Photoemission spectra of a two-dimensional S=1/2 quantum antiferromagnet in magnetic fields: a theoretical study

Abstract

We calculate the angular resolved photoemission spectra (ARPES) of a spin-1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet as a function of magnetic fields using both the exact diagonalization method and self-consistent Born approximation. Below the saturation field $B_C$, strong scattering between spin waves and a hole, created by photoemission of an electron, significantly narrows the quasiparticle band that is characterized by the lowering of the quasiparticle energy at $(π,π)$ with increasing field. Accordingly, in ARPES the quasiparticle peak gets shaper near $(π,π)$ and broader elsewhere. Furthermore, we observe that an anomalous extended van Hove region (EVHR) around $(π,π)$ appears in a half saturation field, while EVHRs around $(π,0)$ and $(0,π)$ in zero field gradually disappear with increasing field.