In this article, we present new results of high-order coupled cluster method (CCM) calculations, based on a Néel model state with spins aligned in the
z-direction, for both the ground- and excited-state properties of the spin-half {\it XXZ} model on the linear chain, the square lattice, and the simple cubic lattice. In particular, the high-order CCM formalism is extended to treat the excited states of lattice quantum spin systems for the first time. Completely new results for the excitation energy gap of the spin-half {\it XXZ} model for these lattices are thus determined. These high-order calculations are based on a localised approximation scheme called the LSUB
m scheme in which we retain all
k-body correlations defined on all possible locales of
m adjacent lattice sites (
k≤m). The ``raw'' CCM LSUB
m results are seen to provide very good results for the ground-state energy, sublattice magnetisation, and the value of the lowest-lying excitation energy for each of these systems. However, in order to obtain even better results, two types of extrapolation scheme of the LSUB
m results to the limit
m→∞ (i.e., the exact solution in the thermodynamic limit) are presented. The extrapolated results provide extremely accurate results for the ground- and excited-state properties of these systems across a wide range of values of the anisotropy parameter.
A review of the coupled cluster method (CCM) applied to lattice quantum spin systems is presented here. The CCM formalism is explained and an application to the spin-half {\it XXZ} model on the square lattice is presented. Low orders of approximation are carried out analytically and a high-order CCM formulation is presented. Results for the SUB2 approximation are carried out numerically for SUB2-
m and analytically for SUB2. It is found that SUB2-
m results converge rapidly to the full SUB2 solution, including new results for the SUB2-
m limiting points compared to the SUB2 critical point. Results for the ground-state energy and the sublattice magnetisation are presented. A study of the excitation spectrum of this model at the SUB2 critical point is given. Indeed, the shape of the excitation spectrum at the SUB2 critical point is identical to that predicted by spin-wave theory for the isotropic model, albeit with a multiplicative factor of 1.1672. This result compares very well to results of cumulant series expansions and Monte Carlo simulation that again predict a similar shape for the excitation spectrum, but with multiplicative factors of 1.18 and 1.21$\pm$0.03, respectively. Results for the isotropic Heisenberg model on the square lattice for the spin-one antiferromagnet and the spin-one/spin-half ferrimagnet are also given.
Coplanar model states for applications of the coupled cluster method (CCM) to problems in quantum magnetism are those in which all spins lie in a plane, whereas three-dimensional (3D) model states are, by contrast, non-coplanar ones in which all the spins do not lie in any single plane. A crucial first step in applying the CCM to any such lattice quantum spin system is to perform a passive rotation of the local spin axes so that all spins in the model state appear mathematically to point in the same (say, downwards z-)direction. Whereas this process leads to terms with only real coefficients in the rotated Hamiltonian for coplanar model states, an additional complication arises for 3D model states where the corresponding coefficients can become complex-valued. We show here for the first time how high-order implementations of the CCM can be performed for such Hamiltonians. We explain in detail why the extension of the computational implementation of the CCM when going from coplanar to 3D model states is a non-trivial task that has not hitherto been undertaken. To illustrate these new developments, we present results for three cases: (a) the spin-half one-dimensional Ising ferromagnet in an applied transverse magnetic field (as an exactly solvable test model to use as a yardstick for the viability and accuracy of our new methodology); (b) the spin-half triangular-lattice Heisenberg antiferromagnet in the presence of an external magnetic field; and (c) the spin-S triangular-lattice XXZ antiferromagnet in the presence of an external magnetic field, for the cases
21≤S≤5 . For 3D model states the sets of algebraic CCM equations for the ket- and bra-state correlation coefficients become complex-valued, but ground-state expectation values of all physical observables are manifestly real numbers, as required, and as we explicitly demonstrate in all three applications. Indeed, excellent correspondence is seen with the results of other methods, where they exist, for these systems. In particular, our CCM results demonstrate explicitly that coplanar ordering is favoured over non-coplanar ordering for the triangular-lattice spin-half Heisenberg antiferromagnet at all values of the applied external magnetic field, whereas for the anisotropic XXZ model non-coplanar ordering can be favoured in some regions of the parameter space. Specifically, we present a precise determination of the boundary (i.e., the critical value of the XXZ anisotropy parameter
Δ ) between a 3D ground state and a coplanar ground state for the XXZ model for values for the external magnetic field near to saturation, for values of the spin quantum number
S≤5 . Although the CCM calculations are computationally intensive for this frustrated model, especially for high spin quantum numbers, our accurate new results certainly improve our understanding of it.