The "Coulomb phase" in frustrated systems
Abstract
The "Coulomb phase" is an emergent state for lattice models (particularly highly frustrated antiferromagnets) which have local constraints that can be mapped to a divergence-free "flux". The coarse-grained version of this flux or polarization behave analogously to electric or magnetic fields; in particular, defects at which the local constraint is violated behave as effective charges with Coulomb interactions. I survey the derivation of the characteristic power-law correlation functions and the pinch-points in reciprocal space plots of diffuse scattering, as well as applications to magnetic relaxation, quantum-mechanical generalizations, phase transitions to long-range-ordered states, and the effects of disorder.
Cite
@article{arxiv.0912.4531,
title = {The "Coulomb phase" in frustrated systems},
author = {Christopher L. Henley},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0912.4531},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
30 pp, 5 figures (Sub. to Annual Reviews of Condensed Matter Physics)