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arXiv:cond-mat/0103396 · Physical review. B, Condensed matter

Short-ranged resonating valence bond physics, quantum dimer models, and Ising gauge theories

Roderich Moessner, S. L. Sondhi, Eduardo Fradkin

Published Dec 10, 2001• 341 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Quantum dimer models are believed to capture the essential physics of antiferromagnetic phases dominated by short-ranged valence bond configurations. We show that these models arise as particular limits of Ising ${(Z}_{2})$ gauge theories, but that in these limits the system develops a larger local U(1) invariance that has different consequences on different lattices. Conversely, we note that the standard ${Z}_{2}$ gauge theory is a generalized quantum dimer model, in which the particular relaxation of the hardcore constraint for the dimers breaks the U(1) down to ${Z}_{2}.$ These mappings indicate that at least one realization of the Senthil--Fisher proposal for fractionalization is exactly the short ranged resonating valence bond (RVB) scenario of Anderson and of Kivelson, Rokhsar and Sethna. They also suggest that other realizations will require the identification of a local low energy, Ising link variable and a natural constraint. We also discuss the notion of topological order in ${Z}_{2}$ gauge theories and its connection to earlier ideas in RVB theory. We note that this notion is not central to the experiment proposed by Senthil and Fisher to detect vortices in the conjectured ${Z}_{2}$ gauge field.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.65.024504

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Quantum dimer models are believed to capture the essential physics of antiferromagnetic phases dominated by short-ranged valence bond configurations. We show that these models arise as particular limits of Ising (Z2){(Z}_{2})(Z2​) gauge theories, but that in these limits the system develops a larger local U(1) invariance that has different consequences on different lattices. Conversely, we note that the standard Z2{Z}_{2}Z2​ gauge theory is a generalized quantum dimer model, in which the particular relaxation of the hardcore constraint for the dimers breaks the U(1) down to Z2.{Z}_{2}.Z2​. These mappings indicate that at least one realization of the Senthil--Fisher proposal for fractionalization is exactly the short ranged resonating valence bond (RVB) scenario of Anderson and of Kivelson, Rokhsar and Sethna. They also suggest that other realizations will require the identification of a local low energy, Ising link variable and a natural constraint. We also discuss the notion of topological order in Z2{Z}_{2}Z2​ gauge theories and its connection to earlier ideas in RVB theory. We note that this notion is not central to the experiment proposed by Senthil and Fisher to detect vortices in the conjectured Z2{Z}_{2}Z2​ gauge field.
We show that there are two types of resonating-valence-bond (RVB) liquid phases present in three-dimensional quantum dimer models, corresponding to the deconfining phases of U(1)U(1)U(1) and Z2{Z}_{2}Z2​ gauge theories in d=3+1.d=3+1.d=3+1. The former is found on the bipartite cubic lattice and is the generalization of the critical point in the square lattice quantum dimer model found originally by Rokhsar and Kivelson. The latter exists on the nonbipartite face-centered cubic lattice and generalizes the RVB phase found earlier by us on the triangular lattice. We discuss the excitation spectrum and the nature of the ordering in both cases. Both phases exhibit gapped spinons. In the U(1)U(1)U(1) case we find a collective, linearly dispersing, transverse excitation, which is the photon of the low-energy Maxwell Lagrangian and we identify the ordering as quantum order in Wen's sense. In the Z2{Z}_{2}Z2​ case all collective excitations are gapped and, as in d=2,d=2,d=2, the low-energy description of this topologically ordered state is the purely topological BF action. As a byproduct of this analysis, we unearth a further gapless excitation, the pi0n, in the square lattice quantum dimer model at its critical point.
In the last chapter we introduced the concept of valence-bond states and discussed several quantum disordered phases in this language. Here we will see that the quantum fluctuations of valence-bond systems are best captured in terms of a much simpler effective theory, the quantum-dimer models. An understanding of these types of phases is best accomplished in terms of gauge theories. The phases of gauge theories and their topological properties will allow us to introduce the concept of a topological phase of matter in a precise way. Fluctuations of valence bonds: quantum-dimer models The valence-bond crystal of Section 8.5 has a spin-correlation length of the order of one lattice constant. It represents a quantum paramagnet. However, it is not a translationally invariant state, unlike the equal-amplitude short-range RVB state. It has crystalline order of its valence bonds and it is a four-fold degenerate state.
We construct a family of rotationally invariant, local, S=1∕2S=1∕2S=1∕2 Klein Hamiltonians on various lattices that exhibit ground-state manifolds spanned by nearest-neighbor valence bond states. We show that with selected perturbations such models can be driven into phases modeled by well-understood quantum dimer models on the corresponding lattices. Specifically, we show that the perturbation procedure is arbitrarily well controlled by a new parameter which is the extent of decoration of the reference lattice. This strategy leads to Hamiltonians that exhibit (i) Z2{Z}_{2}Z2​ resonating valence bond (RVB) phases in two dimensions, (ii) U(1)U(1)U(1) RVB phases with a gapless ``photon'' in three dimensions, and (iii) a Cantor deconfined region in two dimensions. We also construct two models on the pyrochlore lattice, one model exhibiting a Z2{Z}_{2}Z2​ RVB phase and the other a U(1)U(1)U(1) RVB phase.
We construct a short-range resonating-valence-bond (RVB) state on the ruby lattice, using projected entangled-pair states with bond dimension D=3D=3D=3. By introducing nonlocal moves to the dimer patterns on the torus, we distinguish four distinct sectors in the space of dimer coverings, which is a signature of the topological nature of the RVB wave function. Furthermore, by calculating the reduced density matrix of a bipartition of the RVB state on an infinite cylinder and exploring its entanglement entropy, we confirm the topological nature of the RVB wave function by obtaining a nonzero topological contribution, $\ensuremath{\gamma}=\ensuremath{-}\mathrm{ln}\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}2$, consistent with that of a Z2{\mathbb{Z}}_{2}Z2​ topological quantum spin liquid. We also calculate the ground-state energy of the spin-12\frac{1}{2}21​ antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model on the ruby lattice and compare it with the RVB energy. Finally, we construct a quantum dimer model for the ruby lattice and discuss it as a possible parent Hamiltonian for the RVB wave function.
We critically look at Senthil Fisher constructions of quantum number fractionization in cuprates. The first construction, while mathematically correct is of limited relevance to cuprates. The second one has a missing local U(1) symmetry. Once this aspect is repaired, it reveals itself as the U(1) RVB gauge theory construction of quantum number fractionization. An approximate local Z2Z_2Z2​ symmetry arises in the spin sector for a reason very different from Senthil and Fisher's. The charge sector continues to have the local U(1) symmetry and the metallic spin gap phase of the 2d cuprates may, in principle, carry (irrational) fractional charge e∗≠ee^* \neq ee∗=e obeying Haldane's fractional exclusion statistics like the 1d models.
We use Monte Carlo simulations to study properties of Anderson's resonating-valence-bond (RVB) spin-liquid state on the square lattice (i.e., the equal superposition of all pairing of spins into nearest-neighbor singlet pairs) and compare with the classical dimer model (CDM). The latter system also corresponds to the ground state of the Rokhsar-Kivelson quantum dimer model at its critical point. We find that, although spin-spin correlations decay exponentially in the RVB, four-spin valence-bond-solid correlations are critical, qualitatively like the well-known dimer-dimer correlations of the CDM, but decaying more slowly (as $1/{r}^{\ensuremath{\alpha}}$ with $\ensuremath{\alpha}\ensuremath{\approx}1.20$, compared with $\ensuremath{\alpha}=2$ for the CDM). We also compute the distribution of monomer (defect) pair separations, which decay by a larger exponent in the RVB than in the CDM. We further study both models in their different winding-number sectors and evaluate the relative weights of different sectors. Like the CDM, all the observed RVB behaviors can be understood in the framework of a mapping to a ``height'' model characterized by a gradient-squared stiffness constant KKK. Four independent measurements consistently show a value ${K}_{\mathrm{RVB}}\ensuremath{\approx}1.6{K}_{\mathrm{CDM}}$, with the same kinds of numerical evaluations of KCDM{K}_{\mathrm{CDM}}KCDM​ giving results in agreement with the rigorously known value ${K}_{\mathrm{CDM}}=\ensuremath{\pi}/16$. The background of a nonzero winding-number gradient W/LW/LW/L introduces spatial anisotropies and an increase in the effective KKK, both of which can be understood as a consequence of anharmonic terms in the height-model free energy, which are of relevance to the recently proposed scenario of ``Cantor deconfinement'' in extended quantum dimer models. In addition to the standard case of short bonds only, we also studied ensembles in which fourth-neighbor (bipartite) bonds are allowed at a density controlled by a tunable fugacity, resulting (as expected) in a smooth reduction of KKK.