Effective Hamiltonian in the Problem of a "Central Spin" Coupled to a Spin Environment

Abstract

We consider here the problem of a "giant spin", with spin quantum number S>>1, interacting with a set of microscopic spins. Interactions between the microscopic spins are ignored. This model describes the low-energy properties of magnetic grains or magnetic macromolecules interacting with a surrounding spin environment, such as nuclear spins. We describe a general method for truncating the model to another one, valid at low energies, in which a two-level system interacts with the environmental spins, and higher energy terms are absorbed into a new set of couplings. This is done using an instanton technique. We then verify the accuracy of this technique, by comparing the results for the low energy effective Hamiltonian, with results derived for the original giant spin, coupled to a microscopic spin, using exact diagonalisation techniques.