Macroscopic ground-state degeneracy and magnetocaloric effect in the exactly solvable spin-1/2 Ising-Heisenberg double-tetrahedral chain

Abstract

The ground-state degeneracy and magnetocaloric effect in the spin-$1/2$ Ising-Heisenberg double-tetrahedral chain are exactly investigated. It is demonstrated that the zero-temperature phase diagram involves two classical and two quantum chiral phases with distinct degrees of the macroscopic degeneracy. Different macroscopic degeneracies observed in the latter phases and at individual ground-state phase transitions are confirmed by multiple-peak dependencies of the specific heat and entropy on the magnetic field. The cooling capability of the model is well illustrated by the magnetic-field variations of the isothermal entropy change, temperature isotherms and the magnetic Gr\"uneisen parameter.