No Arabic abstract
We study classical two-dimensional frustrated Heisenberg models with generically incommensurate groundstates. A new theory for the spin-nematic order by disorder transition is developed based on the self-consistent determination of the effective exchange coupling bonds. In our approach, fluctuations of the constraint field imposing conservation of the local magnetic moment drive nematicity at low temperatures. The critical temperature is found to be highly sensitive to the peak helimagnetic wavevector, and vanishes continuously when approaching rotation symmetric Lifshitz points. Transitions between symmetry distinct nematic orders may occur by tuning the exchange parameters, leading to lines of bicritical points.
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 >= 2, a non-linear sigma model analysis reveals that at long distances the probability distribution P(r) of valence bond lengths decays as |r|^(-d-1) and that valence bonds are uncorrelated. By a bosonization analysis, we also obtain P(r) proportional to |r|^(-d-1) in d=1 despite the different mechanism. On the other hand, we find that correlations between valence bonds are important even at large distances in d=1, in stark contrast to d >= 2. The analytical results are confirmed by high-precision quantum Monte Carlo simulations in d=1, 2, and 3. We develop a single-projection loop variant of the valence bond projection algorithm, which is well-designed to compute valence bond probabilities and for which we provide algorithmic details.
About a century ago, Born proposed a possible matter of state, ferroelectric fluid, might exist if the dipole moment is strong enough. The experimental realisation of such states needs magnifying molecular polar nature to macroscopic scales in liquids. Here, we report on the discovery of a novel chiral liquid matter state, dubbed chiral ferronematic, stabilized by the local ferroelectric ordering coupled to the chiral helicity. It carries the polar vector rotating helically, corresponding to a helieletric structure, analogous to the magnetic counterpart of helimagnet. The state can be retained down to room-temperature and demonstrates gigantic dielectric and nonlinear optical responses. The novel matter state opens a new chapter for exploring the material space of the diverse ferroelectric liquids.
We study a spin $S$ quantum Heisenberg model on the Fe lattice of the rare-earth oxypnictide superconductors. Using both large $S$ and large $N$ methods, we show that this model exhibits a sequence of two phase transitions: from a high temperature symmetric phase to a narrow region of intermediate ``nematic phase, and then to a low temperature spin ordered phase. Identifying phases by their broken symmetries, these phases correspond precisely to the sequence of structural (tetragonal to monoclinic) and magnetic transitions that have been recently revealed in neutron scattering studies of LaOFeAs. The structural transition can thus be identified with the existence of incipient (``fluctuating) magnetic order.
We study the plaquette valence-bond solid phase of the spin-1/2 J_1-J_2 antiferromagnet Heisenberg model on the square lattice within the bond-operator theory. We start by considering four S = 1/2 spins on a single plaquette and determine the bond operator representation for the spin operators in terms of singlet, triplet, and quintet boson operators. The formalism is then applied to the J_1-J_2 model and an effective interacting boson model in terms of singlets and triplets is derived. The effective model is analyzed within the harmonic approximation and the previous results of Zhitomirsky and Ueda [Phys. Rev. B 54, 9007 (1996)] are recovered. By perturbatively including cubic (triplet-triplet-triplet and singlet-triplet-triplet) and quartic interactions, we find that the plaquette valence-bond solid phase is stable within the parameter region 0.34 < J_2/J_1 < 0.59, which is narrower than the harmonic one. Differently from the harmonic approximation, the excitation gap vanishes at both critical couplings J_2 = 0.34 J_1 and J_2 = 0.59 J_1. Interestingly, for J_2 < 0.48 J_1, the excitation gap corresponds to a singlet-triplet excitation at the $Gamma$ point while, for J_2 > 0.48 J_1, it is related to a singlet-singlet excitation at the X = (pi/2,0) point of the tetramerized Brillouin zone.
We present a large-N variational approach to describe the magnetism of insulating doped semiconductors based on a disorder-generalization of the resonating-valence-bond theory for quantum antiferromagnets. This method captures all the qualitative and even quantitative predictions of the strong-disorder renormalization group approach over the entire experimentally relevant temperature range. Finally, by mapping the problem on a hard-sphere fluid, we could provide an essentially exact analytic solution without any adjustable parameters.