arXiv subjects

Andreas Honecker

Publications and source records attributed to Andreas Honecker.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2016

Cooling through quantum criticality and many-body effects in condensed matter and cold gases

This article reviews some recent developments for new cooling technologies in the fields of condensed matter physics and cold gases, both from an experimental and theoretical point of view. The main idea is to make use of distinct many-body interactions of the system to be cooled which can be some cooling stage or the material of interest itself, as is the case in cold gases. For condensed matter systems, we discuss magnetic cooling schemes based on a large magnetocaloric effect as a result of a nearby quantum phase transition and consider effects of geometrical frustration. For ultracold gases, we review many-body cooling techniques, such as spin-gradient and Pomeranchuk cooling, which can be applied in the presence of an optical lattice. We compare the cooling performance of these new techniques with that of conventional approaches and discuss state-of-the-art applications.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2014

Matrix product state formulation of frequency-space dynamics at finite temperatures

We present a flexible density-matrix renormalization group approach to calculate finite-temperature spectral functions of one-dimensional strongly correlated quantum systems. The method combines the purification of the finite-temperature density operator with a moment expansion of the Green's function. Using this approach, we study finite-temperature properties of dynamical spectral functions of spin-1/2 XXZ chains with Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions in magnetic fields and analyze the effect of these symmetry breaking interactions on the nature of the finite-temperature dynamic spin structure factor.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2013

Numerical study of magnetization plateaux in the spin-1/2 kagome Heisenberg antiferromagnet

We clarify the existence of several magnetization plateaux for the kagome $S=1/2$ antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model in a magnetic field. Using approximate or exact localized magnon eigenstates, we are able to describe in a similar manner the plateau states that occur for magnetization per site $m=1/3$, $5/9$, and $7/9$ of the saturation value. These results are confirmed using large-scale Exact Diagonalization on lattices up to 63 sites.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2012

Solitary excitations in one-dimensional spin chains

We study the real-time evolution of solitary excitations in 1-d quantum spin chains using exact diagonalization (ED) and the density-matrix renormalization group (DMRG). The underlying question of this work is the correspondence between classical solitons and solitons in quantum mechanics. While classical solitons as eigensolutions of non-linear wave equations are localized and have a sharp momentum, this is not possible in the corresponding quantum case due to the linearity of the Schrödinger equation or seen in a more pictorial way, because of the uncertainty relation. For the case of the XXZ model it is shown that the real-time evolution of quantum wave packets accompanied by spreading is in qualitative accordance with the one predicted by classical solitons.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2012

Magneto-thermal properties of the Heisenberg-Ising orthogonal-dimer chain with triangular XXZ-clusters

We study a spin-1/2 model with triangular XXZ-clusters on the orthogonal-dimer chain in the presence of an external magnetic field. First, we discuss the case where the triangular clusters are coupled via intermediate "classical" Ising spins. Diagonalization of the triangular XXZ-clusters yields the exact ground states; finite-temperature properties are computed exactly by an additional transfer-matrix step. A detailed analysis reveals a large variety of ground states at magnetization M equal to fractions 0, 1/4, and 1/2 of the saturation magnetization M=1. Some of these ground states break translational symmetry spontaneously and give rise to doubling of the unit cell. In a second part we present complementary numerical data for the spin-1/2 Heisenberg model on the orthogonal-dimer chain. We analyze several examples of T=0 magnetization curves, entropy as a function of temperature T and magnetic field, and the associated magnetic cooling rate. Comparison of the two models shows that in certain situations the simplified exactly solvable model yields a qualitatively or sometimes even quantitatively accurate description of the more challenging quantum model, including a case which may be relevant to experimental observations of an enhanced magnetocaloric effect in the two-dimensional compound SrCu2(BO3)2.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2011

Dynamical Signatures of Edge-State Magnetism on Graphene Nanoribbons

We investigate the edge-state magnetism of graphene nanoribbons using projective quantum Monte Carlo simulations and a self-consistent mean-field approximation of the Hubbard model. The static magnetic correlations are found to be short ranged. Nevertheless, the correlation length increases with the width of the ribbon such that already for ribbons of moderate widths we observe a strong trend towards mean-field-type ferromagnetic correlations at a zigzag edge. These correlations are accompanied by a dominant low-energy peak in the local spectral function and we propose that this can be used to detect edge-state magnetism by scanning tunneling microscopy. The dynamic spin structure factor at the edge of a ribbon exhibits an approximately linearly dispersing collective magnonlike mode at low energies that decays into Stoner modes beyond the energy scale where it merges into the particle-hole continuum.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2011

Multi-step approach to microscopic models for frustrated quantum magnets - the case of the natural mineral azurite

The natural mineral azurite Cu$_3$(CO$_3$)$_2$(OH)$_2$ is a frustrated magnet displaying unusual and controversially discussed magnetic behavior. Motivated by the lack of a unified description for this system, we perform a theoretical study based on density functional theory as well as state-of-the-art numerical many-body calculations. We propose an effective generalized spin-1/2 diamond chain model which provides a consistent description of experiments: low-temperature magnetization, inelastic neutron scattering, nuclear magnetic resonance measurements, magnetic susceptibility as well as new specific heat measurements. With this study we demonstrate that the balanced combination of first principles with powerful many-body methods successfully describes the behavior of this frustrated material.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2011

Dynamic and thermodynamic properties of the generalised diamond chain model for azurite

The natural mineral azurite Cu3(CO3)2(OH)2 is an interesting spin-1/2 quantum antiferromagnet. Recently, a generalised diamond chain model has been established as a good description of the magnetic properties of azurite with parameters placing it in a highly frustrated parameter regime. Here we explore further properties of this model for azurite. First, we determine the inelastic neutron scattering spectrum in the absence of a magnetic field and find good agreement with experiments, thus lending further support to the model. Furthermore, we present numerical data for the magnetocaloric effect and predict that strong cooling should be observed during adiabatic (de)magnetisation of azurite in magnetic fields slightly above 30T. Finally, the presence of a dominant dimer interaction in azurite suggests the use of effective Hamiltonians for an effective low-energy description and we propose that such an approach may be useful to fully account for the three-dimensional coupling geometry.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2009

Exact calculation of the magnetocaloric effect in the spin-1/2 XXZ chain

We calculate the entropy and cooling rate of the antiferromagnetic spin-1/2 XXZ chain under an adiabatic demagnetization process using the quantum transfer-matrix technique and non-linear integral equations. The limiting case of the Ising chain (corresponding to infinitely large anisotropy) is presented for comparison. Our exact results for the Heisenberg chain are used as a crosscheck for the numerical exact diagonalization as well as Quantum Monte Carlo simulations and allow us to benchmark the numerical methods. Close to field-induced quantum phase transitions we observe a large magnetocaloric effect. Furthermore, we verify universal low-temperature power laws in the cooling rate and entropy, in particular linear scaling of entropy with temperature T in the gapless Luttinger-liquid state and scaling as \sqrt{T} at field-induced transitions to gapped phases.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2009

Magnetic Structure and Interactions in the Quasi-1D Antiferromagnet CaV$_2$O$_4$

CaV$_2$O$_4$ is a spin-1 antiferromagnet, where the magnetic vanadium ions are arranged on quasi-one-dimensional (1D) zig-zag chains with potentially frustrated antiferromagnetic exchange interactions. High temperature susceptibility and single-crystal neutron diffraction measurements are used to deduce the non-collinear magnetic structure, dominant exchange interactions and orbital configurations. The results suggest that at high temperatures CaV$_2$O$_4$ behaves as a Haldane chain, but at low temperatures, orbital ordering lifts the frustration and it becomes a spin-1 ladder.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2009

Exact low-temperature properties of a class of highly frustrated Hubbard models

We study the repulsive Hubbard model both analytically and numerically on a family of highly frustrated lattices which have one-electron states localized on isolated trapping cells. We construct and count exact many-electron ground states for a wide range of electron densities and obtain closed-form expressions for the low-temperature thermodynamic quantities. Furthermore, we find that saturated ferromagnetism is obtained only for sufficiently high electron densities and large Hubbard repulsion $U$ while there is no finite average moment in the ground states at lower densities.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2007

Low-temperature thermodynamics for a flat-band ferromagnet: Rigorous versus numerical results

The repulsive Hubbard model on a sawtooth chain exhibits a lowest single-electron band which is completely dispersionless (flat) for a specific choice of the hopping parameters. We construct exact many-electron ground states for electron fillings up to 1/4. We map the low-energy degrees of freedom of the electron model to a model of classical hard dimers on a chain and, as a result, obtain the ground-state degeneracy as well as closed-form expressions for the low-temperature thermodynamic quantities around a particular value of the chemical potential. We compare our analytical findings with complementary numerical data. Although we consider a specific model, we believe that some of our results like a low-temperature peak in the specific heat are generic for flat-band ferromagnets.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2007

Universal properties of highly frustrated quantum magnets in strong magnetic fields

The purpose of the present paper is two-fold. On the one hand, we review some recent studies on the low-temperature strong-field thermodynamic properties of frustrated quantum spin antiferromagnets which admit the so-called localized-magnon eigenstates. One the other hand, we provide some complementary new results. We focus on the linear independence of the localized-magnon states, the estimation of their degeneracy with the help of auxiliary classical lattice-gas models and the analysis of the contribution of these states to thermodynamics.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2006

Strong disorder fixed points in the two-dimensional random-bond Ising model

The random-bond Ising model on the square lattice has several disordered critical points, depending on the probability distribution of the bonds. There are a finite-temperature multicritical point, called Nishimori point, and a zero-temperature fixed point, for both a binary distribution where the coupling constants take the values +/- J and a Gaussian disorder distribution. Inclusion of dilution in the +/- J distribution (J=0 for some bonds) gives rise to another zero-temperature fixed point which can be identified with percolation in the non-frustrated case (J >= 0). We study these fixed points using numerical (transfer matrix) methods. We determine the location, critical exponents, and central charge of the different fixed points and study the spin-spin correlation functions. Our main findings are the following: (1) We confirm that the Nishimori point is universal with respect to the type of disorder, i.e. we obtain the same central charge and critical exponents for the +/- J and Gaussian distributions of disorder. (2) The Nishimori point, the zero-temperature fixed point for the +/- J and Gaussian distributions of disorder, and the percolation point in the diluted case all belong to mutually distinct universality classes. (3) The paramagnetic phase is re-entrant below the Nishimori point, i.e. the zero-temperature fixed points are not located exactly below the Nishimori point, neither for the +/- J distribution, nor for the Gaussian distribution.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2006

Quantum dimer phases in a frustrated spin ladder: Effective field theory approach and exact diagonalization

The phase diagram of a frustrated S=1/2 antiferromagnetic spin ladder with additional next-nearest neighbor exchanges, both diagonal and inchain, is studied by a weak-coupling effective field theory approach combined with exact diagonalization for finite systems. In addition to two known phases with rung-singlet and Haldane-type ground states, we observe two new phases with dimerization along the chains. Furthermore, the transitions between the different phases are studied and shown to be either first order or to belong to the universality class of the two-dimensional Ising model. The nature of elementary excitations is discussed briefly.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2004

Thermodynamic properties of ferromagnetic mixed-spin chain systems

Using a combination of high-temperature series expansion, exact diagonalization and quantum Monte Carlo, we perform a complementary analysis of the thermodynamic properties of quasi-one-dimensional mixed-spin systems with alternating magnetic moments. In addition to explicit series expansions for small spin quantum numbers, we present an expansion that allows a direct evaluation of the series coefficients as a function of spin quantum numbers. Due to the presence of excitations of both acoustic and optical nature, the specific heat of a mixed-spin chain displays a double-peak-like structure, which is more pronounced for ferromagnetic than for antiferromagnetic intra-chain exchange. We link these results to an analytically solvable half-classical limit. Finally, we extend our series expansion to incorporate the single-ion anisotropies relevant for the molecular mixed-spin ferromagnetic chain material MnNi(NO$_{2}$)$_{4}$(ethylenediamine)$_{2}$, with alternating spins of magnitude 5/2 and 1. Including a weak inter-chain coupling, we show that the observed susceptibility allows for an excellent fit, and the extraction of microscopic exchange parameters.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2002

Planar pyrochlore: a strong-coupling analysis

Recent investigations of the two-dimensional spin-1/2 checkerboard lattice favor a valence bond crystal with long range quadrumer order [J.-B. Fouet et al., preprint cond-mat/0108070]. Starting from the limit of isolated quadrumers, we perform a complementary analysis of the evolution of the spectrum as a function of the inter quadrumer coupling j using both, exact diagonalization (ED) and series expansion (SE) by continuous unitary transformation. We compute (i) the ground state energy, (ii) the elementary triplet excitations, (iii) singlet excitations on finite systems and find very good agreement between SE and ED. In the thermodynamic limit we find a ground state energy substantially lower than documented in the literature. The elementary triplet excitation is shown to be gapped and almost dispersionless, whereas the singlet sector contains strongly dispersive modes. Evidence is presented for the low energy singlet excitations in the spin gap in the vicinity of j=1 to result from a large downward renormalization of local high-energy states.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2001

Magnetic properties of a spin-1/2 quadrumer chain

We study a novel S=1/2 cluster chain Hamiltonian which has recently been proposed in the context of the charge ordered low-temperature phase of alpha'-NaV2O5. We perform a detailed investigation of this model within a large range of parameters using perturbation theory and Lanczos diagonalization. Using model-specific local conservation laws and parameter-dependent mappings to various effective low-energy Hamiltonians we uncover a rich phase diagram and several regimes of gapful spin-excitations. We find that the overall features of recent neutron scattering data on alpha'-NaV2O5 can be fitted within this model, however using a set of parameters which seems unlikely.

cond-mat.str-el↗