Local order parameter near the critical point: A Monte Carlo study

The probability distribution of the local magnetization in a Heisenberg ferromagnet has been investigated near the critical temperature. The distribution function depends strongly upon the number of atoms generating the local field. A cusp-like critical broadening is observed with different behavior above and below the critical temperature.     

Quantum ice: a quantum Monte Carlo study

Ice states, in which frustrated interactions lead to a macroscopic ground-state degeneracy, occur in water ice, in problems of frustrated charge order on the pyrochlore lattice, and in the family of rare-earth magnets collectively known as spin ice. Of particular interest at the moment are "quantum spin-ice" materials, where large quantum fluctuations may permit tunnelling between a macroscopic number of different classical ground states. Here we use zero-temperature quantum Monte Carlo simulations to show how such tunnelling can lift the degeneracy of a spin or charge ice, stabilizing a unique "quantum-ice" ground state-a quantum liquid with excitations described by the Maxwell action of (3+1)-dimensional quantum electrodynamics. We further identify a competing ordered squiggle state, and show how both squiggle and quantum-ice states might be distinguished in neutron scattering experiments on a spin-ice material.     

A quantum Monte Carlo study of the localizable entanglement in anisotropic ferromagnetic Heisenberg chains

We study the localizable entanglement in large one-dimensional anisotropic XYZ ferromagnetic Heisenberg chains interacting with a uniform magnetic field. With the use of quantum Monte Carlo simulations we calculate the bounds of localizable entanglement by means of the correlation functions. The present quantum Monte Carlo method has the advantage over existing methods that it can be readily applied to fully anisotropic magnetic chains.     

Correlation effects in quantum spin-Hall insulators: a quantum Monte Carlo study

We consider the Kane-Mele model supplemented by a Hubbard U term. The phase diagram is mapped out using projective auxiliary field quantum Monte Carlo simulations. The quantum spin liquid of the Hubbard model is robust against weak spin-orbit interaction, and is not adiabatically connected to the spin-Hall insulating state. Beyond a critical value of U>U(c) both states are unstable toward magnetic ordering. In the quantum spin-Hall state we study the spin, charge, and single-particle dynamics of the helical Luttinger liquid by retaining the Hubbard interaction only on a ribbon edge. The Hubbard interaction greatly suppresses charge currents along the edge and promotes edge magnetism but leaves the single-particle signatures of the helical liquid intact.     

High-temperature superconductivity in the apex-oxygen model: a quantum Monte Carlo study

The Projector Quantum Monte Carlo Method is applied to examine the existence of superconductivity in the Apex-Oxygen-Model which describes the physics of the correlated carriers in the CuO₂-planes coupled to the anharmonic vibrations of the apex oxygen in the hightemperature superconductors. The simulations show clear evidence for extendeds-wave superconductivity in the 100 K temperature range for realistic choice of coupling parameters.     

Gutzwiller wave-function approach to spiral magnetic order in the two-dimensional Hubbard model: A variational Monte Carlo study

The magnetic groundstate properties of the two-dimensional Hubbard model are investigated using generalized Gutzwiller wave-functions with spiral magnetic order. Employing variational Monte Carlo simulations these wave-functions are treated without approximations on finite lattices. The resulting phase diagram shows para-, ferro-, antiferro- and spiral magnetic phases of different types.     

Electron emission from diamondoids: a diffusion quantum Monte Carlo study

We present density-functional theory (DFT) and quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) calculations designed to resolve experimental and theoretical controversies over the optical properties of H-terminated C nanoparticles (diamondoids). The QMC results follow the trends of well-converged plane-wave DFT calculations for the size dependence of the optical gap, but they predict gaps that are 1-2 eV higher. They confirm that quantum confinement effects disappear in diamondoids larger than 1 nm, which have gaps below that of bulk diamond. Our QMC calculations predict a small exciton binding energy and a negative electron affinity (NEA) for diamondoids up to 1 nm, resulting from the delocalized nature of the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital. The NEA suggests a range of possible applications of diamondoids as low-voltage electron emitters.     

Effect of exchange interaction in ferromagnetic superlattices:A Monte Carlo study

The Monte Carlo simulation is used to investigate the magnetic properties of ferromagnetic superlattices through the Ising model. The reduced critical temperatures of the ferromagnetic superlattices are studied each as a function of layer thickness for different values of exchange interaction. The exchange interaction in each layer within the interface and the crystal field in the unit cell are studied. The magnetic coercive fields and magnetization remnants are obtained for different values of exchange interaction, different values of temperature and crystal field with fixed values of physical parameters.     

Bloch walls and macroscopic string states in Bethe's solution of the heisenberg ferromagnetic linear chain

We present a calculation of the lowest excited states of the Heisenberg ferromagnet in 1D for any wave vector. These turn out to be string solutions of Bethe's equations with a macroscopic number of particles in them. They are identified as generalized quantum Bloch wall states, and a simple physical picture is provided for the same.     

Spin dynamics and magnetic correlation length in two-dimensional quantum heisenberg antiferromagnets

The correlated spin dynamics and temperature dependence of the correlation length xi(T) in two-dimensional quantum (S = 1/2) Heisenberg antiferromagnets (2DQHAF) on a square lattice are discussed in light of experimental results of proton spin lattice relaxation in copper formiate tetradeuterate. In this compound the exchange constant is much smaller than the one in recently studied 2DQHAF, such as La2CuO4 and Sr2CuO2Cl2. Thus the spin dynamics can be probed in detail over a wider temperature range. The NMR relaxation rates turn out to be in excellent agreement with a theoretical mode-coupling calculation. The deduced temperature behavior of xi(T) is in agreement with high-temperature expansions, quantum Monte Carlo simulations, and the pure quantum self-consistent harmonic approximation. Contrary to the predictions of the theories based on the nonlinear sigma model, no evidence of crossover between different quantum regimes is observed.     

Segmental order in end-linked polymer networks: A Monte Carlo study

Segmental order in end-linked monomodal and bimodal polymer networks is investigated by means of bond-fluctuation Monte Carlo simulations. The tensor order parameter, which is a central observable in NMR experiments, is not uniquely related to simple vectorial order. The relaxation of NMR-detected tensorial interactions towards their finite long-time limit is best described by a power law and occurs over much longer time scales than the relaxation of vectorial order. The well-known prediction for the segmental order of Gaussian chains as a simple function of the segment number between constraints is not straightforwardly obeyed, neither in dry nor in swollen networks. Excluded-volume interactions tend to significantly reduce the tensorial order, as is clearly observed in single-chain simulations. A distribution extends along the chain, where order is increased in a region of 30-40 bonds around the cross-links in networks. The dominating contribution to the order parameter distribution arises from the frozen-in distribution of end-to-end separations. We find strong deviations from the Gamma distribution, which has so far been implicitly used in most NMR works, as it is a straightforward consequence of a Gaussian distribution of end separations. Specifically, we find narrower distributions, as small values of the tensor order parameter are strongly suppressed, most probably as a result of trapped entanglements. The markedly subaffine behavior of the average order parameter and the changes in its distribution on swelling are assigned to orientation processes of strands which compensate for the non-affine local deformation. Our central observations and interpretations are well supported by our previous experimental and theoretical work.