The ground-state phase diagram of a spin-
21 XXZ chain with competing ferromagnetic nearest-neighbor (
J1<0) and antiferromagnetic second-neighbor (
J2>0) exchange couplings is studied by means of the infinite time evolving block decimation algorithm and effective field theories. For the SU(2)-symmetric (Heisenberg) case, we show that the nonmagnetic phase in the range $\ensuremath{-}4<{J}_{1}/{J}_{2}<0$ has a small but finite ferromagnetic dimer order. We argue that this spontaneous dimer order is associated with effective spin-1 degrees of freedom on dimerized bonds, which collectively form a valence bond solid state as in the spin-1 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg chain (the Haldane spin chain). We thus call this phase the Haldane dimer phase. With easy-plane anisotropy, the model exhibits a variety of phases including the vector chiral phase with gapless excitations and the even-parity dimer and N\'eel phases with gapped excitations, in addition to the Haldane dimer phase. Furthermore, we show the existence of gapped phases with coexisting orders in narrow regions that intervene between the gapless chiral phase and any one of Haldane dimer, even-parity dimer, and N\'eel phases. Possible implications for quasi-one-dimensional edge-sharing cuprates are discussed.
The ground-state phase diagram of frustrated S=1 XXZ spin chains with the competing nearest- and next-nearest-neighbor antiferromagnetic couplings is studied using the infinite-system density-matrix renormalization-group method. We find six different phases, namely, the Haldane, gapped chiral, gapless chiral, double Haldane, Néel, and double Néel (uudd) phases. The gapped and gapless chiral phases are characterized by the spontaneous breaking of parity, in which the long-range order parameter is a chirality, κ_l = S_l^xS_{l+1}^y-S_l^yS_{l+1}^x, whereas the spin correlation decays either exponentially or algebraically. These chiral ordered phases appear in a broad region in the phase diagram for Δ< 0.95, where Δis an exchange-anisotropy parameter. The critical properties of phase transitions are also studied.
A frustrated spin-
1/2 XXZ chain model comprising a ferromagnetic nearest-neighbor coupling with the bond alternation, ${J}_{1}(1\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}\ensuremath{\delta})<0$, and an antiferromagnetic second-neighbor exchange coupling
J2>0 is studied at zero and weak magnetic fields by means of density-matrix renormalization-group calculations of order parameters, correlation functions, and the entanglement entropy, as well as an Abelian bosonization analysis. At zero magnetic field, the bond alternation $\ensuremath{\delta}>0$ suppresses the gapless phase characterized by a vector-chiral (VC) long-range order (LRO) and a quasi-LRO of an incommensurate spin spiral, whereas this phase occupies a large region in the space of
J1/J2 and the easy-plane exchange anisotropy for $\ensuremath{\delta}=0$ [S. Furukawa et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 257205 (2010)]. Then, four gapped phases are found to appear as the exchange anisotropy varies from the SU(2)-symmetric case to the U(1)-symmetric case: the Haldane dimer (D
+) phase with the same sign of the
x,y- and
z-component dimer order parameters, two VC dimer (VCD
+/VCD${}_{\ensuremath{-}}$) phases with the sign of the
z-component dimer order parameter being unaltered/reversed, and the even-parity dimer (D${}_{\ensuremath{-}}$) phase. At small magnetic fields, a field-induced ring-exchange interaction, which is proportional to a staggered scalar chirality and a magnetic flux penetrating the associated triangle, drives a transition from the D${}_{\ensuremath{-}}$ phase into a VC-Neel-dimer (VCND) phase, but not from the D
+ phase. This VCND phase is stable up to the large magnetic field at which the Zeeman term closes the spin gap. A possible relevance to Rb
2Cu
2Mo
3O
12 is discussed.
The ground-state phase diagram of the frustrated spin-S XXZ chain with the competing nearest- and next-nearest-neighbor antiferromagnetic couplings is studied numerically by using the density-matrix renormalization-group method for the cases of
S=1/2, 3/2, and
2. We are particularly interested in the possible gapless and gapped chiral phases, in which the chirality ${\ensuremath{\kappa}}_{l}{=S}_{l}^{x}{S}_{l+1}^{y}\ensuremath{-}{S}_{l}^{y}{S}_{l+1}^{x}$ exhibits a finite long-range order whereas the spin correlation decays either algebraically or exponentially. We show that the gapless chiral phase appears in a broad region of the phase diagram for general S. By contrast, the gapped chiral phase is found for integer S in a narrow region of the phase diagram, while it has not been identified for half-odd integer S within our numerical accuracy. By combining the results with our previous result for
S=1, we discuss the S dependence of the phase diagram. The prediction from a bosonization analysis on the decay exponent of the spin correlation is verified.
Ordering of frustrated S=1/2 and 1 XY and Heisenberg spin chains with the competing nearest- and next-nearest-neighbor antiferromagnetic couplings is studied by exact diagonalization and density-matrix renormalization-group methods. It is found that the S=1 XY chain exhibits both gapless and gapped `chiral' phases characterized by the spontaneous breaking of parity, in which the long-range order parameter is a chirality,
κi=SixSi+1y−SiySi+1x, whereas the spin correlation decays either algebraically or exponentially. Such chiral phases are not realized in the S=1/2 XY chain nor in the Heisenberg chains.
We investigate the quantum spin-1/2 zigzag chain with frustrated ${J}_{1}\ensuremath{-}{J}_{2}$ Heisenberg interactions, incorporating additional off-diagonal exchange interactions known as the $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Gamma}}$ term, both with and without an applied magnetic field. Based on the density-matrix renormalization group calculation, we map out the ground-state phase diagram that shows a variety of magnetic and nonmagnetic phases including multicritical points and several exactly solvable points. Upon introducing a finite $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Gamma}}$ term, we observe the persistent dimer-singlet state of the ${J}_{1}\ensuremath{-}{J}_{2}$ Heisenberg model, sustaining a nonzero spin gap, while also hosting a gapless nonmagnetic excitation that manifests in the substantial zero-energy peak in the nematic dynamical structure factor. This gapless peak-mode, remaining almost as a fluctuation to the ground state, induces a dilute but robust concentration of nematicity on top of singlets on dimers, which we call the nematic singlet-dimer phase. When the whole nematic excited mode condenses and replaces the singlet, the nematic-dimer phase transforms into the Ising-type ferromagnetic or antiferromagnetic long-range orders. The $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Gamma}}$ term spontaneously selects magnetic easy axes, and their orientations dictate the type of magnetic order under geometric frustration effects as predicted by Landau's mean-field theory. These theoretical findings provide insights into the exotic low-temperature phase observed in
YbCuS2, characterized by gapless excitations and seemingly nonmagnetic behavior.