Multiloop pseudofermion functional renormalization for quantum spin systems: Application to the spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ kagome Heisenberg model

TL;DR

This paper introduces a multiloop pseudofermion functional renormalization group method to study quantum spin systems, demonstrating convergence and stability in analyzing the kagome Heisenberg model, revealing indications of an algebraic spin liquid.

Contribution

The paper develops and validates a multiloop pffRG approach, showing its convergence and applicability to complex frustrated quantum magnets like the kagome lattice.

Findings

Evidence for an algebraic spin liquid at nearest-neighbor coupling

Convergence of the multiloop pffRG flow at loop order ≥ 5

Stable flow allowing exploration of low-energy regimes

Abstract

We present a multiloop pseudofermion functional renormalization group (pffRG) approach to quantum spin systems. As a test case, we study the spin-$\tfrac{1}{2}$ Heisenberg model on the kagome lattice, a prime example of a geometrically frustrated magnet believed to host a quantum spin liquid. Our main physical result is that, at pure nearest-neighbor coupling, the system shows indications for an algebraic spin liquid through slower-than-exponential decay with distance for the static spin susceptibility, while the pseudofermion self-energy develops intriguing low-energy features. Methodologically, the pseudofermion representation of spin models inherently yields a strongly interacting system, and the quantitative reliability of a truncated fRG flow is \textit{a priori} unclear. Our main technical result is the demonstration of convergence in loop number within multiloop pffRG. Through correspondence with the self-consistent parquet equations, this provides further evidence for the internal consistency of the approach. The loop order required for convergence of the pseudofermion vertices is rather large, but the spin susceptibility is more benign, appearing almost fully converged for loop orders $\ell \geq 5$. The multiloop flow remains stable as the infrared cutoff $\Lambda$ is reduced relative to the microscopic exchange interaction $J$, allowing us to reach values of $\Lambda/J$ on the subpercent level in the spin-liquid phase. By contrast, solving the parquet equations via direct fixed-point iteration becomes increasingly difficult for low $\Lambda/J$. We also scrutinize the pseudofermion constraint of single occupation per site, which is only fulfilled on average in pffRG, by explicitly computing fermion-number fluctuations. Although the latter are not entirely suppressed, we find that they do not affect the qualitative conclusions drawn from the spin susceptibility.