This thesis studies transport properties of low-dimensional quantum spin systems with a particular focus on the transport of heat and spin. While the integrable anisotropic spin-1/2 chain exhibits ballistic transport (finite Drude weights), the numerical results of this work show that heat and spin transport of non-integrable models (spin ladder, frustrated and dimerized chain) is not ballistic, characterized by vanishing Drude weights in the thermodynamic limit. The results for the thermal conductivity of spin ladders are compared to experimental data. For the case of the spin-1/2 Heisenberg chain, this work contains detailed results for the temperature and magnetic field dependence of the Drude weights. Finally, bond-disordered spin systems are considered, namely the spin-1/2 chain and the spin ladder. In the first case, the transport coefficients are computed by means of exact diagonalization and discussed as a function of frequency, temperature, and magnetic field. In the second case, spectral properties of the elementary excitation of disordered spin ladders are analyzed using diagrammatic perturbation theory and numerical techniques.
Novel randomness-induced disordered ground states in two-dimensional (2D) quantum spin systems have been attracting much interest. For quantitative analysis of such random quantum spin systems, one of the most promising numerical approaches is the tensor-network strong-disorder renormalization group (tSDRG), which was basically established for one-dimensional (1D) systems. In this paper, we propose a possible improvement of its algorithm toward 2D random spin systems, focusing on a generating process of the tree network structure of tensors, and precisely examine their performances for the random antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model not only on the 1D chain but also on the square- and triangular-lattices. On the basis of comparison with the exact numerical results up to 36 site systems, we demonstrate that accuracy of the optimal tSDRG algorithm is significantly improved for the 1D and 2D systems in the strong-randomness regime.
Heisenberg antiferromagnetic spin ``ladders'' (two coupled spin chains) are low-dimensional magnetic systems which for S=1/2 interpolate between half-integer-spin chains, when the chains are decoupled, and effective integer-spin one-dimensional chains in the strong-coupling limit. The spin-1/2 ladder may be realized in nature by vanadyl pyrophosphate, (VO
)2P2O7. In this paper we apply strong-coupling perturbation theory, spin-wave theory, Lanczos techniques, and a Monte Carlo method to determine the ground-state energy and the low-lying excitation spectrum of the ladder. We find evidence of a nonzero spin gap for all interchain couplings ${\mathit{J}}_{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\perp}}}$>0. A band of spin-triplet excitations above the gap is also analyzed. These excitations are unusual for an antiferromagnet, since their long-wavelength dispersion relation behaves as (k-
k0)2 (in the strong-coupling limit ${\mathit{J}}_{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\perp}}}$\ensuremath{\gg}J, where J is the in-chain antiferromagnetic coupling). Their band is folded, with a minimum energy at
k0=\ensuremath{\pi}, and a maximum between
k1=\ensuremath{\pi}/2 (for ${\mathit{J}}_{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\perp}}}$=0) and 0 (for ${\mathit{J}}_{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\perp}}}$=\ensuremath{\infty}). We also give numerical results for the dynamical structure factor S(q,\ensuremath{\omega}), which can be determined in neutron scattering experiments. Finally, possible experimental techniques for studying the excitation spectrum are discussed.