Nonlinear Sigma model method for the J1-J2 Heisenberg model: disordered ground state with plaquette symmetry

The two dimensional Heisenberg antiferromagnet on the square lattice with nearest (J1) and next-nearest (J2) neighbor couplings is investigated in the strong frustration regime (J2/J1>1/2). A new effective field theory describing the long wavelength physics of the model is derived from the quantum hamiltonian. The structure of the resulting non linear sigma model allows to recover the known spin wave results in the collinear regime, supports the presence of an Ising phase tra...

We introduce and motivate the study of quantum spin chains on a one-dimensional lattice. We classify the varieties of methods that have been used to study these models into three categories, - a) exact methods to study specific models b) field theories to describe fluctuations about the classical ordered phases and c) numerical methods. We then discuss the $J_1$-$J_2$-$\delta$ model in some detail and end with a few comments on open problems.

We obtain the complete phase diagram of the antiferromagnetic $J_{1}$-$J_{2}$ model, $0\leq \alpha = J_2/J1 \leq 1$, within the framework of the $O(N)$ nonlinear sigma model. We find two magnetically ordered phases, one with N\' eel order, for $\alpha \leq 0.4$, and another with collinear order, for $\alpha\geq 0.6$, separated by a nonmagnetic region, for $0.4\leq \alpha \leq 0.6$, where a gapped spin liquid is found. The transition at $\alpha=0.4$ is of the second order whil...

I study the order/disorder transition due to singlet formation in a quantum spin system by means of exact diagonalization. The systems is build by spin 1/2 on a two-dimensional square lattice with two different kinds of antiferromagnetic Heisenberg interactions. The interaction J_p connects 4 nearest neighbor spins on a plaquette. The interaction J_n connects the plaquettes with each other. If J_p=J_n the systems reduces to the simple square lattice case. If one of the intera...

We study a frustrated mixed spin chain with side chains, where the spin species and the exchange interactions are spatially varied. A nonlinear sigma model method is formulated for this model, and a phase diagram with two disordered spin-gap phases is obtained for typical cases. Among them we examine the case with a main chain consisting of an alternating array of spin-1 and spin-1/2 sites and side chains each of a single spin-1/2 site in great detail. Based on numerical, per...

In this Letter, we derive a quantum nonlinear sigma model (QNLSM) for quantum Heisenberg antiferromagnets (QHA) with arbitrary S (spin) values. A upper limit of the low temperature is naturally carried out for the reliability of the QNLSM. The S dependence of the effective coupling constant and the spin wave velocity in the QNLSM are also obtained explicitly. The resulting spin wave velocity for 2-dim spin-1/2 QHA highly concurs with the experimental data of high $T_c$ compou...

I use the two-step density-matrix renormalization group method based on two-leg ladder expansion to show numerical evidence of a plaquette ground state for $J_2=1.3J_1$ in the Shastry-Sutherland model. I argue that the DMRG method is very efficient in the strong frustration regime of two-dimensional spin models where a spin-Peierls ground state is expected to occur. It is thus complementary to quantum Monte Carlo algorithms, which are known to work well in the small frustrati...

We study a quantum spin system on a honeycomb lattice, when it includes frustration and distortion in antiferromagnetic (AF) exchange interactions. We transform the spin system onto a nonlinear sigma model (NLSM) in a new way preserving the original spin degrees of freedom. Assisted by a renormalization- group argument, the NLSM provides a ground-state phase diagram consisting of an ordered AF phase and a disordered spin-gap phase. The spin-gap phase extends from a strong f...

We analyze the phase diagram of the frustrated Heisenberg antiferromagnet, the J1-J2 model, in two dimensions. Two quantum phase transitions in the model are already known: the second order transition from the Neel state to the spin liquid state at (J_2/J_1)_{c2}=0.38, and the first order transition from the spin liquid state to the collinear state at (J_2/J_1)_{c4}=0.60. We have found evidence for two new second order phase transitions: the transition from the spin columnar ...

We apply the plaquette renormalization scheme of tensor network states [Phys. Rev. E, 83, 056703 (2011)] to study the spin-1/2 frustrated Heisenberg J1-J2 model on a L*L square lattice with L = 8, 16 and 32. By treating tensor elements as variational parameters, we obtain the ground states for different J2/J1 values, and investigate the staggered magnetic order parameters, the nearest-neighbor spin-spin correlations and the plaquette order parameters. In addition to the well-...