From SU(2)$_5$ to SU(2)$_3$ Wess-Zumino-Witten transitions in a frustrated spin-5/2 chain

TL;DR

This paper studies phase transitions in a frustrated spin-5/2 chain, revealing a shift from SU(2)$_5$ to SU(2)$_3$ universality class and identifying a three-step dimerization process with implications for specific materials.

Contribution

It demonstrates that the continuous transition in the model changes universality class from SU(2)$_5$ to SU(2)$_3$ between isolated points, and uncovers a three-stage dimerization process.

Findings

Transition is SU(2)$_5$ only at two points; otherwise SU(2)$_3$.

Dimerization occurs in three steps: partial, floating phase, full.

Identifies a broad critical floating phase with incommensurate correlations.

Abstract

We investigate the properties of a frustrated spin-5/2 chain with next-nearest neighbor two and three-site interactions, with two questions in mind: the nature of the transition into the dimerized phase induced by the three-site interaction, and the possible presence of a critical floating phase at intermediate values of the next-nearest neighbor interaction. We provide strong evidence that the continuous transition into the dimerized phase, which has been found to be generically in the Wess-Zumino-Witten SU(2)$_{2S}$ universality class up to spin $S=2$, is SU(2)$_5$ only at two isolated points of the phase diagram, and that it is SU(2)$_3$ in between, in agreement with the presence of two relevant operators allowed by symmetry for SU(2)$_5$, and with the conservation of the parity of the level index along the renormalization flow between SU(2)$_k$ theories with different values of $k$. We also find that the dimerization induced by the next-nearest neighbor interaction is a three step process, with first a small partially dimerized phase followed by a broad critical floating phase with incommensurate correlations before the fully dimerized phase is reached. Implications for the iron oxide ${\mathrm{Bi}}_{3}{\mathrm{FeMo}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}_{12}$ are briefly discussed.