arXiv subjects

Frederic Mila

Publications and source records attributed to Frederic Mila.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2012

Tensor network study of the Shastry-Sutherland model in zero magnetic field

We simulate the Shastry-Sutherland model in two dimensions by means of infinite projected entangled-pair states (iPEPS) - a variational tensor network method where the accuracy can be systematically controlled by the so-called bond dimension. Besides the well established dimer and Néel phase iPEPS confirms the presence of an intermediate phase with plaquette long-range order, and we determine its phase boundaries with high accuracy. The first order phase transition for $J=0.675(2)$ between dimer and plaquette phase is compatible with previous series expansion results. iPEPS predicts a weak first-order phase transition between plaquette and Néel phase occurring for $J=0.765(15)$. We do not find a stable intermediate columnar-dimer phase, even when we bias the state towards this order.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2012

Simplex solids in SU(N) Heisenberg models on the kagome and checkerboard lattices

We present a numerical study of the SU(N) Heisenberg model with the fundamental representation at each site for the kagome lattice (for N=3) and the checkerboard lattice (for N=4), which are the line graphs of the honeycomb and square lattices and thus belong to the class of bisimplex lattices. Using infinite projected entangled-pair states (iPEPS) and exact diagonalizations, we show that in both cases the ground state is a simplex solid state with a two-fold ground state degeneracy, in which the N spins belonging to a simplex (i.e. a complete graph) form a singlet. Theses states can be seen as generalizations of valence bond solid states known to be stabilized in certain SU(2) spin models.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2012

Competition between two- and three-sublattice ordering for S=1 spins on the square lattice

We provide strong evidence that the S=1 bilinear-biquadratic Heisenberg model with nearest-neighbor interactions on the square lattice possesses an extended three-sublattice phase induced by quantum fluctuations for sufficiently large biquadratic interactions, in spite of the bipartite nature of the lattice. The argumentation relies on exact diagonalizations of finite clusters and on a semiclassical treatment of quantum fluctuations within linear flavor-wave theory. In zero field, this three-sublattice phase is purely quadrupolar, and upon increasing the field it replaces most of the plateau at 1/2 that is predicted by the classical theory.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2011

Simultaneous dimerization and SU(4) symmetry breaking of 4-color fermions on the square lattice

Using infinite projected entangled pair states (iPEPS), exact diagonalization, and flavor-wave theory, we show that the SU(4) Heisenberg model undergoes a spontaneous dimerization on the square lattice, in contrast to its SU(2) and SU(3) counterparts, which develop Neel and three-sublattice stripe-like long-range order. Since the ground state of a dimer is not a singlet for SU(4) but a 6-dimensional irrep, this leaves the door open for further symmetry breaking. We provide evidence that, unlike in SU(4) ladders, where dimers pair up to form singlet plaquettes, here the SU(4) symmetry is additionally broken, leading to a gapless spectrum in spite of the broken translational symmetry.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2011

Condensate-free superfluidity induced by frustrated proximity effect

Since the discovery of superfluidity in He4 and Landau's phenomenological theory, the relationship between Bose condensation and superfluidity has been intensely debated. He4 is known by now to be both superfluid and condensed at low temperature, and more generally, in dimension D\geq2, all superfluid bosonic models realized in experiments are condensed in their ground-state, the most recent example being provided by ultracold bosonic atoms trapped in an optical lattice. In this paper, it is shown that a 2D gas of bosons which is not condensed at T=0 can be achieved by populating a layer through a frustrated proximity effect from a superfluid reservoir. This condensate-free bosonic fluid is further shown to be a superfluid with incommensurate correlations.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2010

Three-sublattice ordering of the SU(3) Heisenberg model of three-flavor fermions on the square and cubic lattices

Combining a semi-classical analysis with exact diagonalizations, we show that the ground state of the SU(3) Heisenberg model on the square lattice develops three-sublattice long-range order. This surprising pattern for a bipartite lattice with only nearest-neighbor interactions is shown to be the consequence of a subtle quantum order-by-disorder mechanism. By contrast, thermal fluctuations favor two-sublattice configurations via entropic selection. These results are shown to extend to the cubic lattice, and experimental implications for the Mott-insulating states of three-flavor fermionic atoms in optical lattices are discussed.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2009

Theory of the field-induced BEC in the frustrated spin-1/2 dimer compound BaCuSi2O6

Building on recent neutron and NMR experiments, we investigate the field-induced exotic criticality observed in the frustrated spin-1/2 dimer compound BaCuSi2O6 using a frustrated model with two types of bilayers. A semiclassical treatment of the effective hard-core boson model shows that perfect inter-layer frustration leads to a 2D-like critical exponent phi=1 without logarithmic corrections and to a 3D low temperature phase with different but non vanishing triplet populations in both types of bilayers. These results further suggest a simple phenomenology in terms of a field-dependent transverse coupling in the context of which we reproduce the entire field-temperature phase diagram with Quantum Monte Carlo simulations.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2008

Highly Frustrated Magnetic Clusters: The kagome on a sphere

We present a detailed study of the low-energy excitations of two existing finite-size realizations of the planar kagome Heisenberg antiferromagnet on the sphere, the cuboctahedron and the icosidodecahedron. After highlighting a number of special spectral features (such as the presence of low-lying singlets below the first triplet and the existence of localized magnons) we focus on two major issues. The first concerns the nature of the excitations above the plateau phase at 1/3 of the saturation magnetization Ms. Our exact diagonalizations for the s=1/2 icosidodecahedron reveal that the low-lying plateau states are adiabatically connected to the degenerate collinear ``up-up-down'' ground states of the Ising point, at the same time being well isolated from higher excitations. A complementary physical picture emerges from the derivation of an effective quantum dimer model which reveals the central role of the topology and the intrinsic spin s. We also give a prediction for the low energy excitations and thermodynamic properties of the spin s=5/2 icosidodecahedron Mo72Fe30. In the second part we focus on the low-energy spectra of the s>1/2 Heisenberg model in view of interpreting the broad inelastic neutron scattering response reported for Mo72Fe30. To this end we demonstrate the simultaneous presence of several broadened low-energy ``towers of states'' or ``rotational bands'' which arise from the large discrete spatial degeneracy of the classical ground states, a generic feature of highly frustrated clusters. This semiclassical interpretation is further corroborated by their striking symmetry pattern which is shown, by an independent group theoretical analysis, to be a characteristic fingerprint of the classical coplanar ground states.

cond-mat.other↗

arXiv2008

Supersolid phase induced by correlated hopping in spin-1/2 frustrated quantum magnets

We show that correlated hopping of triplets, which is often the dominant source of kinetic energy in dimer-based frustrated quantum magnets, produces a remarkably strong tendency to form supersolid phases in a magnetic field. These phases are characterized by simultaneous modulation and ordering of the longitudinal and transverse magnetization respectively. Using Quantum Monte Carlo and a semiclassical approach for an effective hard-core boson model with nearest-neighbor repulsion on a square lattice, we prove in particular that a supersolid phase can exist even if the repulsion is not strong enough to stabilize an insulating phase at half-filling. Experimental implications for frustrated quantum antiferromagnets in a magnetic field at zero and finite temperature are discussed.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2008

Quantum Dimer Model on the triangular lattice: Semiclassical and variational approaches to vison dispersion and condensation

After reviewing the concept of vison excitations in Z_2 dimer liquids, we study the liquid-crystal transition of the Quantum Dimer Model on the triangular lattice by means of a semiclassical spin-wave approximation to the dispersion of visons in the context of a "soft-dimer" version of the model. This approach captures some important qualitative features of the transition: continuous nature of the transition, linear dispersion at the critical point, and \sqrt{12}x\sqrt{12} symmetry-breaking pattern. In a second part, we present a variational calculation of the vison dispersion relation at the RK point which reproduces the qualitative shape of the dispersion relation and the order of magnitude of the gap. This approach provides a simple but reliable approximation of the vison wave functions at the RK point.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2007

Crystallization of the resonating valence bond liquid as vortex condensation

We show that the liquid-to-crystal quantum phase transition in the Rokhsar--Kivelson dimer model on the two-dimensional triangular lattice occurs as a condensation of vortex-like excitations called ``visons''. This conclusion is drawn from the numerical studies of the vison spectrum in the liquid phase by using the Green's function Monte Carlo method. We find that visons remain the lowest excitation throughout the liquid phase and that their gap decreases continuously to zero at the phase transition. The nature of the crystal phase and the second order of the phase transition are in agreement with the earlier prediction of Moessner and Sondhi [Phys. Rev. B 63, 224401 (2001)].

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2007

Ising phases of Heisenberg ladders in a magnetic field

We examine the influence of weak anisotropic interactions on the T=0 phase diagram of the frustrated two-leg Heisenberg ladder, a well-studied spin model exhibiting integer and fractional magnetization plateaux separated by gapless incommensurate states. We find that the Dzyaloshinskii--Moriya coupling may substantially modify the phase diagram so that the half-integer plateau and the surrounding gapless phases merge into a single Ising-ordered phase breaking the translational symmetry of the lattice. A different Ising order is found for a weakly frustrated ladder. Implications for experimental ladder and dimer systems are discussed.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2007

Quantum and thermal transitions out of the supersolid phase of a 2D quantum antiferromagnet

We investigate the thermodynamic properties of a field-induced supersolid phase in a 2D quantum antiferromagnet model. Using quantum Monte Carlo simulations, a very rich phase diagram is mapped out in the temperature - magnetic field plane, with an extended supersolid region where a diagonal (solid) order coexists with a finite XY spin stiffness (superfluid). The various quantum and thermal transitions out of the supersolid state are characterized. Experimental consequences in the context of field-induced magnetization plateau materials are briefly discussed.

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arXiv2006

Identification of an RVB liquid phase in a quantum dimer model with competing kinetic terms

Starting from the mean-field solution of a spin-orbital model of LiNiO$_2$, we derive an effective quantum dimer model (QDM) that lives on the triangular lattice and contains kinetic terms acting on 4-site plaquettes and 6-site loops. Using numerical exact diagonalizations and Green's function Monte Carlo simulations, we show that the competition between these kinetic terms leads to a resonating valence bond (RVB) state for a finite range of parameters. We also show that this RVB phase is connected to the RVB phase identified in the Rokhsar-Kivelson model on the same lattice in the context of a generalized model that contains both the 6--site loops and a nearest-neighbor dimer repulsion. These results suggest that the occurrence of an RVB phase is a generic feature of QDM with competing interactions.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2006

Dynamics of the quantum dimer model on the triangular lattice: Soft modes and local resonating valence-bond correlations

We report on an exhaustive investigation of the dynamical dimer-dimer correlations in imaginary time for the quantum dimer model on the triangular lattice using the Green's function Monte Carlo method. We show in particular that soft modes develop upon reducing the dimer-dimer repulsion, indicating the presence of a second-order phase transition into an ordered phase with broken translational symmetry. We further investigate the nature of this ordered phase, for which a 12-site unit cell has been previously proposed, with the surprising result that significant Bragg peaks are only present at two of the three high-symmetry points consistent with this unit cell. We attribute the absence of a detectable peak to its small magnitude due to the nearly uniform internal structure of the 12-site crystal cell.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2006

Doping quantum dimer models on the square lattice

A family of models is proposed to describe the motion of holes in a fluctuating quantum dimer background on the square lattice. Following Castelnovo et al. [Ann. Phys. (NY) 318, 316 (2005)], a generalized Rokhsar-Kivelson Hamiltonian at **finite doping** which can be mapped on a **doped** interacting classical dimer model is constructed. A simple physical extension of this model is also considered. Using numerical computations and simple considerations based on the above exact mapping, we determine the phase diagram of the model showing a number of quantum phases typical of a doped Mott insulator. The two-hole correlation function generically exhibits short-range or long-range algebraic correlations in the solid (columnar) and liquid (critical) phases of the model, respectively. Evidence for an extended region of a doped VBS phase exhibiting holon pairing but **no** phase separation is given. In contrast, we show that hole deconfinement occurs in the staggered dimer phase.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2006

Bond-order modulated staggered flux phase for the $t{-}J$ model on the square lattice

Motivated by the observation of inhomogeneous patterns in some high-T$_c$ cuprate compounds, several variational Gutzwiller-projected wave-functions with built-in charge and bond order parameters are proposed for the extended $t-J-V$ model on the square lattice at low doping. First, following a recent Gutzwiller-projected mean-field approach by one of us (Phys. Rev. B. {\bf 72}, 060508(R) (2005)), we investigate, as a function of doping and Coulomb repulsion, the stability of the staggered flux phase with respect to small spontaneous modulations of squared unit cells ranging from $2\times 2$ to $\sqrt{32}\times\sqrt{32}$. It is found that a $4\times 4$ bond-order (BO) modulation appears spontaneously on top of the staggered flux pattern for hole doping around 1/8. A related wave-function is then constructed and optimized accurately and its properties studied extensively using an approximation-free variational Monte Carlo scheme. Finally, the competition of the BO-modulated staggered flux wave-function w.r.t. the d-wave RVB wave-function or the commensurate flux state is investigated. It is found that a short range Coulomb repulsion penalizes the d-wave superconductor and that a moderate Coulomb repulsion brings them very close in energy. Our results are discussed in connection to the STM observations in the under-doped regime of some cuprates.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2005

Spinon deconfinement in doped frustrated quantum antiferromagnets

The confinement of a spinon liberated by doping two-dimensional frustrated quantum antiferromagnets with a non-magnetic impurity or a mobile hole is investigated. For a static vacancy, an intermediate behavior between complete deconfinement (kagome) and strong confinement (checkerboard) is identified in the J_1{-}J_2{-}J_3 model on the square lattice, with the emergence of two length scales, a spinon confinement length larger than the magnetic correlation length. For mobile holes, this translates into an extended spinon-holon boundstate allowing one to bridge momentum (ARPES spectral function) and real space (STM) experimental observations. These features provide clear evidence for a nearby "deconfined critical point" in a doped microscopic model.

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