English

Quantum dynamics of a domain wall in a quasi one-dimensional $XXZ$ ferromagnet

Strongly Correlated Electrons 2017-01-31 v1

Abstract

We derive an effective low-energy theory for a ferromagnetic (2N+1)(2N+1)-leg spin-12\frac{1}{2} ladder with strong XXZXXZ anisotropy JzJxy\left|J_{\parallel}^z\right|\ll \left|J_{\parallel}^{xy}\right|, subject to a kink-like non-uniform magnetic field Bz(X)B_z(X) which induces a domain wall (DW). Using Bosonization of the quantum spin operators, we show that the quantum dynamics is dominated by a single one-dimensional mode, and is described by a sine-Gordon model. The parameters of the effective model are explored as functions of NN, the easy-plane anisotropy Δ=Jz/Jxy\Delta=-J_{\parallel}^z/J_{\parallel}^{xy}, and the strength and profile of the transverse field Bz(X)B_z(X). We find that at sufficiently strong and asymmetric field, this mode may exhibit a quantum phase transition from a Luttinger liquid to a spin-density-wave (SDW) ordered phase. As the effective Luttinger parameter grows with the number of legs in the ladder (NN), the SDW phase progressively shrinks in size, recovering the gapless dynamics expected in the two-dimensional limit NN\rightarrow\infty.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1701.08556,
  title  = {Quantum dynamics of a domain wall in a quasi one-dimensional $XXZ$ ferromagnet},
  author = {Pavel Tikhonov and Efrat Shimshoni},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1701.08556},
  year   = {2017}
}

Comments

13 pages, 3 figures