2010/09/30 by S. J. Gibson, Ralf Meyer, R. Meyer +2 · 1 citation
Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Condensed Matter Physics #Antiferromagnetism #Condensed matter physics #Critical exponent #Ground state #Mathematics #Phase (matter) #Phase transition #Physics #Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism #Quantum and electron transport phenomena #Quantum critical point #Quantum mechanics #Quantum phase transition #Scaling #Spin (aerodynamics) #String (physics) #cond-mat.str-el
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevb.83.104423
published as Phys. Rev. B 83, 104423 (2011) · 7 pages, 14 figures. V.2: Extended version to appear in PRB
arxiv created 2011/03/29 · openalex publication_date 2011/03/29 · arxiv updated 2013/05/29 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Dimerized antiferromagnetic spin-(1)/(2) ladders are known to exhibit a quantum critical phase transition in the ground state, the existence or absence of which is dependent on the dimerization pattern of the ladder. The gapped phases cannot be distinguished by the conventional Landau long-range order parameter. However, they possess a nonlocal (hidden) string-order parameter, which is nonzero in one phase and vanishes in the other. We use an exact diagonalization technique to calculate ground-state energies, energy gaps, and string-order parameters of dimerized two- and three-leg Heisenberg ladders, as well as a critical scaling analysis to yield estimates of the critical exponents \ensuremathν and \ensuremathβ.