Spontaneous symmetry breaking in an antiferromagnetic Heisenberg chain

Abstract: It is generally believed that spontaneous breaking of continuous symmetry is restricted by Hohenberg-Mermin-Wagner theorem. A special case is that the 1D ferromagnetic Heisenberg chain holds long-range order because the order parameter commutes with the Hamiltonian. The other one is that the recently found frustration-free Hamiltonians can bypass this theorem, but the observed symmetry breaking is fragile under generic perturbations. In this work, we have discovered a new example that goes beyond the above two examples -- a 1D antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model -- that can achieve spontaneous breaking of continuous symmetry. Importantly, it is not a frustration-free model and its order parameter does not commute with the Hamiltonian. Moreover, the long-range order is robust under symmetry-preserving perturbations. Combining numerical simulation and theoretical analysis, we have further confirmed and understood this nontrivial phenomenon.