S=2 antiferromagnetic quantum spin chain

We have investigated Haldane’s conjecture for the S=2 antiferromagnetic quantum spin chain with nearest-neighbor exchange J. Using a density matrix renormalization group algorithm for chains up to L=350 spins, we find in the thermodynamic limit a finite gap of Δ=0.085(5)J and a finite spin-spin correlation length ξ=49(1) lattice spacings. We have confirmed the gap value by a zero-temperature quantum Monte Carlo study. We show that the ground state has a hidden topological order that is revealed in a nonlocal string correlation function which saturates to a nonzero value in the thermodynamic limit. We investigate the behavior of the spin-2 chain under an easy-plane anisotropy D(${\mathit{S}}_{\mathit{i}}^{\mathit{z}}$ ${)}^2$, D≳0, and find that the Haldane and the large-D phase are separated by an XY phase. The string correlation function vanishes only in the D→∞ limit and does not distinguish between the Haldane phase and the perturbative large-D phase. An analysis of the transition mechanism and of the S=2 phase diagram in the presence of easy-plane and exchange anisotropy, markedly different from the S=1 phase diagram, allow us to conjecture how the classical limit is reached from increasing integer spins. © 1996 The American Physical Society.