Spontaneous symmetry breaking in the Heisenberg antiferromagnet on a triangular lattice

Fuente: arXiv
Salvato in:
Dettagli Bibliografici
Autori principali: Pradenas, Bastián, Adamyan, Grigor, Tchernyshyov, Oleg
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
Soggetti:
Accesso online:
Tags: Aggiungi Tag
Nessun Tag, puoi essere il primo ad aggiungerne!!
_version_ 1866913822253514752
author Pradenas, Bastián
Adamyan, Grigor
Tchernyshyov, Oleg
author_facet Pradenas, Bastián
Adamyan, Grigor
Tchernyshyov, Oleg
contents We present a detailed investigation of an overlooked symmetry structure in non-collinear antiferromagnets that gives rise to an emergent quantum number for magnons. Focusing on the triangular-lattice Heisenberg antiferromagnet, we show that its spin order parameter transforms under an enlarged symmetry group, $\mathrm{SO(3)_L \times SO(2)_R}$, rather than the conventional spin-rotation group $\mathrm{SO(3)}$. Although this larger symmetry is spontaneously broken by the ground state, a residual subgroup survives, leading to conserved Noether charges that, upon quantization, endow magnons with an additional quantum number -- \emph{isospin} -- beyond their energy and momentum. Our results provide a comprehensive framework for understanding symmetry, degeneracy, and quantum numbers in non-collinear magnetic systems, and bridge an unexpected connection between the paradigms of symmetry breaking in non-collinear antiferromagnets and chiral symmetry breaking in particle physics.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2504_12411
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Spontaneous symmetry breaking in the Heisenberg antiferromagnet on a triangular lattice
Pradenas, Bastián
Adamyan, Grigor
Tchernyshyov, Oleg
Strongly Correlated Electrons
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
We present a detailed investigation of an overlooked symmetry structure in non-collinear antiferromagnets that gives rise to an emergent quantum number for magnons. Focusing on the triangular-lattice Heisenberg antiferromagnet, we show that its spin order parameter transforms under an enlarged symmetry group, $\mathrm{SO(3)_L \times SO(2)_R}$, rather than the conventional spin-rotation group $\mathrm{SO(3)}$. Although this larger symmetry is spontaneously broken by the ground state, a residual subgroup survives, leading to conserved Noether charges that, upon quantization, endow magnons with an additional quantum number -- \emph{isospin} -- beyond their energy and momentum. Our results provide a comprehensive framework for understanding symmetry, degeneracy, and quantum numbers in non-collinear magnetic systems, and bridge an unexpected connection between the paradigms of symmetry breaking in non-collinear antiferromagnets and chiral symmetry breaking in particle physics.
title Spontaneous symmetry breaking in the Heisenberg antiferromagnet on a triangular lattice
topic Strongly Correlated Electrons
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.12411