Exact Dimer Ground State of the Two Dimensional Heisenberg Spin SystemSrCu2(BO3)2

The two dimensional Heisenberg model for ${\mathrm{SrCu}}_2({\mathrm{BO}}_3{)}_2$ has an exact dimer ground state which was proven by Shastry and Sutherland almost twenty years ago. The critical value of the quantum phase transition from the dimer state to the Néel ordered state is determined. Analysis of the experimental data shows that $\mathrm{SrCu}{}_2(\mathrm{BO}{}_3{)}_2$ has the dimer ground state but its coupling constants are close to the transition point, which leads to an unusual temperature dependence of the susceptibility. The almost localized nature of the triplet excitations explains the plateaus observed in the magnetization curve.