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Nontrivial three-sublattice magnetization in the easy-axis spin-12 XXZ antiferromagnet on the triangular lattice

Masahiro Kadosawa1, Masaaki Nakamura2, Yukinori Ohta1, and Satoshi Nishimoto3,4,*

  • *Contact author: s.nishimoto@ifw-dresden.de
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Phys. Rev. B 113, 224442 – Published 24 June, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/lx93-brc2

Abstract

We investigate the ground-state magnetic structure of the spin-1/2 XXZ antiferromagnet on the triangular lattice in the easy-axis regime using the density-matrix renormalization group. By applying spiral boundary conditions, we exactly map finite L×L clusters onto one-dimensional chains while avoiding the spatial anisotropy inherent in cylindrical geometries. From symmetry-broken local magnetization profiles, we extract the three-sublattice moments and track their evolution with anisotropy. At the isotropic point, we obtain a positive sublattice moment of 0.217(3), consistent with previous numerical estimates. In the easy-axis regime (Δ=Jz/J⊥>1), the ordered moments remain close to a Y-like zero-magnetization three-sublattice state, whose z-component pattern is of the form (2m,−m,−m), over a broad range of Δ. Extrapolation in 1/Δ shows that the positive sublattice moment stays well below the classical saturation value 1/2, approaching 0.419(7) as Δ→∞, while the magnitude of the negative sublattice moment approaches 0.209(4). We further compare the energies of the Y state and the up-down-down state and find that the Y state is favored at zero field. Independent thermodynamic-limit energy calculations, performed without assuming any particular ordered pattern, yield an energy consistent with the Y-state solution. These results show that the easy-axis ground state does not simply cross over to a trivially saturated collinear Ising state, but instead remains a nontrivial three-sublattice ordered state selected from the macroscopically degenerate Ising manifold by quantum fluctuations.

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Phys. Rev. B 113, 224442– Published 24 June, 2026
  • Received 16 April 2026
  • Revised 8 June 2026
  • Accepted 12 June 2026
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