Quantum Dynamics of the Square-Lattice Heisenberg Model

TL;DR

This paper investigates the high-energy excitations of the square-lattice S=1/2 Heisenberg model by connecting it to the Ising limit, revealing how magnon interactions explain spectral features and uncovering magnon localization phenomena.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach connecting the Heisenberg and Ising models to explain spectral features using perturbation theory and DMRG, highlighting magnon localization and entanglement effects.

Findings

Strong magnon interactions explain spectral features.

High-energy magnons are localized on a single sublattice.

Perturbation theory around the Ising limit provides semi-quantitative insights.

Abstract

Despite nearly a century of study of the $S=1/2$ Heisenberg model on the square lattice, there is still disagreement on the nature of its high-energy excitations. By tuning toward the Heisenberg model from the exactly soluble Ising limit, we find that the strongly attractive magnon interactions of the latter naturally account for a number of spectral features of the Heisenberg model. This claim is backed up both numerically and analytically. Using the density matrix renormalization group method, we obtain the dynamical structure factor for a cylindrical geometry, allowing us to continuously connect both limits. Remarkably, a semi-quantitative description of certain observed features arises already at the lowest non-trivial order in perturbation theory around the Ising limit. Moreover, our analysis uncovers that high-energy magnons are localized on a single sublattice, which is related to the entanglement properties of the ground state.