In this thesis the quantum Monte Carlo loop algorithm is applied to study the properties of correlation functions in low-dimensional quantum antiferromagnets. Two different types of lattice models are investigated. The first system is the quantum critical XXZ chain. The second class of models emerges when coupling the square lattice Heisenberg model to phonons. In case of the quantum critical XXZ chain, the loop algorithm is used to compute the two-point spin and dimer correlation functions at low temperatures. Starting from the well-known asymptotic expressions from conformal field theory for the decay of the correlations, the crossover from the finite-temperature to the ground state behavior is investigated. In addtion, the Monte Carlo data are used to extract numerical estimates for the correlation amplitudes. The deviations from asymptotic scaling at low finite temperatures and intermediate distances are examined. The results are also used to study the algebraic and logarithmic corrections in the ground state. The method is further applied to compute the low-temperature spin correlations of the square lattice Heisenberg model coupled to dispersionless Einstein phonons. Also, statically dimerized Heisenberg models in two dimensions are investigated. Here the quantum Monte Carlo technique is used to determine the specific pattern of dimerized bonds which has the largest gain in the magnetic energy. A direct comparison of ground state energies is only possible for a small number of dimerized systems. For this reason an alternative approach is developed, which allows to study a significantly larger class of models. Starting from a Landau expansion of the free energy, this amounts to a computation of specific structure factors of the dimer correlations of the uniform Heisenberg model. As a consequence, a Landau theory for the two-dimensional counterpart of the spin-Peierls transition is established. This adiabatic approach also applies to the Heisenberg model coupled to dispersive phonons. In this case the data for the dimer correlations are used to study the impact of the spin-phonon coupling on the phonon dispersion relations. In particular, the softening of phonon modes is investigated, which is relevant for experimental studies on substances with a quasi two-dimensional magnetic structure.
In this thesis the quantum Monte Carlo loop algorithm is applied to study the properties of correlation functions in low-dimensional quantum antiferromagnets. Two different types of lattice models are investigated. The first system is the quantum critical XXZ chain. The second class of models emerges when coupling the square lattice Heisenberg model to phonons. In case of the quantum critical XXZ chain, the loop algorithm is used to compute the two-point spin and dimer correlation functions at low temperatures. Starting from the well-known asymptotic expressions from conformal field theory for the decay of the correlations, the crossover from the finite-temperature to the ground state behavior is investigated. In addtion, the Monte Carlo data are used to extract numerical estimates for the correlation amplitudes. The deviations from asymptotic scaling at low finite temperatures and intermediate distances are examined. The results are also used to study the algebraic and logarithmic corrections in the ground state. The method is further applied to compute the low-temperature spin correlations of the square lattice Heisenberg model coupled to dispersionless Einstein phonons. Also, statically dimerized Heisenberg models in two dimensions are investigated. Here the quantum Monte Carlo technique is used to determine the specific pattern of dimerized bonds which has the largest gain in the magnetic energy. A direct comparison of ground state energies is only possible for a small number of dimerized systems. For this reason an alternative approach is developed, which allows to study a significantly larger class of models. Starting from a Landau expansion of the free energy, this amounts to a computation of specific structure factors of the dimer correlations of the uniform Heisenberg model. As a consequence, a Landau theory for the two-dimensional counterpart of the spin-Peierls transition is established. This adiabatic approach also applies to the Heisenberg model coupled to dispersive phonons. In this case the data for the dimer correlations are used to study the impact of the spin-phonon coupling on the phonon dispersion relations. In particular, the softening of phonon modes is investigated, which is relevant for experimental studies on substances with a quasi two-dimensional magnetic structure.
In this thesis we apply recently developed, as well as sophisticated quantum Monte Carlo methods to numerically investigate models of strongly correlated electron systems on honeycomb structures. The latter are of particular interest owing to their unique properties when simulating electrons on them, like the relativistic dispersion, strong quantum fluctuations and their resistance against instabilities. This work covers several projects including the advancement of the weak-coupling continuous time quantum Monte Carlo and its application to zero temperature and phonons, quantum phase transitions of valence bond solids in spin-1/2 Heisenberg systems using projector quantum Monte Carlo in the valence bond basis, and the magnetic field induced transition to a canted antiferromagnet of the Hubbard model on the honeycomb lattice. The emphasis lies on two projects investigating the phase diagram of the SU(2) and the SU(N)-symmetric Hubbard model on the hexagonal lattice. At sufficiently low temperatures, condensed-matter systems tend to develop order. An exception are quantum spin-liquids, where fluctuations prevent a transition to an ordered state down to the lowest temperatures. Previously elusive in experimentally relevant microscopic two-dimensional models, we show by means of large-scale quantum Monte Carlo simulations of the SU(2) Hubbard model on the honeycomb lattice, that a quantum spin-liquid emerges between the state described by massless Dirac fermions and an antiferromagnetically ordered Mott insulator. This unexpected quantum-disordered state is found to be a short-range resonating valence bond liquid, akin to the one proposed for high temperature superconductors. Inspired by the rich phase diagrams of SU(N) models we study the SU(N)-symmetric Hubbard Heisenberg quantum antiferromagnet on the honeycomb lattice to investigate the reliability of 1/N corrections to large-N results by means of numerically exact QMC simulations. We study the melting of phases as correlations increase with decreasing N and determine whether the quantum spin liquid found in the SU(2) Hubbard model at intermediate coupling is a specific feature, or also exists in the unconstrained t-J model and higher symmetries.
This thesis is concerned with the numerical study of one-dimensional (1D) spin-1/2 quantum magnets and related method development. Its focus is on the calculation of dynamical spin correlation functions both at zero and finite temperature. This is motivated by the accessibility of dynamical quantities in experiments such as inelastic neutron scattering (INS) and electron spin resonance (ESR). The numerical methods used in this thesis are based on extensions of the density-matrix renormalization group (DMRG) and are formulated in the framework of matrix product states (MPS). While zero-temperature dynamical correlation functions are computed with existing MPS frequency-domain methods, an MPS frequency-domain approach for their calculation at finite temperature is developed in this thesis. The new method combines the Liouville-space formulation of the dynamics with a moment expansion of the dynamical correlation function. The majority of the results are obtained via MPS-based Chebyshev expansions. These numerical techniques are applied to two different model systems describing real materials. The first one is the material copper pyrimidine dinitrate (Cu-PM) which is modeled by a 1D spin-1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet with Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions. The spin dynamics of this model is studied in an applied magnetic field and compared to ESR experiments. Zero-temperature calculations for momentum- and frequency-resolved dynamical quantities give direct access to the intensity of the elementary excitations and go beyond the low-energy description by the quantum sine-Gordon model. Thus, a deviation from the Lorentz invariant dispersion for the single-soliton resonance is found. The presence of the strongest boundary bound state previously predicted from a boundary sine-Gordon field theory is confirmed, while composite boundary-bulk excitations have too low intensities to be found in the numerical results. At finite temperature, there is a temperature-induced crossover of the soliton. Moreover, additional temperature effects such as interbreather transitions emerge, which is confirmed by accompanying ESR experiments on Cu-PM over a wide range of the applied field strength. The second system studied in this thesis is the compound BaCu2V2O8. It is shown that the magnetic properties of this quasi-1D material can be described by a strongly alternating antiferromagnetic-ferromagnetic spin-1/2 Heisenberg chain. As found for other dimerized systems, the strong correlations in BaCu2V2O8 persist even at elevated temperatures. Moreover, these correlations lead to an asymmetric lineshape broadening of the magnetic excitations at finite temperature. Upon raising the temperature, an increasingly asymmetric lineshape is observed in high-resolution INS experiments for BaCu2V2O8. In this thesis, the lineshape is calculated by the MPS finite-temperature method developed as a part of this work. Comparing these results to the INS data and the lineshape obtained by a diagrammatic approach, excellent agreement is found over a broad temperature range. This demonstrates that coherent quantum behavior persists at elevated temperatures in BaCu2V2O8 and that it can be predicted quantitatively.
Classical and quantum spin systems are widely used models in both experimental and theoretical condensed matter physics. In many materials, the electronic interactions can be difficult to model exactly. However, in some insulators (Mott insulators), the magnetic (spin) interactions can be captured well with spin-only models. Several models are studied in this thesis. First, I report the solution of a long-standing issue in a classical frustrated spin model (i.e., where the quantum effects are neglected and the complexity is due to competing interactions): the nature of the thermal phase transition to a stripe state in the two dimensional (2D) J1-J2 model. Here J1 and J2 are nearest- and next-nearest-neighbor couplings. Monte Carlo simulations with single-spin updates are used for the calculations, and an extended-ensemble method, a generalization of the Wang-Landau algorithm, is also developed and tested. I focus on the study of "weak universality" behavior (continuously varying critical exponents, with one of the exponents staying fixed), for which I show a correspondence with a known class of conformal field theories with charge c = 1. Next, moving to quantum spins, to shed light on magnetic systems studied experimentally and to investigate new types of quantum states of interest in developing theories of quantum magnetism, I study the S = 1/2 Heisenberg model on the 2D square lattice with added six-spin interactions (the so-called J-Q3 model) as well as a set of 3D quantum antiferromagnets on dimerized lattices. Here I use the stochastic series expansion quantum Monte Carlo method. In the study of the J-Q3 model, I report on a similar weak-universality behavior as in the classical J1-J2 model, but with a mapping to a different known class of c = 1 conformal field theories. The critical behavior of the system again shows continuously changing exponents, in a way which corresponds to a gradual weakening of Z4 symmetry-breaking to an emergent U(1) symmetry. In the study of dimerized antiferromagnets, I report on a universal behavior of the Néel temperature TN, which can be related to ground state parameters independently of the microscopic interaction details in several different models.
The one-dimensional spin-1/2 Heisenberg model with nearest-neighbour interaction coupled to Einstein phonons is of interest for the understanding of materials which show the spin-Peierls phase transition. I examined this model by performing a finite-temperature quantum Monte Carlo simulation by using the very efficient loop algorithm. I studied in detail the magnetic susceptibility, the specific heat, the phonon occupation, the dimerization, and the spin-spin correlation function of this model for various spin-phonon couplings and phonon frequencies. In particular I gave evidence for a global effective spin-spin coupling and for the transition from a gapless to the massive phase by studying the finite-size behavior of the magnetic susceptibility.
In this thesis we apply recently developed, as well as sophisticated quantum Monte Carlo methods to numerically investigate models of strongly correlated electron systems on honeycomb structures. The latter are of particular interest owing to their unique properties when simulating electrons on them, like the relativistic dispersion, strong quantum fluctuations and their resistance against instabilities. This work covers several projects including the advancement of the weak-coupling continuous time quantum Monte Carlo and its application to zero temperature and phonons, quantum phase transitions of valence bond solids in spin-1/2 Heisenberg systems using projector quantum Monte Carlo in the valence bond basis, and the magnetic field induced transition to a canted antiferromagnet of the Hubbard model on the honeycomb lattice. The emphasis lies on two projects investigating the phase diagram of the SU(2) and the SU(N)-symmetric Hubbard model on the hexagonal lattice. At sufficiently low temperatures, condensed-matter systems tend to develop order. An exception are quantum spin-liquids, where fluctuations prevent a transition to an ordered state down to the lowest temperatures. Previously elusive in experimentally relevant microscopic two-dimensional models, we show by means of large-scale quantum Monte Carlo simulations of the SU(2) Hubbard model on the honeycomb lattice, that a quantum spin-liquid emerges between the state described by massless Dirac fermions and an antiferromagnetically ordered Mott insulator. This unexpected quantum-disordered state is found to be a short-range resonating valence bond liquid, akin to the one proposed for high temperature superconductors. Inspired by the rich phase diagrams of SU(N) models we study the SU(N)-symmetric Hubbard Heisenberg quantum antiferromagnet on the honeycomb lattice to investigate the reliability of 1/N corrections to large-N results by means of numerically exact QMC simulations. We study the melting of phases as correlations increase with decreasing N and determine whether the quantum spin liquid found in the SU(2) Hubbard model at intermediate coupling is a specific feature, or also exists in the unconstrained t-J model and higher symmetries.
We give a full description of a recently developed efficient Monte Carlo Approach to low-lying excitations of one-dimensional quantum spin systems. The idea is in a word expressed as extracting the lower edge of the excitation spectrum from imaginary-time quantum Monte Carlo data at a sufficiently low temperature. First, the method is applied to the antiferromagnetic Heisenberg chains of S=1/2, 1, 3/2, and 2. In the cases of S=1/2 and S=1, comparing the present results with the previous findings, we discuss the reliability of the method. The spectra for S=3/2 and S=2 turn out to be massless and massive, respectively. In order to demonstrate that our method is very good at treating long chains, we calculate the S=2 chain with length up to 512 spins and give a precise estimate of the Haldane gap. Second, we show its fruitful use in studying quantum critical phenomena of bond-alternating spin chains. Using the conformal invariance of the system as well, we calculate the central charge of the critical S=1 chain, which results in the Gaussian universality class. Third, we study an alternating-spin system composed of two kinds of spins S=1 and 1/2, which shows the ferrimagnetic behavior. We find a quadratic dispersion relation in the small-momentum region. The numerical findings are qualitatively explained well in terms of the spin-wave theory. Finally, we argue a possibility of applying the method to the higher excitations, where we again deal with the S=1 Heisenberg antiferromagnet and inquire further into its unique low-energy structure. All the applications demonstrate the wide applicability of the method and its own advantages.