We investigate quantum phase transitions of the S=1/2 three-leg antiferromagnetic spin tube with asymmetric inter-chain (rung) exchange interactions. On the basis of the electron tube system, we propose a useful effective theory to give the global phase diagram of the asymmetric spin tube. In addition, using other effective theories we raise the reliability of the phase diagram. The density-matrix renormalization-group and the numerical diagonalization analyses show that the finite spin gap appears in a narrow region around the rung-symmetric line, in contrast to a recent paper by Nishimoto and Arikawa [Phys. Rev. B78, 054421 (2008)]. The numerical calculations indicate that this global phase diagram obtained by use of the effective theories is qualitatively correct. In the gapless phase on the phase diagram, the numerical data are fitted by a finite-size scaling in the c=1 conformal field theory. We argue that all the phase transitions between the gapful and gapless phases belong to the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless universality class.
The frustrated three-leg antiferromagnetic spin-1/2 tube with a weak interchain coupling in a magnetic field is investigated by means of Abelian bosonization techniques. It is clearly shown that a vector chiral order and a one-component Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid coexist in a wide magnetic-field region from a state with a small magnetization to a nearly saturated one. The chiral order is predicted to still survive in the intermediate plateau state. We further predict that (even) when the strength of one bond in the three rung couplings is decreased (increased), an Ising type quantum phase trans…
We investigate the low-energy properties of N-leg integer-spin ladders and tubes with an antiferromagnetic (AF) intrachain coupling. In the odd-leg tubes, the AF rung coupling causes the frustration. To treat all ladders and tubes systematically, we apply Sénéchal's method [Phys. Rev. B 52, 15319 (1995)], based on the nonlinear sigma model. This strategy is valid in the weak interchain (rung) coupling regime. We show that all frustrated tubes possess six-fold degenerate spin-1 magnon bands, as the lowest excitations, while other ladders and tubes have a standard triply degenerate bands. We als…
We study quantum phase transitions in the asymmetric variation of the three-leg Heisenberg tube for half-odd-integer spin, with a modulation of one of the rung exchange couplings $J'_\perp$ while the other two are kept constant $J_\perp$. We focus on the strong rung-coupling regime $J_\perp \gg J_\parallel$, where $J_\parallel$ is the leg coupling, and analyze the effective spin-orbital model with a transverse crystal field in detail. Applying the Abelian bosonization to the effective model, we find that the system is in the dimer phase for the general half-odd-integer-spin cases without the r…
The ground-state properties of the three-leg S=3/2 Heisenberg tube are studied using the density-matrix renormalization group method. We find that the spin-excitation gap associated with a spontaneous dimerization opens for the whole coupling regime, as seen in the three-leg S=1/2 Heisenberg tube. However, in contrast to the case of S=1/2 tube, the gap increases very slowly with increasing the rung coupling and its size is only a few % or less of the leg exchange interaction in the weak- and intermediate-coupling regimes. We thus argue that, unless the rung coupling is substantially larger tha…
Motivated by the intriguing properties of the vanadium spin tube Na2V3O7, we show that an effective spin-chirality model similar to that of standard Heisenberg odd-legged S=1/2 spin tubes can be derived for frustrated inter-ring couplings, but with a spin-chirality coupling constant alpha that can be arbitrarily small. Using density matrix renormalization group and analytical arguments, we show that, while spontaneous dimerization is always present, solitons become bound into low-lying singlets as alpha is reduced. Experimental implications for strongly frustrated tubes are discussed.
We investigate the spin-1/2 twisted three-leg antiferromagnetic quantum spin tube in the presence of the easy-plane anisotropy, using the numerical diagonalization of finite-size clusters. And we observe cases of the existence and the absence of magnetization plateau at 1/3 height of saturation magnetization when the anisotropy is tuned. The phenomenological-renormalization analysis indicates a quantum phase transition between the 1/3 magnetization plateau phase and the plateauless one. The phase diagram is also presented.
We study the ground state of three-leg $S=1/2$ Heisenberg tube using the density-matrix renormalization group method. The dimerization order-parameter and spin-excitation gap are calculated in a wide range of leg exchange interactions. We confirm that a gapped state with the dimerization order is realized even when the leg exchange interactions are ferromagnetic. Furthermore, the topological configuration of spin-singlet pairs in the ordered state is determined from the results of the Berry phase of each spin coupling as well as the structure factor of singlet-singlet correlation functions. We…
The spin-1/2 Ising-Heisenberg three-leg tube composed of the Heisenberg spin triangles mutually coupled through the Ising inter-triangle interaction is exactly solved in a zero magnetic field. By making use of the local conservation for the total spin on each Heisenberg spin triangle the model can be rigorously mapped onto a classical composite spin-chain model, which is subsequently exactly treated through the transfer-matrix method. The ground-state phase diagram, correlation functions, concurrence, Bell function, entropy and specific heat are examined in detail. It is shown that the spin fr…
We study three-leg antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model with the periodic boundary conditions in the rung direction. Since the rungs form regular triangles, spin frustration is induced. We use the density-matrix renormalization group method to investigate the ground state. We find that the spin excitations are always gapped to remove the spin frustration as long as the rung coupling is nonzero. We also visibly confirm spin-Peierls dimerization order in the leg direction. Both the spin gap and the dimerization order are basically enhanced as the rung coupling increases.
We study the ground state phase diagram of a frustrated spin-1/2 four-leg tube. Using a variety of complementary techniques, namely density matrix renormalization group, exact diagonalization, Schwinger boson mean field theory, quantum Monte-Carlo and series expansion, we explore the parameter space of this model in the regime of all-antiferromagnetic exchange. In contrast to unfrustrated four-leg tubes we uncover a rich phase diagram. Apart from the Luttinger liquid fixed point in the limit of decoupled legs, this comprises several gapped ground states, namely a plaquette, an incommensurate, …
Inelastic neutron scattering is used to investigate magnetic excitations in the quasi-one-dimensional quantum spin-liquid system Cu2Cl4 D8C4SO2. Contrary to previously conjectured models that relied on bond-alternating nearest neighbor interactions in the spin chains, the dominant interactions are actually next-nearest-neighbor in-chain antiferromagnetic couplings. The appropriate Heisenberg Hamiltonian is equivalent to that of a S = 1/2 4-leg spin-tube with almost perfect one dimensionality and no bond alternation. A partial geometric frustration of rung interactions induces a small incommens…
We study the ground state phase diagram of the twisted three-leg spin tube in magnetic fields by the density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) method. The twisted spin tube is composed of triangular unit cells and possesses strong quantum fluctuations under geometrical frustration. We apply the sine square deformation method to remove the strong boundary effects and obtain smooth magnetization curves without steps of finite systems. With the analysis of the magnetization curves and correlation functions we determine the ground state phase diagram consisting of (a) a Tomonaga-Luttinger (TL) l…
Using the (dynamical) density-matrix renormalization group method, we study the low-energy physics of three-leg antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model where the periodic boundary conditions are applied in the rung direction. We confirm that the spin excitations are always gapped as long as the intra-ring couplings form a regular triangle. From precise finite-size-scaling analyses of the spin gap and dimerization order parameter, we also find that the spin gap is collapsed by very small asymmetric modulation of the intra-ring couplings. Moreover, the dynamical spin structure factors on the intra- a…
We consider a spin-1/2 tube (a three-leg ladder with periodic boundary conditions) with a Hamiltonian given by two projection operators - one on the triangles, and the other on the square plaquettes on the side of the tube - that can be written in terms of Heisenberg and four-spin ring exchange interactions. We identify 3 phases: (i) for strongly antiferromagnetic exchange on the triangles, an exact ground state with a gapped spectrum can be given as an alternation of spin and chirality singlet bonds between nearest triangles; (ii) for ferromagnetic exchange on the triangles, we recover the ph…
We investigate the properties of a three-leg quantum spin tube using several techniques such as the density matrix renormalization group method, strong coupling approaches and the non linear sigma model. For integer spins S, the model proves to exhibit a particularly rich phase diagram consisting of an ensemble of 2S phase transitions. They can be accurately identified by the behavior of a non local string order parameter associated to the breaking of a hidden symmetry in the Hamiltonian. The nature of these transitions are further elucidated within the different approaches. We carry a detaile…
Using an approximation method for eigenvalue distribution functions, we study the temperature dependence of specific heat of the antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model on the asymmetric railroad-trestle lattice. This model contains both the sawtooth-lattice and Majumdar-Ghosh models as special cases. Making extrapolations to the thermodynamic limit using finite size data up to 28 spins, it is found that specific heat of the Majumdar-Ghosh model has a two-peak structure in its temperature dependence and those of systems near the sawtooth-lattice point have a three-peak structure.
Motivated by the recent discovery of the spin tube [(CuCl$_2$tachH)$_3$Cl]Cl$_2$, we investigate the properties of a frustrated three-leg spin tube with antiferromagnetic intra-ring and inter-ring couplings. We pay special attention to the evolution of the properties from weak to strong inter-ring coupling and show on the basis of extensive density matrix renormalization group and exact diagonalization calculations that the system undergoes a first-order phase transition between a dimerized gapped phase at weak coupling that can be described by the usual spin-chirality model and a gapless crit…
We calculate the phase diagram of an integrable anisotropic 3-leg quantum spin tube connected to the su(8) algebra. We find several quantum phase transitions for antiferromagnetic rung couplings. Their locations are calculated exactly from the Bethe Ansatz solution and we discuss the nature of each of the different phases.
Motivated by the crystal structures of [(CuCl2tachH)3Cl]Cl2 and Ca3Co2O6, we develop a low-energy effective theory using the bosonization technique for a spin-1/2 frustrated three-leg spin tube with trigonal prism units in two limit cases. The features obtained with the effective theory are numerically elucidated by the density matrix renormalization group method. Three different quantum phases in the ground state of the system, say, one gapped dimerized phase and two distinct gapless phases, are identified, where the two gapless phases are found to have the conformal central charge c=1 and 3/…
We study the ground state phase diagram of a frustrated spin-1/2 four-leg spin tube in an external magnetic field. We explore the parameter space of this model in the regime of all-antiferromagnetic exchange couplings by means of three different approaches: analysis of low-energy effective Hamiltonian (LEH), a Hartree variational approach (HVA) and density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) for finite clusters. We find that in the limit of weakly interacting plaquettes, low-energy singlet, triplet and quintuplet states play an important role in the formation of fractional magnetization platea…
We derive an effective electronic Hamiltonian for square lattice Hubbard-Holstein model (HHM) in the strong electron-electron (e-e) and electron-phonon (e-ph) coupling regime and under non-adiabatic conditions ($t/ω_0 \leq 1$), $t$ and $ω_0$ being the electron hopping and phonon frequency respectively. Using Density Matrix Renormalization Group method, we simulate this effective electronic model on $4-$Leg cylinder system at quarter-filling and present a phase diagram in $g-U$ plane where $g$ and $U$ are being the e-ph coupling constant and Hubbard on-site interaction respectively. For larger …
The zero-field excitation spectrum of the strong-leg spin ladder (C$_7$H$_10$N)$_2$CuBr$_4$ (DIMPY) is studied with a neutron time-of-flight technique. The spectrum is decomposed into its symmetric and asymmetric parts with respect to the rung momentum and compared with theoretical results obtained by the density matrix renormalization group method. Additionally, the calculated dynamical correlations are shown for a wide range of rung and leg coupling ratios in order to point out the evolution of arising excitations, as e.g. of the two-magnon bound state from the strong to the weak coupling li…
Uniform-field effects for frustrated odd-leg integer-spin tubes (cylinder type spin systems) are investigated in the weak interchain-coupling regime. We predict that, as the field exceeds the spin gap, a two-component Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid (TLL) appears due to the condensation of the doubly degenerate lowest magnons. Furthermore, it is argued that when the uniform field is so strong that the second lowest magnons are also condensed, the two-component TLL is destroyed and a new one-component TLL emerges. This quantum phase transition may be detected as a magnetization cusp.
The low-energy physics of three-leg frustrated antiferromagnetic spin-S tubes in the vicinity of the upper critical field are studied. Utilizing the effective field theory based on the spin-wave approximation, we argue that in the intermediate-interchain-coupling regime, the ground state exhibits a vector chiral order or an inhomogeneous magnetization for the interchain (rung) direction and the low-energy excitations are described by a one-component Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid (TLL). In both chiral and inhomogeneous phases, the Z_2 parity symmetry along the rung direction is spontaneously broken…
We study the magnetization plateau state of the three-leg spin-1/2 tube in the strong rung coupling region, where S_3-symmetry breakings and low-energy chirality degree of freedom play crucial roles. On the basis of the effective chirality model and density matrix renormalization group, we clarify that, as the leg coupling increases, the chirality liquid with gapless non-magnetic excitations, the spin imbalance phase and the vector-spin-chirality ordered phase emerge without closing the plateau spin gap. The relevance of these results to experiments is also discussed.
The $S=1/2$ twisted three-leg spin tube with the lattice distortion from the regular triangle to the isosceles one is investigated using the numerical diagonalization of finite-size clusters and the phenomenological renormalization group analysis. It is found that the quantum phase transition occurs from the spin gap phase to another one with respect to this lattice distortion.
Asymmetric two-leg Hubbard ladders with different on-site interactions $U_y$ and hoppings $t_y$ on each leg are investigated using the density matrix renormalization group method and exact diagonalizations. The pairing found in symmetric ladders is robust against the introduction of the leg asymmetry. When studying pairing, one-band Hubbard ladder models are better described as one-dimensional correlated two-band models than as sublattices of higher dimensional systems. The asymmetric Hubbard ladder provides us with a simple model for studying pairing in the crossover regime between charge tra…
We study the magnetism of a frustrated four-leg spin-1/2 ladder with transverse periodic boundary conditions: the frustrated four-spin tube (FFST). Using a combination of series expansion (SE), based on the continuous unitary transformation method and density-matrix renormalization group (DMRG) we analyze the ground-state, the one-, and the two-particle excitations in the regime of strong rung-coupling. We find several marked differences of the FFST with respect to standard two-leg ladders. First we show that frustration destabilizes the spin-gap phase of the FFST which is adiabatically connec…
Correlation functions and low-energy excitations are investigated in the asymmetric two-leg ladder consisting of a Hubbard chain and a noninteracting tight-binding (Fermi) chain using the density matrix renormalization group method. The behavior of charge, spin and pairing correlations is discussed for the four phases found at half filling, namely, Luttinger liquid, Kondo-Mott insulator, spin-gapped Mott insulator and correlated band insulator. Quasi-long-range antiferromagnetic spin correlations are found in the Hubbard leg in the Luttinger liquid phase only. Pair-density-wave correlations ar…
We perform a systematic investigation on the ground state of an asymmetric two-leg spin ladder (where exchange couplings of the legs are unequal) with ferromagnetic (FM) nearest-neighbor interaction and diagonal anti-ferromagnetic frustration using the Density Matrix Renormalization Group (DMRG) method. When the ladder is strongly asymmetric with moderate frustration, a magnetic canted state is observed between a FM state and a singlet dimerized state. The phase boundaries are dependent on the asymmetric strength $α_{a}$. On the other hand, when the asymmetric strength is intermediate, a so-ca…
In this paper, we investigate the properties of frustrated three-leg spin tubes under a magnetic field. We concentrate on two kind of geometries for these tubes, one of which is relevant for the compound $\mathrm{[(CuCl_2tachH)_3Cl]Cl_2}$. We combine an analytical path integral approach with a strong coupling approach, as well as large-scale Density Matrix Renormalization Groups (DMRG) simulations, to identify the presence of plateaux in the magnetization curve as a function of the value of spin $S$. We also investigate the issue of gapless non-magnetic excitations on some plateaux, dubbed chi…
Recent developments of theoretical studies on spin nanotubes are reviewed, especially focusing on the $S=1/2$ three-leg spin tube. In contrast to the three-leg spin ladder, the tube has a spin gap in case of the regular-triangle unit cellwhen the rung interaction is sufficiently large. The effective theory based on the Hubbard Hamiltonian indicates a quantum phase transition to the gapless spin liquid due to the lattice distortion to an isosceles triangle. This is also supported by the numerical diagonalization and the density matrix renormalization group analyses. Furthermore, combining analy…
We consider asymmetric spin-1/2 two-leg ladders with non-equal antiferromagnetic (AF) couplings J_|| and κJ_|| along legs (κ<= 1) and ferromagnetic rung coupling, J_\perp. This model is characterized by a gap Δin the spectrum of spin excitations. We show that in the large J_\perp limit this gap is equivalent to the Haldane gap for the AF spin-1 chain, irrespective of the asymmetry of the ladder. The behavior of the gap at small rung coupling falls in two different universality classes. The first class, which is best understood from the case of the conventional symmetric ladder at κ=1, admits a…
We investigate an asymmetric zig-zag spin ladder with different exchange integrals on both legs using bosonization and renormalization group. When the leg exchange integrals and frustration both are sufficiently small, renormalization group analysis shows that the Heisenberg critical point flows to an intermediate-coupling fixed point with gapless excitations and a vanishing spin velocity. When they are large, a spin gap opens and a dimer liquid is realized. Here, we find a continuous manifold of Hamiltonians with dimer product ground states, interpolating between the Majumdar-Ghosh and sawtoo…
We study an asymmetric $J_1$-$J_2$ zigzag ladder consisting of two different spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ antiferromagnetic (AFM; $J_2$, $γJ_2>0$) Heisenberg legs coupled by zigzag-shaped ferromagnetic (FM; $J_1<0$) inter-leg interaction. On the basis of density-matrix renormalization group based calculations the ground-state phase diagram is obtained as functions of $γ$ and $J_2/|J_1|$. It contains four kinds of frustration-induced ordered phases except a trivial FM phase. Two of the ordered phases are valence bond solid (VBS) with spin-singlet dimerization, which is a rather conventional order by diso…
Thermodynamic properties of the twisted three-leg spin tube under magnetic field are studied by the finite-$T$ density-matrix renormalization group method. The specific heat, spin, and chiral susceptibilities of the infinite system are calculated for both the original and its low-energy effective models. The obtained results show that the presence of the chirality is observed as a clear peak in the specific heat at low temperature and the contribution of the chirality dominates the low-temperature part of the specific heat as the exchange coupling along the spin tube decreases. The peak struct…
Using the exact results of the O(3) nonlinear sigma model (NLSM) and a few quantitative numerical data for integer-spin antiferromagnetic (AF) chains, we systematically estimate all magnon excitation energies of N-leg integer-spin AF ladders and tubes in the weak-interchain-coupling regime. Our method is based on a first-order perturbation theory for the strength of the interchain coupling. It can deal with any kind of interchain interactions, in principle. We confirm that results of the perturbation theory are in good agreement with those of a quantum Monte Carlo simulation and with our recen…
The interplay between frustration and quantum fluctuation in magnetic systems is known to be the origin of many exotic states in condensed matter physics. In this paper, we consider a frustrated four-leg spin tube under a magnetic field. This system is a prototype to study the emergence of a nonmagnetic ground state factorizable into local states and the associated order parameter without quantum fluctuation, that appears in a wide variety of frustrated systems. The one-dimensional nature of the system allows us to apply various techniques: a path-integral formulation based on the notion of or…
We perform a systematic investigation of an asymmetric zig-zag spin ladder with inter-leg exchange $J_1$ and different exchange integrals $J_2 \pm δ$ on both legs. In the weak limit of frustration, the spin model can be mapped to a revised double frequency Sine-Gorden model by using bosonization. Renormalization group analysis shows that the Heisenberg critical point flows to an intermediate-coupling fixed point with gapless excitations and a vanishing spin velocity. When the frustration is large, a spin gap opens and a dimer liquid is realized. Fixing $J_2 = J_1 /2$, we find, as a function of…
We show that the low-energy physics of the spin-tube model in presence of a critical magnetic field can be described by a broken SU(3) spin chain. Using the Lieb-Schultz-Mattis Theorem we characterize the possible magnetization plateaus and study the critical behavior in the region of transition between the plateaus m=1/2 and m=3/2 by means of renormalization group calculations performed on the bosonized effective continuum field theory. We show that in certain regions of the parameter space of the effective theory the system remains gapless, and we compute the spin-spin correlation functions …
We investigate a ladder system with two inequivalent legs, namely a Hubbard chain and a one-dimensional electron gas. Analytical approximations, the density matrix renormalization group method, and continuous-time quantum Monte Carlo simulations are used to determine ground-state properties, gaps, and spectral functions of this system at half-filling. Evidence for the existence of four different phases as a function of the Hubbard interaction and the rung hopping is presented. First, a Luttinger liquid exists at very weak interchain hopping. Second, a Kondo-Mott insulator with spin and charge …
We study XXZ Heisenberg models on frustrated triangular lattices wrapped around a cylinder. In addition to having interesting magnetic phases, these models are equivalent to Bose-Hubbard models that describe the physical problem of adsorption of noble gases on the surface of carbon nanotubes. We find analytical results for the possible magnetization plateau values as a function of the wrapping vectors of the cylinder, which in general introduce extra geometric frustration besides the one due to the underlying triangular lattice. We show that for particular wrapping vectors $(N,0)$, which corre…
We apply quantum field theory to study the excitation spectrum of doped two-leg ladders. It follows from our analysis that throughout most of the phase diagram the spectrum consists of degenerate quartets of kinks and anti-kinks and a multiplet of vector particles split according to the symmetry of the problem as 3 + 2 +1. This basic picture experiences corrections when one moves through the phase diagram. In some regions the splitting may become very small and in others it is so large that some multiplets are pushed in the continuum and become unstable. At second order transition lines masses…
We study the ground state phase diagram of a frustrated spin tube in a strong external magnetic field. This model can be viewed as two coupled zigzag spin chains, or as a two-leg spin ladder with frustrating next-nearest-neighbor couplings along the legs, and its study is motivated by the physics of such materials as Sulfolane-Cu_{2}Cl_{4} and BiCu_{2}PO_{6}. In magnetic fields right below the saturation, the system can be effectively represented as a dilute gas of two species of bosonic quasiparticles that correspond to magnons with inequivalent incommensurate momenta at two degenerate minima…
According to the classification using projective representations of the SO(3) group, there exist two topologically distinct gapped phases in spin-1 chains. The symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phase possesses half-integer projective representations of the SO(3) group, while the trivial phase possesses integer linear representations. In the present work, we implement non-Abelian symmetries in the density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) method, allowing us to keep track of (and also control) the virtual bond representations, and to readily distinguish the SPT phase from the trivial one b…
We discuss universal features on the electron spin resonance (ESR) of a temperature-induced Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid phase in a wide class of weakly coupled $S=1/2$ antiferromagnetic spin chains such as spin ladders, spin tubes and three-dimensionally coupled spin chains. We show that the ESR linewidth of various coupled chains increases with lowering temperature while the linewidth of a single spin chain is typically proportional to temperature. This broadening with lowering temperature is attributed to anisotropic interchain interactions and has been indeed observed in several kinds of thre…
We study a family of frustrated anti-ferromagnetic spin-$S$ systems with a fully dimerized ground state. This state can be exactly obtained without the need to include any additional three-body interaction in the model. The simplest members of the family can be used as a building block to generate more complex geometries like spin tubes with a fully dimerized ground state. After present some numerical results about the phase diagram of these systems, we show that the ground state is robust against the inclusion of weak disorder in the couplings as well as several kinds of perturbations, allowi…
