Paper detail

Quantum magnetism on the Cairo pentagonal lattice

We present an extensive analytical and numerical study of the antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model on the Cairo pentagonal lattice, the dual of the Shastry-Sutherland lattice with a close realization in the S=5/2 compound Bi2Fe4O9. We consider a model with two exchange couplings suggested by the symmetry of the lattice, and investigate the nature of the ground state as a function of their ratio x and the spin S. After establishing the classical phase diagram we switch on quantum mechanics in a gradual way that highlights the different role of quantum fluctuations on the two inequivalent sites of the lattice. The most important findings for S=1/2 include: (i) a surprising interplay between a collinear and a four-sublattice orthogonal phase due to an underlying order-by-disorder mechanism at small x (related to an emergent J1-J2 effective model with J2 >> J1), and (ii) a non-magnetic and possibly spin-nematic phase with d-wave symmetry at intermediate x.