The role of Berry phase in the spectrum of order parameter dynamics: a new perspective on Haldane's conjecture on antiferromagnetic spin chains

Abstract

We formulate the dynamics of local order parameters by extending the recently developed adiabatic spinwave theory involving the Berry curvature, and derive a formula showing explicitly the role of the Berry phase in determining the spectral form of the low-lying collective modes. For antiferromagnetic spin chains, the Berry phase becomes a topological invariant known as the Chern number. Our theory predicts the existence of the Haldane gap for a topologically trivial ground state, and a linear dispersion of low-lying excitations for a non-trivial ground state.