Coexistence of valence-bond formation and topological order in the Frustrated Ferromagnetic $J_1$-$J_2$ Chain

Frustrated one-dimensional (1D) magnets are known as ideal playgrounds for new exotic quantum phenomena to emerge. We consider an elementary frustrated 1D system: the spin- \frac{1}{2} 1 2 ferromagnetic ( J_1 J 1 ) Heisenberg chain with next-nearest-neighbor antiferromagnetic ( J_2 J 2 ) interactions. On the basis of density-matrix renormalization group calculations we show the existence of a finite spin gap at J_2/|J_1|>1/4 J 2 / | J 1 | > 1 / 4 and we find the ground state in this region to be a valence bond solid (VBS) with spin-singlet dimerization between third-neighbor sites. The VBS is the consequence of spontaneous symmetry breaking through order by disorder. Quite interestingly, this VBS state has a Affleck-Kennedy-Lieb-Tasaki-type topological order. This is the first example of a frustrated spin chain in which quantum fluctuations induce gapped topological order.

Abstract licence: CC BY

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