• DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.126.117204
• Corpus ID: 222208607

Possible Inversion Symmetry Breaking in the S=1/2 Pyrochlore Heisenberg Magnet.

@article{Hagymsi2020PossibleIS,
  title={Possible Inversion Symmetry Breaking in the S=1/2 Pyrochlore Heisenberg Magnet.},
  author={Imre Hagym{\'a}si and Robin Sch{\"a}fer and Roderich Moessner and David J. Luitz},
  journal={Physical review letters},
  year={2020},
  volume={126 11},
  pages={
          117204
        }
}

• I. Hagymási, R. Schäfer, +1 author D. J. Luitz
• Published 7 October 2020
• Physics
• Physical review letters

We address the ground-state properties of the long-standing and much-studied three-dimensional quantum spin liquid candidate, the S=1/2 pyrochlore Heisenberg antiferromagnet. By using SU(2) density-matrix renormalization group (DMRG), we are able to access cluster sizes of up to 128 spins. Our most striking finding is a robust spontaneous inversion symmetry breaking, reflected in an energy density difference between the two sublattices of tetrahedra, familiar as a starting point of earlier perturbative treatments. We also determine the ground-state energy, E_{0}/N_{sites}=-0.490(6)J, by combining extrapolations of DMRG with those of a numerical linked cluster expansion. These findings suggest a scenario in which a finite-temperature spin liquid regime gives way to a symmetry-broken state at low temperatures.