This is a study of finite lattice methods applied to quantum spin models on one and two dimensional lattices.The motivation for the use of these techniques is provided by placing them in the context of the wider field of approximation methods in the statistical mechanics of spin models.After reviewing previous finite lattice calculations on quantum spin models, the theory needed to efficiently generate and analyse finite lattice data is given.Finite lattice calculations on three quantum spin models are then presented.The first calculation provides an estimate of the transverse susceptibility of the one dimensional antiferromagnetic XY model, by extrapolation from calculations on rings of up to 10 sites.Good convergence is found for KB T ~ 0•4 and these results are compared with recent c -axis susceptibility measurements on the compound Cs 2 CoC1 4 .Chapters 5 and 6 study the quantum hamiltonian analog of the two dimensional axial next nearest neighbour Ising model, A perturbation analysis using non degenerate Rayleigh-Schrodingerperturbation theory is followed by a mass gap scaling analysis.These analyses provide accurate phase boundaries for, and ellucidate several interesting features of, the phase diagram of this model.In particular, the model is shown to exhibit a phase whose modulation varies continuously with a change in the interaction parameters in the hamiltonian.This "modulated" phase region lies between a normal ordered phase and a paramagnetic phase.Evidnce is given that the transition from the paramagnetic to modulated phase is exponential in nature.The third model studied is a spin 1 biquadratic Heisenberg model with hamiltonian,<ij> (Jl s .. s. +J2( . .~.)2). 1 J 1 J Accurate estimates of the ground state energy in both one and two dimensions are found by calculating this quantity on 4,6,8 and 10 site lattices.Comment is made about the ground state phase diagram, and about the existence of intermediate spin states and states with a complicated magnetic ordering.The thesis concludes by commenting on the performance of finite lattice methods in the three models studied and by outlining certain directions for future advance., ACKNOWLEVGEMENTS I would like to express
We present numerical exact results for the ground state and the low-lying excitations for the spin-1/2 J1-J2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet on finite square lattices of up to N = 40 sites. Using finite-size extrapolation we determine the ground-state energy, the magnetic order parameters, the spin gap, the uniform susceptibility, as well as the spin-wave velocity and the spin stiffness as functions of the frustration parameter J2/J1. In agreement with the generally excepted scenario we find semiclassical magnetically ordered phases for J2 < J c1 2 and J2> J c2 2 separated by a gapful quantum paramagnetic phase. We estimate Jc1 2 ≈ 0.35J1 and J c2 2 ≈ 0.66J1. PACS codes: 75.10.Jm Quantized spin models 75.45.+j Macroscopic quantum phenomena in magnetic systems 1
This thesis is focused on the application and development of numerical methods for studying quantum many- body spin systems. Part I sets the stage for research projects. In chapter 1, I go over major milestones in the field of frustrated magnetism, how it fits into a larger category of condensed matter physics, and recent developments that provide context for the research projects presented in part II. Chapters 2 3 provide the reader with necessary concepts in physics of phase transitions and numerical methods that are often employed when studying ground states of quantum many body systems. Part II focuses on the research projects carried out during my PhD research. In chapter 4 I present a machine-learning inspired method for solving quantum many body problems. This method addresses issues of representation of variational wave functions and their optimization. In chapter 5, I present a numerical study on the embedding of an exactly solvable point in a phase diagram of an extended Heisenberg model on a kagome lattice. Chapter 6 studies a quantum Heisenberg model on the stuffed honeycomb lattice. Phase transitions in quantum many body systems manifest themselves as a reorganization of low energy spectra of the system. They come in a variety of forms ranging from symmetry breaking transitions, where a local order parameter is formed and to topological phase transitions where the change of the ground state can be attributed to non-local changes in the entanglement patterns. In chapter 2, I review classic models studied in the context of frustrated magnetism and briefly go over the formulation of Landau symmetry breaking theory and common order parameters. The breakdown of Landau symmetry-breaking theory for topological phase transition is discussed using the example of Resonance Valence Bond (RVB) state, which serves as a qualitative exemplification of spin liquid phases. I discuss means of detecting phase transitions with a focus on methods that are applicable in a numerical setting. Chapter 3 presents elements of the numerical machinery that the rest of the thesis employs and builds upon. I discuss traditional trade-offs and provide rough metrics used for analysis of strengths and drawbacks of different approaches. Then I focus on Exact Diagonalization (ED) and Variational Monte Carlo (VMC) methods that are used in later chapters. In chapter 4, I describe the application of machine learning techniques to the variational approach to the quantum many body problem. I introduce Computational Graph States (CGS), a new class of variational wave functions based on the dataflow programming paradigm. The use of computational graphs makes composing new wave functions easy due to its modular structure. Automatic differentiation allows us to obtain efficient derivatives with respect to variational parameters automatically. We also develop a novel optimization scheme, Supervised Wave-function Optimization. It combines ideas of supervised learning and imaginary time evolution. Our method resolves a number of technical challenges and allows seamless optimization of complicated variational models. During the exploration process we constructed a new class of system size invariant model wave functions that can be trained on one system size and generalized to other system sizes with high accuracy. In chapter 5, we study the phase diagram of the kagome antiferromagnet in the J2, Jz plane, which corresponds to second nearest neighbor interactions and spin anisotropy. We report an exactly solvable point with macroscopic degeneracy at J2 = 0, Jz = −0.5 and show that many phases emanate from around this point. In addition, we find a previously unknown transition within the spin-liquid region suggesting a possibility of two distinct spin liquids. In chapter 6, we consider a Heisenberg model on the stuffed honeycomb lattice which interpolated between the triangular and honeycomb lattices. Using exact diagonalization we compute the phase diagram of this model. We find that for this model, the triangular lattice J1-J2 spin liquid region is extended to a larger domain that has lower symmetries than that of the triangular lattice. We perform a variational study of projected BCS wave functions which we directly compare to exact ground states on 36 site cluster as well as consider variational energies from larger system sizes. We argue that construction of symmetric states is essential to obtain good variational energies and give evidence that Dirac spin-liquid state is likely to characterize the spin liquid phase.
In this work the ordering processes in classical frustrated Ising models and the ground-state behavior of frustrated quantum spin models are investigated. In the first part the phase transition from a high-temperature paramagnetic phase to a antiferromagnetic ground state is analyzed for the square-lattice Ising model with competing antiferromagnetic interactions between nearest- and next-nearest-neighbor spins. In the case of spatially isotropic interactions the phase transition to a collinear state is of special interest. Using Monte-Carlo simulations on finite lattices as well as field-theoretical methods for the continuous model it is shown that depending on the frustration three different sectors can be distinguished that show (i) Ising-universal behavior (ii) Ashkin-Teller-like non-universal behavior (varying critical exponents) and (iii) non-critical first-order behavior. For spatially anisotropic interactions the emergence of an intermediate incommensurate phase is verified by means of Monte-Carlo simulations which has been predicted by earlier mean-field calculations. The nature of this phase is studied analyzing spin-spin correlation functions and its ordering wave-vector reveals a strong temperature and size dependence. In the second part the influence of quantum fluctuations on classical antiferromagnetic ground states are investigated in anisotropic quantum spin-1/2 Heisenberg models with competing interactions. Using quantum Monte-Carlo simulations, exact diagonalization and perturbation theory the ground-state phase diagrams are calculated for a square lattice with nearest- and next-nearest-neighbor interactions and a honeycomb lattice with up to third-nearest-neighbor interactions whereby the fluctuations are chosen to be non-frustrating. For both cases the stability regions of classical magnetic states are identified and an intermediate phase is detected that shows no sign of long-range magnetic order. Further calculations also rule out valence-bond-crystal or topological order for this state, thus a quantum disordered ground state is stabilized in these models.
Abstract Motivated by the need for high-precision benchmark results for basic quantum many-body models, several ground state properties of the square lattice S = 1 / 2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet are computed (the energy, order parameter, spin stiffness, spinwave velocity, long-wavelength susceptibility and staggered susceptibility) using extensive quantum Monte Carlo simulations with the stochastic series expansion method. Moderately sized lattices are studied at temperatures T sufficiently low to realize the T → 0 limit, with significantly reduced statistical errors relative to previous works. Results for periodic L × L lattices with L ∈ [ 6 , 96 ] are tabulated versus L and extrapolations to infinite system size are carried out. The relative statistical errors of finite-size energies are below 10 −7 . The extrapolated ground state energy density is e 0 = − 0.669 441 857 ( 7 ) , where the number within parentheses is the statistical error (one standard deviation) of the preceding digit. This value represents an improvement in precision of three orders of magnitude over the previous best result. The leading and subleading finite-size corrections to e 0 are in full quantitative agreement with predictions from chiral perturbation theory, thus further supporting the soundness of both the extrapolations and the theory. The extrapolated sublattice magnetization is m s = 0.307 447 ( 2 ) , which agrees well with previous estimates but with a much smaller statistical error. The coefficient of the linear in L −1 correction to m s 2 agrees with the value from chiral perturbation theory and the presence of a factor ln γ ( L ) in the second-order correction is also confirmed, with the previously unknown value of the exponent being γ = 0.82 ( 4 ) . The finite-size corrections to the staggered susceptibility point to logarithmic corrections in this quantity as well. To facilitate benchmarking of methods for which periodic boundary conditions are challenging, results for systems with open and cylindrical boundaries are also listed and their spatially inhomogeneous order parameters are analyzed.
The ground-state parameters of the two-dimensional
S=1/2 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model are calculated using the stochastic series expansion quantum Monte Carlo method for $L\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}L$ lattices with
L up to
16. The finite-size results for the energy
E, the sublattice magnetization
M, the long-wavelength susceptibility ${\ensuremath{\chi}}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}(q=2\ensuremath{\pi}/L)$, and the spin stiffness ${\ensuremath{\rho}}_{s},$ are extrapolated to the thermodynamic limit using fits to polynomials in
1/L, constrained by scaling forms previously obtained from renormalization-group calculations for the nonlinear $\ensuremath{\sigma}$ model and chiral perturbation theory. The results are fully consistent with the predicted leading finite-size corrections, and are of sufficient accuracy for extracting also subleading terms. The subleading energy correction $(\ensuremath{\sim}{1/L}^{4})$ agrees with chiral perturbation theory to within a statistical error of a few percent, thus providing numerical confirmation of the finite-size scaling forms to this order. The extrapolated ground- state energy per spin is $E=\ensuremath{-}0.669437(5)$. The result from previous Green's function Monte Carlo (GFMC) calculations is slightly higher than this value, most likely due to a small systematic error originating from ``population control'' bias in GFMC. The other extrapolated parameters are
M=0.3070(3), ${\ensuremath{\rho}}_{s}=0.175(2)$, ${\ensuremath{\chi}}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}=0.0625(9)$, and the spin-wave velocity
c=1.673(7). The statistical errors are comparable with those of previous estimates obtained by fitting loop algorithm quantum Monte Carlo data to finite-temperature scaling forms. Both
M and ${\ensuremath{\rho}}_{s}$ obtained from the finite-
T data are, however, a few error bars higher than the present estimates. It is argued that the
T=0 extrapolations performed here are less sensitive to effects of neglected higher-order corrections, and therefore should be more reliable.
We outline how the coupled cluster method of microscopic quantum many-body theory can be utilized in practice to give highly accurate results for the ground-state properties of a wide variety of highly frustrated and strongly correlated spinlattice models of interest in quantum magnetism, including their quantum phase transitions.The method itself is described, and it is shown how it may be implemented in practice to high orders in a systematically improvable hierarchy of (socalled LSUBm) approximations, by the use of computer-algebraic techniques.The method works from the outset in the thermodynamic limit of an infinite lattice at all levels of approximation, and it is shown both how the "raw" LSUBm results are themselves generally excellent in the sense that they converge rapidly, and how they may accurately be extrapolated to the exact limit, m → ∞, of the truncation index m, which denotes the only approximation made.All of this is illustrated via a specific application to a two-dimensional, frustrated, spin-half J XXZ 1 -J XXZ 2 model on a honeycomb lattice with nearestneighbor and next-nearest-neighbor interactions with exchange couplings J 1 > 0 and J 2 ≡ κJ 1 > 0, respectively, where both interactions are of the same anisotropic XXZ type.We show how the method can be used to determine the entire zerotemperature ground-state phase diagram of the model in the range 0 ≤ κ ≤ 1 of the frustration parameter and 0 ≤ Δ ≤ 1 of the spin-space anisotropy parameter.In particular, we identify a candidate quantum spin-liquid region in the phase space.