Spin stiffness (original) (raw)

The spin stiffness or spin rigidity or helicity modulus or the "superfluid density" (for bosons the superfluid density is proportional to the spin stiffness) is a constant which represents the change in the ground state energy of a spin system as a result of introducing a slow in plane twist of the spins. The importance of this constant is in its use as an indicator of quantum phase transitions—specifically in models with metal-insulator transitions such as Mott insulators. It is also related to other topological invariants such as the Berry phase and Chern numbers as in the Quantum Hall effect.