Identification and optimization of accurate spin models for Fermi-Hubbard ladders using matrix product states

Abstract

Open-shell nanographenes offer a controlled setting to study correlated magnetism emerging from $π$-electron systems. Here, we study non-bipartite Fermi-Hubbard ladders describing oligo(indenoindene) molecules. These feature a gapped, weakly dispersing manifold of quasizero modes in their single-particle spectra, and we show that their low-energy properties can be effectively mapped onto an interacting set of spin-1/2 degrees of freedom. Using density matrix renormalization group simulations of the full Fermi-Hubbard model, we obtain their excitation spectra, entanglement profiles, and spin-spin correlations. We then construct optimized delocalized fermionic modes that act as emergent spins and demonstrate that their interactions are well described by a frustrated $J_1$-$J_2$ Heisenberg chain. This effective description clarifies how spin degrees of freedom arise and interact in non-bipartite nanographene ladders, providing a compact and accurate representation of their correlated behavior.