We study a system of interacting triplons (the elementary excitations of a valence-bond solid) described by an effective interacting boson model derived within the bond-operator formalism. In particular, we consider the square lattice spin-1/2 $J_1$-$J_2$ antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model, focus on the intermediate parameter region, where a quantum paramagnetic phase sets in, and consider the columnar valence-bond solid phase. Within the bond-operator theory, the Heisenberg model is mapped into an effective boson model in terms of triplet operators $t$. The effective boson model is studied at the harmonic approximation and the energy of the triplons and the expansion of the triplon operators $b$ in terms of the triplet operators $t$ are determined. Such an expansion allows us to performed a second mapping, and therefore, determine an effective interacting boson model in terms of the triplon operators $b$. We then consider systems with a fixed number of triplons and determined the ground-state energy and the spectrum of elementary excitations within a mean-field approximation. We show that many-triplon states are stable, the lowest-energy ones are constituted by a small number of triplons, and the excitation gaps are finite. For $J_2=0.48 J_1$ and $J_2=0.52 J_1$, we also calculate spin-spin and dimer-dimer correlation functions, dimer order parameters, and the bipartite von Neumann entanglement entropy within our mean-field formalism in order to determine the properties of the many-triplon state as a function of the triplon number. We find that the spin and the dimer correlations decay exponentially and that the entanglement entropy obeys an area law, regardless the triplon number. Moreover, only for $J_2=0.48 J_1$, the spin correlations indicate that the many-triplon states with large triplon number might display a more homogeneous singlet pattern than the columnar valence-bond solid.
Topological Triplons in the Pinwheel Valence Bond Solid on the Kagome Lattice
Technical University of Munich（慕尼黑工业大学）；TUM School of Natural Sciences（TUM自然科学学院）；Physics Department（物理系）；Munich Center for Quantum Science and Technology (MCQST)（慕尼黑量子科学与技术中心）；Institute of Physics, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL)（洛桑联邦理工学院物理研究所）
We provide a theory of triplon dynamics in the valence bond solid ground state of the coupled spin-ladders modelled for BiCu$_2$PO$_6$. Utilizing the recent high quality neutron scattering data [Nature Physics (2015), DOI: 10.1038/NPHYS3566] as guides and a theory of interacting triplons via the bond operator formulation, we determine a minimal spin Hamiltonian for this system. It is shown that the splitting of the low energy triplon modes and the peculiar magnetic field dependence of the triplon dispersions can be explained by including substantial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya and symmetric anisotro…
In order to clarify the origin of the enhancement of the thermal conductivity in the Bose-Einstein Condensed (BEC) state of field-induced triplons, we have measured the thermal conductivity along the [101] direction parallel to spin-chains, $kappa_{\|[101]}$, and perpendicular to spin-chains, $kappa_{\perp[101]}$, of the S=1/2 bond-alternating spin-chain system Pb2V3O9 in magnetic fields up to 14 T. With increasing field at 3 K, it has been found that both $kappa_{\|[101]}$ and $kappa_{\perp[101]}$ are suppressed in the gapped normal state in low fields. In the BEC state of field-induced tripl…
Motivated by experiments on non-magnetic triangular-lattice Mott insulators, we study one candidate paramagnetic phase, the columnar dimer (or valence-bond) phase. We apply variants of the bond-operator theory to a dimerized and spatially anisotropic spin-1/2 Heisenberg model and determine its zero-temperature phase diagram and the spectrum of elementary triplet excitations (triplons). Depending on model parameters, we find that the minimum of the triplon energy is located at either a commensurate or an incommensurate wavevector. Condensation of triplons at this commensurate-incommensurate tra…
The mean-field triplon analysis is developed for spin-S quantum antiferromagnets with dimerized ground states. For the spin-1/2 case, it reduces to the well known bond-operator mean-field theory. It is applied to a coupled-dimer model on square lattice, and to a model on honeycomb lattice with spontaneous dimerization in the ground state. Different phases in the ground state are investigated as a function of spin. It is found that under suitable conditions (such as strong frustration) a quantum ground state (dimerized singlet phase in the present study) can survive even in the limit $S\rightar…
Thermal Hall conductivity of a valence bond solid phase in the square lattice $J_1$-$J_2$ antiferromagnet Heisenberg model with a Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction
We demonstrate the appearance of symmetry protected triplon Dirac modal lines in the low energy excitation spectrum of a realistic microscopic model of the geometrically frustrated quantum magnet SrCu2(BO3)2 in its high symmetry phase. The symmetry-allowed Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions induce dispersive trilpon bands within the bond-operator formalism that cross linearly over an extended closed path in the Brillouin zone. Our results establish that the nodal lines are protected by a $U(1)$-symmetry and robust against perturbations that preserve this symmetry. In the presence of a longitud…
We propose an order parameter to characterize valence-bond-solid (VBS) states in quantum spin chains, given by the ground-state expectation value of a unitary operator appearing in the Lieb-Schultz-Mattis argument. We show that the order parameter changes the sign according to the number of valence bonds (broken valence bonds) at the boundary for periodic (open) systems. This allows us to determine the phase transition point in between different VBS states. We demonstrate this theory in the successive dimerization transitions of the bond-alternating Heisenberg chains, using the quantum Monte C…
Every singlet state of a quantum spin 1/2 system can be decomposed into a linear combination of valence bond basis states. The range of valence bonds within this linear combination as well as the correlations between them can reveal the nature of the singlet state, and are key ingredients in variational calculations. In this work, we study the bipartite valence bond distributions and their correlations within the ground state of the Heisenberg antiferromagnet on bipartite lattices. In terms of field theory, this problem can be mapped to correlation functions near a boundary. In dimension d >= …
A Monte Carlo method for quantum spin systems is formulated in the basis of valence bond (singlet pair) states. The non-orthogonality of this basis allows for an efficient importance-sampled projection of the ground state out of an arbitrary state. The method provides access to resonating valence-bond physics, enables a direct improved estimator for the singlet-triplet gap, and extends the class of models that can be studied without negative-sign problems. As a demonstration, the valence bond distribution in the ground state of the 2D Heisenberg antiferromagnet is calculated. Generalizations o…
In a system with an even number of SU(2) spins, there is an overcomplete set of states--consisting of all possible pairings of the spins into valence bonds--that spans the S=0 Hilbert subspace. Operator expectation values in this basis are related to the properties of the closed loops that are formed by the overlap of valence bond states. We construct a generating function for spin correlation functions of arbitrary order and show that all nonvanishing contributions arise from configurations that are topologically irreducible. We derive explicit formulas for the correlation functions at second…
We propose an order parameter to characterize valence-bond-solid (VBS) states in quantum spin chains, given by the ground-state expectation value of a unitary operator appearing in the Lieb-Schultz-Mattis argument. We show that the order parameter changes the sign according to the configuration of the valence bonds. This allows us to determine the phase transition point in between different VBS states accurately. We demonstrate this theory in the bond-alternating Heisenberg chain and in the frustrated spin ladder.
By using a variational Monte Carlo technique based upon Gutzwiller-projected fermionic states, we investigate the dynamical structure factor of the antiferromagnetic $S=1/2$ Heisenberg model on the honeycomb lattice, in presence of first-neighbor ($J_1$) and second-neighbor ($J_2$) couplings, for ${J_2 < 0.5 J_1}$. The ground state of the system shows long-range antiferromagnetic order for ${J_2/J_1 \lesssim 0.23}$, plaquette valence-bond order for ${0.23 \lesssim J_2/J_1 \lesssim 0.36}$, and columnar dimer order for ${J_2/J_1 \gtrsim 0.36}$. Within the antiferromagnetic state, a well-defined …
We study the orbitally frustrated singlet-triplet models that emerge in the context of spin-orbit coupled Mott insulators with $t_{2g}^4$ electronic configuration. In these compounds, low-energy magnetic degrees of freedom can be cast in terms of three-flavor "triplon" operators describing the transitions between spin-orbit entangled $J=0$ ionic ground state and excited $J=1$ levels. In contrast to a conventional, flavor-isotropic O(3) singlet-triplet models, spin-orbit entangled triplon interactions are flavor-and-bond selective and thus highly frustrated. In a honeycomb lattice, we find clos…
Quantum dimer models exhibit quantum critical points and liquid states when the ground state is the resonating-valence bond (RVB) state. We construct SU(2)-invariant spin-1/2 Hamiltonians with the same RVB ground state. The main technical obstacle overcome is the fact that different "dimer" configurations in the spin model are not orthogonal to each other. We show that the physics depends on how dimers are related to the spins, and find a Hamiltonian that may be quantum critical.
The trimer resonating valence bond (tRVB) state consisting of an equal-weight superposition of trimer coverings on a square lattice is proposed. A model Hamiltonian of the Rokhsar-Kivelson type for which the tRVB becomes the exact ground state is written. The state is shown to have $9^g$ topological degeneracy on genus g surface and support $Z_3$ vortex excitations. Correlation functions show exponential behavior with a very short correlation length consistent with the gapped spectrum. The classical problem of the degeneracy of trimer configurations is investigated by the transfer matrix metho…
We discuss relation between three different methods to identify topologically distinct short-range valence-bond ground states in spin-$\frac12$ two-leg ladders: the string order parameters, the level-crossing method, and the ground-state expectation value of the twist operator. For this purpose we reexamine a phase transition in the frustrated spin ladder. We propose a proper bosonization of the string order parameters. Then, these three methods are shown to be equivalent reflecting the $Z_2\times Z_2$ symmetry breaking of the order and the disorder fields of the two-dimensional Ising model.
We study the spin-phonon drag effect in the magnetothermal transport of spin-1/2 two-leg ladders coupled to lattice degrees of freedom. Using a bond operator description for the triplon excitations of the spin ladder and magnetoelastic coupling to acoustic phonons, we employ the time convolutionless projection operator method to derive expressions for the diagonal and off-diagonal thermal conductivities of the coupled two-component triplon-phonon system. We find that for magnetoelastic coupling strengths and diagonal scattering rates relevant to copper-oxide spin-ladders the drag heat conducti…
We introduce a simple model of SO($N$) spins with two-site interactions which is amenable to quantum Monte-Carlo studies without a sign problem on non-bipartite lattices. We present numerical results for this model on the two-dimensional triangular lattice where we find evidence for a spin nematic at small $N$, a valence-bond solid (VBS) at large $N$ and a quantum spin liquid at intermediate $N$. By the introduction of a sign-free four-site interaction we uncover a rich phase diagram with evidence for both first-order and exotic continuous phase transitions.
In two-dimensional incompressible quantum spin liquids, a large enough magnetic field generically induces "doping" of polarized S=1 triplons or S=1/2 spinons. We review a number of cases such as spin-3/2 AKLT or spin-1/2 Resonating Valence Bond (RVB) liquids where the Projected Entangled Pair States (PEPS) framework provides very simple and comprehensive pictures. On the bipartite honeycomb lattice, simple PEPS can describe Bose condensed triplons (AKLT) or spinons (RVB) superfluids with transverse staggered (Néel) magnetic order. On the Kagome lattice, doping the RVB state with deconfined spi…
We discuss a projector Monte Carlo method for quantum spin models formulated in the valence bond basis, using the S=1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet as an example. Its singlet ground state can be projected out of an arbitrary basis state as the trial state, but a more rapid convergence can be obtained using a good variational state. As an alternative to first carrying out a time consuming variational Monte Carlo calculation, we show that a very good trial state can be generated in an iterative fashion in the course of the simulation itself. We also show how the properties of the valence bond bas…
We show how efficient loop updates, originally developed for Monte Carlo simulations of quantum spin systems at finite temperature, can be combined with a ground-state projector scheme and variational calculations in the valence bond basis. The methods are formulated in a combined space of spin z-components and valence bonds. Compared to schemes formulated purely in the valence bond basis, the computational effort is reduced from up to O(N^2) to O(N) for variational calculations, where N is the system size, and from O(m^2) to O(m) for projector simulations, where m>> N is the projection power.…
Motivated by the recent neutron scattering experiment on Rb2Cu3SnF12 [Nat. Phys. 6, 865 (2010)], we investigate the effect of Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions in a theoretical model for the magnetic structure of this material. Considering the valence bond solid ground state, which has a 12-site unit cell, we develop the bond operator mean-field theory. It is shown that the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions significantly modify the triplon dispersions around the Gamma point and cause a shift of the spin gap (the minimum triplon gap) position from the K to Gamma point in the first Brilloin zo…
Orbital Order and Superconductivity in Bilayer Nickelate Compounds
Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research（马克斯·普朗克固体的研究所）；Department of Condensed Matter Physics, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University（马萨里克大学理学院凝聚态物理系）
The hardcore extended Bose Hubbard model on a bilayer square lattice with attractive (repulsive) interplane (intraplane) interactions has been investigated numerically. Focusing on the strong interplane hopping parameter regime, triplet valence bonds of dimers are stabilized to form valence bond checkerboard solid at quarter filling. Increasing the particle number we confirm, for the first time, the presence of the exotic valence bond supersolid phase, where the valence bond solid ordering and the boson superfluidity coexist. Rising further the particle number will lead to a checkerboard solid…
Doped IrTe$_2$ is considered a platform for topological superconductivity and therefore receives currently a lot of interest. In addition, the superconductivity in these materials exists in close vicinity of electronic valence bond crystals, which we explore here by means of high-pressure single crystal x-ray diffraction in combination with density functional theory. Our crystallographic refinements provide unprecedented information about the structural evolution as a function of applied pressure up to 42 GPa. Using this structural information for density functional theory calculations, we sho…
In this work we investigate the supersymmetric version of the valence bond solid (SVBS) state. In one dimension, the SVBS states continuously interpolate between the valence bond states for integer and half-integer spin chains, and they generally describe superconducting valence bond liquid states. Spin and superconducting correlation functions can be computed exactly for these states, and their correlation lengths are equal at the supersymmetric point. In higher dimensions, the wave function for the SVBS states can describe resonating valence bond states (RVB). The SVBS states for the spin mo…
The phase diagram of Kane-Mele-Heisenberg (KMH) model in classical limit~\cite{zare}, contains disordered regions in the coupling space, as the result of to competition among different terms in the Hamiltonian, leading to frustration in finding a unique ground state. In this work we explore the nature of these phase in the quantum limit, for a $S=1/2$. Employing exact diagonalization (ED) in $S_z$ and nearest neighbor valence bond (NNVB) bases, bond and plaquette valence bond mean field theories, We show that the disordered regions are divided into ordered quantum states in the form of plaquet…
We study a frustrated spin-$S$ staggered-dimer Heisenberg model on square lattice by using the bond-operator representation for quantum spins, and investigate the emergence of classical magnetic order from the quantum mechanical (staggered-dimer singlet) ground state for increasing $S$. Using triplon analysis, we find the critical couplings for this quantum phase transition to scale as $1/S(S+1)$. We extend the triplon analysis to include the effect of quintet dimer-states, which proves to be essential for establishing the classical order (Néel or collinear in the present study) for large $S$,…
We explore both analytically and numerically the properties of doped t-J models on a class of highly frustrated lattices, such as the kagome and the pyrochlore lattice. Focussing on a particular sign of the hopping integral and antiferromagnetic exchange, we find a generic symmetry breaking instability towards a twofold degenerate ground state at a fractional filling below half filling. These states show modulated bond strengths and only break lattice symmetries. They can be seen as a generalization of the well-known valence bond solid states to fractional filling.
A ferrimagnetic spin model composed of $S=1/2$ spin-dimers and $S=5/2$ spin-chains is studied by combining the bond-operator representation (for $S=1/2$ spin-dimers) and Holstein-Primakoff transformation (for $S=5/2$ spins). A finite interaction $J_{\rm DF}$ between the spin-dimer and the spin chain makes the spin chains ordered antiferromagnetically and the spin dimers polarized. The effective interaction between the spin chains, mediated by the spin dimers, is calculated up to the third order. The staggered magnetization in the spin dimer is shown proportional to $J_{\rm DF}$. It presents an…
We present a theory for site dilution in the Valence Bond Crystal Phase of the Kagome Lattice Heisenberg Model. The presence of an empty site leads to strong singlet bond across the impurity. It also creates a free spin, which delocalizes inside the unit cell. Finite concentration of quenched impurities leads to a Valence Bond Glass phase. This phase has short-range Valence Bond order, no spin-gap, large spin susceptibilities, linear specific heat due to two-level systems, as well as singlet and triplet excitations that decompose into kink-antikink pairs delocalized over a few lattice constant…
We discuss how orbital degeneracy, which is usually removed by a cooperative Jahn-Teller distortion, could under appropriate circumstances lead rather to a Resonating Valence Bond spin-orbital liquid. The key points are: i) The tendency to form spin-orbital dimers, a tendency already identified in several cases; ii) The mapping onto Quantum Dimer Models, which have been shown to possess Resonating Valence Bond phases on the triangular lattice. How this program can be implemented is explained in some details starting from a microscopic model of LiNiO$_2$.
We propose a set of maximized string order parameters to describe the hidden topological order in the valence bond solid states of quantum integer spin-S chains. These optimized string order parameters involve spin-twist angles corresponding to $Z_{S+1}$ rotations around $z$ or $x$-axes, suggesting a hidden $Z_{S+1}\times Z_{S+1}$ symmetry. Our results also suggest that a local triplet excitation in the valence bond solid states carries a $Z_{S+1}$ topological charge measured by these maximized string order parameters.
We introduce for SU(2) quantum spin systems the Valence Bond Entanglement Entropy as a counting of valence bond spin singlets shared by two subsystems. For a large class of antiferromagnetic systems, it can be calculated in all dimensions with Quantum Monte Carlo simulations in the valence bond basis. We show numerically that this quantity displays all features of the von Neumann entanglement entropy for several one-dimensional systems. For two-dimensional Heisenberg models, we find a strict area law for a Valence Bond Solid state and multiplicative logarithmic corrections for the Neel phase.
The honeycomb lattice material Li2RuO3 undergoes a dimerization of Ru4+ cations on cooling below 270C, where the magnetic susceptibility vanishes. We use density functional theory calculations to show that this reflects the formation of a 'valence bond crystal', with a strong bond disproportionation. On warming, x-ray diffraction shows that discrete three-fold symmetry is regained on average, and the dimerization apparently disappears. In contrast, local structural measurements using high-energy x-rays, show that disordered dimers survive at the nanoscale up to at least 650C. The high temperat…
We present the class of models of a nonmagnetic impurity in S=1/2 generalized ladder with an AKLT-type valence bond ground state, and of a S=1/2 impurity in the S=1 AKLT chain. The ground state in presence of impurity can be found exactly. Recently studied phenomenon of local enhancement of antiferromagnetic correlations around the impurity is absent for this family of models.
Recent evidence from magnetic torque, electron spin resonance, and second harmonic generation indicate that the prototypical quantum spin liquid candidate, herbertsmithite, has a symmetry lower than its x-ray refined trigonal space group. Here, we consider known and possible distortions of this mineral class, along with related copper kagome oxides and fluorides, relate these to possible valence bond patterns, and comment on their relevance to the physics of these interesting materials.
We show that a new glassy phase can emerge in presence of strong magnetic frustration and quantum fluctuations. It is a Valence Bond Glass. We study its properties solving the Hubbard-Heisenberg model on a Bethe lattice within the large $N$ limit introduced by Affleck and Marston. We work out the phase diagram that contains Fermi liquid, dimer and valence bond glass phases. This new glassy phase has no electronic or spin gap (although a pseudo-gap is observed), it is characterized by long-range critical valence bond correlations and is not related to any magnetic ordering. As a consequence it …
Using large-scale quantum Monte Carlo simulations, we exactly solve a model of Fermions hopping on the honeycomb lattice with cluster charge interactions, which has been proposed as an effective model with possible application to twisted bilayer graphene near half-filling. We find an interaction driven semimetal to insulator transition to an insulating phase consisting of a valence bond solid with Kekulé pattern. Finite size scaling reveals that the phase transition of the semimetal to Kekulé valence bond solid phase is continuous and belongs to chiral XY universality class.
We study two-dimensional Heisenberg antiferromagnets with additional multi-spin interactions which can drive the system into a valence-bond solid state. For standard SU(2) spins, we consider both four- and six-spin interactions. We find continuous quantum phase transitions with the same critical exponents. Extending the symmetry to SU(N), we also find continuous transitions for N=3 and 4. In addition, we also study quantitatively the cross-over of the order-parameter symmetry from Z4 deep inside the valence-bond-solid phase to U(1) as the phase transition is approached.
Gutzwiller variational method is applied to an effective two-dimensional Hubbard model to examine the recently proposed gossamer superconductor by Laughlin. The ground state at half filled electron density is a gossamer superconductor for smaller intra-site Coulomb repulsion U and a Mott insulator for larger U. The gossamer superconducting state is similar to the resonant valence bond superconducting state, except that the chemical potential is approximately pinned at the mid of the two Hubbard bands away from the half filled.
We introduce a one-dimensional valence bond solid (VBS) state with symplectic symmetry SP(n) and construct the corresponding parent Hamiltonian. We argue that there is a gap in the spectrum. We calculate exactly the static correlation functions, which fall off exponentially. Hence the model introduced here shares all properties of the Haldane scenario for integer-spin quantum antiferromagnets. We further show that the VBS state possesses string order and discuss its generalization to higher dimensions.
We present a valence bond theory of the spin-S quantum Heisenberg model. For nonfrustracting, local exchange and dimension d > 1, it predicts a resonating ground state with bond amplitudes h(r) ~ (a^2+r^2)^(-p/2) and decay exponent p=d+1. Different values of p can be achieved by introducing frustrating (p > d+1) or nonfrustrating (p < d+1) long-range interactions. For d=2, but not d=3, there is a critical value of the decay exponent p_c above which the ground state is a spin liquid. The phase transition is analogous to quantum percolation, with fractal valence bond loops playing the role of pe…
A generalized one-dimensional $SU(2)\times SU(2)$ spin-orbital model is studied by Schwinger boson mean-field theory (SBMFT). We explore mainly the dimer phases and clarify how to capture properly the low temperature properties of such a system by SBMFT. The phase diagrams are exemplified. The three dimer phases, orbital valence bond solid (OVB) state, spin valence bond solid (SVB) state and spin-orbital valence bond solid (SOVB) state, are found to be favored in respectively proper parameter regions, and they can be characterized by the static spin and pseudospin susceptibilities calculated i…
We discuss ground-state projector simulations of a modified two-dimensional S=1/2 Heisenberg model in the valence bonds basis. Tuning matrix elements corresponding to the diagonal and off-diagonal terms in the quantum dimer model, we show that there is a quantum phase transition from the antiferromagnet into a columnar valence-bond-solid (VBS). There are no signs of discontinuities, suggesting a continuous or very weakly first-order transition. The Z4-symmetric VBS order parameter exhibits an emergent U(1) symmetry as the phase transition is approached. We extract the associated length-scale g…
We extend the quantum dimer model (QDM) introduced by Rokhsar and Kivelson so as to construct a concrete example of the model which exhibits the first-order phase transition between different valence-bond solids suggested recently by Batista and Trugman and look for the possibility of other exotic dimer states. We show that our model contains three exotic valence-bond phases (herringbone, checkerboard and dimer smectic) in the ground-state phase diagram and that it realizes the phase transition from the staggered valence-bond solid to the herringbone one. The checkerboard phase has four-fold r…
On the basis of a Berry-phase analysis, we study the ground state of the $J_1$-$J_2$ Heisenberg chain for $S=2,3,4$. We find that changes of the Berry phase occur $S$ times for spin-$S$ systems, indicating the sequential phase transitions. The sequential phase transitions are associated with the change of valence-bond configurations of the ground states. To demonstrate this numerically, we connect the $J_1$-$J_2$ Heisenberg Hamiltonian with the generalized Affleck-Kennedy-Lieb-Tasaki model, and show that the different phases are connected to the different valence-bond-solid states.
We argue that neutron spectra in a short-range ordered Valence Bond state is dominated by two-spinon states localized in small spatial regions such as a pinwheel. These excitations lead to angle averaged dynamic structure factor that is spread over a wide frequency range up to about $2.5 J$, whereas its wavevector dependence at all frequencies remains very close to that of isolated dimers. These results are in excellent agreement with recent Neutron scattering data in the Herbertsmithite materials ZnCu$_3$(OH)$_6$Cl$_2$.
The pressure-dependent relation between Eu valence and lattice structure in model compound EuO is studied with synchrotron-based x-ray spectroscopic and diffraction techniques. Contrary to expectation, a 7% volume collapse at $\approx$ 45 GPa is accompanied by a reentrant Eu valence transition into a $\emph{lower}$ valence state. In addition to highlighting the need for probing both structure and electronic states directly when valence information is sought in mixed-valent systems, the results also show that widely used bond-valence methods fail to quantitatively describe the complex electroni…
The Hubbard model in the strong-coupling regime is studied by the Kondo-lattice theory. If no symmetry is broken at a sufficiently low temperature in sufficiently low dimensions, an electron liquid is stabilized by the Fock-type exchange effect of the superexchange interaction. Since the stabilization mechanism is none other than the resonating-valence-bond (RVB) mechanism, the electron liquid is none other than an RVB electron liquid. The RVB electron liquid in the Hubbard model is adiabatically connected to the RVB spin liquid in the Heisenberg model.
We investigate theoretically the ordering effect of quantum spin fluctuations in a Heisenberg antiferromagnet on a two-dimensional network of corner sharing tetrahedra. This network is obtained as a {111} slice of the highly frustrated pyrochlore lattice, from which it inherits the equivalence of all three pairs of opposite bonds of each tetrahedron. The lowest-order (in 1/S) quantum corrections partially lift the huge degeneracy of the classical ground state and select an ensemble of states with long-range valence-bond order.
We have synthesized a new spinel oxide LiRh2O4 with a mixed-valent configuration of Rh3+ and Rh4+. At room temperature it is a paramagnetic metal, but on cooling, a metal-insulator transition occurs and a valence bond solid state is formed below 170 K. We argue that the formation of valence bond solid is promoted by a band Jahn-Teller transition at 230 K and the resultant confinement of t2g holes within the xy band. The band Jahn-Teller instability is also responsible for the observed enhanced thermoelectric power in the orbital disordered phase above 230 K.
We explore the phase diagram and the low-energy physics of three Heisenberg antiferromagnets which, like the kagome lattice, are networks of corner-sharing triangles but contain two sets of inequivalent short-distance resonance loops. We use a combination of exact diagonalization, analytical strong-coupling theories, and resonating valence bond approaches, and scan through the ratio of the two inequivalent exchange couplings. In one limit, the lattices effectively become bipartite, while at the opposite limit heavily frustrated nets emerge. In between, competing tunneling processes result in s…
A Valence bond solid (VBS) is a nonmagnetic, long-range ordered state of a quantum spin system where local spin singlets are formed in some regular pattern. We here study the competition between VBS order and a fully polarized ferromagnetic state as function of an external magnetic field in a one-dimensional extended Heisenberg model---the J-Q$_2$ model---using stochastic series expansion quantum Monte Carlo simulations with directed loop updates. We discuss the ground state phase diagram.
We report on a valence bond projector Monte Carlo simulation of the cubic lattice quantum Heisenberg model with additional higher-order exchange interactions in each unit cell. The model supports two different valence bond solid ground states. In one of these states, the dimer pattern is a three-dimensional analogue of the columnar pattern familiar from two dimensions. In the other, the dimers are regularly arranged along the four main diagonals in 1/8 of the unit cells. The phases are separated from one other and from a Neel phase by strongly first order boundaries. Our results strengthen the…
