Nature of the Quantum Phase Transition in Clean, Itinerant Heisenberg Ferromagnets

General conditions are formulated that allow to determine which quantum phase transitions in itinerant electron systems can be described by a local Landau-Ginzburg-Wilson or LGW theory solely in terms of the order parameter. A crucial question is the degree to which the order parameter fluctuations couple to other soft modes. Three general classes of zero-wavenumber order parameters, in the particle-hole spin-singlet and spin-triplet channels, and in the particle-particle cha...

We present a new theoretical approach for the study of the phase diagram of interacting quantum particles: bosons, fermions or spins. In the neighborhood of a phase transition, the expected renormalization group structure is recovered both near the upper and lower critical dimension. Information on the microscopic hamiltonian is also retained and no mapping to effective field theories is needed. A simple approximation to our formally exact equations is studied for the spin-$S...

We present a high-precision Monte Carlo study of the classical Heisenberg model in four dimensions, showing that in the broken-symmetry phase it supports topological, monopole-like excitations, whose properties confirm previous analytical predictions derived in quantum field theory. We discuss the relevance of these findings and their possible experimental applications in condensed-matter physics.

We explore the nature of the quantum phase transition between a magnetically ordered state with collinear spin pattern and a gapless $Z_2$ spin liquid in the Heisenberg-Kitaev model. We construct a slave particle mean field theory for the Heisenberg-Kitaev model in terms of complex fermionic spinons. It is shown that this theory, formulated in the appropriate basis, is capable of describing the Kitaev spin liquid as well as the transition between the gapless $Z_2$ spin liquid...

The phase diagram of the Heisenberg ferromagnetic model in the presence of a magnetic random field (we have used bimodal distribution) of spin S=1/2 (quantum case) and $S=\infty $ (classical case) on a simple cubic lattice is studied within the framework of the effective-field theory in finite cluster (we have chosen N=2 spins). Integrating out the part of order parameter (equation of state), we obtained an effective Landau expansion for the free energy written in terms of th...

We give a general introduction to quantum phase transitions in strongly-correlated electron systems. These transitions which occur at zero temperature when a non-thermal parameter $g$ like pressure, chemical composition or magnetic field is tuned to a critical value are characterized by a dynamic exponent $z$ related to the energy and length scales $\Delta$ and $\xi$. Simple arguments based on an expansion to first order in the effective interaction allow to define an upper-c...

An effective field theory is derived that describes the quantum critical behavior of itinerant ferromagnets in the presence of quenched disorder. In contrast to previous approaches, all soft modes are kept explicitly. The resulting effective theory is local and allows for an explicit perturbative treatment. It is shown that previous suggestions for the critical fixed point and the critical behavior are recovered under certain assumptions. The validity of these assumptions is ...

We study the S=1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet on a square lattice with nearest-neighbor and plaquette four-spin exchanges (introduced by A.W. Sandvik, Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 98}, 227202 (2007).) This model undergoes a quantum phase transition from a spontaneously dimerized phase to N\'eel order at a critical coupling. We show that as the critical point is approached from the dimerized side, the system exhibits strong fluctuations in the dimer background, reflected in the pre...

The spin-1/2 quantum Heisenberg model is studied in all spatial dimensions d by renormalization-group theory. Strongly asymmetric phase diagrams in temperature and antiferromagnetic bond probability p are obtained in dimensions d \geq 3. The asymmetry at high temperatures approaching the pure ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic systems disappears as d is increased. However, the asymmetry at low but finite temperatures remains in all dimensions, with the antiferromagnetic phas...

We study quantum ferrimagnets in one, two, and three dimensions by using a variety of methods and approximations. These include: (i) a treatment based on the spin coherent state path-integral formulation of quantum ferrimagnets by taking into account the leading order quantum and thermal fluctuations (ii) a field-theoretical (non-linear $\sigma$-model type) formulation of the special case of one-dimensional quantum ferrimagnets at zero temperature (iii) an effective descripti...