This thesis examines the Heisenberg antiferromagnetic spin chain in one dimension (1D) with a crystal field splitting term and applied magnetic field term. We use theoretical techniques from quantum field theory and conformal field theory (CFT) to make predictions about the excitation spectrum for our model. We then use Density Matrix Renormalization Group (DMRG) numerical techniques to simulate our spin chain and extract the energy spectrum as we vary our crystal field splitting and magnetic field terms. These results are compared and we examine where theoretical calculations accurately describe our system. This work is motivated by recent experimental work done on SrNi₂Vi₂O₈ by Bera et al. [1] which is a quasi-1D material with weakly coupled spin chains in the bulk. These 1D chains are expected to be described by the Hamiltonian we study in this thesis, and we neglect interchain coupling. We first consider our system where the crystal field splitting term is set to zero, which can be described theoretically using a mapping to the non linear sigma model (NLSM). Near the critical field, it undergoes a Bose condensation transition whose excitation spectrum can be mapped to non-interacting fermions in 1D. We then consider large negative crystal field splitting, and find that near small applied magnetic field we can describe some excited states using Landau-Ginsburg theory. Near critical field, we show that the transition is in the Ising universality, and use results from CFT to predict the spectrum for finite size systems. This allows us to make predictions about where the transition field would be for very large or infinite system size. Finally, we examine our crystal field splitting tuned to the value obtained in Ref. 1, which is a small, negative value. We observe qualitative elements in this spectrum from the spectra obtained at zero and large negative crystal field splitting.
In this thesis, we deal with 1-dimensional anisotropic spin models more specifically with the chain and ladder geometries. These models are fundamental to the study of condensed matter theory and quantum magnetism because of their simplicity. Research into the chain model dates back to 1930s with Hans Bethe. One method to study these systems is through numerical analysis including renormalization group techniques. These allow for the diagonalization of the Hamiltonian without sacrificing computation to a large virtual Hilbert space. In this thesis, we present results for both the spin chain and spin ladder geometries in open boundary conditions. This work uses the density matrix renormalization group technique to calculate system energy. Initially we will present a study into the spin energy gap of the spin-\sfrac{1}{2} anisotropic (XXZ) Heisenberg chain in open boundary conditions (OBCs). The energy gap is shown to be reduced to half in the ground sector when compared to periodic boundary conditions (PBCs) due to edge effects. Secondly, a full phase diagram for the spin-\sfrac{1}{2} anisotropic Heisenberg ladder is presented which shows the emergence of a rich schematic with a variety of phases. Lastly, weak coupling limit maps are compared to quantum field theory phase transition predictions. This research was motivated by the lack of comprehensive phase diagram results for ladders and by real materials being investigated at the University of Kent.
The excitation spectrum of the one-dimensional spin-orbital model in a magnetic field is studied, using a recently developed dynamical density-matrix renormalization-group technique. The method is applied to chains with up to 80 sites, and examined for test cases such as the one-dimensional spin-1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet whose excitation spectrum is known exactly from the Bethe ansatz. In the spin-orbital chain, the characteristic dynamical response depends strongly on the model parameters and the applied magnetic field. The coupling between the spin and orbital degrees of freedom is found to influence the incommensuration at finite magnetizations. In the regions of the phase diagram with only massive spin and orbital excitations, a finite field is required to overcome the spin gap. An orbital mode is found to become massless in this partially spin-polarized regime, indicating a strong coupling between the two degrees of freedom. In the critical region with three elementary gapless excitations, a prominent particle-hole excitation is observed at higher energies, promoted by the biquadratic term in the model Hamiltonian of the spin-orbital chain.
Using the density-matrix-renormalization-group technique, we calculate numerically the low-energy excitation spectrum and magnetization curve of the spin-1 antiferromagnetic chain in a staggered magnetic field, which is expected to describe the physics of the ${R}_{2}{\mathrm{BaNiO}}_{5} (R\ensuremath{\ne}Y)$ family below the N\'eel temperature of the magnetic rare-earth (R) sublattice. These results are valid in the entire range of the staggered field, and agree with those given by the nonlinear $\ensuremath{\sigma}$ model study for small fields, but differ from the latter for large fields. They are consistent with the available experimental data. The correlation functions for this model are also calculated. The transverse correlations display the anticipated exponential decay with shorter correlation length, while the longitudinal correlations show explicitly the induced staggered magnetization.
We study the zero-temperature magnetization curve $(M\ensuremath{-}H$ curve) of the one-dimensional quantum antiferromagnet of spin one. The Hamiltonian H we consider is of the bilinear-biquadratic form: $H={\ensuremath{\sum}}_{i}f({s}_{i}\ensuremath{\cdot}{s}_{i+1})$ (+Zeeman term) where
si is the spin operator at site i and $f(X)=X+\ensuremath{\beta}{X}^{2}$ with $0<~\ensuremath{\beta}<1.$ We focus on validity of the $\ensuremath{\delta}$-function Bose-gas picture near the two critical fields: upper-critical field
Hs above which the magnetization saturates and the lower-critical field
Hc associated with the Haldane gap. As for the behavior near
Hs, we take ``low-energy effective S matrix'' approach, where the correct effective Bose-gas coupling constant c is extracted from the two down-spin S matrix in its low-energy limit. We find that the resulting value of c differs from the spin-wave value. We draw the $M\ensuremath{-}H$ curve by using the resultant Bose gas, and compare it with numerical calculation where the product-wave-function renormalization-group (PWFRG) method, a variant of White's density-matrix renormalization group method, is employed. Excellent agreement is seen between the PWFRG calculation and the correctly mapped Bose-gas calculation. We also test the validity of the Bose-gas picture near the lower-critical field
Hc. Comparing the PWFRG-calculated $M\ensuremath{-}H$ curves with the Bose-gas prediction, we find that there are two distinct regions, I and II, of $\ensuremath{\beta}$ separated by a critical value ${\ensuremath{\beta}}_{c}(\ensuremath{\approx}0.41).$ In region I, $0<\ensuremath{\beta}<{\ensuremath{\beta}}_{c},$ the effective Bose coupling c is positive but rather small. The small value of c makes the ``critical region'' of the square-root behavior $M\ensuremath{\sim}\sqrt{H\ensuremath{-}{H}_{c}}$ very narrow. Further, we find that in the $\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{\ensuremath{\beta}}{\ensuremath{\beta}}_{c}\ensuremath{-}0,$ the square-root behavior transmutes to a different one, $M\ensuremath{\sim}(H\ensuremath{-}{H}_{c}{)}^{\ensuremath{\theta}}$ with $\ensuremath{\theta}\ensuremath{\approx}1/4.$ In region II, ${\ensuremath{\beta}}_{c}<\ensuremath{\beta}<1,$ the square-root behavior is more pronounced as compared with region I, but the effective coupling c becomes negative.
We investigate three different types of quantum phase transition occurring in quasi one-dimensional systems theoretically and numerically. First, we study the band-insulator to Mott-insulator transition occurring in charge-transfer complexes, for which the half-filled one-dimensional ionic Hubbard model is considered to be the prototype model. The study is carried out by first deriving an effective spin-one model, and then studying the model numerically using the density matrix renormalization group. We perform a careful finite-size scaling analysis of the mass gaps, order-parameters, and relative susceptibility. We confirm the existence of two quantum critical points. Analysis of the critical exponents confirms that the band-insulator-to-spontaneously-dimerized phase transition belong to the 2D Ising class. The spontaneously dimerized phase undergoes a phase transition to the Mott-insulator which is an infinite-order. Second, we investigate the Mott metal-insulator transition for the half-filled Hubbard model with both nearest-neighbor t and next-nearest-neighbor t′ hopping terms. We study the model using the bosonization approach and density matrix renormalization group simulations. An effective low-energy Hamiltonian that describes the insulator-metal transition is derived. We present results of density matrix renormalization group calculations of spin and charge distribution in various sectors of the phase diagram. The numerical results support the picture derived from the effective theory and give evidence for the complete separation of the transitions involving the spin and the charge degrees of freedom. Finally, we investigate quantum phase transitions phases in low-dimensional fermionic and spin models that go from uniform to spatially inhomogeneous, i.e., dimerized, trimerized, or incommensurate, phases. We propose a new approach based on studying the length dependence of the von Neumann entropy and its corresponding Fourier spectrum for finite segments in the ground state of finite chains. Peaks at a nonzero wave vector are indicators of oscillatory behavior in decaying correlation functions and also provide significant information about certain relevant features of the excitation spectrum; in particular, they can identify the wave vector of soft modes in critical models.
We study isotropic antiferromagnetic Heisenberg chains coupled by antiferromagnetic Ising interaction as an effective spin model for the ytterbium aluminum perovskite
YbAlO3. Using the density-matrix renormalization group (DMRG) method we calculate the magnetization curve, local spin, central charge, and dynamical spin structure factors in the presence of magnetic field. From the fitting of the experimental magnetization curve, the effective intrachain and interchain couplings are estimated as
J=2.3 K and
Jic=0.8 K, respectively. We can quantitatively explain the experimental observations: (i) phase transition from antiferromagnetic to incommensurate order at field 0.35 T, and (ii) quantum critical behaviors at the saturation field of 1.21 T. Furthermore, the low-energy excitations in the experimental inelastic neutron scattering spectra can be well described by our DMRG results of the dynamical structure factors.