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Journal of Physics Conference Series

Unconventional phases of the alternating-spin Heisenberg chain with extra three-body exchange terms

Nedko B. Ivanov, Jürgen Schnack

Published Dec 3, 2014• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

The Heisenberg chain with alternating site spins ( S ,σ) = (1, 1/2) defines a realistic prototype model admitting extra isotropic three-body exchange terms which drive the chain into exotic quantum phases. In this paper, we focus on the non-magnetic part of the phase diagram. Based on numerical density-matrix renormalization group and exact-diagonalization calculations, we demonstrate that the nearest-neighbor three-body interaction stabilizes (i) a critical spin liquid phase described by two Gaussian conformal theories as well as (ii) a critical nematic-like phase characterized by dominant quadrupolar S-spin fluctuations. The emergence of these phases reflects some specific features of the three-body terms such as the promotion of local collinear spin configurations and the enhanced tendency towards nearest- neighbor clustering of the spins.

DOI
10.1088/1742-6596/558/1/012015

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The Heisenberg chain with alternating site spins ( S ,σ) = (1, 1/2) defines a realistic prototype model admitting extra isotropic three-body exchange terms which drive the chain into exotic quantum phases. In this paper, we focus on the non-magnetic part of the phase diagram. Based on numerical density-matrix renormalization group and exact-diagonalization calculations, we demonstrate that the nearest-neighbor three-body interaction stabilizes (i) a critical spin liquid phase described by two Gaussian conformal theories as well as (ii) a critical nematic-like phase characterized by dominant quadrupolar S-spin fluctuations. The emergence of these phases reflects some specific features of the three-body terms such as the promotion of local collinear spin configurations and the enhanced tendency towards nearest- neighbor clustering of the spins.
Additional three-site exchange interactions, naturally arising, e.g., in the strong-coupling expansion of the two-band Hubbard model and in various effective spin Hamiltonians, may stabilize various exotic spin phases which are not typical for the pure Heisenberg models on frustrated lattices and/or with extra biquadratic exchange terms. The reason is hidden in some specific features of the isotropic three-site exchange interactions, such as the promotion of collinear spin configurations as well as the reinforcing tendency towards clustering of the quantum spins on the shortest exchange bonds. As a result, systems with integer and half­integer composite spins in the unit cell might be expected to support different quantum phase diagrams. In this work, we study this phenomenon by comparing the quantum phase diagrams of two Heisenberg chains with extra three-site exchange terms and two different alternating pairs of site spins S and σ [( S , σ) = and ( ], resulting in half-integer and integer cell spins S + σ , respectively.
The J1-J3 Heisenberg spin models with nearest-neighbor (J1) and additional isotropic three-site (J3) spin interactions remain relatively less explored, although such types of competing exchange terms can naturally emerge from different sources, including the strong-coupling expansion of the multiorbital Hubbard model. Below we present a short survey of the recently published research in this field, the emphasis being on the characteristics of the variety of quantum phases supported by a few generic uniform- and alternating-spin J1-J3 Heisenberg chains. For the reason that the positive (J3>0) three-site couplings tend towards the formation of local quantum dimers, the J1-J3 spin models typically experience some spontaneous dimerization upon increasing J3. Actually, it occurred that the established dimer phases in spin-S J1-J3 Heisenberg chains (S>1/2) serve as complete analogues of the famous gapped Majumdar-Ghosh dimer phase in the spin-1/2 Heisenberg chain with next-nearest-neighbor couplings. The same dimerizations have been observed in the alternating-spin (S,σ) J1-J3 chains (S>σ), provided that the cell spin S+σ= integer, whereas for half-integer cell spin, the local dimer formation produces gapless spin-liquid ground states. The alternating-spin J1-J3 chains also provide some typical examples of spin models supporting the so-called non-Lieb-Mattis magnetic phases.
We investigate the phase diagram of a quantum mixed-spin (1/2,1/2,1,1)(1/2,1/2,1,1)(1/2,1/2,1,1) Heisenberg tetramer chain featuring bond-alternating antiferromagnetic nearest-neighbor exchange interactions and single-ion anisotropy. This model exhibits a rich phase structure comprising three gapped phases: the antiferromagnetic, topological valence-bond-solid (TVBS), and the trivial nonmagnetic phases (TnM). We identify a multicritical Wess-Zumino-Witten SU(2)1SU{(2)}_{1}SU(2)1​ point where two Ising critical lines merge, forming a higher-symmetry point that realizes conformal embedding on the lattice. Beyond this multicritical point, a Gaussian critical line emerges, determining the boundary between the TVBS and the TnM phases. Utilizing the tangential finite-size scaling method, we demonstrate the precision with which critical points and correlation length critical exponents can be extracted along this Gaussian line. Our results reveal rich critical phenomena induced by the interplay of bond-alternating exchange and anisotropic single-ion interactions in quantum many-body systems.
Based on exact diagonalization and density matrix renormalization group method, we show that an anisotropic triangular lattice Heisenberg spin model has three distinct quantum phases. In particular, a spin-liquid phase is present in the weak interchain coupling regime, which is characterized by an anisotropic spin structure factor with an exponential-decay spin correlator along the weaker coupling direction, consistent with the Cs2CuCl4{\mathrm{Cs}}_{2}\mathrm{Cu}{\mathrm{Cl}}_{4}Cs2​CuCl4​ compounds. In the obtained phase diagram, the spin-liquid phase is found to persist up to a relatively large critical anisotropic coupling ratio ${J}^{\ensuremath{'}}∕J=0.78$, which is stabilized by strong quantum fluctuations, with a parity symmetry distinct from two magnetic ordered states in the stronger coupling regime.
We study Heisenberg spin-1/2 and spin-1 chains with alternating ferromagnetic (J(1)(F)) and antiferromagnetic (J(1)(A)) nearest-neighbor interactions and a ferromagnetic next-nearest-neighbor interaction (J(2)(F)). In this model frustration is present due to the non-zero J(2)(F). The model with site spin s behaves like a Haldane spin chain, with site spin 2s in the limit of vanishing J(2)(F) and large J(1)(F)/J(1)(A). We show that the exact ground state of the model can be found along a line in the parameter space. For fixed J(1)(F), the phase diagram in the space of J(1)(A)-J(2)(F) is determined using numerical techniques complemented by analytical calculations. A number of quantities, including the structure factor, energy gap, entanglement entropy and zero temperature magnetization, are studied to understand the complete phase diagram. An interesting and potentially important feature of this model is that it can exhibit a macroscopic magnetization jump in the presence of a magnetic field; we study this using an effective Hamiltonian.
The ground-state phase diagram of S=2S=2S=2 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg chains with coexisting uniform and alternating single-site anisotropies is investigated by the numerical exact diagonalization and density matrix renormalization group methods. We find the Haldane, large-DDD, Néel, period-doubled Néel, gapless spin fluid, quantized and partial ferrimagnetic phases. The Haldane phase is limited to the close neighborhood of the isotropic point. Within numerical accuracy, the transition from the gapless spin-fluid phase to the period-doubled Néel phase is a direct transition. Nevertheless, the presence of a narrow spin-gap phase between these two phases is suggested on the basis of the low-energy effective theory. The ferrimagnetic ground state is present in a wide parameter range. This suggests the realization of magnetized single-chain magnets with a uniform spin magnitude by controlling the environment of each magnetic ion without introducing ferromagnetic interactions.