Disordered and Ordered States in a Frustrated Anisotropic Heisenberg Hamiltonian

TL;DR

This paper investigates a frustrated anisotropic Heisenberg model using a novel numerical method, revealing a frustration-induced gapless spin liquid state in 2D that is unstable with interplane couplings.

Contribution

It applies a new perturbative numerical renormalization group algorithm to analyze ground states of a 3D frustrated Heisenberg model, uncovering a novel spin liquid phase.

Findings

Discovery of a frustration-induced gapless spin liquid in 2D

Evidence that the spin liquid consists of nearly disconnected chains

The spin liquid state is unstable with interplane couplings

Abstract

We use a recently proposed perturbative numerical renormalization group algorithm to investigate ground-state properties of a frustrated three dimensional Heisenberg model on an anisotropic lattice. We analyze the ground state energy, the finite size spin gap and the static magnetic structure factor. We find in two dimensions a frustration-induced gapless spin liquid state which separates two magnetically ordered phases. In the spin liquid state, the magnetic structure factor shows evidence that this state is made of nearly disconnected chains. This spin liquid state is unstable against unfrustrated interplane couplings.