arXiv subjects

Stefan Wessel

Publications and source records attributed to Stefan Wessel.

107 records · Page 6Linked to original sources

arXiv2005

Supersolid hardcore bosons on the triangular lattice

We determine the phase diagram of hardcore bosons on a triangular lattice with nearest neighbor repulsion, paying special attention to the stability of the supersolid phase. Similar to the same model on a square lattice we find that for densities $ρ<1/3$ or $ρ>2/3$ a supersolid phase is unstable and the transition between a commensurate solid and the superfluid is of first order. At intermediate fillings $1/3 < ρ< 2/3$ we find an extended supersolid phase even at half filling $ρ=1/2$.

cond-mat.other↗

arXiv2005

Generalized Directed Loop Method for Quantum Monte Carlo Simulations

Efficient quantum Monte Carlo update schemes called directed loops have recently been proposed, which improve the efficiency of simulations of quantum lattice models. We propose to generalize the detailed balance equations at the local level during the loop construction by accounting for the matrix elements of the operators associated with open world-line segments. Using linear programming techniques to solve the generalized equations, we look for optimal construction schemes for directed loops. This also allows for an extension of the directed loop scheme to general lattice models, such as high-spin or bosonic models. The resulting algorithms are bounce-free in larger regions of parameter space than the original directed loop algorithm. The generalized directed loop method is applied to the magnetization process of spin chains in order to compare its efficiency to that of previous directed loop schemes. In contrast to general expectations, we find that minimizing bounces alone does not always lead to more efficient algorithms in terms of autocorrelations of physical observables, because of the non-uniqueness of the bounce-free solutions. We therefore propose different general strategies to further minimize autocorrelations, which can be used as supplementary requirements in any directed loop scheme. We show by calculating autocorrelation times for different observables that such strategies indeed lead to improved efficiency; however we find that the optimal strategy depends not only on the model parameters but also on the observable of interest.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2004

Quantum Phase Transitions in Coupled Dimer Compounds

We study the critical properties in cubic systems of antiferromagnetically coupled spin dimers near magnetic-field induced quantum phase transitions. The quantum critical points in the zero-temperature phase diagrams are determined from quantum Monte Carlo simulations. Furthermore, scaling properties of the uniform magnetization and the staggered transverse magnetization across the quantum phase transition in magnetic fields are calculated. The critical exponents are derived from Ginzburg-Landau theory. We find excellent agreement between the quantum Monte Carlo simulations and the analytical results.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2004

Quantum Fluctuations and Excitations in Antiferromagnetic Quasicrystals

We study the effects of quantum fluctuations and the excitation spectrum for the antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model on a two-dimensional quasicrystal, by numerically solving linear spin-wave theory on finite approximants of the octagonal tiling. Previous quantum Monte Carlo results for the distribution of local staggered magnetic moments and the static spin structure factor are reproduced well within this approximate scheme. Furthermore, the magnetic excitation spectrum consists of magnon-like low-energy modes, as well as dispersionless high-energy states of multifractal nature. The dynamical spin structure factor, accessible to inelastic neutron scattering, exhibits linear-soft modes at low energies, self-similar structures with bifurcations emerging at intermediate energies, and flat bands in high-energy regions. We find that the distribution of local staggered moments stemming from the inhomogeneity of the quasiperiodic structure leads to a characteristic energy spread in the local dynamical spin susceptibility, implying distinct nuclear magnetic resonance spectra, specific for different local environments.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2004

Quantum Monte Carlo simulations of confined bosonic atoms in optical lattices

We study properties of ultra-cold bosonic atoms in one, two and three dimensional optical lattices by large scale quantum Monte Carlo simulations of the Bose Hubbard model in parabolic confinement potentials. Local phase structures of the atoms are shown to be accessible via a well defined local compressibility, quantifying a global response of the system to a local perturbation. An indicator for the presence of extended Mott plateaux is shown to stem from the shape of the coherent component of the momentum distribution function, amenable to experimental detection. Additional fine structures in the momentum distribution are found to appear unrelated to the local phase structure, disproving previous claims. We discuss limitations of local potential approximations for confined Bose gases, and the absence of quantum criticality and critical slowing down in parabolic confinement potentials, thus accounting for the fast dynamics in establishing phase coherence in current experiments. In contrast, we find that flat confinement potentials allow quantum critical behavior to be observed already on moderately sized optical lattices. Our results furthermore demonstrate, that the experimental detection of the Mott transition would be significantly eased in flat confinement potentials.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

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↗

arXiv2003

Universal scaling at field-induced magnetic phase transitions

We study field-induced magnetic order in cubic lattices of dimers with antiferromagnetic Heisenberg interactions. The thermal critical exponents at the quantum phase transition from a spin liquid to a magnetically ordered phase are determined from Stochastic Series Expansion Quantum Monte Carlo simulations. These exponents are independent of the interdimer coupling ratios, and converge to the value obtained by considering the transition as a Bose-Einstein condensation of magnons, alpha_(BEC) = 1.5. The scaling results are of direct relevance to the spin-dimer systems TlCuCl_3 and KCuCl_3, and explain the broad range of exponents reported for field-induced ordering transitions.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2003

Inhomogeneously doped two-leg ladder systems

A chemical potential difference between the legs of a two-leg ladder is found to be harmful for Cooper pairing. The instability of superconductivity in such systems is analyzed by compairing results of various analytical and numerical methods. Within a strong coupling approach for the t-J model, supplemented by exact numerical diagonalization, hole binding is found unstable beyond a finite, critical chemical potential difference. The spinon-holon mean field theory for the t-J model shows a clear reduction of the the BCS gaps upon increasing the chemical potential difference leading to a breakdown of superconductivity. Based on a renormalization group approach and Abelian bosonization, the doping dependent phase diagram for the weakly interacting Hubbard model with different chemical potentials was determined.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2002

Wang-Landau sampling for quantum systems: algorithms to overcome tunneling problems and calculate the free energy

We present a generalization of the classical Wang-Landau algorithm [Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 2050 (2001)] to quantum systems. The algorithm proceeds by stochastically evaluating the coefficients of a high temperature series expansion or a finite temperature perturbation expansion to arbitrary order. Similar to their classical counterpart, the algorithms are efficient at thermal and quantum phase transitions, greatly reducing the tunneling problem at first order phase transitions, and allow the direct calculation of the free energy and entropy.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2002

Quantum Antiferromagnetism in Quasicrystals

The antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model is studied on a two-dimensional bipartite quasiperiodic lattice. The distribution of local staggered magnetic moments is determined on finite square approximants with up to 1393 sites, using the Stochastic Series Expansion Quantum Monte Carlo method. A non-trivial inhomogeneous ground state is found. For a given local coordination number, the values of the magnetic moments are spread out, reflecting the fact that no two sites in a quasicrystal are identical. A hierarchical structure in the values of the moments is observed which arises from the self-similarity of the quasiperiodic lattice. Furthermore, the computed spin structure factor shows antiferromagnetic modulations that can be measured in neutron scattering and nuclear magnetic resonance experiments. This generic model is a first step towards understanding magnetic quasicrystals such as the recently discovered Zn-Mg-Ho icosahedral structure.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2002

Phase Diagram of the quadrumerized Shastry-Sutherland Model

We determine the phase diagram of a generalized Shastry-Sutherland model, using a combination of dimer- and quadrumer-boson methods and numerical exact diagonalization techniques. Along special lines in the parameter space the model reduces to the standard Shastry-Sutherland model, the 1/5-th depleted square lattice and the two-dimensional plaquette square lattice model. We study the evolution of the ordered phases found in the latter two unfrustrated models under the effect of frustration. Furthermore we present new exact diagonalization results for the Shastry-Sutherland model on clusters with up to 32 sites, supporting the existence of an intermediate gapped valence bond crystal phase with plaquette long-ranged order.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2001

Redistribution of Spectral Weight in Spin-1/2-Doped Haldane Chains

We study the evolution of the dynamical spin structure factor in a spin-1 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg chain which is randomly doped with spin-1/2 moments. Using stochastic series expansion Quantum Monte Carlo simulations combined with the Maximum Entropy method, we monitor the crossover from the spin-1 chain, dominated by a single resonance at the Haldane energy, to the spin-1/2 chain with a continuum of spinon states which diverges at zero-frequency. Upon increasing the doping level, spectral weight is rapidly transferred from the Haldane peak to lower energies. If the exchange couplings between the spin-1/2 substituents and the spin-1 sites of the host are sufficiently small, finite-frequency bound states are observed below the spin gap for small doping concentrations.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2001

Field-Induced Magnetic Order in Quantum Spin Liquids

We study magnetic field-induced three-dimensional ordering transitions in low-dimensional quantum spin liquids, such as weakly coupled, antiferromagnetic spin-1/2 Heisenberg dimers and ladders. Using stochastic series expansion quantum Monte Carlo simulations, thermodynamic response functions are obtained down to ultra-low temperatures. We extract the critical scaling exponents which dictate the power-law dependence of the transition temperature on the applied magnetic field. These are compared with recent experiments on candidate materials and with predictions for the Bose-Einstein condensation of magnons obtained in mean-field theory.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2000

Phase Diagram and Thermodynamic Properties of the Square Lattice of Antiferromagnetic Spin-1/2 Triangles in La_4Cu_3MoO_12

The magnetic phase diagram and the thermodynamic properties of a square lattice containing antiferromagnetically coupled spin-1/2 triangles are studied. A Heisenberg Hamiltonian with three strong intra-triangle exchange coupling constants and one weak inter-triangle exchange coupling constant is proposed to model the interacting Cu^2+ ions of the Cu_3MoO_4 planes in La_4Cu_3MoO_12. Depending on the ratio of the intra-triangle coupling constants, various long-ranged magnetic phases are shown to compete at low temperatures. A comparison of numerical calculations of thermodynamic properties in the model Hamiltonian with recent experiments on La_4Cu_3MoO_12 suggests that the spins in this material order antiferromagnetically along the x-direction and ferromagnetically along the y-direction of the Cu_3MoO_4 planes. The temperature dependence of the uniform magnetic susceptibility, the heat capacity, and the entropy are calculated and are shown to be in qualitative agreement with the experiments on this compound.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2000

Excitation Spectra and Thermodynamic Response of Segmented Heisenberg Spin Chains

The spectral and thermodynamic response of segmented quantum spin chains is analyzed using a combination of numerical techniques and finite-size scaling arguments. Various distributions of segment lengths are considered, including the two extreme cases of quenched and annealed averages. As the impurity concentration is increased, it is found that (i) the integrated spectral weight is rapidly reduced, (ii) a pseudo-gap feature opens up at small frequencies, and (iii) at larger frequencies a discrete peak structure emerges, dominated by the contributions of the smallest cluster segments. The corresponding low-temperature thermodynamic response has a divergent contribution due to the odd-site clusters and a sub-dominant exponentially activated component due to the even-site segments whose finite-size gap is responsible for the spectral weight suppression at small frequencies. Based on simple scaling arguments, approximate low-temperature expressions are derived for the uniform susceptibility and the heat capacity. These are shown to be in good agreement with numerical solutions of the Bethe ansatz equations for ensembles of open-end chains.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv1999

Three-Dimensional Ordering in Weakly Coupled Antiferromagnetic Ladders and Chains

A theoretical description is presented for low-temperature magnetic-field induced three-dimensional (3D) ordering transitions in strongly anisotropic quantum antiferromagnets, consisting of weakly coupled antiferromagnetic spin-1/2 chains and ladders. First, effective continuum field theories are derived for the one-dimensional subsystems. Then the Luttinger parameters, which determine the low-temperature susceptibilities of the chains and ladders, are calculated from the Bethe ansatz solution for these effective models. The 3D ordering transition line is obtained using a random phase approximation for the weak inter-chain (inter-ladder) coupling. Finally, considering a Ginzburg criterion, the fluctuation corrections to this approach are shown to be small. The nature of the 3D ordered phase resembles a Bose condensate of integer-spin magnons. It is proposed that for systems with higher spin degrees of freedom, e.g. N-leg spin-1/2 ladders, multi-component condensates can occur at high magnetic fields.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv1999

Magnetic Field Induced Ordering in Quasi-One-Dimensional Quantum Magnets

Three-dimensional magnetic ordering transitions are studied theoretically in strongly anisotropic quantum magnets. An external magnetic field can drive quasi-one-dimensional subsystems with a spin gap into a gapless regime, thus inducing long-range three-dimensional magnetic ordering due to weak residual magnetic coupling between the subsystems. Compounds with higher spin degrees of freedom, such as N-leg spin-1/2 ladders, are shown to have cascades of ordering transitions. At high magnetic fields, zero-point fluctuations within the quasi-1D subsystems are suppressed, causing quantum corrections to the ordering temperature to be reduced.

cond-mat.str-el↗