Valence bond ground states in a frustrated two-dimensional spin-1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet

We study a class of two-dimensional spin-1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnets, introduced by Klein 1], in which the nearest-neighbor term is supplemented by next-nearest-neighbor pair and four-body interactions, producing additional frustration. For certain lattices, including e.g. the hexagonal lattice, we prove that any finite subset which admits a dimer covering has a ground state space spanned by valence bond states, each of which consists only of nearest-neighbor (dimer) singlet pairs. We also establish linear independence of these valence bond states. The possible relevance to resonating-valence-bond theories of high-temperature superconductors is briefly discussed. In particular, our results apply both to regular subsets of the lattice and to subsets with static holes.Work supported in part by N.S.F. Postdoctoral Research FellowshipsWork supported by N.S.F. Grant No. DMR-83-18051