Low-lying excited states of quantum antiferromagnets on a triangular lattice

We study low-lying states of theXY and Heisenberg antiferromagnets on a triangular lattice to clarify whether spontaneous symmetry breaking occurs atT=0 in the thermodynamic limit. Approximate forms of low-lying states are proposed, in which degrees of freedom of the sublattice magnetization and of the chirality are separated. These approximate states have a long-range order and twofold structures. It is shown that low-lying states can be accurately described with the present approximation. It has been argued that low-lying states play an important role in symmetry breaking. With the help of this approximation, we discuss the contribution of low-lying states to symmetry breaking of two types, namely creation of the spontaneous sublattice magnetization and the spontaneous chirality. Furthermore, to show evidence for the occurrence of symmetry breaking, we numerically study the low-lying states of finite systems of theXY and Heisenberg antiferromagnets. It is found that the necessary conditions for the symmetry breaking to occur are satisfied in these models.