Phase Transitions in Spin Systems at Zero Temperature

G. Chaboussant, M.-H. Julien, Y. Fagot‐Révurat +5 more

Johannes Richter, S E Kreuger, DAMIAN J. J. FARNELL +1 more

S. Camalet, R. Chitra

We study the decoherence of a spin-1/2 induced by an environment which is on the verge of a continuous phase transition. We consider spin environments described by the ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic Heisenberg models on a square lattice. As is well known, these two-dimensional systems undergo a continuous phase transition at zero temperature, where the spins order spontaneously. For weak coupling of the central spin to these baths, we find that as one approaches the transition temperature, critical fluctuations make the central spin decohere faster. Furthermore, the decoherence is maximal at zero temperature as signaled by the divergence of the Markovian decoherence rate.

S. Camalet

We study the decoherence of a spin-1/2 induced by an environment which is on the verge of a continuous phase transition. We consider spin environments described by the ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic Heisenberg models on a square lattice. As is well known, these two dimensional systems undergo a continuous phase transition at zero temperature, where, the spins order spontaneously. For weak coupling of the central spin to these baths, we find that as one approaches the transition temperature, critical fluctuations make the central spin decohere faster. Furthermore, the decoherence is maximal at zero temperature as signalled by the divergence of the Markovian decoherence rate.

van Kah Ton Leeuwen

S. A. Owerre

We present the linear spin wave theory calculation of the superfluid phase of a hard-core boson J-K model with nearest neighbour exchange J and four-particle ring-exchange K at half filling on the triangular lattice, as well as the phase diagrams of the system at zero and finite temperatures. A similar analysis has been done on a square lattice (Schaffer et al. Phys. Rev. B, 80, 014503 (2009)). We find similar behaviour to that of a square lattice but with different spin wave values of the thermodynamic quantities. We also find that the pure J model (XY model), which has a well-known uniform superfluid phase with an ordered parameter [Formula: see text] at zero temperature is quickly destroyed by the inclusion of negative-K ring-exchange interactions, favouring a state with a (4π/3, 0) ordering wavevector. We further study the behaviour of the finite-temperature Kosterlitz–Thouless phase transition (TKT) in the uniform superfluid phase, by forcing the universal quantum jump condition on the finite-temperature spin wave superfluid density. We find that for K < 0, the phase boundary monotonically decreases to T = 0 at K/J = −4/3, where a phase transition is expected and TKT decreases rapidly, while for positive K, TKT reaches a maximum at some K ≠ 0. It has been shown on a square lattice using quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) simulations that for small K > 0 away from the XY point, the zero-temperature spin stiffness value of the XY model is decreased (Melko and Sandvik. Ann. Phys. 321, 1651 (2006)). Our result seems to agree with this trend found in QMC simulations for two-dimensional systems.