Physics Commons^™

Transitions To Valence-Bond Solid Order In A Honeycomb Lattice Antiferromagnet, Sumiran Pujari, Fabien Alet, Kedar Damle

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

We use quantum Monte Carlo methods to study the ground-state phase diagram of a S=1/2 honeycomb lattice magnet in which a nearest-neighbor antiferromagnetic exchange J (favoring Néel order) competes with two different multispin interaction terms: a six-spin interaction Q₃ that favors columnar valence-bond solid (VBS) order, and a four-spin interaction Q₂ that favors staggered VBS order. For Q₃∼Q₂≫J, we establish that the competition between the two different VBS orders stabilizes Néel order in a large swath of the phase diagram even when J is the smallest energy scale in the …