Emergent critical phase and Ricci flow in a 2D frustrated Heisenberg model

Phys Rev Lett. 2012 Dec 7;109(23):237205. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.237205. Epub 2012 Dec 4.

Abstract

We introduce a two-dimensional frustrated Heisenberg antiferromagnet on interpenetrating honeycomb and triangular lattices. Classically the two sublattices decouple, and "order from disorder" drives them into a coplanar state. Applying Friedan's geometric approach to nonlinear sigma models, we obtain the scaling of the spin stiffnesses governed by the Ricci flow of a four-dimensional metric tensor. At low temperatures, the relative phase between the spins on the two sublattices is described by a six-state clock model with an emergent critical phase.