A high-order study of the quantum critical behavior of a frustrated spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ antiferromagnet on a stacked honeycomb bilayer

TL;DR

This study maps the quantum phase diagram of a frustrated bilayer honeycomb antiferromagnet, revealing Ne9el, striped, and valence-bond phases, and identifying phase boundaries with reentrant behavior using high-order coupled cluster calculations.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed quantum phase diagram of the frustrated bilayer honeycomb model, including precise phase boundary estimations and analysis of reentrant phase transitions.

Findings

Identified Ne9el and striped antiferromagnetic phases.

Discovered an intermediate gapped paramagnetic phase with valence-bond order.

Mapped phase boundaries showing avoided crossing and reentrant behavior.

Abstract

We study a frustrated spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ $J_{1}$--$J_{2}$--$J_{3}$--$J_{1}^{\perp}$ Heisenberg antiferromagnet on an $AA$-stacked bilayer honeycomb lattice. In each layer we consider nearest-neighbor (NN), next-nearest-neighbor, and next-next-nearest-neighbor antiferromagnetic (AFM) exchange couplings $J_{1}$, $J_{2}$, and $J_{3}$, respectively. The two layers are coupled with an AFM NN exchange coupling $J_{1}^{\perp}\equiv\delta J_{1}$. The model is studied for arbitrary values of $\delta$ along the line $J_{3}=J_{2}\equiv\alpha J_{1}$ that includes the most highly frustrated point at $\alpha=\frac{1}{2}$, where the classical ground state is macroscopically degenerate. The coupled cluster method is used at high orders of approximation to calculate the magnetic order parameter and the triplet spin gap. We are thereby able to give an accurate description of the quantum phase diagram of the model in the $\alpha\delta$ plane in the window $0 \leq \alpha \leq 1$, $0 \leq \delta \leq 1$. This includes two AFM phases with N\'eel and striped order, and an intermediate gapped paramagnetic phase that exhibits various forms of valence-bond crystalline order. We obtain accurate estimations of the two phase boundaries, $\delta = \delta_{c_{i}}(\alpha)$, or equivalently, $\alpha = \alpha_{c_{i}}(\delta)$, with $i=1$ (N\'eel) and 2 (striped). The two boundaries exhibit an "avoided crossing" behavior with both curves being reentrant.