Tests of magnetic Hamiltonians for CaV_4O_9

Abstract

We study the uniform magnetic susceptibility and spin-gap for recently proposed Heisenberg model Hamiltonians for CaV_4O_9 based on the orbital ordering scenario of Marini and Khomskii and the LDA calculations of Pickett. We argue that the experimentally observed uniform susceptibility data is inconsistent with the weakly coupled dimer picture of Marini and Khomskii. The model proposed by Pickett can, with appropriate choice of parameters, lead to an explanation for the observed gap and uniform susceptibility. The resulting agreement with experiments is of a similar quality to previously studied models. We argue that this new model is best distinguished from previous ones by neutron or Raman scattering experiments, via the location of the excitation minimum in the Brillouin zone and by the possible existence or non-existence of sharply defined singlet excitations.