The field-induced Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transition in the ground state of the triangular antiferromagnetic Ising model is studied by the level-spectroscopy method. We analyze dimensions of operators around the BKT line, and estimate the BKT point H(c) approximately equal to 0.5229 +/-0.001, which is followed by the level-consistency check to demonstrate the accuracy of our estimate. Further we investigate the anisotropic case to clarify the stability of the field-induced string-density plateau against an incommensurate liquid state by the density-matrix renormalization-group method.
We investigate the triangular-lattice antiferromagnetic Ising model with a spatially anisotropic next-nearest-neighbor ferromagnetic coupling, which was first discussed by Kitatani and Oguchi. By employing the effective geometric factor, we analyze the scaling dimensions of the operators around the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transition lines, and determine the global phase diagram. Our numerical data exhibit that two types of BKT-transition lines separate the intermediate critical region from the ordered and disordered phases, and they do not merge into a single curve in the antiferromagnetic region. We also estimate the central charge and perform some consistency checks among scaling dimensions in order to provide the evidence of the six-state clock universality. Further, we provide an analysis of the shapes of boundaries based on the crossover argument.
Quantum Ising model on a triangular lattice hosts a finite temperature Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) phase with emergent U(1) symmetry, and it will transit into an up-up-down (UUD) phase with
C3 symmetry breaking upon an infinitesimal external field along the longitudinal direction, but the overall phase diagram spanned by the axes of external field and temperature remains opaque due to the lack of systematic investigations with controlled methodologies. By means of quantum Monte Carlo at finite temperature and ground state density matrix renormalization group simulations, we map out the phase diagram of triangular quantum Ising model. Starting from the upper BKT temperature at zero field, we obtain the phase boundary between the UUD and paramagnetic phases with its 2D
q=3 Potts universality at weak field and weakly first order transition at strong field. Originated from the lower BKT temperature at zero field, we analyze the low temperature phase boundary between the clock phase and the UUD phase with Ising symmetry breaking at weak fields and the quantum phase transition between the UUD and fully polarized phases at strong fields. The accurate many-body numerical results are consistent with our field theoretical analysis. The experimental relevance towards the BKT magnet
TmMgGaO4 and programmable quantum simulators are also discussed.
We use a combination of numerical density matrix renormalization group calculations and several analytical approaches to comprehensively study a simplified model for a spatially anisotropic spin-
21 triangular lattice Heisenberg antiferromagnet: the three-leg triangular spin tube (TST). The model is described by three Heisenberg chains, with exchange constant
J, coupled antiferromagnetically with exchange constant ${J}^{\ensuremath{'}}$ along the diagonals of the ladder system, with periodic boundary conditions in the shorter direction. Here, we determine the full phase diagram of this model as a function of both spatial anisotropy (between the isotropic and decoupled chain limits) and magnetic field. We find a rich phase diagram, which is remarkably dominated by quantum states: the phase corresponding to the classical ground state appears only in an exceedingly small region. Among the dominant phases generated by quantum effects are commensurate and incommensurate coplanar quasiordered states, which appear in the vicinity of the isotropic region for most fields, and in the high-field region for most anisotropies. The coplanar states, while not classical ground states, can at least be understood semiclassically. Even more strikingly, the largest region of phase space is occupied by a spin density wave phase, which has incommensurate collinear correlations along the field. This phase has no semiclassical analog, and may be ascribed to enhanced one-dimensional fluctuations due to frustration. Cutting across the phase diagram is a magnetization plateau, with a gap to all excitations and ``up-up-down'' spin order, with a quantized magnetization equal to
31 of the saturation value. In the TST, this plateau extends almost but not quite to the decoupled chains limit. Most of the above features are expected to carry over to the two-dimensional system, which we also discuss. At low field, a dimerized phase appears, which is particular to the one-dimensional nature of the TST, and which can be understood from quantum Berry phase arguments.
We study the breakdown of the magnetization plateau at the magnetization M = M S /3 ( M S is the saturation magnetization) of the S = 1/2 anisotropic spin chain with ferromagnetic-ferromagnetic-antiferromagnetic interactions. We consider the model with the isotropic ferromagnetic (trimer) coupling J F , and anisotropic antiferromagnetic coupling ( J x = J y = J AF and J z = J AF ). For the limit of large J F / J AF , the model is equivalent to the S = 3/2 XXZ chain with the exchange anisotropy . There is a phase transition between the plateau (small- ) and the no-plateau (large- ) regions. This phase transition is of the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless type, and we determine the phase boundary from the numerical diagonalization data. For = 1, in particular, the phase transition between the plateau and the no-plateau regions occurs at the point c = 15.4.
We investigate an antiferromagnetic triangular Ising model with anisotropic ferromagnetic interactions between further neighbors, originally proposed by Kitatani and Oguchi [J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. 57, 1344 (1988)]. The phase diagram as a function of temperature and the ratio between first- and second-neighbor interaction strengths is thoroughly examined. We search for a Kosterlitz-Thouless transition to a state with algebraic decay of correlations, calculating the correlation lengths on strips of width up to 15 sites by transfer-matrix methods. Phenomenological renormalization, conformal invariance arguments, the Roomany-Wyld approximation, and a direct analysis of the scaled mass gaps are used. Our results provide limited evidence that a Kosterlitz-Thouless phase is present. Alternative scenarios are discussed.