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    Excitations and dynamical structure factor of J1−J2 spin-32 and spin-52 Heisenberg spin chains

    Aman Sharma1,*, Mithilesh Nayak2,3, Natalia Chepiga4, and Frédéric Mila1

    • *Contact author: a.sharma@epfl.ch

    Phys. Rev. B 112, 104401 – Published 2 September, 2025

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/pddz-42x9

    Abstract

    We study the dynamical structure factor of the frustrated spin-3/2J1−J2 Heisenberg chains, with particular focus on the partially dimerized phase that emerges between two Kosterlitz-Thouless transitions. Using a valence bond solid Ansatz corroborated by density-matrix renormalization-group simulations, we investigate the nature of magnon and spinon excitations through the single-mode approximation. We show that the magnon develops an incommensurate dispersion at J2≈0.32J1, while the spinons, viewed as domain walls between degenerate valence bond solid states, become incommensurate at J2≈0.4J1 beyond the Lifshitz point (J2≈0.388J1). The dynamical structure factor exhibits rich spectral features shaped by the interplay between these excitations, with magnons appearing as resonances embedded in the spinon continuum. The spinon gap shows a nonmonotonic behavior, reaching a peak near the center of the partially dimerized phase and closing at the boundaries, suggesting the appearance of a floating phase as a result of the condensation of incommensurate spinons. Comparative analysis with the spin-5/2 case confirms the universality of these phenomena across half-integer higher-spin systems. Our results provide detailed insight into how fractionalization and incommensurate condensation govern the spectral properties of frustrated spin chains, offering a unified picture across different spin magnitudes.

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