Schwinger boson theory of ordered magnets

TL;DR

This paper refines the Schwinger boson theory for ordered magnets, clarifying subtle points and demonstrating how to correctly account for spinon condensates, leading to accurate predictions of collective excitations in magnetically ordered states.

Contribution

It identifies and addresses key subtleties in the Schwinger boson formalism, improving the description of excitation spectra in ordered quantum magnets.

Findings

Proper treatment of $1/N$ contributions cancels single-spinon poles

Magnon excitations are the only true collective modes in ordered magnets

Refined formalism aligns theoretical predictions with expected physical behavior

Abstract

The Schwinger boson theory provides a natural path for treating quantum spin systems with large quantum fluctuations. In contrast to semi-classical treatments, this theory allows us to describe a continuous transition between magnetically ordered and spin liquid states, as well as the continuous evolution of the corresponding excitation spectrum. The square lattice Heisenberg antiferromagnet is one of the first models that was approached with the Schwinger boson theory. Here we revisit this problem to reveal several subtle points that were omitted in previous treatments and that are crucial to further develop this formalism. These points include the freedom for the choice of the saddle point (Hubbard-Stratonovich decoupling and choice of the condensate) and the $1/N$ expansion in the presence of a condensate. A key observation is that the spinon condensate leads to Feynman diagrams that include contributions of different order in $1/N$, which must be accounted to get a qualitatively correct excitation spectrum. We demonstrate that a proper treatment of these contributions leads to an exact cancellation of the single-spinon poles of the dynamical spin structure factor, as expected for a magnetically ordered state. The only surviving poles are the ones arising from the magnons (two-spinon bound states), which are the true collective modes of an ordered magnet.