Properties of the random-singlet phase: From the disordered Heisenberg chain to an amorphous valence-bond solid

We use a strong-disorder renormalization group (SDRG) method and ground-state quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) simulations to study S =1 /2 spin chains with random couplings, calculating disorder-averaged spin and dimer correlations. The QMC simulations demonstrate logarithmic corrections to the power-law decaying correlations obtained with the SDRG scheme. The same asymptotic forms apply both for systems with standard Heisenberg exchange and for certain multispin couplings leading to spontaneous dimerization in the clean system. We show that the logarithmic corrections arise in the valence-bond (singlet pair) basis from a contribution that cannot be generated by the SDRG scheme. In the model with multispin couplings, where the clean system dimerizes spontaneously, random singlets form between spinons localized at domain walls in the presence of disorder. This amorphous valence-bond solid is asymptotically a random-singlet state and only differs from the random-exchange Heisenberg chain in its short-distance properties.