Approaching Kasteleyn transition in frustrated quantum Heisenberg antiferromagnets

arXiv (Cornell University)

Abstract

We show that the Kasteleyn transition, the abrupt proliferation of infinite strings of defects in classical dimer and related models, can also be relevant for frustrated 2d quantum magnets. This is explicitly demonstrated in a phase of the spin-1/2 Heisenberg diamond-decorated honeycomb lattice where a family of exact eigenstates built as products of dimer and plaquette singlets can be mapped onto the dimer coverings of the honeycomb lattice. The low-temperature properties of this phase are accurately described by an effective dimer model with anisotropic activities and a small, tunable density of monomers, leading to an arbitrarily sharp crossover version of the Kasteleyn transition. The generalization to other geometries and the possibility to realize this model in organo-metallic compounds are briefly discussed.

Authors 8

1. Katarína Karľová

   Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique · University of Pavol Jozef Šafárik · Laboratoire de Physique Théorique et Modélisation

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute of Physics , Faculty of Science , P. J. Šafárik University , Park Angelinum 9 , 04001 Košice , Slovakia

   Laboratoire de Physique Théorique et Modélisation , CNRS

2. Afonso Rufino

   École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute of Physics , Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) , CH-1015 Lausanne , Switzerland

3. Taras Verkholyak

   Yukhnovskii Institute for Condensed Matter Physics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine · Lviv University

   Affiliation as printed

   Professor Ivan Vakarchuk Department for Theoretical Physics , Ivan Franko National University of Lviv , 12 Drahomanov Street , Lviv , Ukraine

   Yukhnovskii Institute for Condensed Matter Physics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine , Svientsitskii Street 1 , 79011 L' viv , Ukraine

4. Nils Caci

   Université Paris Sciences et Lettres · École Normale Supérieure - PSL · Laboratoire Kastler Brossel

   Affiliation as printed

   Laboratoire Kastler Brossel , École Normale Supérieure -Université PSL ,

5. Stefan Weßel Aachen Institute for Theoretical Solid State Physics

   RWTH Aachen University · Jülich Aachen Research Alliance

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute for Theoretical Solid State Physics , JARA FIT, and JARA CSD , RWTH Aachen University , 52056 Aachen , Germany

6. Jozef Strečka

   Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique · Sorbonne Université · University of Pavol Jozef Šafárik

   Affiliation as printed

   CNRS , Sorbonne Université , Collége de

   Institute of Physics , Faculty of Science , P. J. Šafárik University , Park Angelinum 9 , 04001 Košice , Slovakia

7. Frédéric Mila

   École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne · CY Cergy Paris Université · Laboratoire de Physique Théorique et Modélisation

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute of Physics , Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) , CH-1015 Lausanne , Switzerland

   UMR 8089 , CY Cergy Paris Université , Cergy-Pontoise , France

8. A. Honecker

   Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique · Laboratoire de Physique Théorique et Modélisation

   Affiliation as printed

   France , 75005 Paris , France

   Laboratoire de Physique Théorique et Modélisation , CNRS