6.

3 N&l Order versus Valence Bond States 331

but it can choose from several, equally unsatisfying, corn promise^^^.

The conclusion can be generalized to the triangular lattice Ising anti-
ferromagnet, because each of the triangle plaquettes must contain (at
least) one parallel spin pair (frustrated bond). The ground state energy
is much larger than (the number of bonds)x(minimum bond energy)
which would be -3LJS2; it is merely -LJS2. The reader can easily
show (see Problem 6.5) that the number of ground states is exponen-
tially large. One may say that the model has finite zero-point entropy46.
Most of these ground states are non-periodic, and the triangular Ising
antiferromagnet does not show long range order even at T = 0.
Switching on the x-y part of the Hamiltonian mixes the Ising ground
states and thereby lifts the huge degeneracy. Though interesting results
can be obtained by studying the effect of a weak z-y coupling on quan-
tum spins [106, 2141, we prefer to go straight to the limit of classical
vectors, and an isotropic interaction. We no longer find a macroscopic
degeneracy in the sense of a large number of disordered-looking ground
states, but it remains true that the nature of the ground state reflects a
compromise between competing interactions. For a first orientation, let
us study the isotropic classical vector model for three spins. The energy
+
E(#A,( P A ;@B,PB;@c,PC)= J(SA*SB S E - S C + S C * S A ) (6.158)
is a function of the polar angles (we measure 29 from the z-direction).
Collinear (Ising) configurations would only give -J S 2 , but having the
spins pointing at angles of 120 degrees yields the substantially lower
- ( 3 / 2 ) J S 2 . The symmetry of the small cluster makes this result easy
to accept but let us note that in general, finding the non-collinear ground
state of classical vectors is not straightforward. We are soon going to see
that even quite simple-looking problems can have surprising solutions.
45Theparticularly fitting expression “frustration” was coined (or rather borrowed
from Freudian psychoanalysis) by Toulouse in 1977 [403].The implications of this
situation had been well-known from previous studies of antiferromagnetism in close-
packed structures.
4eThe entropy is proportional to the logarithm of the number of quantum states
accessible t o the system, so if the ground state degeneracy is eaLIthen the T = 0
N

entropy density is ICBCY. The model violates Nernstk theorem. This is an artificial
feature: a slight modification of the model (e.g., making one bond slightly weaker
than the other two in each of the plaquettes) suffices to reduce the number of ground
states t o a small number.