English

Magnetization plateaus in spin chains: ``Haldane gap'' for half-integer spins

Strongly Correlated Electrons 2016-08-31 v3

Abstract

We discuss zero-temperature quantum spin chains in a uniform magnetic field, with axial symmetry. For integer or half-integer spin, SS, the magnetization curve can have plateaus and we argue that the magnetization per site mm is topologically quantized as q(Sm)=integerq (S - m)= integer at the plateaus, where qq is the period of the groundstate. We also discuss conditions for the presence of the plateau at those quantized values. For S=3/2S=3/2 and m=1/2m=1/2, we study several models and find two distinct types of massive phases at the plateau. One of them is argued to be a ``Haldane gap phase'' for half-integer SS.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.cond-mat/9610168,
  title  = {Magnetization plateaus in spin chains: ``Haldane gap'' for half-integer spins},
  author = {Masaki Oshikawa and Masanori Yamanaka and Ian Affleck},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/9610168},
  year   = {2016}
}

Comments

Revised version, to appear in Phys. Rev. Lett. (no changes in main conclusions); 5 pages, REVTEX with 2 figures in eps