Theory of a spherical-quantum-rotors model: Low-temperature regime and finite-size scaling

The quantum-rotors model can be regarded as an effective model for the low-temperature behavior of the quantum Heisenberg antiferromagnets. Here, we consider a $d$-dimensional model in the spherical approximation confined to a general geometry of the form $L^{d-d^{\prime }}\times {\infty }^{d^{\prime }}\times L_{\tau }^z$ $(L$-linear space size and $L_{\tau }$-temporal size) and subjected to periodic boundary conditions. Due to the remarkable opportunity it offers for rigorous study of finite-size effects at arbitrary dimensionality this model may play the same role in quantum critical phenomena as the popular Berlin-Kac spherical model in classical critical phenomena. Close to the zero-temperature quantum critical point, the ideas of finite-size scaling are utilized to the fullest extent for studying the critical behavior of the model. For different dimensions $1<d<\mathrm{}3\mathrm{}$ and $0<~d^{\prime }<~d$ a detailed analysis, in terms of the special functions of classical mathematics, for the susceptibility and the equation of state is given. Particular attention is paid to the two-dimensional case.