Vector chiral states in low-dimensional quantum-spin systems

A class of exact spin ground states with nonzero averages of vector spin chirality, <S_i ′ S_j · ẑ>, is presented. It is obtained by applying non-uniform O(2) rotations of spin operators in the XY plane on the SU(2)-invariant Affleck-Kennedy-Lieb-Tasaki (AKLT) states and their parent Hamiltonians. The excitation energies of the new ground states are studied with the use of single-mode approximations in one dimension for S = 1. The excitation gap remains robust. Construction of chiral AKLT states is shown to be possible in higher dimensions. We also present a general idea to produce vector chirality-condensed ground states as non-uniform O(2) rotations of the non-chiral parent states. The Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction is shown to imply non-zero spin chirality.