We outline the recent results on the ground state for a class of one- and two-dimensional frustrated quantum spin models with competing ferro(F)- and antiferromagnetic (AF) interactions. Frustrated spin systems are known to have many interesting properties due to large quantum fluctuations. As a result of these fluctuations usual mean-field approach gives quite crude (if not false) description of these systems. Therefore, exactly solvable models are very instructive at investigations of such systems. The exact ground state wave function of proposed models has a structure of the valence-bond state (VBS) type. One of the 1D model describes the transition line between the F and AF phase. The exact singlet ground state on this line has a double-spiral ordering. Using different approximation methods we study the magnetization curve in the AF phase. The second considered set of the 1D and 2D models has an exact non-degenerate ground state with exponentially decaying spin correlations. We also proposed the 1D and 2D electronic models with exact ground state represented in terms of singlet bond functions which are the generalization of the RVB functions including ionic states.
We have found the exact ground state for two electronic models on a linear chain. The first model describes a half-filling electron system at the ferromagnet-antiferromagnet transition point. In the singlet ground state the spin correlators show giant spiral magnetic ordering, with the period of a spiral equal to the system size. The second electronic model describes the point where the ground state has giant spiral off-diagonal long-range order and is, therefore, superconducting. We suggest the formation of a ground state with giant spiral order (ferromagnetic or off-diagonal) as a probable scenario of the subsequent destruction of the ferromagnetism and the superconductivity.
The quantum phases of one-dimensional spin
s=1/2 chains are discussed for models with two parameters, frustrating exchange
g=J2>0 between second neighbors and normalized nonfrustrating power-law exchange with exponent $\ensuremath{\alpha}$ and distance dependence ${r}^{\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\alpha}}$. The ground state (GS) at
g=0 has a long-range order (LRO) for $\ensuremath{\alpha}<2$ and long-range spin fluctuations for $\ensuremath{\alpha}>2$. The models conserve total spin
S=SA+SB, have singlet GS for any
g, $\ensuremath{\alpha}\ensuremath{\ge}0$ and decouple at
1/g=0 to linear Heisenberg antiferromagnets on sublattices
A and
B of odd- and even-numbered sites. Exact diagonalization of finite chains gives the sublattice spin $\ensuremath{\langle}{S}_{A}^{2}\ensuremath{\rangle}$, the magnetic gap
Em to the lowest triplet state, and the excitation ${E}_{\ensuremath{\sigma}}$ to the lowest singlet with opposite inversion symmetry to the GS. An analytical model that conserves sublattice spin has a first-order quantum transition at
gc=1/4ln2 from a GS with perfect LRO to a decoupled phase with
SA=SB=0 for $g\ensuremath{\ge}4/{\ensuremath{\pi}}^{2}$ and no correlation between spins in different sublattices. The model with $\ensuremath{\alpha}=1$ has a first-order transition to a decoupled phase that closely resembles the analytical model. The bond order wave (BOW) phase and continuous quantum phase transitions of finite models with $\ensuremath{\alpha}\ensuremath{\ge}2$ are discussed in terms of GS degeneracy where ${E}_{\ensuremath{\sigma}}(g)=0$, excited state degeneracy where ${E}_{\ensuremath{\sigma}}(g)={E}_{m}(g)$, and $\ensuremath{\langle}{S}_{A}^{2}\ensuremath{\rangle}$. The decoupled phase at large frustration has nondegenerate GS for any exponent $\ensuremath{\alpha}$ and excited states related to sublattice excitations.
The one-dimensional quantum spin-1/2 model with nearest-neighbor ferromagnetic and next-nearest-neighbor antiferromagnetic interaction is considered. The Hamiltonian is firstly rewritten in a form with rotated spin operators, then bosonized by using the linear spin wave approximation and then treated by using the Green function approach. An integral expression of the quantum correction to the classical ground state energy is derived. The critical behavior of the ground state energy in the vicinity of the transition point from the ferromagnetic to the singlet ground state is analyzed by numerical calculation and the result is −8γ 2 .
The one-dimensional quantum spin-1/2 model with nearest-neighbor ferromagnetic and next-nearest-neighbor antiferromagnetic interaction is considered. The Hamiltonian is first bosonized by using the linear spin wave approximation, and then is treated by using the Green's function approach. An integral expression of the quantum correction to the classical ground state energy is derived. The critical behavior of the ground state energy in the vicinity of the transition point from the ferromagnetic to the singlet ground state is analyzed by numerical calculation, and the result is
−8γ2.
The frustrated ladder with alternate ferromagnetic(F) exchange
−JF and AF exchange
JA to first neighbors and F exchange
−JL to second neighbors is studied by exact diagonalization (ED) and density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) calculations in systems of
2N spins-1/2 with periodic boundary conditions. The ground state is a singlet
(S=0) and the singlet-triplet gap
εT is finite for the exchanges considered. Spin-1/2 string correlation functions
g1(N) and
g2(N) are defined for an even number
N of consecutive spins in systems with two spins per unit cell; the ladder has string order
g2(∞)>0 and
g1(∞)=0. The minimum
N∗ of
g2(N) is related to the range of ground-state spin correlations. Convergence to
g2(∞) is from below, and
g1(N) decreases exponentially for
N≥N∗. Singlet valence bond (VB) diagrams account for the size dependencies. The frustrated ladder at special values of
JF,
JL and
JA reduces to well-known models such as the spin-1 Heisenberg antiferromagnet and the
J1−J2 model, among others. Numerical analysis of ladders matches previous results for spin-1 gaps or string correlation functions and extends them to spin-1/2 systems. The nondegenerate singlet ground state of ladder is a bond-order wave, a Kekulé VB diagrams at
JL=JF/2≤JA, that is reversed on interchanging
−JF and
JA. Inversion symmetry is spontaneously broken in the dimer phase of the
J1−J2 model where the Kekulé diagrams are the doubly degenerate ground states at
J2/J1=1/2.