Nonequilibrium wetting transition in a nonthermal 2D Ising model

Nonequilibrium wetting transitions are observed in Monte Carlo simulations of a kinetic spin system in the absence of a detailed balance condition with respect to an energy functional. A nonthermal model is proposed starting from a two-dimensional Ising spin lattice at zero temperature with two boundaries subject to opposing surface fields. Local spin excitations are only allowed by absorbing an energy quantum (photon) below a cutoff energy E _c . Local spin relaxation takes place by emitting a photon which leaves the lattice. Using Monte Carlo simulation nonequilibrium critical wetting transitions are observed as well as nonequilibrium first-order wetting phenomena, respectively in the absence or presence of absorbing states of the spin system. The transitions are identified from the behavior of the probability distribution of a suitably chosen order parameter that was proven useful for studying wetting in the (thermal) Ising model.     

Interplay of charge, spin, orbital and lattice correlations in colossal magnetoresistance manganites

We derive a realistic microscopic model for doped colossal magnetoresistance manganites, which includes the dynamics of charge, spin, orbital and lattice degrees of freedom on a quantum mechanical level. The model respects the SU(2) spin symmetry and the full multiplet structure of the manganese ions within the cubic lattice. Concentrating on the hole doped domain ( 0≤x≤0.5) we study the influence of the electron-lattice interaction on spin and orbital correlations by means of exact diagonalisation techniques. We find that the lattice can cause a considerable suppression of the coupling between spin and orbital degrees of freedom and show how changes in the magnetic correlations are reflected in dynamic phonon correlations. In addition, our calculation gives detailed insights into orbital correlations and demonstrates the possibility of complex orbital states. Received 4 September 2002 / Received in final form 8 November 2002 Published online 31 December 2002     

Quantum spin liquid on 2D rectangular frustrated AF lattice

The state of a 2D rectangular spin lattice with first, second and third nearest-neighbour anisotropic antiferromagnetic interactions is investigated. In a special line of parameter space, it is proved that the quantum spin liquid is the exact eigenstate of the system. For general parameter values, Green's function method with cut-off approximation is used to determine the phase diagram at zero temperature, and it is found that the quantum spin liquid appears on a rectangular lattice when the third nearest-neighbour interaction in the direction with shorter lattice spacing is introduced. The relations to the possibility of mixture of the spin liquid and the Fermi liquid in high-T _c superconductors are discussed.     

Flow equations for the ionic Hubbard model

Taking the site-diagonal terms of the ionic Hubbard model (IHM) in one and two spatial dimensions, as H₀, we employ Continuous Unitary Transformations (CUT) to obtain a “classical” effective Hamiltonian in which hopping term has been renormalized to zero. For this Hamiltonian spin gap and charge gap are calculated at half-filling and subject to periodic boundary conditions. Our calculations indicate two transition points. In fixed Δ, as U increases from zero, there is a region in which both spin gap and charge gap are positive and identical; characteristic of band insulators. Upon further increasing U, first transition occurs at U=Uc₁, where spin and charge gaps both vanish and remain zero up to U=Uc₂. A gap-less state in charge and spin sectors characterizes a metal. For U>Uc₂ spin gap remains zero and charge gap becomes positive. This third region corresponds to a Mott insulator in which charge excitations are gaped, while spin excitations remain gap-less.     

On the universal behavior of two-dimensional Ising spin glasses

Ising spin glasses are studied, at zero temperature, on a hierarchical lattice as an approach to the square lattice. The stiffness exponent y, which governs the behavior of the interactions under changes of scale, is computed for several distinct continuous symmetric probability distributions for the couplings. All distributions considered lead to the same estimates, i.e., the exponent y is universal. Our results are compared with other estimates available for the two-dimensional Gaussian Ising spin glass.     

Quantum dynamics of a driven correlated system coupled to phonons

Nonequilibrium interplay between charge, spin, and lattice degrees of freedom on a square lattice is studied for a single charge carrier doped in the t-J-Holstein model. In the presence of a static electric field we calculate the quasistationary state. With increasing electron-phonon (e-ph) coupling the carrier mobility decreases; however, we find increased steady state current due to e-ph coupling in the regime of negative differential resistance. We explore the distribution of absorbed energy between the spin and the phonon subsystem. For model parameters as relevant for cuprates, the majority of the gained energy flows into the spin subsystem.     

Kosterlitz-Thouless transition for the finite-temperatured=2+1,U(1) Hamiltonian lattice gauge theory

We prove that in thed=2+1,U(1) Hamiltonian (continuous time) lattice gauge theory the confining potential between two static external charges grows logarithmically with their distance, at sufficiently high temperatures. As it is known that for zero or low temperatures and large coupling constant the model confines linearly, we have therefore established the existence of a Kosterlitz-Thouless transition. Our results are based on a Mermin-Wagner type of argument combined with correlation inequalities and known results for the two-dimensional (spin) Villain model.     

Possible relevance of lattice effects in high-T c superconductors

The relevance of the lattice-mediated superconducting pairing in a system of quasilocalized polarons dressed by local lattice deformations is considered. The spin correlations are taken into account using thet-J model expressed in terms of holon and spin operators. The Holstein-like Hamiltonian for holons with the transport term depending on spin correlations is transformed by the generalized Lang-Firsov transformation which implies the spread of the charge and the deformations to the nearest neighbours. The analytical formula for the superconducting transition temperatureT _c is deduced using the assumption of an extremely narrow polaron band. The hole-concentration dependence ofT _c and the isotope exponent are discussed using the classical approximation for incommensurate spiral spin correlations. This work was supported by the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic, project No. 202/96/0864.     

Shot noises of spin and charge currents in a ferromagnet-quantum-dot-ferromagnet system

We have investigated the shot noises of charge and spin current by considering the spin polarized electron tunneling through a ferromagnet-quantum-dot-ferromagnet system. We have derived the spin polarized current noise matrix, from which we can derive general expressions of shot noises associated with charge and spin currents. The spin and charge currents are intimately related to the polarization angles, and they behave quite differently from each other. The shot noise of charge current is symmetric about the gate voltage whose structure is modified by the Zeeman field considerably. There exists oscillations in spin current shot noise in the absence of source-drain bias at zero temperature, and it is asymmetric in the positive and negative regimes of sourcedrain voltage. The shot noise of spin current behaves quite differently from the shot noise of charge current, since the spin current components I _x ^s , I _y ^s oscillate sinusoidally with the frequency ω_γ in the γth lead, while the I _z ^s component of spin current is independent of time.      

Upper bounds for ground-state correlation functions in the Hubbard model

We present rigorous bounds on the ground-state spin and charge correlation functions of the single-band Hubbard model defined on a bipartite lattice. In the attractive case, the spin correlation function is bounded from above by a quantity depending only on the value of the Coulomb interaction. A similar result is obtained in the half-filled repulsive model when the charge and the on-site pairing correlation functions are considered. The present results imply that the related susceptibilities never diverge and the absence of corresponding long-range orders.     

Real-space renormalization group for two-dimensional quantum spin systems

A generalization of the Niemeijer and Van Leeuwen real-space renormalization group method for quantum lattice spin systems is presented. A proposed rotationally invariant transformation which preserves the symmetry of the spin space is applied to several quantum systems on a triangular lattice. For the spin-1/2XY-model in both first- and second-order cumulant expansions a nontrivial fixed point exists, giving in the best approximation a critical interactionK _XY ^c =0.453 and critical exponent =1.65. A method of the reduction of the generalized arbitrary spin anisotropic Heisenberg model to the spin-half model is presented.     

Fractional charges in pyrochlore lattices

A pyrochlore lattice is considered where the average electron number of electrons per site is half‐integer, concentrating on the case of exactly half an electron per site. Strong on‐site repulsions are assumed, so that all sites are either empty or singly occupied. When there are in addition strong nearest‐neighbour repulsions, a tetrahedron rule comes into effect, as previously suggested for magnetite. We show that in this case, there exist excitations with fractional charge ±e/2. These are intimately connected with the high degeneracy of the ground state in the absence of kinetic energy terms. When an additional electron is inserted into the system, it decays into two point like excitations with charge ‐e/2, connected by a Heisenberg spin‐chain which carries the electron's spin.     

Tendencies toward nematic order in YBa<Subscript>2</Subscript>Cu<Subscript>3</Subscript>O<Subscript>6+δ</Subscript>: Uniform distortion <Emphasis Type="Italic">vs.</Emphasis> incipient charge stripes

Recent neutron scattering and transport data obtained on underdoped YBa₂Cu₃O_6+δ, with strong signatures of rotation symmetry breaking at low temperatures, point toward electron-nematic order in the charge sector. Such order may originate from a uniform distortion with d-wave symmetry or as a precursor of a uni-directional stripe phase. Here, we discuss whether the neutron scattering data can be linked to incipient charge stripes. We employ and extend a phenomenological model for collective spin and charge fluctuations and analyze the resulting spin excitation spectrum under the influence of lattice anisotropies. Our results show that the experimentally observed temperature-dependent magnetic incommensurability is compatible with a scenario of incipient stripes, the temperature dependence being due to the temperature variation of both strength and correlation length of the charge stripes. Finally, we propose further experiments to distinguish the possible theoretical scenarios.     

Spin excitations in fluctuating stripe phases of doped cuprate superconductors

Using a phenomenological lattice model of coupled spin and charge modes, we determine the spin susceptibility in the presence of fluctuating stripe charge order. We assume the charge fluctuations to be slow compared to those of the spins, and combine Monte Carlo simulations for the charge order parameter with exact diagonalization of the spin sector. Our calculations unify the spin dynamics of both static and fluctuating stripe phases and support the notion of a universal spin excitation spectrum in doped cuprate superconductors.     

Quantum fluctuations and ground state of weakly interacting helix spin chains in a magnetic field

Ferromagnetic spin chains of a hexagonal lattice coupled by a weak antiferromagnetic interaction J₁ develop a helix arrangement if the intrachain antiferromagnetic NNN exchange J₂ is sufficiently large. We show that the classical minimum energy spin configuration is an umbrella when an external magnetic field is applied. The scenario is dramatically changed by quantum fluctuations. Indeed we find that the zero point motion forces the spins in a plane containing the magnetic field so that classical expectation is deceptive for our model. Our result is obtained by controlled expansion in the low field-long wavelength modulation limit. Received: 9 September 1997 / Revised: 15 October 1997 / Accepted: 17 November 1997     

Ground States of Quantum Antiferromagnets in Two Dimensions

We explore the ground states and quantum phase transitions of two-dimensional, spin S=1/2, antiferromagnets by generalizing lattice models and duality transforms introduced by Sachdev and Jalabert (1990, Mod. Phys. Lett. B4, 1043). The minimal model for square lattice antiferromagnets is a lattice discretization of the quantum nonlinear sigma model, along with Berry phases which impose quantization of spin. With full SU(2) spin rotation invariance, we find a magnetically ordered ground state with Néel order at weak coupling and a confining paramagnetic ground state with bond charge (e.g., spin Peierls) order at strong coupling. We study the mechanisms by which these two states are connected in intermediate coupling. We extend the minimal model to study different routes to fractionalization and deconfinement in the ground state, and also generalize it to cases with a uniaxial anisotropy (the spin symmetry groups is then U(1)). For the latter systems, fractionalization can appear by the pairing of vortices in the staggered spin order in the easy-plane; however, we argue that this route does not survive the restoration of SU(2) spin symmetry. For SU(2) invariant systems we study a separate route to fractionalization associated with the Higgs phase of a complex boson measuring noncollinear, spiral spin correlations: we present phase diagrams displaying competition between magnetic order, bond charge order, and fractionalization, and discuss the nature of the quantum transitions between the various states. A strong check on our methods is provided by their application to S=1/2 frustrated antiferromagnets in one dimension: here, our results are in complete accord with those obtained by bosonization and by the solution of integrable models.     

Nondissipative spin Hall effect via quantized edge transport

The spin Hall effect in a two-dimensional electron system on honeycomb lattice with both intrinsic and Rashba spin-orbit couplings is studied numerically. Integer quantized spin Hall conductance is obtained at the zero Rashba coupling limit when electron Fermi energy lies in the energy gap created by the intrinsic spin-orbit coupling, in agreement with recent theoretical prediction. While nonzero Rashba coupling destroys electron spin conservation, the spin Hall conductance is found to remain near the quantized value, being insensitive to disorder scattering, until the energy gap collapses with increasing the Rashba coupling. We further show that the charge transport through counterpropagating spin-polarized edge channels is well quantized, which is associated with a topological invariant of the system.     

Local non-abelian gauge symmetry of the Hubbard model

It is shown that the field operators of an electron system on a lattice can be decomposed into direct products of two kinds of operators acting in two separate Hilbert spaces. The Hilbert space of electron states thus becomes a direct product of two Hilbert spaces. By this fact a certain class of electron systems exhibits a formal separation of charge and spin degrees of freedom into two kinds of elementary excitations. A typical example of such a system is given by the Hubbard model. The separation of charge and spin resulting from the new representation of the field operators can be considered as a rigorous realization and generalization of an idea expressed by Anderson concerning the separation of spin and charge degrees of freedom in strongly correlated electron systems. The new representation of electron field operators implies the existence of a localU(2) gauge symmetry in the theory. The theory of superconductivity based on the Hubbard model is then represented by a non-abelian gauge field theory.Dedicated to the memory of my teacher and friend Professor Jozef Kvasnica.The main part of this work has been done during the author stay at the Research Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Helsinki. The author expresses this sincere gratitude to Prof. C. Cronström, who played an important role in completing this work.     

Spin transport in the Néel and collinear antiferromagnetic phase of the two dimensional spatial and spin anisotropic Heisenberg model on a square lattice

We analyze and compare the effect of spatial and spin anisotropy on spin conductivity in a two dimensional S = 1/2 Heisenberg quantum magnet on a square lattice. We explore the model in both the Néel antiferromagnetic (AF) phase and the collinear antiferromagnetic (CAF) phase. We find that in contrast to the effects of spin anisotropy in the Heisenberg model, spatial anisotropy in the AF phase does not suppress the zero temperature regular part of the spin conductivity in the zero frequency limit–rather it enhances it. In the CAF phase (within the non-interacting approximation), the zero frequency spin conductivity has a finite value, which is suppressed as the spatial anisotropy parameter is increased. Furthermore, the CAF phase displays a spike in the spin conductivity not seen in the AF phase. We also explore the finite temperature effects on the Drude weight in the AF phase (within the collisionless approximation). We find that enhancing spatial anisotropy increases the Drude weight value and increasing spin anisotropy decreases the Drude weight value. Based on these studies, we conclude that antiferromagnets with spatial anisotropy are better spin conductors than those with spin anisotropy at both zero and finite temperatures.     

Creation and destruction of a spin gap in weakly coupled quarter-filled ladders

We investigate weakly coupled quarter-filled ladders with model parameters relevant for NaV(2)O(5) using density-matrix renormalization group calculations on an extended Hubbard model coupled to the lattice. NaV(2)O(5) exhibits super-antiferroelectric charge order with a zigzag pattern on each ladder. We show that this order causes a spin dimerization along the ladder and is accompanied by a spin gap of the same magnitude as that observed experimentally. The spin gap is destroyed again at large charge order due to a restructuring of the spins. An analysis of an effective spin model predicts a recreation of the gap by interladder singlets when the charge order increases further.