Exotic versus conventional scaling and universality in a disordered bilayer quantum heisenberg antiferromagnet

Collective Modes at a Disordered Quantum Phase Transition

We study the collective excitations, i.e., the Goldstone (phase) mode and the Higgs (amplitude) mode, near the superfluid-Mott glass quantum phase transition in a two-dimensional system of disordered bosons. Using Monte Carlo simulations as well as an inhomogeneous quantum mean-field theory with Gaussian fluctuations, we show that the Higgs mode is strongly localized for all energies, leading to a noncritical scalar response. In contrast, the lowest-energy Goldstone mode undergoes a striking delocalization transition as the system enters the superfluid phase. We discuss the generality of these findings and experimental consequences, and we point out potential relations to many-body localization.

Excitation spectra of disordered dimer magnets near quantum criticality

For coupled-dimer magnets with quenched disorder, we introduce a generalization of the bond-operator method, appropriate to describe both singlet and magnetically ordered phases. This allows for a numerical calculation of the magnetic excitations at all energies across the phase diagram, including the strongly inhomogeneous Griffiths regime near quantum criticality. We apply the method to the bilayer Heisenberg model with bond randomness and characterize both the broadening of excitations and the transfer of spectral weight induced by disorder. Inside the antiferromagnetic phase this model features the remarkable combination of sharp magnetic Bragg peaks and broad magnons, the latter arising from the tendency to localization of low-energy excitations.

Quantum criticality and percolation in dimer-diluted two-dimensional antiferromagnets

The S = 1/2 Heisenberg model is considered on bilayer and single-layer square lattices with couplings J1, J2, with each spin belonging to one J2-coupled dimer. A transition from a Néel to disordered ground state occurs at a critical value of g = J2/J1. The systems are here studied at their dimer-dilution percolation points p*. The multicritical point (g*,p*) previously found for the bilayer is not reproduced for the single layer. Instead, there is a line of critical points (g < g*, p*) with continuously varying exponents. The uniform magnetic susceptibility diverges as T(-alpha) with alpha element of [1/2,1]. This unusual behavior is attributed to an effective free-moment density approximately T(1-alpha). The susceptibility of the bilayer is not divergent but exhibits remarkably robust quantum-critical scaling.

Percolation quantum phase transitions in diluted magnets

We show that the interplay of geometric criticality and quantum fluctuations leads to a novel universality class for the percolation quantum phase transition in diluted magnets. All critical exponents involving dynamical correlations are different from the classical percolation values, but in two dimensions they can nonetheless be determined exactly. We develop a complete scaling theory of this transition, and we relate it to recent experiments in La2Cu(1-p)(Zn,Mg)(p)O4. Our results are also relevant for disordered interacting boson systems.