We report on the microscopic model of the recently synthesized one-dimensional quantum magnet (NO)Cu(NO3)3. Applying density functional theory band structure calculations, we obtain a leading antiferromagnetic exchange coupling J ~ 200 K, which runs via NO3 groups forming spin chains along the b direction. Much weaker couplings J' ~ 2 K link the chains into layers in a non-frustrated manner. Our calculations do not support the earlier conjecture on an anisotropic frustrated square lattice physics in (NO)Cu(NO3)3. In contrast, the model of uniform spin chains leads to a remarkably good fit of the experimental magnetic susceptibility data, although the low-temperature features of the intrinsic magnetic susceptibility measured by electron spin resonance might call for extension of the model. We outline possible experiments to observe the suggested long-range magnetic ordering in (NO)Cu(NO3)3 and briefly compare this compound to other spin-1/2 uniform-chain systems.
Colossal magnetoresistance (CMR) emerges from intertwined spin and charge degrees of freedom in the form of ferromagnetic clusters also known as trapped magnetic polarons. As a result, CMR is rarely observed in antiferromagnetic materials. Here we use electron spin resonance (ESR) to reveal microscopic evidence for the formation of magnetic polarons in antiferromagnetic Eu$_{5}$In$_{2}$Sb$_{6}$. First, we observe a reduction of the Eu$^{2+}$ ESR linewidth as a function of the applied magnetic field consistent with ferromagnetic clusters that are antiferromagnetically coupled. Additionally, the…
The disordered antiferromagnet \pfn (\pfns) is investigated in a wide temperature range by combining Mössbauer spectroscopy and neutron diffraction experiments. It is demonstrated that the magnetic ground state is a {\it microscopic} coexistence of antiferromagnetic and a spin-glass orders. This speromagnet-like phase features frozen-in short-range fluctuations of the Fe$^{3+}$ magnetic moments that are transverse to the long-range ordered antiferromagnetic spin component.
We theoretically investigate the spin wave (magnon) excitations in a classical antiferromagnetic spin chain with easy-axis anisotropy. We obtain a Dirac-like equation by linearizing the Landau- Lifshitz-Gilbert equation in this antiferromagnetic system, in contrast to the ferromagnetic system in which a Schrödinger equation is derived. The Hamiltonian operator in the Dirac-like equation is a pseudo-Hermitian. We compute and demonstrate the relativistic Zitterbewegung (trembling motion) in the antiferromagnetic spin chain by measuring the expectation values of the wave packet position.
Recent angle resolved photoemission (ARPES) data, which found evidence for a d-wave-like modulation of the antiferromagnetic gap, suggest an intimate interrelation between the antiferromagnetic insulator and the superconductor with its d-wave gap. This poses a new challenge to microscopic descriptions, which should account for this correlation between, at first sight, very different states of matter. Here, we propose a microscopic mechanism which provides a definite correlation between these two different gap structures: it is shown that a projected SO(5) theory, which aims at unifying antifer…
Uranium dipnictide USb$_2$ reflects enigmatic properties posing a substantial challenge for a microscopic modeling. Among others, it develops a nonstandard antiferromagnetic order of a $\uparrow\downarrow\downarrow\uparrow$-type along [001] crystallographic direction, and under pressure it undergoes transition to the ferromagnetic phase. Here we propose a minimal low-energy model of USb$_2$ which, as we demonstrate at the mean-field level, accommodates physical mechanism for mentioned observations. Relying on the obtained results we also comment on the features of magnetism observed in other U…
Combining quantum Monte Carlo simulations with the maximum entropy method, we study the dynamical structure factor $S(k,ω)$ of spin-1/2 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg chains with various random bond distributions. We emphasize the crossover behavior in the dynamical properties from pure chain to disorder-dominated random singlet phase due to bond randomness. For the distribution corresponding to the infinite randomness fixed point, $S(k,ω)$ develops broad non-spinon excitations as well as the random-singlet peak near $(k, ω) = (π, 0)$, consistent with the known results obtained by the real-space…
A novel organometallic compound 2Dioxane.CuCl2.2H2O has been synthesized and structurally characterized by X-ray crystallography. Magnetic susceptibility and zero-field inelastic neutron scattering have also been used to study its magnetic properties. It turns out that this material is a weakly coupled one-dimensional S=1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnetic chain system with chain direction along the crystallographic c axis and the nearest-neighbor intra-chain exchange constant J=0.85(4) meV. The next-nearest-neighbor inter-chain exchange constant J' is also estimated to be 0.05 meV. The observed m…
We report magnetic susceptibility, specific heat, and Raman scattering investigations of alpha-TeVO4 containing V-O edge-sharing chains. These chains promote a system of ferromagnetic/antiferromagnetic spin-1/2 Heisenberg alternating exchange chains with pronounced spin frustration. The magnetic susceptibility and Raman scattering evidence a crossover at T* = 85 K with different slopes of the reciprocal susceptibility and a magnetic phase transition into a long-range-ordered state at Tc = 16 K. From Raman scattering data a strong mutual coupling between lattice and magnetic degrees of freedom …
The antiferromagnetic Heisenberg spin chain with integer spin has short-range magnetic order and an excitation energy gap above the ground state. This so-called Haldane gap is proportional to the exchange coupling $J$ of the Heisenberg chain. We discuss recent results about the spin dependence of the Haldane gap and conjecture an analytical formula valid asymptotically for large spin values. We next study the robustness of the edge states of the spin one chain by studying by the DMRG algorithm a spin one ladder. We show that the peculiar hidden topological order of the spin one chain disappear…
The calculation of the sign and strength of magnetic interactions in two noncentrosymmetric minerals (klyuchevskite, K3Cu3(Fe0.82Al0.18)O2(SO4)4 and piipite, K4Cu4O2(SO4)4Cu0.5Cl) has been performed based on the structural data. As seen from the calculation results, both minerals comprise quasi-one-dimensional frustrated antiferromagnets. They contain frustrated spin chains from edge-sharing Cu4 tetrahedra with strong antiferromagnetic couplings within chains and very weak ones between chains. Strong frustration of magnetic interactions is combined with the presence of the electric polarizatio…
The influence of antiferromagnetic order on the superconductivity in the non-centrosymmetric heavy fermion compound CePt$_3$Si and related materials is discussed. Based on our RPA analysis for the extended Hubbard model two phases could be stabilized by a spin fluctuation induced pairing, with either dominantly p-wave or d-wave symmetry. The antiferromagnetic order plays an essential role for the low-energy physics, in particular, for the appearance of line nodes in the gap and the enhancement of spin susceptibility below $T_{\rm c}$. Various properties and possible phase diagrams under pressu…
Considering experimental results obtained on three prototype compounds, TMMC, CsCoCl3 (or CsCoBr3) and Cu Benzoate, we discuss the importance of non-linear excitations in the physics of quantum (and classical) antiferromagnetic spin chains.
The exact amplitude for the asymptotic correlation function in the S=1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnetic chain is determined: <S^a_0 S^b_r> goes to (-1)^r delta^{ab}(ln r)^{1/2}/[(2 pi)^{3/2}r]. The behaviour of the correlation functions for small xxz anisotropy and the form of finite-size corrections to the correlation function are also analysed.
In the paper we describe the modification of spin-wave theory for one-dimensional isotropic antiferromagnet. This theory enables to obtain the energy of magnetic excitations of short wave length and correlation function in agreement with numerical studies.
The ordering of weakly coupled random antiferromagnetic $S=1/2$ chains, as relevant for recent experimentally investigated spin chain materials, is considered theoretically. The one-dimensional isotropic Heisenberg model with random exchange interactions is treated numerically on finite chains with the density-matrix renormalization-group approach as well as with the standard renormalization analysis, both within the mean-field approximation for interchain coupling $J_{\perp}$. Results for the ordering temperature $T_N$ and for the ordered moment $m_0$ are presented and are both reduced with t…
Quasi-one-dimensional quantum antiferromagnets formed by a d-dimensional hypercubic lattice of weakly coupled spin-1/2 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg chains are studied by combining exact results in one-dimension and renormalization group analyses of the interchain correlations. It is shown that d-dimensional magnetic long-range order develops at zero-temperature for infinitesimal antiferromagnetic or ferromagnetic interchain couplings. In the presence of weak bond alternations, the order-disorder transition occurs at a finite interchain coupling. Relevances to the lightly doped quantum antiferr…
The phase transition in the compound LiVGe2O6 has been proposed as a unique example of a spin-Peierls transition in an S=1 antiferromagnetic chain. We report neutron and x-ray diffraction measurements of LiVGe2O6 above and below the phase transition at T=24 K. No evidence is seen for any structural distortion associated with the transition. The neutron results indicate that the low temperature state is antiferromagnetic, driven by ferromagnetic interchain couplings.
The new antiferromagnetic (AF) compound BaCu_2Si_2O_7 is studied by magnetic susceptibility and neutron scattering techniques. The observed behavior is dominated by the presence of loosely coupled S=1/2 chains with the intrachain AF exchange constant J = 24.1 meV. Long-range Neel ordering is observed below Tn = 9.2 K. The results are discussed within the framework of the Mean Field-RPA model for weakly interacting quantum spin chains.
A spin-singlet ground state with a spin gap has been discovered in antiferromagnetic spin chain substances when the spin value is 1/2, 1 or 2. To find spin gap (singlet-triplet) excitations in spin-3/2 chain substances, we performed inelastic neutron scattering and magnetization measurements on {\it R}CrGeO$_5$ ({\it R} = Y or Sm) powders. As expected, we observed spin gap excitations and the dispersion relation of the lowest magnetic excitations. We proved that the spin system of Cr$^{3+}$ was an antiferromagnetic alternating spin-3/2 chain.
Using the density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) technique, we carry out a large scale numerical calculation for the S=2 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg chain. Performing systematic scaling analysis for both the chain length $L$ and the number of optimal states kept in the iterations $m$, the Haldane gap $Δ(2)$ is estimated accurately as $(0.0876\pm0.0013)J$. Our systematic analysis for the S=2 chains not only ends the controversies arising from various DMRG calculations and Monte Carlo simulations, but also sheds light on how to obtain reliable results from the DMRG calculations for other c…
We give a physical description in terms of percolation theory of the phase transition that occurs when the disorder increases in the random antiferromagnetic spin-1 chain between a gapless phase with topological order and a random singlet phase. We study the statistical properties of the percolation clusters by numerical simulations, and we compute exact exponents characterizing the transition by a real-space renormalization group calculation.
To check the reliability of the Majorana representation of quantum spin systems, we use it to compute the ground state energy of an antiferromagnetic spin 1/2 chain to one loop order. We find a very small one loop correction of the mean field energy and a discrepancy of >100% compared to the Bethe Ansatz result. We conclude that a careful handling of the gauge degrees of freedom of this representation is crucial to get correct results.
We present a simple two-dimensional model in which the lattice degrees of freedom mediate the interactions between magnetic moments and electric dipoles. This model reproduces basic features, such as a sudden electric polarization switch-off when a magnetic field is applied and the ubiquitous dimerized distortion patterns and magnetic $\uparrow \uparrow \downarrow \downarrow$ ordering, observed in several multiferroic materials of different composition. The list includes E-type manganites, RMnO$_3$, nickelates such as in YNiO$_3$ and other materials under strain, such as TbMnO$_3$. In spite of…
We evaluate numerically certain multiple integrals representing nearest and next-nearest neighbor correlation functions of the spin-1/2 $XXZ$ Heisenberg infinite chain at finite temperatures.
We investigate the spin-1/2 Heisenberg model on the delta chain (sawtooth chain) with ferromagnetic nearest-neighbor and antiferromagnetic next-neighbor interactions. For a special ratio between these interactions there is a class of exact ground states formed by localized magnons and the ground state is macroscopically degenerate with a large residual entropy per spin $s_0=\frac{1}{2}\ln 2$. An important feature of this model is a sharp decrease of the gaps for excited states with an increase of the number of magnons. These excitations give an essential contribution to the low-temperature the…
Finite-size effects are studied in ground states of antiferromagnetic (AF) ANNNI chains in a field. It is shown that field can induce a variety of inhomogeneous states in finite chains. They are composed of two shifted AF states with the kink at their junction and are highly degenerate with respect to the kink position. The phase diagram field-exchange ratio for finite chains is presented.
The manifestations of topological effects in finite antiferromagnetic Heisenberg chains is examined by density matrix renormalization group technique in this paper. We find that difference between integer and half-integer spin chains shows up in ground state energy per site when length of spin chain is longer than $\simξ$, where $ξ\sim\exp(πS)$ is a spin-spin correlation length, for spin magnitude S up to 5/2. For open chains with spin magnitudes $S=5/2$ to S=5, we verify that end states with fractional spin quantum numbers $S'$ exist and are visible even when the chain length is much smaller …
We study the fidelity susceptibility of quantum antiferromagnetic Ising chain with a long-range power law interaction $1/r^α$ using the large-scale density matrix renormalization group method. We find that the critical adiabatic dimension $μ=2$ and the critical exponent of the correlation length $ν=1$ for arbitrary $α>0$, indicating all quantum phase transitions are second-order Ising transitions. In addition, we numerically determine the complete phase diagram for $0 < α\le 3$ from the data collapse of the fidelity susceptibility and show that the critical point $h_c$ changes monotonously wit…
Corrections to the asymptotic correlation function in a Heisenberg spin-1/2 antiferromagnetic spin chain are known to vanish slowly (logarithmically) as a function of the distance r or the chain size L. This leads to significant differences with numerical results. We calculate the sub-leading logarithmic corrections to the finite-size correlation function, using renormalization group improved perturbation theory, and compare the result with numerical data.
The magnetization process of the $S=1$ antiferromagnetic chain with the single-ion anisotropy $D$ and the biquadratic interaction is investigated using the numerical diagonalization. Both interactions stabilize the 2-magnon Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid (TLL) phase in the magnetization process. Based on several excitation gaps calculated by the numerical diagonalization, some phase diagrams of the magnetization process are presented. These phase diagrams reveal that the spin nematic dominant TLL phase appears at higher magnetizations for sufficiently large negative $D$.
The magnetic susceptibility and magnetization of high quality single crystal beta-TeVO4 are reported. We show that this compound, made of weakly coupled infinite chains of VO5 pyramids sharing corners, behaves as a S = 1/2 one-dimensional Heisenberg antiferromagnet. From magnetic experiments we deduce the intrachain antiferromagnetic coupling constant J/kB = 21.4 $\pm$ 0.2 K. Below 5 K a series of three phase transitions at 2.26, 3.28 and 4.65 K is observed.
We study the role of long range dipolar interactions on antiferromagnetic spin chains, from the classical $S\to \infty$ limit to the deep quantum case $S=1/2$, including a transverse magnetic field. To this end, we combine different techniques such as classical energy minima, classical Monte Carlo, linear spin waves, bosonization and DMRG. We find a phase transition from the already reported dipolar ferromagnetic region to an antiferromagnetic region for high enough antiferromagnetic exchange. Thermal and quantum fluctuations destabilize the classical order before reaching magnetic saturation …
We analyze the logarithmic corrections due to ferromagnetic impurity ending bonds of open spin 1/2 antiferromagnetic chains, using the density matrix renormalization group technique. A universal finite size scaling $\sim {\frac 1 {L \log L}}$ for impurity contributions in the quasi-degenerate ground state energy is demonstrated for a zigzag spin 1/2 chain at the critical next nearest neighbor coupling and the standard Heisenberg spin 1/2 chain, in the long chain limit. Using an exact solution for the latter case it is argued that one can extract the impurity contributions to the entropy and sp…
A dimerized quantum Heisenberg or XY antiferromagnetic chain has a gap in the spectrum. We show that a weak incommensurate modulation around a dimerized chain produces a zero temperature quantum critical point. As the incommensuration wavelength is varied, there is a transition to a modulated gapless state. The critical behaviour is in the universality class of the classical commensurate-incommensurate (Pokrovsky-Talapov) transition. An analogous metal-insulator transition can also take place for an incommensurate chain.
We investigate elastic deformations of spin $S=1/2$ antiferromagnetic $J_1-J_2$ Heisenberg chains, at $M=1/3$ magnetization, coupled to phonons in the adiabatic approximation. Using a bosonization approach we predict the existence of non-homogeneous trimerized magnetoelastic phases. A rich ground state phase diagram is found, including classical and quantum plateau states for the magnetic sector as well as inequivalent lattice deformations within each magnetic phase. The analytical results are supported by exact diagonalization of small clusters.
We report inelastic time-of-flight and triple-axis neutron scattering measurements of the excitation spectrum of the coupled antiferromagnetic spin-1 Heisenberg chain system CsNiCl3. Measurements over a wide range of wave-vector transfers along the chain confirm that above T_N CsNiCl3 is in a quantum-disordered phase with an energy gap in the excitation spectrum. The spin correlations fall off exponentially with increasing distance with a correlation length xi=4.0(2) sites at T=6.2K. This is shorter than the correlation length for an antiferromagnetic spin-1 Heisenberg chain at this temperatur…
We report zero and longitudinal magnetic field muon spin relaxation measurements of the spin S=1/2 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg chain material SrCuO2. We find that in a weak applied magnetic field B the spin-lattice relaxation rate follows a power law B^n with n=-0.9(3). This result is temperature independent for 5K < T < 300 K. Within conformal field theory and using the Müller ansatz we conclude ballistic spin transport in SrCuO2.
Antikink dispersion of the asymmetric $J_1$-$J_2$ sawtooth spin-1/2 anisotropic Heisenberg antiferromagnetic chain has been derived. Value of spin-gap is obtained by estimating the minimum of dispersion relation variationally. The exact doubly-degenerate ground state energy has been derived at the symmetric point, $J_1=J_2$, for the whole anisotropic regime. Analytic form of dispersion relations of three different antikink states is obtained and their validity in the parameter space is discussed. The value of spin-gap, specific heat and susceptibility are estimated numerically by diagonalizing…
Zero temperature phase diagram of XXZ spin chain in external magnetic field is investigated at low energies using path integral approach.It has been shown by spin wave analysis and then by nonlinear sigma model transformation that below some critical field the system undergoes quantum Kosterlitz-Thouless phase transition.Above that critical field for low anisotropies the system is saturated while at strong anisotropy the system has Ising antiferromagnetic order.
Recent experiments of the quasi-one-dimensional spin-1/2 antiferromagnet Copper Benzoate established the existence of a magnetic field induced gap. The observed neutron scattering intensity exhibits resolution limited peaks at both the antiferromagnetic wave number and at incommensurate wave numbers related to the applied magnetic field. We determine the ratio of spectral weights of these peaks within the framework of a low-energy effective field theory description of the problem.
The antiferromagnetic Heisenberg chain is expected to have an extended symmetry, [SU(2)xSU(2)]/Z 2 , in the infrared limit, whose physical interpretation is that the spin and dimer order parameters form the components of a common 4-dimensional vector. Here we numerically in- vestigate this emergent symmetry using quantum Monte Carlo simulations of a modified Heisenberg chain (the J-Q model) in which the logarithmic scaling corrections of the conventional Heisenberg chain can be avoided. We show how the two- and three-point spin and dimer correlation func- tions approach their forms constrained…
We report inelastic neutron scattering measurements from our newly synthesized single crystals of the structurally metastable antiferromagnetic pyrochlore Yb$_{2}$Ge$_{2}$O$_{7}$. We determine the four symmetry-allowed nearest-neighbor anisotropic exchange parameters via fits to linear spin wave theory supplemented by fits of the high-temperature specific heat. The exchange parameters so-determined are strongly correlated to the values determined for the $g$-tensor components, as previously observed for the related Yb pyrochlore Yb$_{2}$Ti$_{2}$O$_{7}$. To address this issue, we directly deter…
We investigate the behavior of antiferromagnetic integer-spin chains in a staggered magnetic field, by means of the density-matrix renormalization group, carefully addressing the role of finite-size effects within the Haldane phase at small fields. In the case of spin S=2, we determine the dependence of the groundstate energy and magnetization on the external field, in the thermodynamic limit, and show how the peculiar finite-size behavior can be connected with the crossover in the groundstate from a spin liquid to a polarized Néel state.
We present results of a study of the antiferromagnetic spin-1 chain, subject to the simultaneous presence of single-ion anisotropy and external magnetic fields. Using quantum Monte-Carlo based on the stochastic series expansion method we first uncover a rich quantum phase diagram comprising Néel, Haldane, Luttinger liquid, and large anisotropy phases. Second, we scan across this phase diagram over a wide range of parameters, evaluating the transverse dynamic structure factor, which we show to exhibit sharp massive modes, as well as multi particle continua. For vanishing anisotropy and fields, …
Antiferromagnetic Heisenberg integer-spin chains are characterized by a spin-liquid ground state with no long-range order, due to the relevance of quantum fluctuations. Spin anisotropy, however, freezes quantum fluctuations, and the system is magnetized in the presence of a sufficiently large easy-axis anisotropy. We numerically investigate the case S=1, by means of the density-matrix renormalization group, and find that the freezing of the spin liquid into a Néel spin solid, with increasing easy-axis anisotropy, is a continuous quantum phase transition. Numerical evidence indicates that the t…
Antiferromagnetic resonance (AFMR) of BaCu2Si2O7 and a microscopic theory of the magnetic anisotropy of spin 1/2 chain compounds with folded CuO3 geometry being in good agreement with the available data are presented. The AFMR studies at 4.2 K show the existence of two gaps (40 and 76 GHz) at zero magnetic field and of two spin re-orientation transitions for H||c. The microscopic origin of the two gaps is shown to be Hund's rule coupling which leads to a "residual anisotropy" beyond the compensation of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya term by the symmetric anisotropy which would be valid without Hund…
We develop an analytical approach based on a unitary transformation to investigate S=1/2 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg chains coupled to phonons, and find a new quantum phase transition at zero temperature. Although the usual phase transition occurs depending on the strengths of the spin-spin and spin-phonon interactions, the phase transition in the present work is induced by a change in the geometrical structure of the spin-phonon interaction. The magnetic properties of the phase transition can be understood in relation to a phase transition that has already been found in the frustrated J1-J2 …
We formulate a real-space renormalization scheme that allows the study of the effects of bond randomness in the Heisenberg antiferromagnetic spin-1 chain. There are four types of bonds that appear during the renormalization flow. We implement numerically the decimation procedure. We give a detailed study of the probability distributions of all these bonds in the phases that occur when the strength of the disorder is varied. Approximate flow equations are obtained in the weak-disorder regime as well as in the strong disorder case where the physics is that of the random singlet phase.
The structure of magnetic polarons (ferrons) is studied for an 1D antiferromagnetic chain doped by non-magnetic donor impurities. The conduction electrons are assumed to be bound by the impurities. Such a chain can be described as a set of ferrons at the antiferromagnetic background. We found that two types of ferrons can exist in the system. The ground state of the chain corresponds to the ferrons with the sizes of the order of the localization length of the electron near the impurity. The ferrons of the second type produce a more extended distortion of spins in the chain. They are stable wit…
The magnetization process of the one-dimensional antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model with the Ising-like anisotropic exchange interaction is studied by the exact diagonalization technique. It results in the evidence of the first-order spin flop transition with a finite magnetization jump in the Néel ordered phase for $S\geq 1$. It implies that the S=1/2 chain is an exceptional case where the metamagnetic transition becomes second-order due to large quantum fluctuations.
We develop a boundary field theory approach to electron spin resonance in open $S=1/2$ Heisenberg antiferromagnetic chains with an effective staggered field. In terms of the sine Gordon effective field theory with boundaries,we point out the existence of boundary bound states of elementary excitations, and modification of the selection rules at the boundary. We argue that several "unknown modes" found in electron spin resonance experiments on KCuGaF$_6$ [I. Umegaki et al., Phys. Rev. B 79, 184401 (2009)] and Cu-PM [S. A. Zvyagin et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 027201 (2004)] can be understood as …
We derive finite temperature versions of integral formulae for the two-point correlation functions in the antiferromagnetic XXZ chain. The derivation is based on the summation of density matrix elements characterizing a finite chain segment of length $m$. On this occasion we also supply a proof of the basic integral formula for the density matrix presented in an earlier publication.
The magnetic behaviors of a spin-1/2 alternating Heisenberg antiferromagnetic chain in a staggered transverse magnetic field is studied by means of the density-matrix renormalization group method and Jordan-Wigner transformation. Quantum phase transitions of different types are observed in the S=1 Neel and XY-like gapless phases, which result from the competitions between the staggered transverse field and magnetic orders induced by anisotropy and alternating interactions. The results are compared with the mean-field and some exactly resolved results.
The low-energy properties of a system at a critical point may have additional symmetries not present in the microscopic Hamiltonian. This letter presents the theory of a class of multicritical points that provide an interesting example of this in the phase diagrams of random antiferromagnetic spin chains. One case provides an analytic theory of the quantum critical point in the random spin-3/2 chain, studied in recent work by Refael, Kehrein and Fisher (cond-mat/0111295).
We present the first experimental realization of an $S=2$ ferromagnetic-antiferromagnetic (F-AF) alternating chain in a new Mn-verdazyl complex [Mn(hfac)$_2$]$\cdot$($o$-Py-V) [hfac=1,1,1,5,5,5-hexafluoroacetylacetonate; $o$-Py-V=3-(2-pyridyl)-1,5-diphenylverdazyl]. Through the $ab$ $initio$ molecular orbital calculation, magnetization, and ESR measurements, this compound is confirmed to form an $S=2$ F-AF alternating chain with Ising anisotropy below about 100 K. Furthermore, we find an anomalous change in magnetization at 1/4 of the saturation value, which is probably a manifestation of the …
We examine the effective field theory of the Bethe ansatz integrable Heisenberg antiferromagnetic spin chains. It shows that the quantum critical theories for the integer spin-S chains should be characterized by the SO(3)level-S Wess-Zumino-Witten model, and classified by the third cohomology group $H^{3}(SO(3),Z)=Z$. Depending on the parity of spin S, this integer classification is further divided into two distinct universality classes, which are associated with two completely different conformal field theories: the even-S chains have gapless bosonic excitations and the odd-S chains have both…
We present a study of the spin-1/2 Heisenberg chain with alternating ferro- and antiferromagnetic exchange, focusing on the role of the exchange couplings to cover both, dimer and Haldane limit. Employing a complementary combination of perturbation theory and quantum Monte Carlo simulation, we report results for the magnetic susceptibility as well as the dynamic structure factor over a wide range of coupling constants and for different temperatures to extract the spin gap. For a small ferromagnetic coupling, we find good agreement between perturbation theory and quantum Monte Carlo. For arbitr…
