Quantum phase transitions and composite excitations of antiferromagnetic quantum spin trimer chains in a magnetic field

Abstract

Motivated by recent advancements in theoretical and experimental studies on the high-energy excitations, we theoretically explore the quantum phase transitions and composite excitations of the antiferromagnetic trimer chains in a magnetic field using the exact diagonalization, density matrix renormalization group, time-dependent variational principle and cluster perturbation theory. We utilize the entanglement entropy to uncover the phase diagram, encompassing the XY-I, $1/3$ magnetization plateau, XY-II and ferromagnetic phases. The critical XY-I and XY-II phases are both described by the conformal field theory with the central charge $c \simeq 1$. We reveal the diverse features of spin dynamics in various phases by using the dynamical structure factor. In the weak intertrimer interaction regime, we identify the intermediate-energy and high-energy modes in the XY-I and $1/3$ magnetization plateau phases as the internal trimer excitations, corresponding to the propagation of doublon and quarton, respectively. Notably, the magnetic field splits the high-energy spectra into two branches labeled as the upper quarton and lower quarton. Furthermore, we also explore the spin dynamics of a trimerized model closely related to the quantum magnet \ce{Na_2Cu_3Ge_4O_12}, and discuss the possibility of the quarton Bose-Einstein condensation. Our results can be verified in the inelastic neutron scattering experiments and provide deep insights for exploring the high-energy exotic excitations.