Anharmonic effects in magnetoelastic chains

We describe a new mechanism leading to the formation of rational magnetization plateau phases, which is mainly due to the anharmonic spin-phonon coupling. This anharmonicity produces plateaux in the magnetization curve at unexpected values of the magnetization without explicit magnetic frustration in the Hamiltonian and without an explicit breaking of the translational symmetry. These plateau phases are accompanied by magneto-elastic deformations which are not present in the harmonic case.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Three-sublattice Skyrmion crystal in the antiferromagnetic triangular lattice

The frustrated classical antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model with Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DM) interactions on the triangular lattice is studied under a magnetic field by means of semiclassical calculations and large-scale Monte Carlo simulations. We show that even a small DM interaction induces the formation of an Antiferromagnetic Skyrmion crystal (AF-SkX) state. Unlike what is observed in ferromagnetic materials, we show that the AF-SkX state consists of three interpenetrating Skyrmion crystals (one by sublattice), and most importantly, the AF-SkX state seems to survive in the limit of zero temperature. To characterize the phase diagram we compute the average of the topological order parameter which can be associated to the number of topological charges or Skyrmions. As the magnetic field increases this parameter presents a clear jump, indicating a discontinuous transition from a spiral phase into the AF-SkX phase, where multiple Bragg peaks coexist in the spin structure factor. For higher fields, a second (probably continuous) transition occurs into a featureless paramagnetic phase.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figure

Influence of lattice distortions in classical spin systems

We investigate a simple model of a frustrated classical spin chain coupled to adiabatic phonons under an external magnetic field. A thorough study of the magnetization properties is carried out both numerically and analytically. We show that already a moderate coupling with the lattice can stabilize a plateau at 1/3 of the saturation and discuss the deformation of the underlying lattice in this phase. We also study the transition to saturation where either a first or second order transition can occur, depending on the couplings strength.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Rev.

Quantum disordered phase on the frustrated honeycomb lattice

In the present paper we study the phase diagram of the Heisenberg model on the honeycomb lattice with antiferromagnetic interactions up to third neighbors along the line $J_2=J_3$ that include the point $J_2=J_3=J_1/2$, corresponding to the highly frustrated point where the classical ground state has macroscopic degeneracy. Using the Linear Spin-Wave, Schwinger boson technique followed by a mean field decoupling and exact diagonalization for small systems we find an intermediate phase with a spin gap and short range N\'eel correlations in the strong quantum limit (S=1/2). All techniques provide consistent results which allow us to predict the existence of a quantum disordered phase, which may have been observed in recent high-field ESR measurements in manganites.Comment: 4 figure

Evidence of a spin liquid phase in the frustrated honeycomb lattice

In the present paper we present some new data supporting the existence of a spin-disordered phase in the Heisenberg model on the honeycomb lattice with antiferromagnetic interactions up to third neighbors along the line J2=J3, predicted in [Phys. Rev. B 83, 094506 (2011)]. We use the Schwinger boson technique followed by a mean field decoupling and exact diagonalization for small systems to show the existence of an intermediate phase with a spin gap and short range N\'eel correlations in the strong quantum limit (S=1/2).Comment: 6 pages, to be published in Modern Physics Letters

Fermionic Coset Realization of Primaries in Critical Statistical Models

We obtain a fermionic coset realization of the primaries of minimal unitary models and show how their four-point functions may be calculated by the use of a reduction formula. We illustrate the construction for the Ising model, where we obtain an explicit realization of the energy operator, Onsager fermions, as well as of the order and disorder operators realizing the dual algebra, in terms of constrained Dirac fermions. The four-point correlators of these operators are shown to agree with those obtained by other methods.Comment: 26 pages, Latex fil

Ground states of quantum kagome antiferromagnets in a magnetic field

We study the ground state properties of a quantum antiferromagnet in the kagome lattice in the presence of a magnetic field, paying particular attention to the stability of the plateau at magnetization 1/3 of saturation. While the plateau is reinforced by certain deformations of the lattice, like the introduction of structural defect lines and against an Ising anisotropy, ground state correlations are seen to be quite different and the undistorted SU(2) case appears to be rather special.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figures, contribution to the Japanese-French symposium on "Quantum magnetism in spin, charge and orbital systems", Paris 1-4 October 200