Generic phase diagram of quantum dimer model on square lattice

Garry Goldstein, Claudio Chamon, Claudio Castelnovo

Didier Poilblanc, Fabien Alet, Federico Becca +3 more

A family of models is proposed to describe the motion of holes in a fluctuating quantum dimer background on the square lattice. Following Castelnovo et al. [Ann. Phys. (N.Y.) 318, 316 (2005)], a generalized Rokhsar-Kivelson Hamiltonian at finite doping which can be mapped on a doped interacting classical dimer model is constructed. A simple physical extension of this model is also considered. Using numerical computations and simple considerations based on the above exact mapping, we determine the phase diagram of the model showing a number of quantum phases typical of a doped Mott insulator. The two-hole correlation function generically exhibits short-range or long-range algebraic correlations in the solid (columnar) and liquid (critical) phases of the model, respectively. Evidence for an extended region of a doped valence bond solid phase exhibiting holon pairing but no phase separation is given. In contrast, we show that hole deconfinement occurs in the staggered dimer phase.

Stefanos Papanikolaou, Erik Luijten, Eduardo Fradkin

Stefanos Papanikolaou, D. Charrier, Eduardo Fradkin

We present a model of classical hard-core dimers on the square lattice that contains an Ising nematic phase in its phase diagram. We consider a model with an attractive interaction for parallel dimers on a given plaquette of the square lattice and an attractive interaction for neighboring parallel dimers on the same row (viz column) of the lattice. By extensive Monte Carlo simulations we find that with a finite density of holes the phase diagram has, with rising temperatures, a columnar crystalline phase, an Ising nematic liquid phase and a disordered fluid phase, separated by Ising continuous phase transitions. We present strong evidence for the Ising universality class of both transitions. The Ising nematic phase can be interpreted as either an intermediate classical thermodynamic phase (possibly of a strongly correlated antiferromagnet) or as a phase of a two-dimensional quantum dimer model using the Rokhsar-Kivelson construction of exactly solvable quantum Hamiltonians.

Johannes Feldmeier, Michael Knap, Frank Pollmann

Arnaud Ralko, Didier Poilblanc, Roderich Moessner

We revisit the phase diagram of Rokhsar-Kivelson models, which are used in fields such as superconductivity, frustrated magnetism, cold bosons, and the physics of Josephson junction arrays. From an extended height effective theory, we show that one of two simple generic phase diagrams contains a mixed phase that interpolates continuously between columnar and plaquette states. For the square lattice quantum dimer model we present evidence from exact diagonalization and Green's function Monte Carlo techniques that this scenario is realized, by combining an analysis of the excitation gaps of different symmetry sectors with information on plaquette structure factors. This presents a natural framework for resolving the disagreement between previous studies.