Effects of spin-phonon coupling in frustrated Heisenberg models

Francesco Ferrari, Roser Valentí, and Federico Becca
Phys. Rev. B 104, 035126 – Published 14 July 2021

Abstract

The existence and stability of spin-liquid phases represent a central topic in the field of frustrated magnetism. While a few examples of spin-liquid ground states are well established in specific models (e.g., the Kitaev model on the honeycomb lattice), recent investigations have suggested the possibility of their appearance in several Heisenberg-like models on frustrated lattices. An important related question concerns the stability of spin liquids in the presence of small perturbations in the Hamiltonian. In this respect, the magnetoelastic interaction between spins and phonons represents a relevant and physically motivated perturbation, which has been scarcely investigated so far. In this work, we study the effect of the spin-phonon coupling on prototypical models of frustrated magnetism. We adopt a variational framework based upon Gutzwiller-projected wave functions implemented with a spin-phonon Jastrow factor, providing a full quantum treatment of both spin and phonon degrees of freedom. The results on the frustrated J1J2 Heisenberg model on one- and two-dimensional (square) lattices show that, while a valence-bond crystal is prone to lattice distortions, a gapless spin liquid is stable for small spin-phonon couplings. In view of the ubiquitous presence of lattice vibrations, our results are particularly important to demonstrate the possibility that gapless spin liquids may be realized in real materials.

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  • Received 12 May 2021
  • Revised 2 July 2021
  • Accepted 6 July 2021

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.104.035126

©2021 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Francesco Ferrari1, Roser Valentí1, and Federico Becca2

  • 1Institute for Theoretical Physics, Goethe University Frankfurt, Max-von-Laue-Straße 1, D-60438 Frankfurt a.M., Germany
  • 2Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Trieste, Strada Costiera 11, I-34151 Trieste, Italy

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Issue

Vol. 104, Iss. 3 — 15 July 2021

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