Schwinger boson theory of ordered magnets

Abstract

The Schwinger boson theory provides a natural path for treating quantum spin systems with large quantum fluctuations. In contrast to semiclassical treatments, this theory allows us to describe a continuous transition between magnetically ordered and spin liquid states, as well as the continuous evolution of the corresponding excitation spectrum. The square lattice Heisenberg antiferromagnet is one of the first models that was approached with the Schwinger boson theory. Here we revisit this problem to reveal several subtle points that were omitted in previous treatments and that are crucial to further develop this formalism. These points include the freedom for the choice of the saddle point (Hubbard-Stratonovich decoupling and choice of the condensate) and the 1/N expansion in the presence of a condensate. A key observation is that the spinon condensate leads to Feynman diagrams that include contributions of different order in 1/N, which must be accounted for to get a qualitatively correct excitation spectrum. We demonstrate that a proper treatment of these contributions leads to an exact cancellation of the single-spinon poles of the dynamical spin structure factor, as expected for a magnetically ordered state. The only surviving poles are the ones arising from the magnons (two-spinon bound states), which are the true collective modes of an ordered magnet.