon in the presence of gapless excitations. Our findings in the spin-liquid phase chime with the field-theoretical predictions for a gapless Dirac spin liquid, in particular the picture of low-lying monopole excitations at the corners of the Brillouin zone. We comment on possible practical difficulties of distinguishing proximate liquid and solid phases based on the dynamical structure factor.

arXiv:2209.03344Physical review. B./Physical review. BDec 5, 202340 citations

We examine the perennial quantum spin liquid candidate

S=\frac{1}{2}

Heisenberg antiferromagnet on the kagome lattice. Our paper is based on achieving Lanczos diagonalization of the Hamiltonian on a 48 site cluster in sectors with dimensions as large as $5\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{11}$. The results reveal intricate structures in the low-lying energy spectrum. These structures by no means unambiguously support a

{\mathbb{Z}}_{2}

spin liquid ground state, but instead appear compatible with several scenarios, including fourfold topological degeneracy, inversion symmetry breaking, and a combination thereof. We discuss finite-size effects, such as the apparent absence of the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis, and note that, while considerably reduced, some are still present for the largest cluster. Finally, we observe that an XXZ model in the Ising limit reproduces remarkably well the most striking features of finite-size spectra.

We study the spin-

1∕2

Heisenberg model in a lattice that interpolates between the triangular and the kagome lattices. The exchange interaction along the bonds of the kagome lattice is

J

, and the one along the bonds connecting kagome and nonkagome sites is ${J}^{\ensuremath{'}}$, so that ${J}^{\ensuremath{'}}=J$ corresponds to the triangular limit and ${J}^{\ensuremath{'}}=0$ to the kagome one. We use variational and exact diagonalization techniques. We analyze the behavior of the order parameter for the antiferromagnetic phase of the triangular lattice, the spin gap, and the structure of the spin excitations as functions of ${J}^{\ensuremath{'}}∕J$. Our results indicate that the antiferromagnetic order is not affected by the reduction of ${J}^{\ensuremath{'}}$ down to ${J}^{\ensuremath{'}}∕J\ensuremath{\simeq}0.2$. Below this value, antiferromagnetic correlations grow weaker, a description of the ground state in terms of a N\'eel phase renormalized by quantum fluctuations becomes inadequate, and the finite-size spectra develop features that are not compatible with antiferromagnetic ordering. However, this phase does not appear to be connected to the kagome phase as well, as the low-energy spectra do not evolve with continuity for ${J}^{\ensuremath{'}}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0$ to the kagome limit. In particular, for any nonzero value of ${J}^{\ensuremath{'}}$, the latter interaction sets the energy scale for the low-lying spin excitations, and a gapless triplet spectrum, destabilizing the kagome phase, is expected.

\frac{1}{2}

Heisenberg model with easy-plane anisotropy on the kagome lattice. By employing a vortex duality transformation, followed by a fermionization and flux smearing, we obtain access to a gapless yet stable critical spin liquid phase, which is described by

(2+1)

-dimensional quantum electrodynamics

({\mathrm{QED}}_{3})

with an emergent SU(8) flavor symmetry. The specific heat, thermal conductivity, and dynamical structure factor are extracted from the effective field theory, and contrasted with other theoretical approaches to the kagome antiferromagnet.

{J}_{2}/{J}_{1}=0.125

. In the ordered phase, we observe an avoided decay of the lowest magnon branch, demonstrating the robustness of this phenomenon in the presence of gapless excitations. Our findings in the spin-liquid phase chime with the field-theoretical predictions for a gapless Dirac spin liquid, in particular the picture of low-lying monopole excitations at the corners of the Brillouin zone. We comment on possible practical difficulties of distinguishing proximate liquid and solid phases based on the dynamical structure factor.