Low-energy excitations of the kagomé antiferromagnet and the spin-gap issue

Laboratoire de Physique Théorique de la Matière Condensée, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, CNRS, UMR 7600 Case Courrier 121, 4 place Jussieu, 75252 Paris Cedex, France, EU

Corresponding authors: phsi@lptl.jussieu.fr claire.lhuillier@upmc.fr

Received: 3 July 2009
Accepted: 12 October 2009

Abstract

In this paper we report the latest results of exact diagonalizations of invariant models on various lattices (square, triangular, hexagonal, checkerboard and kagomé lattices) and revisit critically in this light some of our previous analysis. We focus on the low-lying levels in each S sector. The differences in behavior between gapless systems and gapped ones are exhibited. The plausibility of a gapless spin liquid in the Heisenberg model on the kagomé lattice is discussed. A rough estimate of the spin susceptibility in such an hypothesis is given. The evolution of the intra-S-channel spectra under the effect of a small perturbation is consistent with the proximity of a quantum critical point. We reemphasize that the very small intra-S-channel energy scale observed in exact spectra is a very interesting information to understand the low-T dynamics of this model.