We study spin liquid phases of spin-5/2 alkaline earth atoms on a honeycomb lattice at finite temperatures. Our analysis is based on a Gutzwiller projection variational approach recast to a path-integral formalism. In the framework of a saddle-point approximation we determine spin liquid phases with lowest free energy and study their temperature dependence. We identify a critical temperature, where all the spin liquid phases melt and the system goes to the paramagnetic phase. We also study the stability of the saddle-point solutions and show that a time-reversal symmetry breaking state, a so called chiral spin liquid phase is realized even at finite temperatures. We also determine the spin structure factor, which, in principle, is an experimentally measurable quantity and is the basic tool to map the spectrum of elementary excitations of the system.
We discuss a general framework for the realization of a family of abelian lattice gauge theories, i.e., link models or gauge magnets, in optical lattices. We analyze the properties of these models that make them suitable to quantum simulations. Within this class, we study in detail the phases of a U(1)-invariant lattice gauge theory in 2+1 dimensions originally proposed by Orland. By using exact diagonalization, we extract the low-energy states for small lattices, up to 4x4. We confirm that the model has two phases, with the confined entangled one characterized by strings wrapping around the whole lattice. We explain how to study larger lattices by using either tensor network techniques or digital quantum simulations with Rydberg atoms loaded in optical lattices where we discuss in detail a protocol for the preparation of the ground state. We also comment on the relation between standard compact U(1) LGT and the model considered.
