Reconciling the correlation length for high-spin Heisenberg antiferromagnets

Abstract

We present numerical results for the antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model (AFHM) that definitively confirm that chiral perturbation theory, corrected for cutoff effects in the AFHM, leads to a correct field-theoretical description of the low-temperature behavior of the spin correlation length for spins $S \geq 1/2$. With two independent quantum Monte Carlo algorithms and a finite-size-scaling technique, we explore correlation lengths up to $\xi \approx 10^5$ lattice spacings a for spins S=1 and 5/2. We show how the recent prediction of cutoff effects by P. Hasenfratz is approached for moderate $\xi/a={\cal O}(100)$, and smoothly connects with other approaches to modeling the AFHM at smaller correlation lengths.