Quantum decay of magnons in the unfrustrated honeycomb Heisenberg model

TL;DR

This study explores how magnons in the honeycomb Heisenberg antiferromagnet decay completely at certain points in the Brillouin zone, revealing a breakdown of the magnon quasiparticle picture due to strong interactions.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive analysis combining QMC, series expansions, and CST to demonstrate magnon decay and quasiparticle breakdown in the honeycomb lattice, contrasting with square lattice behavior.

Findings

Magnons decay entirely at the K-point in the honeycomb lattice.

The magnon quasiparticle picture breaks down at high energies.

Strong magnon-magnon interactions lead to bound states and continuum overlap.

Abstract

We investigate the physical properties of elementary magnon excitations of the ordered antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model on the honeycomb lattice using quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) simulations, series expansions (SE), and continuous similarity transformations (CST). The stochastic analytic continuation method is used to determine the dynamic structure factor from correlation functions in imaginary time obtained by QMC. In contrast to the "roton minimum" of the square lattice Heisenberg antiferromagnet, we find that magnons on the honeycomb lattice completely decay in the corner of the Brillouin zone ($K$-point); the entire weight is shifted into the continuum. These findings are fully supported by SE and CST in momentum space. The extrapolated one-magnon dispersion obtained from SE about the Ising limit quantitatively agrees with the extracted QMC excitation energies except around the $K$-point, where large uncertainties in the extrapolation indicate the magnon decay. This quantum decay is further confirmed and understood by the CST, which yields a divergent flow when enforcing a magnon quasi-particle picture. The divergence originates from strong attractive magnon-magnon interactions leading to a bound state and thereby to a three-magnon continuum overlapping with the one-magnon state. This has the magnon quasi-particle picture break down at high energies on the honeycomb lattice.