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Reviews in Mathematical Physics

THE HALDANE GAP IN ANTIFERROMAGNETIC HEISENBERG CHAINS

Ian K. Affleck

Published Jan 1, 1994• 10 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Integer-spin Heisenberg antiferromagnetic chains are expected to have a singlet groundstate and a gap to the first excited state, as first argued by Haldane. We review rigorous results on this conjecture and discuss experimental realizations. Theoretical and experimental aspects of three recent developments in this field are then reviewed: chainend excitations and the non-local order parameter, a field theory mapping and behavior near zero wave-vector, high-field behavior and one-dimensional Bose condensation.

DOI
10.1142/s0129055x94000286

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Integer-spin Heisenberg antiferromagnetic chains are expected to have a singlet groundstate and a gap to the first excited state, as first argued by Haldane. We review rigorous results on this conjecture and discuss experimental realizations. Theoretical and experimental aspects of three recent developments in this field are then reviewed: chainend excitations and the non-local order parameter, a field theory mapping and behavior near zero wave-vector, high-field behavior and one-dimensional Bose condensation.
Since the Heisenberg spin chain can be considered the simplest realistic model of magnetism, surprise and some degree of controversy have resulted from recent work of Haldane. The prediction is that quantum spin chains with half-integer spin should all display T=0 phase behavior equivalent to that of the Bethe Ansatz integrable (solvable) spin-1/2 quantum chain. More remarkably, the class of integer spin chains is predicted to show very different phase behavior. In particular, a gap should be present in the spectrum of a Heisenberg antiferromagnetic chain. This remarkable feature is counterintuitive in terms of accepted wisdom in magnetism (spin-wave theory, spin-Peierls theory) and critical phenomena. Consequently the vertification of the prediction is of great interest. A considerable amount of numerical work has been done, involving finite-chain, finite-size scaling, variational, Monte Carlo and other calculations, which will be reviewed here. The present consensus is that the weight of numerical evidence supports the prediction, although puzzling features still remain. Adding additional interactions to the basic Heisenberg Hamiltonian such as spin (XXZ) anisotropy, single-ion anisotropy, biquadratic exchange, and an applied magnetic field, generates a rich and complicated phase diagram for chains with spin >1/2, particularly for the case of integer spin. The s=1 phase diagram seems to display critical behavior of a type not previously encountered. A theoretical appraisal of the Haldane phenomenon will include a discussion of the possible role of nonintegrability. Mention will also be made of current progress in experimental investigation of the phenomenon, including problems that might be encountered. More recent work of Affleck has greatly generalized the field-theoretic mappings which underlay the original work of Haldane. A number of interesting problems have been mapped into quantum spin chains of various types, including field theoretic phenomena and the localization problem of the quantum Hall effect.
For the antiferromagnetically coupled integer-spin Ni2+{\mathrm{Ni}}^{2+}Ni2+ chains of CsNiCl3{\mathrm{CsNiCl}}_{3}CsNiCl3​ the Haldane gap is found by neutron scattering to be a singlet-to-triplet spin excitation. It has a 2\ensuremath{\pi} periodicity in momentum space with a dispersion relation that falls to a value of order twice the gap energy as Q\ensuremath{\rightarrow}2\ensuremath{\pi}. When the coupled Ni2+{\mathrm{Ni}}^{2+}Ni2+ chains undergo the transition to three-dimensional order, a set of longitudinal modes is found to occur that are not present in conventional theory where the excitations are transverse spin waves. Our calculations of the intensities show that near the ordering wave vector (1/3, 1)/3 ,1) the new modes agree with the field theory of Affleck but not with spin-wave theory. At larger interchain wave vectors both field theory and spin-wave theory break down.
The antiferromagnetic Heisenberg spin chain with integer spin has a short-range magnetic order and an excitation energy gap above the ground state. This so-called Haldane gap is proportional to the exchange coupling constant J of the Heisenberg chain. In this study, we discuss recent results about the spin dependence of the Haldane gap and conjecture an analytical formula valid asymptotically for large spin values. We then discuss the robustness of the edge states of the spin-1 chain by studying a spin-1 ladder using the density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) algorithm. We show that the peculiar hidden topological order of the spin-1 chain disappears smoothly by increasing the ladder rung coupling without any intervening phase transition. This is evidence for the fragile character of the topological order of the spin-1 chain.
According to Haldane’s conjecture, there is a spin gap of the excitation spectrum in integer Heisenberg spin chains whereas half-integer spin chains have a gapless excitation spectrum. In an earlier publication (Hung and Gong 2005 Phys. Rev. B 71 054413), the Haldane gap and other properties of the spin-1 system are explained using a spin-1/2 alternating bond chain model. The ferromagnetic–ferromagnetic–antiferromagnetic Heisenberg spin-1/2 chain is expected to behave similarly to the uniform spin-3/2 Heisenberg chain for strong ferromagnetic coupling. And the general nonuniform spin-1/2 chain may be used to explain the properties of the integer and half-integer high spin- S chains, consistently. In this paper, we provide a detailed numerical verification for the above problems.
The double chain Heisenberg antiferromagnet with anisotropy is studied using the mapping onto the coupled anisotropic nonlinear σ model. This model consists of two anisotropic antiferromagnetic quantum Heisenberg chains with half-integer spin coupled with each other via the ferromagnetic interchain coupling J '. For small J ', our analysis suggests that J ' is an irrelevant parameter and consequently the two chains behave independently and no gap is generated. On the other hand, for large enough J ', the two chains behave as a single Heisenberg chain with integer spin which has a gap in the excitation spectrum. The expected behavior in the isotropic limit is also discussed.