Thermodynamics of the Heisenberg antiferromagnet on the maple-leaf lattice

TL;DR

This paper investigates the thermodynamic properties of the Heisenberg antiferromagnet on the maple-leaf lattice using advanced numerical methods, revealing a two-peak specific heat and a short-range paramagnetic ground state.

Contribution

It introduces the application of NLCE to the maple-leaf lattice, demonstrating unconventional convergence and providing detailed thermodynamic insights and benchmarks.

Findings

Specific heat shows a two-peak structure at T1 ≈ 0.479J and T2 ≈ 0.131J.

Spin structure factor features reflect lattice asymmetry at intermediate temperatures.

Ground state is a short-range correlated paramagnet with resonating hexagons.

Abstract

We study the Heisenberg antiferromagnet on the maple-leaf lattice using several numerical approaches, focusing on the numerical linked-cluster expansion (NLCE), which exhibits an unconventional convergence extending to low and even zero temperatures. We evaluate thermodynamic properties as well as spin-spin correlations through the equal-time structure factor. Within NLCE the specific heat capacity reveals a two-peak structure at $T_1 \approx 0.479\,J$ and $T_2 \approx 0.131\,J$, reminiscent of the corresponding result for the triangular lattice. At intermediate temperatures, the spin-spin structure factor develops features that reflect the absence of reflection symmetry in the lattice. The zero-temperature convergence of NLCE enables reliable estimates of the ground-state energy and points to a short-range correlated paramagnetic ground state composed of resonating hexagonal motifs. The NLCE results are benchmarked against Pseudo-Majorana Functional Renormalization Group, finite-temperature Lanczos, and classical Monte Carlo simulations.