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Thermal Hall conductivity from semiclassical spin dynamics simulations: Implementation and applications to chiral ferromagnets and Kitaev magnets

Ignacio Salgado-Linares1,2, Alexander Mook3, Léo Mangeolle1,2, and Johannes Knolle1,2,4

Phys. Rev. B 114, 125123 – Published 21 August, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/b1r9-1l3f

Abstract

We investigate thermal Hall transport in magnetic systems, using semiclassical spin dynamics simulations. Building on a linear response framework, we discuss the intricacies of computing the thermal Hall conductivity from real-time energy current correlations and the energy magnetization. We then apply this methodology to two models: a square-lattice chiral magnet with in-plane Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction, and the antiferromagnetic Kitaev model in a field. Our results demonstrate the efficiency of semiclassical spin dynamics to study thermal Hall transport capturing quantitative effects beyond the simple intrinsic noninteracting approximation. They can serve as a benchmark for comparison with experiments in regimes where nonlinearities from magnon-magnon interactions and strong thermal fluctuations play a crucial role.

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