No Arabic abstract
Using a specially designed Monte Carlo algorithm with directed loops, we investigate the triangular lattice Ising antiferromagnet with coupling beyond nearest neighbour. We show that the first-order transition from the stripe state to the paramagnet can be split, giving rise to an intermediate nematic phase in which algebraic correlations coexist with a broken symmetry. Furthermore, we demonstrate the emergence of several properties of a more topological nature such as fractional edge excitations in the stripe state, the proliferation of double domain walls in the nematic phase, and the Kasteleyn transition between them. Experimental implications are briefly discussed.
In recent years, new phases of matter that are beyond the Landau paradigm of symmetry breaking are mountaining, and to catch up with this fast development, new notions of global symmetry are introduced. Among them, the higher-form symmetry, whose symmetry charges are spatially extended, can be used to describe topologically ordered phases as the spontaneous breaking of the symmetry, and consequently unify the unconventional and conventional phases under the same conceptual framework. However, such conceptual tools have not been put into quantitative test except for certain solvable models, therefore limiting its usage in the more generic quantum manybody systems. In this work, we study Z2 higher-form symmetry in a quantum Ising model, which is dual to the global (0-form) Ising symmetry. We compute the expectation value of the Ising disorder operator, which is a non-local order parameter for the higher-form symmetry, analytically in free scalar theories and through unbiased quantum Monte Carlo simulations for the interacting fixed point in (2+1)d. From the scaling form of this extended object, we confirm that the higher-form symmetry is indeed spontaneously broken inside the paramagnetic, or quantum disordered phase (in the Landau sense), but remains symmetric in the ferromagnetic/ordered phase. At the Ising critical point, we find that the higher-form symmetry is also spontaneously broken, even though the 0-form symmetry is preserved. We discuss examples where both the global 0-form symmetry and the dual higher-form symmetry are preserved, in systems with a codimension-1 manifold of gapless points in momentum space. These results provide non-trivial working examples of higher-form symmetry operators, including the first computation of one-form order parameter in an interacting conformal field theory, and open the avenue for their generic implementation in quantum many-body systems.
Residual entropy is a key feature associated with emergence in many-body systems. From a variety of frustrated magnets to the onset of spin-charge separation in Hubbard models and fermion-$Z_2$-flux variables in Kitaev models, the freezing of one set of degrees of freedom and establishment of local constraints are marked by a plateau in entropy as a function of temperature. Yet, with the exception of rare-earth pyrochlore family of spin-ice materials, evidence for such plateaus is rarely seen in real materials, raising questions about their robustness. Following recent experimental findings of the absence of such plateaus in triangular-lattice Ising antiferromagnet (TIAF) TmMgGaO$_4$ by Li et al, we explore in detail the existence and rounding of entropy plateaus in TIAF. We use a transfer matrix method to numerically calculate the properties of the system at different temperatures and magnetic fields, with further neighbor interactions and disorder. We find that temperature windows of entropy plateaus exist only when second-neighbor interactions are no more than a couple of percent of the nearest-neighbor ones, and they are also easily destroyed by disorder in the nearest-neighbor exchange variable, thereby explaining the challenge in observing such effects.
We report thermodynamic and neutron scattering measurements of the triangular-lattice quantum Ising magnet TmMgGaO 4 in longitudinal magnetic fields. Our experiments reveal a quasi-plateau state induced by quantum fluctuations. This state exhibits an unconventional non-monotonic field and temperature dependence of the magnetic order and excitation gap. In the high field regime where the quantum fluctuations are largely suppressed, we observed a disordered state with coherent magnon-like excitations despite the suppression of the spin excitation intensity. Through detailed semi-classical calculations, we are able to understand these behaviors quantitatively from the subtle competition between quantum fluctuations and frustrated Ising interactions.
The anomalous thermodynamic properties of the paradigmatic frustrated spin-1/2 triangular lattice Heisenberg antiferromagnet (TLH) has remained an open topic of research over decades, both experimentally and theoretically. Here we further the theoretical understanding based on the recently developed, powerful exponential tensor renormalization group (XTRG) method on cylinders and stripes in a quasi one-dimensional (1D) setup, as well as a tensor product operator approach directly in 2D. The observed thermal properties of the TLH are in excellent agreement with two recent experimental measurements on the virtually ideal TLH material Ba$_8$CoNb$_6$O$_{24}$. Remarkably, our numerical simulations reveal two crossover temperature scales, at $T_l/J sim 0.20$ and $T_h/Jsim 0.55$, with $J$ the Heisenberg exchange coupling, which are also confirmed by a more careful inspection of the experimental data. We propose that in the intermediate regime between the low-temperature scale $T_l$ and the higher one $T_h$, the gapped roton-like excitations are activated with a strong chiral component and a large contribution to thermal entropies, which suppress the incipient 120$^circ$ order that emerges for temperatures below $T_l$.
The classical Heisenberg antiferromagnet on a triangular lattice with the single-ion anisotropy of the easy-axis type is theoretically investigated. The mean-field phase diagram in an external magnetic field is constructed. Three finite-temperature Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transitions are found by the Monte Carlo simulations in zero field. The two upper transitions are related to the breaking of the discrete ${mathbb Z}_{6}$ symmetry group, while the lowest transition is associated with a quasi-long-range ordering of transverse components. The intermediate collinear phase between first and second transitions is the sliding phase predicted by J. V. Jose {it et al}. [Phys. Rev. B {bf 16}, 1217 (1977)].