Classical Spin Chain Research Articles

Nonequilibrium spin transport in integrable and nonintegrable classical spin chains

Nonequilibrium spin transport in integrable and nonintegrable classical spin chains

Cellular automaton ontology, bits, qubits and the Dirac equation

Cornerstones of the Cellular Automaton Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics are its ontological states that evolve by permutations, in this way never creating would-be quantum mechanical superposition states. We review and illustrate this with a classical Ising spin chain. It is shown that it can be related to the Weyl equation in the continuum limit. Yet, the model of discrete spins or bits unavoidably becomes a model of qubits by generating superpositions, if only slightly deformed. We study modifications of its signal velocity which, however, do not relate to mass terms. To incorporate the latter, we consider the Dirac equation in 1+1 dimensions and sketch an underlying discrete deterministic “necklace of necklaces” automaton that qualifies as ontological.

Dual symplectic classical circuits: An exactly solvable model of many-body chaos

We propose a general exact method of calculating dynamical correlation functions in dual symplectic brick-wall circuits in one dimension. These are deterministic classical many-body dynamical systems which can be interpreted in terms of symplectic dynamics in two orthogonal (time and space) directions. In close analogy with quantum dual-unitary circuits, we prove that two-point dynamical correlation functions are non-vanishing only along the edges of the light cones. The dynamical correlations are exactly computable in terms of a one-site Markov transfer operator, which is generally of infinite dimensionality. We test our theory in a specific family of dual-symplectic circuits, describing the dynamics of a classical Floquet spin chain. Remarkably, expressing these models in the form of a composition of rotations leads to a transfer operator with a block diagonal form in the basis of spherical harmonics. This allows us to obtain analytical predictions for simple local observables. We demonstrate the validity of our theory by comparison with Monte Carlo simulations, displaying excellent agreement with the latter for a choice of observables.

Domain Wall Dynamics in Classical Spin Chains: Free Propagation, Subdiffusive Spreading, and Soliton Emission.

The nonequilibrium dynamics of domain wall initial states in a classical anisotropic Heisenberg chain exhibits a striking coexistence of apparently linear and nonlinear behaviors: the propagation and spreading of the domain wall can be captured quantitatively by linear, i.e., noninteracting, spin wave theory absent its usual justifications; while, simultaneously, for a wide range of easy-plane anisotropies, emission can take the place of stable solitons-a process and objects intrinsically associated with interactions and nonlinearities. The easy-axis domain wall only has transient dynamics, the isotropic one broadens diffusively, while the easy-plane one yields a pair of ballistically counterpropagating domain walls which, unusually, broaden subdiffusively, their width scaling as t^{1/3}.

Reservoir-induced stabilization of a periodically driven classical spin chain: Local versus global relaxation.

Floquet theory is an indispensable tool for analyzing periodically driven quantum many-body systems. Although it does not universally extend to classical systems, some of its methodologies can be adopted in the presence of well-separated timescales. Here we use these tools to investigate the stroboscopic behaviors of a classical spin chain that is driven by a periodic magnetic field and coupled to a thermal reservoir. We detail and expand our previous work: we investigate the significance of higher-order corrections to the classical Floquet-Magnus expansion in both the high- and low-frequency regimes; explicitly probe the evolution dynamics of the reservoir; and further explore how the driven system and the reservoir synchronize with the applied field at low frequencies. In line with our earlier results, we find that the high-frequency regime is characterized by a local Floquet-Gibbs ensemble with the reservoir acting as a nearly-reversible heat sink. At low frequencies, the driven system rapidly enters a synchronized state, which can only be fully described in a global picture accounting for the concurrent relaxation of the reservoir in a fictitious magnetic field arising from the drive. We highlight how the evolving nature of the reservoir may still be incorporated in a local picture by introducing an effective temperature. Finally, we show that generic local-dissipation models that account for the influence of the reservoir on the driven system phenomenologically through Markovian dissipative equationsof motion can generally not reproduce the rich behavior that our microscopic simulations reveal. In particular, such models prove insufficient to account for the suppression of overall energy absorption that is induced by the here observed synchronization between driven system and reservoir.

Robustness of Kardar-Parisi-Zhang scaling in a classical integrable spin chain with broken integrability

Recent investigations have observed superdiffusion in integrable classical and quantum spin chains. An intriguing connection between these spin chains and Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) universality class has emerged. Theoretical developments (e.g. generalized hydrodynamics) have highlighted the role of integrability as well as spin-symmetry in KPZ behaviour. However understanding their precise role on superdiffusive transport still remains a challenging task. The widely used quantum spin chain platform comes with severe numerical limitations. To circumvent this barrier, we focus on a classical integrable spin chain which was shown to have deep analogy with the quantum spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ Heisenberg chain. Remarkably, we find that KPZ behaviour prevails even when one considers integrability-breaking but spin-symmetry preserving terms, strongly indicating that spin-symmetry plays a central role even in the non-perturbative regime. On the other hand, in the non-perturbative regime, we find that energy correlations exhibit clear diffusive behaviour. We also study the classical analog of out-of-time-ordered correlator (OTOC) and Lyapunov exponents. We find significant presence of chaos for the integrability-broken cases even though KPZ behaviour remains robust. The robustness of KPZ behaviour is demonstrated for a wide class of spin-symmetry preserving integrability-breaking terms.

Rapid Thermalization of Spin Chain Commuting Hamiltonians.

We prove that spin chains weakly coupled to a large heat bath thermalize rapidly at any temperature for finite-range, translation-invariant commuting Hamiltonians, reaching equilibrium in a time which scales logarithmically with the system size. This generalizes to the quantum regime a seminal result of Holley and Stroock from 1989 for classical spin chains and represents an exponential improvement over previous bounds based on the nonclosure of the spectral gap. We discuss the implications in the context of dissipative phase transitions and in the study of symmetry protected topological phases.

Lax equations for relativistic Gaudin models on elliptic curve

We describe the most general GL NM classical elliptic finite-dimensional integrable system, which Lax matrix has n simple poles on elliptic curve. For M = 1 it reproduces the classical inhomogeneous spin chain, for N = 1 it is the Gaudin type (multispin) extension of the spin Ruijsenaars–Schneider model, and for n = 1 the model of M interacting relativistic GL N tops emerges in some particular case. In this way we present a classification for relativistic Gaudin models on GL-bundles over elliptic curve. As a by-product we describe the inhomogeneous Ruijsenaars chain. We show that this model can be considered as a particular case of multispin Ruijsenaars–Schneider model when residues of the Lax matrix are of rank one. An explicit parametrization of the classical spin variables through the canonical variables is obtained for this model. Finally, the most general GL NM model is also described through R-matrices satisfying associative Yang–Baxter equation. This description provides the trigonometric and rational analogues of GL NM models.

Migdal-Eliashberg theory as a classical spin chain

We formulate the Migdal-Eliashberg theory of electron-phonon interactions in terms of classical spins by mapping the free energy to a Heisenberg spin chain in a Zeeman magnetic field. Spin components are energy-integrated normal and anomalous Green's functions and sites of the chain are fermionic Matsubara frequencies. The Zeeman field grows linearly with the spin coordinate and competes with ferromagnetic spin-spin interaction that falls off as the square of the inverse distance. The spin-chain representation makes a range of previously unknown properties plain to see. In particular, infinitely many new solutions of the Eliashberg equations both in the normal and superconducting states emerge at strong coupling. These saddle points of the free-energy functional correspond to spin flips. We argue that they are also fixed points of kinetic equations and play an essential role in far from equilibrium dynamics of strongly coupled superconductors. Up to an overall phase, the frequency-dependent gap function that minimizes the free energy must be non-negative. There are strong parallels between our Eliashberg spins and Anderson pseudospins, though the two sets of spins never coincide.

Field analogue of the Ruijsenaars-Schneider model

We suggest a field extension of the classical elliptic Ruijsenaars-Schneider model. The model is defined in two different ways which lead to the same result. The first one is via the trace of a chain product of L-matrices which allows one to introduce the Hamiltonian of the model and to show that the model is gauge equivalent to a classical elliptic spin chain. In this way, one obtains a lattice field analogue of the Ruijsenaars-Schneider model with continuous time. The second method is based on investigation of general elliptic families of solutions to the 2D Toda equation. We derive equations of motion for their poles, which turn out to be difference equations in space with a lattice spacing η, together with a zero curvature representation for them. We also show that the equations of motion are Hamiltonian. The obtained system of equations can be naturally regarded as a field generalization of the Ruijsenaars-Schneider system. Its lattice version coincides with the model introduced via the first method. The limit η → 0 is shown to give the field extension of the Calogero-Moser model known in the literature. The fully discrete version of this construction is also discussed.

On the general solution of the permuted classical Yang–Baxter equation and quasigraded Lie algebras

Using the technique of the quasigraded Lie algebras, we construct general spectral-parameter dependent solutions r12(u, v) of the permuted classical Yang–Baxter equation with the values in the tensor square of simple Lie algebra g. We show that they are connected with infinite-dimensional Lie algebras with Adler–Kostant–Symmes decompositions and are labeled by solutions of a constant quadratic equation on the linear space g⊕N, N ≥ 1. We formulate the conditions when the corresponding r-matrices are skew-symmetric, i.e., they are equivalent to the ones described by Belavin–Drinfeld classification. We illustrate the developed theory by the example of the elliptic r-matrix of Sklyanin. We apply the obtained result to the explicit construction of the generalized quantum and classical Gaudin spin chains.

Quantum phase transitions in long-range interacting hyperuniform spin chains in a transverse field

Hyperuniform states of matter are characterized by anomalous suppression of long-wavelength density fluctuations. While most of interesting cases of disordered hyperuniformity are provided by complex many-body systems like liquids or amorphous solids, classical spin chains with certain long-range interactions have been shown to demonstrate the same phenomenon. It is well-known that the transverse field Ising model shows a quantum phase transition (QPT) at zero temperature. Under the quantum effects of a transverse magnetic field, classical hyperuniform spin chains are expected to lose their hyperuniformity. High-precision simulations of these cases are complicated because of the presence of highly nontrivial long-range interactions. We perform extensive analysis of these systems using density matrix renormalization group to study the possibilities of phase transitions and the mechanism by which they lose hyperuniformity. We discover first-order QPTs in the hyperuniform spin chains. An interesting feature of the phase transitions in these disordered hyperuniform spin chains is that, depending on the parameter values, the presence of transverse magnetic field may remarkably lead to increase in the order of the ground state as measured by the "$\tau$ order metric," even if hyperuniformity is lost. Therefore, it would be possible to design materials to target specific novel quantum behaviors in the presence of a transverse magnetic field. Our numerical investigations suggest that these spin chains can show no more than two QPTs. We further analyze the long-range interacting spin chains via the Jordan-Wigner mapping, showing that under the pairwise interacting approximation and a mean-field treatment, there can be at most two QPTs. Based on these numerical and theoretical explorations, we conjecture that these spin chains can show a maximum of two QPTs at zero temperature.

New Separation of Variables for the Classical XXX and XXZ Heisenberg Spin Chains

We propose a non-standard separation of variables for the classical integrable XXX and XXZ spin chains with degenerate twist matrix. We show that for the case of such twist matrices one can interchange the role of classical separating functions $A(u)$ and $B(u)$ and construct a new full set of separated variables, satisfying simpler equation of separation and simpler Abel equations in comparison with the standard separated variables of Sklyanin. We show that for certain cases of the twist matrices the constructed separated variables can be directly identified with action-angle coordinates.

Three-Magnon Bound State in the Quasi-One-Dimensional Antiferromagnet α-NaMnO_{2}.

Here we report on the formation of a three-magnon bound state in the quasi-one-dimensional antiferromagnet α-NaMnO_{2}, where the single-ion, uniaxial anisotropy inherent to the Mn^{3+} ions in this material provides a binding mechanism capable of stabilizing higher order magnon bound states. While such states have long remained elusive in studies of antiferromagnetic chains, neutron scattering data presented here demonstrate that higher order n>2 composite magnons exist, and, specifically, that a weak three-magnon bound state is detected below the antiferromagnetic ordering transition of NaMnO_{2}. Wecorroborate our findings with exact numerical simulations of a one-dimensional Heisenberg chain with easy-axis anisotropy using matrix-product state techniques, finding a good quantitative agreement with the experiment. These results establish α-NaMnO_{2} as a unique platform for exploring the dynamics of composite magnon states inherent to a classical antiferromagnetic spin chain with Ising-like single ion anisotropy.

Eigenstates of triangularisable open XXX spin chains and closed-form solutions for the steady state of the open SSEP

In this article we study the relation between the eigenstates of open rational spin Heisenberg chains with different boundary conditions. The focus lies on the relation between the spin chain with diagonal boundary conditions and the spin chain with triangular boundary conditions as well as the class of spin chains that can be brought to such form by certain similarity transformations in the physical space. The boundary driven symmetric simple exclusion process (open SSEP) belongs to the latter. We derive a transformation that maps the eigenvectors of the diagonal spin chain to the eigenvectors of the triangular chain. This transformation yields an essential simplification for determining the states beyond half-filling. It allows to first determine the eigenstates of the diagonal chain through the Bethe ansatz on the fully excited reference state and subsequently map them to the triangular chain for which only the vacuum serves as a reference state. In particular the transformed reference state, i.e. the fully excited eigenstate of the triangular chain, is presented at any length of the chain. It can be mapped to the steady state of the open SSEP. This results in a concise closed-form expression for the probabilities of particle distributions and correlation functions in the steady state. Further, the complete set of eigenstates of the Markov generator is expressed in terms of the eigenstates of the diagonal open chain.

Decay of spin-spin correlations in disordered quantum and classical spin chains

The real-time dynamics of equal-site correlation functions is studied for one-dimensional spin models with quenched disorder. Focusing on infinite temperature, we present a comparison between the dynamics of models with different quantum numbers $S = 1/2, 1, 3/2$, as well as of chains consisting of classical spins. Based on this comparison as well as by analyzing the statistics of energy-level spacings, we show that the putative many-body localization transition is shifted to considerably stronger values of disorder for increasing $S$. In this context, we introduce an effective disorder strength $W_\text{eff}$, which provides a mapping between the dynamics for different spin quantum numbers. For small $W_\text{eff}$, we show that the real-time correlations become essentially independent of $S$, and are moreover very well captured by the dynamics of classical spins. Especially for $S = 3/2$, the agreement between quantum and classical dynamics is remarkably observed even for very strong values of disorder. This behavior also reflects itself in the corresponding spectral functions, which are obtained via a Fourier transform from the time to the frequency domain. As an aside, we also comment on the self-averaging properties of the correlation function at weak and strong disorder. Our work sheds light on the correspondence between quantum and classical dynamics at high temperatures and extends our understanding of the dynamics in disordered spin chains beyond the well-studied case of $S=1/2$.

Invariant Measures for Integrable Spin Chains and an Integrable Discrete Nonlinear Schrödinger Equation

We consider discrete analogues of two well-known open problems regarding invariant measures for dispersive PDE, namely, the invariance of the Gibbs measure for the continuum (classical) Heisenberg model and the invariance of white noise under focusing cubic nonlinear Schrödinger equation. These continuum models are completely integrable and connected by the Hasimoto transform; correspondingly, we focus our attention on discretizations that are also completely integrable and also connected by a discrete Hasimoto transform. We consider these models on the infinite lattice ${\mathbb{Z}}$. Concretely, for a completely integrable variant of the classical Heisenberg spin chain model (introduced independently by Haldane, Ishimori, and Sklyanin) we prove the existence and uniqueness of solutions for initial data following a Gibbs law (which we show is unique) and show that the Gibbs measure is preserved under these dynamics. In the setting of the focusing Ablowitz--Ladik system, we prove invariance of a measure that we will show is the appropriate discrete analogue of white noise. We also include a thorough discussion of the Poisson geometry associated to the discrete Hasimoto transform introduced by Ishimori that connects the two models studied in this article.

Energy and spin diffusion in the one-dimensional classical Heisenberg spin chain at finite and infinite temperatures.

The energy and spin diffusion behaviors in the one-dimensional classical Heisenberg spin chain have been systematically investigated using the equilibrium diffusion method. The spatiotemporal autocorrelation functions for energy and spin are calculated at finite and infinite temperatures. As conserved quantities, the spreading of excess energy and spin can be used to determine their actual diffusion behaviors. At low temperatures, the energy diffusion shows almost ballistic behavior, and spin shows superdiffusion behavior for finite chain size. For energy diffusion, normal diffusion behavior can be obtained when the temperature is higher than 0.75. For spin diffusion, normal diffusion behavior is observed at infinite temperature.

Nonlinear Fluctuating Hydrodynamics for the Classical XXZ Spin Chain

Using the framework of nonlinear fluctuating hydrodynamics (NFH), we examine equilibrium spatio-temporal correlations in classical ferromagnetic spin chains with nearest neighbor interactions. In particular, we consider the classical XXZ-Heisenberg spin chain (also known as Lattice Landau Lifshitz or LLL model) evolving deterministically and chaotically via Hamiltonian dynamics, for which energy and $z$-magnetization are the only locally conserved fields. For the easy-plane case, this system has a low-temperature regime in which the difference between neighboring spin's angular orientations in the XY plane is an \textit{almost conserved} field. According to the predictions of NFH, the dynamic correlations in this regime exhibit a heat peak and propagating sound peaks, all with anomalous broadening. We present a detailed molecular dynamics test of these predictions and find a reasonably accurate verification. We find that, in a suitable intermediate temperature regime, the system shows two sound peaks with Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) scaling and a heat peak where the expected anomalous broadening is less clear. In high temperature regimes of both easy plane and easy axis case of LLL, our numerics show clear diffusive spin and energy peaks and absence of any sound modes, as one would expect. We also simulate an integrable version of the XXZ-model, for which the ballistic component instead moves with a broad range of speeds rather than being concentrated in narrower peaks around the sound speed.

Dynamics of soliton collision phenomena on classical discrete Heisenberg weak ferromagnetic spin chain

We study the collision dynamics of soliton in discrete classical ferromagnetic spin chain with Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DM) interaction in the classical limit. The discrete spin dynamics are found to be governed by discrete nonlinear Schrödinger (DNLS) equation. One soliton and two soliton solutions of DNLS equation are obtained by employing the discrete Hirota bilinearization method. Through the graphical illustrations for the one soliton and two soliton solution, we discuss the effect of DM interaction in ferromagnetic spin chain. Inelastic collision phenomenon occurring in this system and both amplitudes of each soliton get suppressed or enhanced after collision. We also find the discreteness effect on the soliton excitation in ferromagnetic spin chain. The modulation in the soliton excitation induced by DM interaction and discreteness is also discussed briefly.