In this thesis we study various one-dimensional quantum spin systems with SU(2) and SU(N) symmetry. We investigate the short-distance behavior of the SU(2) Heisenberg model in the limit of large spin and show that there exists an extended regime where perturbation theory, in the form of spin-wave theory, can be successfully applied. The reason for this perturbative regime stems from the asymptotic freedom of the nonlinear sigma model onto which the Heisenberg model can be mapped. When considering observables which respect the rotational invariance of the model, we observe a cancellation of infrared divergences in the perturbative expansions, leading to a meaningful description of correlation functions. We then turn to the study of SU(N) models. Building on the representation theory of the SU(N) group and on the matrix product state (MPS) formalism, we introduce a generic method to construct Affleck-Kennedy-Lieb-Tasaki (AKLT) models having edge states described by any self-conjugate irreducible representation (irrep) of SU(N). A simple example is given by a spin-1 AKLT model having spin-1 edge states. The phase transition between this model and the original AKLT model is shown to be continuous and to correspond to a topological phase transition described by the SU(2) level-1 Wess-Zumino-Witten conformal field theory universality class. In addition we study an SU(3) AKLT model for the 3-box symmetric irrep at each site. We demonstrate that the edge states are adjoint edge irreps, we extract its correlation length and provide a useful construction as an optimal MPS. Finally, we develop a density matrix renormalization group algorithm based on standard Young tableaus and subduction coefficients to make full use of the non-abelian symmetry and to investigate the SU(3) Heisenberg model with 3-box symmetric irrep at each site. We show that the model has a finite gap above the singlet ground state, in agreement with an extension of the Haldane conjecture to SU(3) chains in the fully symmetric irreps. We also argue that there are five branches of elementary excitations living in four different irreps, each of which is gapped.
In this thesis we study various one-dimensional quantum spin systems with SU(2) and SU(N) symmetry. We investigate the short-distance behavior of the SU(2) Heisenberg model in the limit of large spin and show that there exists an extended regime where perturbation theory, in the form of spin-wave theory, can be successfully applied. The reason for this perturbative regime stems from the asymptotic freedom of the nonlinear sigma model onto which the Heisenberg model can be mapped. When considering observables which respect the rotational invariance of the model, we observe a cancellation of infrared divergences in the perturbative expansions, leading to a meaningful description of correlation functions. We then turn to the study of SU(N) models. Building on the representation theory of the SU(N) group and on the matrix product state (MPS) formalism, we introduce a generic method to construct Affleck-Kennedy-Lieb-Tasaki (AKLT) models having edge states described by any self-conjugate irreducible representation (irrep) of SU(N). A simple example is given by a spin-1 AKLT model having spin-1 edge states. The phase transition between this model and the original AKLT model is shown to be continuous and to correspond to a topological phase transition described by the SU(2) level-1 Wess-Zumino-Witten conformal field theory universality class. In addition we study an SU(3) AKLT model for the 3-box symmetric irrep at each site. We demonstrate that the edge states are adjoint edge irreps, we extract its correlation length and provide a useful construction as an optimal MPS. Finally, we develop a density matrix renormalization group algorithm based on standard Young tableaus and subduction coefficients to make full use of the non-abelian symmetry and to investigate the SU(3) Heisenberg model with 3-box symmetric irrep at each site. We show that the model has a finite gap above the singlet ground state, in agreement with an extension of the Haldane conjecture to SU(3) chains in the fully symmetric irreps. We also argue that there are five branches of elementary excitations living in four different irreps, each of which is gapped.
Using the Matrix Product State framework, we generalize the Affleck-Kennedy-Lieb-Tasaki (AKLT) construction to one-dimensional spin liquids with global color SU(N) symmetry, finite correlation lengths, and edge states that can belong to any self-conjugate irreducible representation (irrep) of SU(N). In particular, SU(2) spin-1 AKLT states with edge states of arbitrary spin s=1/2,1,3/2,⋯ are constructed, and a general formula for their correlation length is given. Furthermore, we show how to construct local parent Hamiltonians for which these AKLT states are unique ground states. This enables us to study the stability of the edge states by interpolating between exact AKLT Hamiltonians. As an example, in the case of spin-1 physical degrees of freedom, it is shown that a quantum phase transition of central charge c=1 separates the Symmetry Protected Topological (SPT) phase with spin-1/2 edge states from a topologically trivial phase with spin-1 edge states. We also address some specificities of the generalization to SU(N) with N>2, in particular regarding the construction of parent Hamiltonians. For the AKLT state of the SU(3) model with the 3-box symmetric representation, we prove that the edge states are in the 8-dimensional adjoint irrep, and for the SU(3) model with adjoint irrep at each site, we are able to construct two different reflection-symmetric AKLT Hamiltonians, each with a unique ground state which is either even or odd under reflection symmetry and with edge states in the adjoint irrep. Finally, examples of two-column and adjoint physical irreps for SU(N) with N even and with edge states living in the antisymmetric irrep with N/2 boxes are given, with a conjecture about the general formula for their correlation lengths.
Motivated by recent experimental progress in the context of ultracold multicolor fermionic atoms in optical lattices, we have developed a method to exactly diagonalize the Heisenberg SU(N) Hamiltonian with several particles per site living in a fully symmetric or antisymmetric representation of SU(N). The method, based on the use of standard Young tableaux, takes advantage of the full SU(N) symmetry, allowing one to work directly in each irreducible representation of the global SU(N) group. Since the SU(N) singlet sector is often much smaller than the full Hilbert space, this enables one to reach much larger system sizes than with conventional exact diagonalizations. The method is applied to the study of Heisenberg chains in the symmetric representation with two and three particles per site up to N=10 and up to 20 sites. For the length scales accessible to this approach, all systems except the Haldane chain [SU(2) with two particles per site] appear to be gapless, and the central charge and scaling dimensions extracted from the results are consistent with a critical behavior in the SU(N) level k Wess-Zumino-Witten universality class, where k is the number of particles per site. These results point to the existence of a crossover between this universality class and the asymptotic low-energy behavior with a gapped spectrum or a critical behavior in the SU(N) level 1 WZW universality class.
Recently, SU(3) chains in the symmetric and self-conjugate representations have been studied using field theory techniques. For certain representations, namely rank-p symmetric ones with p not a multiple of 3, it was argued that the ground state exhibits gapless excitations. For the remaining representations considered, a finite energy gap exists above the ground state. In this paper, we extend these results to SU(n) chains in the symmetric representation. For a rank-p symmetric representation with n and p coprime, we predict gapless excitations above the ground state. If p is a multiple of n, we predict a unique ground state with a finite energy gap. Finally, if p and n have a greatest common divisor 1<q<n, we predict a ground state degeneracy of n/q, with a finite energy gap. To arrive at these results, we derive a non-Lorentz invariant flag manifold sigma model description of the SU(n) chains, and use the renormalization group to show that Lorentz invariance is restored at low energies. We then make use of recently developed anomaly matching conditions for these Lorentz-invariant models. We also review the Lieb-Schultz-Mattis-Affleck theorem, and extend it to SU(n) models with longer range interactions.
We present a method for the exact diagonalization of the SU(N) Heisenberg interaction Hamiltonian using Young tableaus to work directly in each irreducible representation of the global SU(N) group. This generalized scheme is applicable to chains consisting of several particles per site, with any SU(N) symmetry at each site. Extending some of the key results of substitutional analysis, we demonstrate how basis states can be efficiently constructed for the relevant SU(N) subsector, which, especially with increasing values of N or numbers of sites, has a much smaller dimension than the full Hilbert space. This allows us to analyze systems of larger sizes than can be handled by existing techniques. We apply this method to investigate the presence of edge states in SU(N) Heisenberg and Affleck-Kennedy-Lieb-Tasaki Hamiltonians.
This thesis explores various approaches of studying the long-range colour order of antiferromagnetic SU(N) Heisenberg models with the linear flavour-wave theory (LFWT). The LFWT is an extension of the well-known SU(2) spin-wave theory to SU(N), and this semi-classical method has been used to study SU(N) models with colour-ordered ground states in the fundamental irreducible representation (irrep). The aim of this thesis is to study various SU(N) Heisenberg models in different irreps and in various colour configurations, in part by extending the LFWT method to different irreps of SU(N). This will be achieved by using three different methods all using different bosonic representations. First, the LFWT willbe performed using the multiboson method that introduces a boson for each state of a given irrep. Then, a different SU(3) bosonic representation first introduced by Mathur & Sen will be presented and used to perform the LFWT calculations. Finally, another way of applying the LFWT will be shown using the bosons first used by Read & Sachdev for SU(N) irreps with rectangular Young tableaux. The specific models that will be treated by these methods are the fully antisymmetric SU(N) models on the square, honeycomb, and triangular lattices with m>1 particles per site, as well as the bipartite SU(3) Heisenberg chain in the adjoint irrep to show how the LFWT can be used for mixed symmetries. The last chapter of the thesis will be dedicated to another problem related to the accidental line of zero modes in the harmonic spectrum of the antiferromagnetic SU(3) Heisenberg model on the square lattice with one particle per site in a three-sublattice order. The objective will be to try to lift the accidental zero modes in the spectrum.
We develop an efficient method to perform density matrix renormalization group simulations of the SU(N) Heisenberg chain with open boundary conditions taking full advantage of the SU(N) symmetry of the problem. This method is an extension of the method previously developed for exact diagonalizations and relies on a systematic use of the basis of standard Young tableaux. Concentrating on the model with the fundamental representation at each site (i.e., one particle per site in the fermionic formulation), we have benchmarked our results for the ground-state energy up to N=8 and up to 420 sites by comparing them with Bethe ansatz results on open chains, for which we have derived and solved the Bethe ansatz equations. The agreement for the ground-state energy is excellent for SU(3) (12 digits). It decreases with N, but it is still satisfactory for N=8 (six digits). Central charges c are also extracted from the entanglement entropy using the Calabrese-Cardy formula and agree with the theoretical values expected from the SU(N)1 Wess-Zumino-Witten conformal field theories.