The spin-Peierls transition at
TSP of spin-
21 chains with isotropic exchange interactions has previously been modeled as correlated for
T>TSP and mean field for
T<TSP. We use correlated states throughout in the ${J}_{1}\text{\ensuremath{-}}{J}_{2}$ model with antiferromagnetic exchange
J1 and ${J}_{2}=\ensuremath{\alpha}{J}_{1}$ between first and second neighbors, respectively, and variable frustration $0\ensuremath{\le}\ensuremath{\alpha}\ensuremath{\le}0.50$. The thermodynamic limit is reached at high
T by exact diagonalization of short chains and at low
T by density matrix renormalization group calculations of progressively longer chains. In contrast to mean field results, correlated states of 1D models with linear spin-phonon coupling and a harmonic adiabatic lattice provide an internally consistent description in which the parameter
TSP yields both the stiffness and the lattice dimerization $\ensuremath{\delta}(T)$. The relation between
TSP and $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}(\ensuremath{\delta},\ensuremath{\alpha})$, the
T=0 gap induced by dimerization, depends strongly on $\ensuremath{\alpha}$ and deviates from the BCS gap relation that holds in uncorrelated spin chains. Correlated states account quantitatively for the magnetic susceptibility of TTF-
CuS4C4(CF3)4 crystals (
J1=79K, $\ensuremath{\alpha}=0$,
TSP=12K) and
CuGeO3 crystals (
J1=160K, $\ensuremath{\alpha}=0.35$,
TSP=14K). The same parameters describe the specific heat anomaly of
CuGeO3 and inelastic neutron scattering. Modeling the spin-Peierls transition with correlated states exploits the fact that $\ensuremath{\delta}(0)$ limits the range of spin correlations at
T=0 while
T>0 limits the range at $\ensuremath{\delta}=0$.
The thermodynamics of coupled frustrated ferromagnetic chains is studied within a spin-rotation-invariant Green's-function approach. We consider an isotropic Heisenberg spin-half system with a ferromagnetic in-chain coupling
J1<0 between nearest neighbors and a frustrating antiferromagnetic next-nearest-neighbor in-chain coupling
J2>0. We focus on the moderate strength of frustration
J2<∣J1∣/4 such that the in-chain spin-spin correlations are predominantly ferromagnetic. We consider two interchain couplings (ICs) ${J}_{\ensuremath{\perp},y}$ and ${J}_{\ensuremath{\perp},z}$, corresponding to the two axes perpendicular to the chain, where ferromagnetic as well as antiferromagnetic ICs are taken into account. We discuss the influence of frustration on the ground-state properties for antiferromagnetic ICs, where the ground state is of a quantum nature. The major part of our study is devoted to the finite-temperature properties. We calculate the critical temperature
Tc as a function of the competing exchange couplings ${J}_{2},{J}_{\ensuremath{\perp},y},{J}_{\ensuremath{\perp},z}$. We find that for fixed ICs,
Tc decreases monotonically with increasing frustration
J2, where as ${J}_{2}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}|{J}_{1}|/4$ the
Tc(J2) curve drops down rapidly. To characterize the magnetic ordering below and above
Tc, we calculate the spin-spin correlation functions $\ensuremath{\langle}{\mathbf{S}}_{0}{\mathbf{S}}_{\mathbf{R}}\ensuremath{\rangle}$, the magnetic order parameter
M, the uniform static susceptibility ${\ensuremath{\chi}}_{0}$, as well as the correlation length $\ensuremath{\xi}$. Moreover, we discuss the specific heat
CV and the temperature dependence of the excitation spectrum ${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{\mathbf{q}}$. As ${J}_{2}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}|{J}_{1}|/4$, some unusual frustration-induced features were found, such as an increase of the in-chain spin stiffness (in the case of ferromagnetic ICs) or of the in-chain spin-wave velocity (in the case of antiferromagnetic ICs) with growing temperature.
We investigate the ground state properties of the two-dimensional half-filled one band Hubbard model in the strong (large-
U) to intermediate coupling limit (i.e., away from the strict Heisenberg limit) using an effective spin-only low-energy theory that includes nearest-neighbor exchange, ring exchange, and all other spin interactions to order
t(t∕U)3. We show that the operator for the staggered magnetization, transformed for use in the effective theory, differs from that for the order parameter of the spin model by a renormalization factor accounting for the increased charge fluctuations as
t∕U is increased from the $t∕U\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0$ Heisenberg limit. These charge fluctuations lead to an increase of the quantum fluctuations over and above those for an
S=1∕2 antiferromagnet. The renormalization factor ensures that the zero temperature staggered moment for the Hubbard model is a monotonously decreasing function of
t∕U, despite the fact that the moment of the spin Hamiltonian, which depends on transverse spin fluctuations only, in an increasing function of
t∕U. We also comment on quantitative aspects of the
t∕U and
1∕S expansions.
We study the effect of antiferromagnetic interactions on the single spin-flip Glauber dynamics of two different one-dimensional Ising models with spin $\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}1$. The first model is an Ising chain with antiferromagnetic exchange interaction limited to nearest neighbors and subject to an oscillating magnetic field. The system of master equations describing the time evolution of sublattice magnetizations can easily be solved within a linear field approximation and a long time limit. Resonant behavior of the magnetization as a function of temperature (stochastic resonance) is found, at low frequency, only when spins on opposite sublattices are uncompensated owing to different gyromagnetic factors (i.e., in the presence of a ferrimagnetic short range order). The second model is the axial next-nearest-neighbor Ising (ANNNI) chain, where an antiferromagnetic exchange between next-nearest neighbors is assumed to compete with a nearest-neighbor exchange interaction of either sign. The long time response of the model to a weak, oscillating magnetic field is investigated in the framework of a decoupling approximation for three-spin correlation functions, which is required to close the system of master equations. The calculation, within such an approximate theoretical scheme, of the dynamic critical exponent
z, defined as $1∕\ensuremath{\tau}\ensuremath{\approx}{(1∕\ensuremath{\xi})}^{z}$ (where $\ensuremath{\tau}$ is the longest relaxation time and $\ensuremath{\xi}$ is the correlation length of the chain), suggests that the
T=0 single spin-flip Glauber dynamics of the ANNNI chain is in a different universality class than that of the unfrustrated Ising chain.
Various forms of antiferromagnetic exchange interaction among quantized spins in one-dimensional and quasi-one-dimensional lattices are examined. Primary results are reported in two real compounds, the sodium vanadate NaV2O5 and the copper germanate CuGeO3, and in a class of compounds of real materials modeled as dimerized antiferromagnetically coupled spin-1/2 chains susceptible to spin-1 impurity doping and that include such examples as the strontium cuprate Sr14Cu24O41 and vanadium pyrophosphate (VO)2P2O7. Sodium vanadate, NaV2O5, a quarter-filled two-leg ladder compound that was originally thought to be composed of magnetic legs and nonmagnetic legs was subsequently shown to be a charge ordered system below room temperature. Initial models of the material as isolated antiferromagnetically coupled spin-1/2 chains can be mapped to the subsequently resolved magnetic system of the charge ordered state with the spins on molecular orbitals of V-O-V rungs antiferromagentically coupled between neighboring rungs either on the same ladder or on neighboring ladders. Comparing the model's dynamic structure factor to inelastic neutron scattering data could distinguish between the proposed spin coupling schemes and consequently reveal the details of the interaction between the lattice and the "zig-zag" charge density as well as the magnetic stabilization of the low temperature phase. Copper germanate, the first and only known inorganic spin-Peierls compound, exhibits a strong temperature dependent exchange coupling pattern among the spin-1/2 Cu2+ chains. Above the spin-Peierls transition temperature an unmodulated antiferromagnetic nearest neighbor exchange interaction J1 competes with an antiferromagnetic next nearest neighbor interaction J2. The next nearest neighbor exchange represents an effective coupling equivalent to the net effect of all longer range exchange interactions. This frustration to the nearest neighbor spin exchange produces a distinctive magnetic susceptibility χ (T) much different from the Bonner-Fisher susceptibility of the spin-1/2 Heisenberg chain with nearest neighbor antiferromagnetic exchange only. The ratio of the second to first nearest neighbor couplings α = J2/J1 ≈ 0.36 is sufficient to open a spontaneous gap in the spin-wave excitation spectrum at low temperatures. Below TSP = 14K, the dynamical structure factor is used to fit the dimerization δ and the exchange interactions J1 and J2 to the inelastic neutron scattering data of CuGeO3 at T = 10K. It is found that both δ and α increase significantly at lower temperatures, relative to the values obtained in the high temperature phase and at the onset of dimeration at 14 K. Static structure factor calculations how Scattering inconsistent with the δâJ1âJ2 model and can be attributed primarily to the phonon degrees of freedom but possibly also to the couplings between chains in the b and a directions of the crystal lattice. Structurally dimerized compounds of antiferromagnetic spin-1/2 chains possess dynamic structure factor and magnetic susceptibility features that are very sensitive to doping with magnetic and nonmagnetic impurities. It is shown that the effects of spin-1 impurities are very similar to those of nonmagnetic (S = 0) impurities if the coupling between impurity and native spin is about the same magnitude as or larger than between native S = 1/2 spins. The microscopic origins of the similarity can be appreciated with the consideration that neighboring spins to the impurity find it more energetically favorable to couple to the impurity than the other spins of the lattice. Thus the spin-1 impurity and its neighboring S = 1/2 spins decouple from the lattice, creating a nonmagnetic break in the chain. The spins that now observe a nonmagnetic cluster on one side can couple to the S = 1/2 spins on the other side with a higher AF correlation than in the pure compound since they do not have to have a ï¬uctuating dimer resonating between two neighbors. Such enhancements to the local correlations can stabilize the global AF order in one dimensional compounds as shown in theoretical and experimental studies of CuGeO3. ED calculations of the dynamic structure factor show that S(q, ω) developes states with ω = 0 in the gap at q = π. Magnetic susceptibilites in the presense of spin-1 impurities were obtained for 80 site chains by QMC simulations and for 16 site chains by ED calculations. An impurity concentration-dependent second peak in the low temperature region reveals an increasing second maximum with T as observed in doped copper germanates and suggests that the results of the study are applicable even to phonon mediated dimerization. This is not immediately apparent because spin-phonon coupling could distort the dimerization patterns. However, experimental and theoretical results show that elastic coupling between chains can stabilize the dimerization pattern due to the impurities and the results will still apply.
The zero and finite temperature spin-Peierls transitions in a quasi-one-dimensional spin-
21 Heisenberg model coupled to adiabatic bond phonons is investigated using the stochastic series expansion (SSE) quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) method. The quantum phase transition from a gapless N\'eel state to a spin-gapped Peierls state is studied in the parameter space spanned by spatial anisotropy, interchain coupling strength, and spin-lattice coupling strength. It is found that for any finite interchain coupling, the transition to a dimerized Peierls ground state only occurs when the spin-lattice coupling exceeds a finite, nonzero critical value. This is in contrast to the pure 1D model (zero interchain coupling), where adiabatic/classical phonons lead to a dimerized ground state for any nonzero spin-phonon interaction. The phase diagram in the parameter space shows that for a strong interchain coupling, the relation between the interchain coupling and the critical value of the spin-phonon interaction is linear whereas for weak interchain coupling, this behavior is found to have a natural logarithmlike relation. No region was found to have a long range magnetic order and dimerization occurring simultaneously. Instead, the N\'eel state order vanishes simultaneously with the setting in of the spin-Peierls state. For the thermal phase transition, a continuous heat capacity with a peak at the critical temperature
Tc shows a second order phase transition. The variation of the equilibrium bond length distortion ${\ensuremath{\delta}}_{eq}$ with temperature showed a power law relation which decayed to zero as the temperature was increased to
Tc, indicating a continuous transition from the dimerized phase to a paramagnetic phase with uniform bond length and zero antiferromagnetic susceptibility.