HW 12
HW 12
The Heisenberg model has a continuous SU(2) symmetry. In the thermodynamic limit
L → ∞, the Mermin-Wagner theorem rules out a spontaneous symmetry breaking in 2D
at any finite T > 0; the basic idea behind the theorem are Goldstone modes, in this case
magnons. Thus, at any fixed temperature T , the magnetization Ms → 0 with increasing
L.
However, the ground state has a finite expectation value Ms = 0.3074(1) for the staggered
magnetization [arXiv:0807.0682]. Since finite systems have an energy gap which vanishes
only for L → ∞, one can extract the ground state magnetization by simulating large
enough β for a given L and only then extrapolate to L → ∞. In other words, one can
exploit that the limits L → ∞ and T → 0 do not commute to extract ground state
properties from finite-temperature simulations.
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e) Write a function to calculate the staggered magnetization from the configuration of
the spins.
Hint: The function site defines the ordering of the spins. Calculate a 1D array
with the phases stag = (−1)x+y in the same ordering as the spins and store it sepa-
rately (like the bonds), such that a single measurement only involves the calculation
0.5*sum(stag * spins).
f) Measure and plot the absolute value of the staggered magnetization h|Ms |i for L =
4, 8, 16 versus temperature. What is your estimate of the ground state staggered
magnetization?
Bonus Write a function init_SSE_honeycomb similar to init_SSE_square, but initializing the
bonds array to simulate a Honeycomb lattice. What staggered magnetization do you
find in the ground state?
Hint: The honeycomb lattice has a two-site unit cell of A and B sites and 3 bonds
per unit cell. You don’t need to modify the update functions of the diagonal or loop
updates. You can choose stag to be +1 on A sites and −1 on B sites.