SO(5) multicriticality in two-dimensional quantum magnets

We resolve the nature of the quantum phase transition between a N\'eel antiferromagnet and a valence-bond solid in two-dimensional spin-1/2 magnets. We study a class of J-Q models, in which Heisenberg exchange J competes with interactions Qₙ formed by products of n singlet projectors on adjacent parallel lattice links. QMC simulations provide unambiguous evidence for first-order transitions, with the discontinuities increasing with n. For $n=2$ and $n=3$ models, the first-order signatures are very weak. On intermediate length scales, we extract well-defined scaling dimensions (critical exponents) that are common to the models with small n, indicating proximity to a quantum critical point. By combining two Q terms, the transition can be tuned from weak to more strongly first-order. The two coexisting orders on the first-order line scale with a large exponent β ≈ 0.85. This exponent and others are close to bounds for an SO($5$) symmetric CFT with a relevant SO($5$) singlet. We characterize the emergent SO($5$) symmetry by the scaling dimensions of its leading irrelevant perturbations. The large β value and a large correlation length exponent, ν ≈ 1.4, partially explain why the transition remains near-critical even quite far away from the critical point and in many different models without fine-tuning. In addition, we find that few-spin lattice operators are dominated by the SO($5$) violating field (the traceless symmetric tensor), and interactions involving many spins are required to observe strong effects of the relevant SO($5$) singlet. The exponent that had previously been identified with the divergent correlation length when crossing between the two phases does not have a corresponding CFT operator. We explain this emergent pseudocritical scale by a mechanism relying on a dangerously irrelevant SO($5$) perturbation.