MOBILE VACANCY IN A QUANTUM ANTIFERROMAGNET - EFFECTIVE HAMILTONIAN

A semiclassical analysis, as well as symmetry considerations, are used to explain and extend published quantum-cluster results for the ground state of a hole in a quantum antiferromagnet (AF). For the ground state with a wave vector in the face center of the reduced Brillouin zone, the spins twist into a dipolar configuration around the hole to optimize the hopping term, but remain coplanar. More complicated three-dimensional spin textures with staggered topological charge can be constructed by superimposing dipole states corresponding to distinct points in the Brillouin zone and different planes of spin twist. An effective Hamiltonian for the hole that generalizes the nonlinear sigma model is derived. The essential new term that is responsible for the textures described is a coupling between spin currents for the holes and background spins. The presence of the local antiferromagnetic correlations dictates a spinor representation of the vacancy. This description provides the foundation for the study of the phases of a quantum AF at low vacancy density. © 1990 The American Physical Society.