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arXiv:cond-mat/0703790 · Physical Review B

Impurity spin textures across conventional and deconfined quantum critical points of two-dimensional antiferromagnets

Max A. Metlitski, Subir Sachdev A

Published Aug 17, 2007• 10 citations
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Abstract

We describe the spin distribution in the vicinity of a nonmagnetic impurity in a two-dimensional antiferromagnet undergoing a transition from a magnetically ordered N\'eel state to a paramagnet with a spin gap. The quantum critical ground state in a finite system has total spin $S=1∕2$ (if the system without the impurity had an even number of $S=1∕2$ spins), and recent numerical studies in a double layer antiferromagnet [K. H. H\"oglund et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 087203 (2007)] have shown that the spin has a universal spatial form delocalized across the entire sample. We present the field theory describing the uniform and staggered magnetizations in this spin texture for two classes of antiferromagnets: (i) the transition from a N\'eel state to a paramagnet with local spin singlets, in models with an even number of $S=1∕2$ spins per unit cell, which are described by a O(3) Landau-Ginzburg-Wilson field theory; and (ii) the transition from a N\'eel state to a valence bond solid, in antiferromagnets with a single $S=1∕2$ spin per unit cell, which are described by a ``deconfined'' field theory of spinons.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.76.064423

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We describe the spin distribution in the vicinity of a nonmagnetic impurity in a two-dimensional antiferromagnet undergoing a transition from a magnetically ordered N'eel state to a paramagnet with a spin gap. The quantum critical ground state in a finite system has total spin S=1∕2S=1∕2S=1∕2 (if the system without the impurity had an even number of S=1∕2S=1∕2S=1∕2 spins), and recent numerical studies in a double layer antiferromagnet [K. H. H"oglund et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 087203 (2007)] have shown that the spin has a universal spatial form delocalized across the entire sample. We present the field theory describing the uniform and staggered magnetizations in this spin texture for two classes of antiferromagnets: (i) the transition from a N'eel state to a paramagnet with local spin singlets, in models with an even number of S=1∕2S=1∕2S=1∕2 spins per unit cell, which are described by a O(3) Landau-Ginzburg-Wilson field theory; and (ii) the transition from a N'eel state to a valence bond solid, in antiferromagnets with a single S=1∕2S=1∕2S=1∕2 spin per unit cell, which are described by a ``deconfined'' field theory of spinons.
The spin texture surrounding a nonmagnetic impurity in a quantum antiferromagnet is a sensitive probe of the novel physics of a class of quantum phase transitions between a N\'eel ordered phase and a valence-bond solid phase in square lattice S=1/2S=1/2S=1/2 antiferromagnets. Using a newly developed T=0T=0T=0 quantum Monte Carlo technique, we compute this spin texture at these transitions and find that it does not obey the universal scaling form expected at a scale invariant quantum critical point. We also identify the precise logarithmic form of these scaling violations. Our results are expected to yield important clues regarding the probable theory of these unconventional transitions.
We study the impurity physics at a continuous quantum phase transition from an SU(3) symmetric N\'eel-ordered state to a valence-bond-solid state that breaks lattice symmetries, using quantum Monte Carlo techniques. This continuous transition is expected to be an example of ``deconfined criticality'' in an SU(3) symmetric system. We find that the spin-texture induced by a missing-spin defect at the transition takes on a finite-size scaling form consistent with expectations from standard scaling arguments at a scale-invariant quantum critical point, albeit with significant subleading power-law finite size corrections that we analyze in detail. Together with recently found logarithmic violations of scaling at similar continuous transitions in the SU(2) case, our results provide indirect evidence of the existence of operators that become marginal as NNN is reduced to 222 in the field theoretical description of these deconfined critical points.
Motivated by recent Monte Carlo simulations of H\"oglund and Sandvik (arXiv:0808.0408), we study edge response in square lattice quantum antiferromagnets. We use the O(3) nonlinear $\ensuremath{\sigma}$ model to compute the decay asymptotics of the staggered magnetization, energy density, and local magnetic susceptibility away from the edge. We find that the total edge susceptibility is negative and diverges logarithmically as the temperature $T\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0$. We confirm the predictions of the continuum theory by performing a 1/S1/S1/S expansion of the microscopic Heisenberg model with the edge. We propose a qualitative explanation of the edge dimerization seen in Monte Carlo simulations by a theory of valence-bond-solid correlations in the N\'eel state. We also discuss the extension of the latter theory to the response of a single nonmagnetic impurity, and its connection to the theory of the deconfined critical point.
We describe the uniform and staggered magnetization distributions around a vacancy in a quantum critical two-dimensional S=1/2 antiferromagnet. The distributions are delocalized across the entire sample with a universal functional form arising from an uncompensated Berry phase. The numerical results, obtained using quantum Monte Carlo simulations of the Heisenberg model on bilayer lattices with up to approximately equal to 10(5) spins, are in good agreement with the proposed scaling structure. We determine the exponent eta' = 0.40+/-0.02, which governs both the staggered and uniform magnetic structure away from the impurity and also controls the impurity spin dynamics.
Recent scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) experiments on underdoped cuprates have displayed modulations in the local electronic density of states, which are centered on a Cu-O-Cu bond [Kohsaka et al., Science 315, 1380 (2007)]. As a paradigm of the pinning of such bond-centered ordering in strongly correlated systems, we present the theory of valence bond solid (VBS) correlations near a single impurity in a square lattice antiferromagnet. The antiferromagnet is assumed to be in the vicinity of a quantum transition from a magnetically ordered N\'eel state to a spin-gap state with long-range VBS order. We identify two distinct classes of impurities: (i) local modulation in the exchange constants and (ii) a missing or additional spin, for which the impurity perturbation is represented by an uncompensated Berry phase. The ``boundary'' critical theory for these classes is developed. In the second class, we find a VBS pinwheel around the impurity, accompanied by a suppression in the VBS susceptibility. Implications for numerical studies of quantum antiferromagnets and for STM experiments on the cuprates are noted.
We present the critical theory of a number of zero-temperature phase transitions of quantum antiferromagnets and interacting boson systems in two dimensions. The most important example is the transition of the S=1∕2S=1∕2S=1∕2 square lattice antiferromagnet between the N\'eel state (which breaks spin rotation invariance) and the paramagnetic valence bond solid (which preserves spin rotation invariance but breaks lattice symmetries). We show that these two states are separated by a second-order quantum phase transition. This conflicts with Landau-Ginzburg-Wilson theory, which predicts that such states with distinct broken symmetries are generically separated either by a first-order transition, or by a phase with co-existing orders. The critical theory of the second-order transition is not expressed in terms of the order parameters characterizing either state, but involves fractionalized degrees of freedom and an emergent, topological, global conservation law. A closely related theory describes the superfluid-insulator transition of bosons at half filling on a square lattice, in which the insulator has a bond density wave order. Similar considerations are shown to apply to transitions of antiferromagnets between the valence bond solid and the Z2{Z}_{2}Z2​ spin liquid: the critical theory has deconfined excitations interacting with an emergent U(1)\mathrm{U}(1)U(1) gauge force. We comment on the broader implications of our results for the study of quantum criticality in correlated electron systems.