Critical and Glassy Phases in Non-Disordered Antiferromagnetic Heisenberg Model on Triangular Lattice

Abstract

We propose a non-disordered antiferromagnetic Heisenberg spin model on a triangular lattice, which exhibits a critical state and a glassy state at low temperatures. The system has three phases, the paramagnetic, the intermediate critical, and the glassy phase. The intermediate phase is characterized by a quasi-long-range order, whereas only short-range order exists in the glassy phase. Using Monte Carlo simulation, the phase transitions and properties of the two phases at low temperatures are examined. Our spin model shows that the variable-length spin and the competition between bilinear and biquadratic interactions are essential for forming the critical and glassy phases.