Shastry-Sutherland Model Research Articles

Absence of Local Conserved Quantity in the Heisenberg Model with Next-Nearest-Neighbor Interaction

We rigorously prove that the S=1/2\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$S=1/2$$\\end{document} anisotropic Heisenberg chain (XYZ chain) with next-nearest-neighbor interaction, which is anticipated to be non-integrable, is indeed non-integrable in the sense that this system has no nontrivial local conserved quantity. Our result covers some important models including the Majumdar–Ghosh model, the Shastry–Sutherland model, and many other zigzag spin chains as special cases. These models are shown to be non-integrable while they have some solvable energy eigenstates. In addition to this result, we provide a pedagogical review of the proof of non-integrability of the S=1/2\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$S=1/2$$\\end{document} XYZ chain with Z magnetic field, whose proof technique is employed in our result.

Quantum Criticality with Emergent Symmetry in the Extended Shastry-Sutherland Model.

Motivated by the novel phenomena observed in the layered material SrCu_{2}(BO_{3})_{2}, the Shastry-Sutherland model (SSM) has been extensively studied as the minimal model for SrCu_{2}(BO_{3})_{2}. However, the nature of its quantum phase transition from the plaquette valence-bond solid to antiferromagnetic phase is under fierce debate, posing a challenge to understand the underlying quantum criticality. Via the state-of-the-art tensor network simulations, we study the ground state of the SSM on large-scale size up to 20×20 sites. We identify the continuous transition nature accompanied by an emergent O(4) symmetry between the plaquette valence-bond solid and antiferromagnetic phase, which strongly suggests a deconfined quantum critical point (DQCP). Furthermore, we map out the phase diagram of an extended SSM that can be continuously tuned to the SSM, which demonstrates the same DQCP phenomena along a whole critical line. Our results indicate a compelling scenario for understanding the origin of the proposed proximate DQCP in recent experiments of SrCu_{2}(BO_{3})_{2}.

Neural network quantum states analysis of the Shastry-Sutherland model

We utilize neural network quantum states (NQS) to investigate the ground state properties of the Heisenberg model on a Shastry-Sutherland lattice using the variational Monte Carlo method. We show that already relatively simple NQSs can be used to approximate the ground state of this model in its different phases and regimes. We first compare several types of NQSs with each other on small lattices and benchmark their variational energies against the exact diagonalization results. We argue that when precision, generality, and computational costs are taken into account, a good choice for addressing larger systems is a shallow restricted Boltzmann machine NQS. We then show that such NQS can describe the main phases of the model in zero magnetic field. Moreover, NQS based on a restricted Boltzmann machine correctly describes the intriguing plateaus forming in magnetization of the model as a function of increasing magnetic field.

Tensor network study of the Shastry-Sutherland model with weak interlayer coupling

The layered material SrCu_22(BO_33)_22 has long been studied because of its fascinating physics in a magnetic field and under pressure. Many of its properties are remarkably well described by the Shastry-Sutherland model (SSM) - a two-dimensional frustrated spin system. However, the extent of the intermediate plaquette phase discovered in SrCu_22(BO_33)_22 under pressure is significantly smaller than predicted in theory, which is likely due to the weak interlayer coupling that is present in the material but neglected in the model. Using state-of-the-art tensor network methods we study the SSM with a weak interlayer coupling and show that the intermediate plaquette phase is destabilized already at a smaller value around J''/J\sim0.04-0.05J″/J∼0.04−0.05 than previously predicted from series expansion. Based on our phase diagram we estimate the effective interlayer coupling in SrCu_22(BO_33)_22 to be around J''/J\sim 0.027J″/J∼0.027 at ambient pressure.

Plaquette Singlet Transition, Magnetic Barocaloric Effect, and Spin Supersolidity in the Shastry-Sutherland Model.

Inspired by recent experimental measurements [Guo etal., Phys. Rev. Lett. 124, 206602 (2020PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.124.206602); Jiménez etal., Nature (London) 592, 370 (2021)NATUAS0028-083610.1038/s41586-021-03411-8] on frustrated quantum magnet SrCu_{2}(BO_{3})_{2} under combined pressure and magnetic fields, we study the related spin-1/2 Shastry-Sutherland model using state-of-the-art tensor network methods. By calculating thermodynamics, correlations, and susceptibilities, we find, in zero magnetic field, not only a line of first-order dimer-singlet to plaquette-singlet phase transition ending with a critical point, but also signatures of the ordered plaquette-singlet transition with its critical end point terminating on this first-order line. Moreover, we uncover prominent magnetic barocaloric responses, a novel type of quantum correlation induced cooling effect, in the strongly fluctuating supercritical regime. Under finite fields, we identify a quantum phase transition from the plaquette-singlet phase to the spin supersolid phase that breaks simultaneously lattice translational and spin rotational symmetries. The present findings on the Shastry-Sutherland model are accessible in current experiments and would shed new light on the critical and supercritical phenomena in the archetypal frustrated quantum magnet SrCu_{2}(BO_{3})_{2}.

Efficient Tensor Network Algorithm for Layered Systems.

Strongly correlated layered 2D systems are of central importance in condensed matter physics, but their numerical study is very challenging. Motivated by the enormous successes of tensor networks for 1D and 2D systems, we develop an efficient tensor network approach based on infinite projected entangled-pair states for layered 2D systems. Starting from an anisotropic 3D infinite projected entangled-pair state ansatz, we propose a contraction scheme in which the weakly interacting layers are effectively decoupled away from the center of the layers, such that they can be efficiently contracted using 2D contraction methods while keeping the center of the layers connected in order to capture the most relevant interlayer correlations. We present benchmark data for the anisotropic 3D Heisenberg model on a cubic lattice, which shows close agreement with quantum MonteCarlo and full 3D contraction results. Finally, we study the dimer to Néel phase transition in the Shastry-Sutherland model with interlayer coupling, a frustrated spin model that is out of reach of quantum MonteCarlo due to the negative sign problem.

Confirming the high pressure phase diagram of the Shastry-Sutherland model

A Muon Spin Rotation (µ + SR) study was conducted to investigate the magnetic properties of SrCu2(BO3)2 (SCBO) as a function of temperature/pressure. Measurements in zero field and transverse field confirm the absence of long range magnetic order at high pressures and low temperatures. These measurements suggest changes in the Cu spin fluctuations characteristics above 21 kbar, consistent with the formation of a plaquette phase as previously suggested by inelastic neutron scattering measurements. SCBO is the only known realisation of the Shatry-Sutherland model, thus the ground state mediating the dimer and antiferromagnetic phase is likekly to be a plaquette state.

Quantum Spin Liquid Phase in the Shastry-Sutherland Model Detected by an Improved Level Spectroscopic Method

We study the spin-1/2 two-dimensional Shastry–Sutherland spin model by exact diagonalization of clusters with periodic boundary conditions, developing an improved level spectroscopic technique using energy gaps between states with different quantum numbers. The crossing points of some of the relative (composite) gaps have much weaker finite-size drifts than the normally used gaps defined only with respect to the ground state, thus allowing precise determination of quantum critical points even with small clusters. Our results support the picture of a spin liquid phase intervening between the well-known plaquette-singlet and antiferromagnetic ground states, with phase boundaries in almost perfect agreement with a recent density matrix renormalization group study, where much larger cylindrical lattices were used [J. Yang et al., Phys. Rev. B 105, L060409 (2022)]. The method of using composite low-energy gaps to reduce scaling corrections has potentially broad applications in numerical studies of quantum critical phenomena.

Quantum Monte Carlo simulations of highly frustrated magnets in a cluster basis: The two-dimensional Shastry-Sutherland model

Quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) simulations constitute nowadays one of the most powerful methods to study strongly correlated quantum systems, provided that no “sign problem” arises. However, many systems of interest, including highly frustrated magnets, suffer from an average sign that is close to zero in standard QMC simulations. Nevertheless, a possible sign problem depends on the simulation basis, and here we demonstrate how a suitable choice of cluster basis can be used to eliminate or at least reduce the sign problem in highly frustrated magnets that were so far inaccessible to efficient QMC simulations. We focus in particular on the application of a two-spin (dimer)-based QMC method to the thermodynamics of the spin-1/2 Shastry-Sutherland model for SrCu2(BO3)2.

Quantum criticality and spin liquid phase in the Shastry-Sutherland model

Using the density-matrix renormalization group method for the ground state and excitations of the Shastry- Sutherland spin model, we demonstrate the existence of a narrow quantum spin liquid phase between the previously known plaquette-singlet and antiferromagnetic states. Our conclusions are based on finite-size scaling of excited level crossings and order parameters. Together with previous results on candidate models for deconfined quantum criticality and spin liquid phases, our results point to a unified quantum phase diagram where the deconfined quantum-critical point separates a line of first-order transitions and a gapless spin liquid phase. The frustrated Shastry-Sutherland model is close to the critical point but slightly inside the spin liquid phase, while previously studied unfrustrated models cross the first-order line. We also argue that recent heat capacity measurements in SrCu2(BO3)2 show evidence of the proposed spin liquid at pressures between 2.6 and 3 GPa.

Rise and fall of plaquette order in the Shastry-Sutherland magnet revealed by pseudofermion functional renormalization group

The Shastry-Sutherland (SS) model as a canonical example of frustrated magnetism has been extensively studied. The conventional wisdom has been that the transition from the plaquette valence bond order to the Neel order is direct and potentially realizes a deconfined quantum critical point beyond the Ginzburg-Landau paradigm. This scenario, however, was challenged recently by improved numerics from density matrix renormalization group which offers evidence for a narrow gapless spin liquid between the two phases. Prompted by this controversy and to shed light on this intricate parameter regime from a fresh perspective, we report high-resolution functional renormalization group analysis of the generalized SS model. The flows of over 50 million running couplings provide a detailed picture for the evolution of spin correlations as the frequency/energy scale is dialed from the ultraviolet to the infrared to yield the zero-temperature phase diagram. The singlet dimer phase emerges as a fixed point, the Neel order is characterized by divergence in the vertex function, while the transition into and out of the plaquette order is accompanied by pronounced peaks in the plaquette susceptibility. The plaquette order is suppressed before the onset of the Neel order, lending evidence for a finite spin liquid region for ${J}_{1}/{J}_{2}\ensuremath{\in}(0.77,0.82)$, where the flow is continuous without any indication of divergence.

Skyrmion-driven topological Hall effect in a Shastry-Sutherland magnet

The Shastry-Sutherland model and its generalizations have been shown to capture emergent complex magnetic properties from geometric frustration in several quasi-two-dimensional quantum magnets. Using an $sd$ exchange model, we show here that metallic Shastry-Sutherland magnets can exhibit a topological Hall effect driven by magnetic skyrmions under realistic conditions. The magnetic properties are modeled with competing symmetric Heisenberg and asymmetric Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya exchange interactions, while a coupling between the spins of the itinerant electrons and the localized moments describes the magnetotransport behavior. Our results, employing complementary Monte Carlo simulations and a novel machine learning analysis to investigate the magnetic phases, provide evidence for field-driven skyrmion crystal formation for an extended range of Hamiltonian parameters. By constructing an effective tight-binding model of conduction electrons coupled to the skyrmion lattice, we clearly demonstrate the appearance of the topological Hall effect. We further elaborate on the effects of finite temperatures on both magnetic and magnetotransport properties.

Fluctuation-induced ferrimagnetism in sublattice-imbalanced antiferromagnets with application to SrCu2 ( BO3)2 under pressure

We show that a collinear Heisenberg antiferromagnet, whose sublattice symmetry is broken at the Hamiltonian level, becomes a fluctuation-induced ferrimagnet at any finite temperature $T$ below the N\'eel temperature $T_{\rm N}$. We demonstrate this using a layered variant of a square-lattice $J_1$-$J_2$ model. Linear spin-wave theory is used to determine the low-temperature behavior of the uniform magnetization, and non-linear corrections are argued to yield a temperature-induced qualitative change of the magnon spectrum. We then consider a layered Shastry-Sutherland model, describing a frustrated arrangement of orthogonal dimers. This model displays an antiferromagnetic phase for large intra-dimer couplings. A lattice distortion which breaks the glide symmetry between the two types of dimers corresponds to broken sublattice symmetry and hence gives rise to ferrimagnetism. Given indications that such a distortion is present in the material SrCu$_2$(BO$_3$)$_2$ under hydrostatic pressure, we suggest the existence of a fluctuation-induced ferrimagnetic phase in pressurized SrCu$_2$(BO$_3$)$_2$. We predict a non-monotonic behavior of the uniform magnetization as function of temperature.

A quantum magnetic analogue to the critical point of water.

At the liquid-gas phase transition in water, the density has a discontinuity at atmospheric pressure; however, the line of these first-order transitions defined by increasing the applied pressure terminates at the critical point1, a concept ubiquitous in statistical thermodynamics2. In correlated quantum materials, it was predicted3 and then confirmed experimentally4,5 that a critical point terminates the line of Mott metal-insulator transitions, which are also first-order with a discontinuous charge carrier density. In quantum spin systems, continuous quantum phase transitions6 have been controlled by pressure7,8, applied magnetic field9,10 and disorder11, but discontinuous quantum phase transitions have received less attention. The geometrically frustrated quantum antiferromagnet SrCu2(BO3)2 constitutes a near-exact realization of the paradigmatic Shastry-Sutherland model12-14 and displays exotic phenomena including magnetization plateaus15, low-lying bound-state excitations16, anomalous thermodynamics17 and discontinuous quantum phase transitions18,19. Here we control both the pressure and the magnetic field applied to SrCu2(BO3)2 to provide evidence of critical-point physics in a pure spin system. We use high-precision specific-heat measurements to demonstrate that, as in water, the pressure-temperature phase diagram has a first-order transition line that separates phases with different local magnetic energy densities, and that terminates at an Ising critical point. We provide a quantitative explanation of our data using recently developed finite-temperature tensor-network methods17,20-22. These results further our understanding of first-order quantum phase transitions in quantum magnetism, with potential applications in materials where anisotropic spin interactions produce the topological properties23,24 that are useful for spintronic applications.

Negative thermal Hall conductance in a two-dimer Shastry-Sutherland model with a π -flux Dirac triplon

We introduce an effective 2-dimer tight-binding model for the family of Shastry-Sutherland models with geometrically tunable triplon excitations. The Rashba pseudospin-orbit coupling induced by the tilted external magnetic field leads to elementary excitations having nontrivial topological properties with {\pi}-Berry flux. The interplay between the in-plane and out-of-plane magnetic field thus allows us to effectively engineer the band structure in this bosonic system. In particular, the in-plane magnetic field gives rise to Berry curvature hotspot near the bottom of the triplon band, and at the same time significantly increases the critical magnetic field for the topological triplon band. We calculate explicitly the experimental signature of the thermal Hall effect of triplons in SrCu2(BO3)2, and show a pronounced and tunabled transport signals within the accessible parameter range, particularly with a change of sign of the thermal Hall conductance. The tilted magnetic field is also useful in reducing the bandwidth of the lowest triplon band. We show it can thus be a flexible theoretical and experimental platform for the correlated bosonic topological system.

Tensor network study of the m=12 magnetization plateau in the Shastry-Sutherland model at finite temperature

The two-dimensional infinite projected entangled pair states tensor network is evolved in imaginary time with the full update (FU) algorithm to simulate the Shastry-Sutherland model in a magnetic field at finite temperature directly in the thermodynamic limit. We focus on the phase transition into the $m=1/2$ magnetization plateau, which was observed in experiments on SrCu$_2$(BO$_3$)$_2$. For the largest simulated bond dimension, the early evolution in the high-temperature regime is simulated with the simple update (SU) scheme and then, as the correlation length increases, continued with the FU scheme towards the critical regime. We apply a small symmetry-breaking bias field and then extrapolate towards zero bias using a simple scaling theory in the bias field. The combined SU + FU scheme provides an accurate estimate of the critical temperature, even though the results could not be fully converged in the bond dimension in the vicinity of the transition. The critical temperature estimate is improved with a generalized scaling theory that combines two divergent length scales: One due to the bias, and the other due to the finite bond dimension. The obtained results are consistent with the transition being in the universality class of the two-dimensional classical Ising model. The estimated critical temperature is $3.5(2)$ K, which is well above the temperature $2.1$ K used in the experiments.

Entanglement in first excited states of some many-body quantum spin systems: indication of quantum phase transition in finite size systems

We compute concurrence, a measure of bipartite entanglement, of the first excited state of the 1-D Heisenberg frustrated J 1-J 2 spin-chain and observe a sudden change in the entanglement of the eigen state near the coupling strength α = J 2/J 1 ≈ 0.241, where a quantum phase transition from spin-fluid phase to dimer phase has been previously reported. We numerically observe this phenomena for spin-chain with 8 sites to 16 sites, and the value of α at which the change in entanglement is observed, asymptotically tends to a value α c ≈ 0.24116. We have calculated the finite-size scaling exponents for spin chains with even and odd spins. It may be noted that bipartite as well as multipartite entanglement measures applied on the ground state of the system, fail to detect any quantum phase transition from the gapless to the gapped phase in the 1-D Heisenberg frustrated J 1-J 2 spin-chain. Furthermore, we measure bipartite entanglement of first excited states for other spin models like 2-D Heisenberg J 1-J 2 model and Shastry-Sutherland model and find similar indications of quantum phase transitions.

Reduction of the sign problem near T=0 in quantum Monte Carlo simulations

Building on a recent investigation of the Shastry-Sutherland model [S. Wessel et al., Phys. Rev. B 98, 174432 (2018)], we develop a general strategy to eliminate the Monte Carlo sign problem near the zero temperature limit in frustrated quantum spin models. If the Hamiltonian of interest and the sign-problem-free Hamiltonian---obtained by making all off-diagonal elements negative in a given basis---have the same ground state and this state is a member of the computational basis, then the average sign returns to one as the temperature goes to zero. We illustrate this technique by studying the triangular and kagome lattice Heisenberg antiferrromagnet in a magnetic field above saturation, as well as the Heisenberg antiferromagnet on a modified Husimi cactus in the dimer basis. We also provide detailed appendices on using linear programming techniques to automatically generate efficient directed loop updates in quantum Monte Carlo simulations.

Effects of staggered Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions in a quasi-two-dimensional Shastry-Sutherland model

Frustrated quantum spin systems exhibit exotic physics induced by external magnetic field with anisotropic interactions. Here, we study the effect of non-uniform Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DM) interactions on a quasi-two-dimensional Shastry-Sutherland lattice using a matrix product states (MPS) algorithm. We first recover the magnetization plateau structure present in this geometry and then we show that both interdimer and intradimer DM interactions significantly modify the plateaux. The non-number-conserving intradimer interaction smoothens the shape of the magnetization curve, while the number-conserving interdimer interaction induces different small plateaux, which are signatures of the finite size of the system. Interestingly, the interdimer DM interaction induces chirality in the system. We thus characterize these chiral phases with particular emphasis to their robustness against intradimer DM interactions.

Fluctuation inducing fractional magnetization behavior on the Shastry–Sutherland lattice

We investigate disorder effects using Callen identities on the Ising model with anti-ferromagnetic (AF) spin couplings on the Shastry–Sutherland (SS) lattice using Monte Carlo simulation. The field-dependent magnetization curve of the Ising model on the SS lattice without disorder consists of only one main magnetization plateau with the fractional value m∕ms=1∕3 (the saturation magnetization ms). In the inclusion of disorder, the fascinating sequence of magnetization plateau is surprisingly found with fractional values depending on the fluctuation probability of the AF exchange interaction between nearest-neighbor (NN) and next-nearest-neighbor (NNN) sites. We explain successfully an intimate relation between the phase diagram of ground states of the standard SS model and the appearance of multi-steps in the field-dependent magnetization curve which is experimentally observed in many compounds as SrCu2(BO3) and the rare-earth tetraborides RB4 (R = Tm, Ho, Er).