Competing phases in spin-1/2 J1-J2 chain with easy-plane anisotropy

TL;DR

This paper maps out the complex ground-state phases of a spin-1/2 J1-J2 chain with easy-plane anisotropy, revealing diverse magnetic orders and phase transitions driven by competing interactions.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive theoretical phase diagram for the XXZ chain with competing J1 and J2 couplings, highlighting the emergence of various ordered phases and transitions.

Findings

Identification of vector-chiral phases over a wide parameter range

Observation of successive Ne9el-dimer phase transitions

Discovery of nonlocal string order in ferromagnetic J1 region

Abstract

We summarize our theoretical findings on the ground-state phase diagram of the spin-1/2 XXZ chain having competing nearest-neighbor (J1) and antiferromagnetic next-nearest-neighbor (J2) couplings. Our study is mainly concerned with the case of ferromagnetic J1, and the case of antiferromagnetic J1 is briefly reviewed for comparison. The phase diagram contains a rich variety of phases in the plane of J1/J2 versus the XXZ anisotropy Delta: vector-chiral phases, N\'eel phases, several dimer phases, and Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid phases. We discuss the vector-chiral order that appears for a remarkably wide parameter space, successive N\'eel-dimer phase transitions, and an emergent nonlocal string order in a narrow region of ferromagnetic J1 side.