No Arabic abstract
We present a general review of the projective symmetry group classification of fermionic quantum spin liquids for lattice models of spin $S=1/2$. We then introduce a systematic generalization of the approach for symmetric $mathbb{Z}_2$ quantum spin liquids to the one of chiral phases (i.e., singlet states that break time reversal and lattice reflection, but conserve their product). We apply this framework to classify and discuss possible chiral spin liquids on triangular and kagome lattices. We give a detailed prescription on how to construct quadratic spinon Hamiltonians and microscopic wave functions for each representation class on these lattices. Among the chiral $mathbb{Z}_2$ states, we study the subset of U(1) phases variationally in the antiferromagnetic $J_1$-$J_2$-$J_d$ Heisenberg model on the kagome lattice. We discuss static spin structure factors and symmetry constraints on the bulk spectra of these phases.
We give a complete classification of fully symmetric as well as chiral $mathbb{Z}_2$ quantum spin liquids on the pyrochlore lattice using a projective symmetry group analysis of Schwinger boson mean-field states. We find 50 independent ansatze, including the 12 fully symmetric nearest-neighbor $mathbb{Z}_2$ spin liquids that have been classified by Liu et al. [https://journals.aps.org/prb/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevB.100.075125]. For each class we specify the most general symmetry-allowed mean-field Hamiltonian. Additionally, we test the properties of a subset of the spin liquid ansatze by solving the mean-field equations for the spin-$1/2$ XXZ model near the antiferromagnetic Heisenberg point. We find that the ansatz with the lowest energy at mean-field level is a chiral spin liquid that breaks the screw symmetry of the lattice modulo time reversal symmetry. This state has a different symmetry than the previously studied monopole flux state. Moreover, this chiral spin liquid state has a substantially lower energy than all other symmetric spin liquid states, suggesting that it could be a stable ground state beyond the mean-field approximation employed in this work.
We show that a honeycomb lattice of Heisenberg spin-$1/2$ chains with three-spin junction interactions allows for controlled analytical studies of chiral spin liquids (CSLs). Tuning these interactions to a chiral fixed point, we find a Kalmeyer-Laughlin CSL phase which here is connected to the critical point of a boundary conformal field theory. Our construction directly yields a quantized spin Hall conductance and localized spinons with semionic statistics as elementary excitations. We also outline the phase diagram away from the chiral point where spinons may condense. Generalizations of our approach can provide microscopic realizations for many other CSLs.
We describe a coupled-chain construction for chiral spin liquids in two-dimensional spin systems. Starting from a one-dimensional zigzag spin chain and imposing SU(2) symmetry in the framework of non-Abelian bosonization, we first show that our approach faithfully describes the low-energy physics of an exactly solvable model with a three-spin interaction. Generalizing the construction to the two-dimensional case, we obtain a theory that incorporates the universal properties of the chiral spin liquid predicted by Kalmeyer and Laughlin: charge-neutral edge states, gapped spin-1/2 bulk excitations, and ground state degeneracy on the torus signalling the topological order of this quantum state. In addition, we show that the chiral spin liquid phase is more easily stabilized in frustrated lattices containing corner-sharing triangles, such as the extended kagome lattice, than in the triangular lattice. Our field theoretical approach invites generalizations to more exotic chiral spin liquids and may be used to assess the existence of the chiral spin liquid as the ground state of specific lattice systems.
We study the nearest neighbor $XXZ$ Heisenberg quantum antiferromagnet on the kagome lattice. Here we consider the effects of several perturbations: a) a chirality term, b) a Dzyaloshinski-Moriya term, and c) a ring-exchange type term on the bowties of the kagome lattice, and inquire if they can suppport chiral spin liquids as ground states. The method used to study these Hamiltonians is a flux attachment transformation that maps the spins on the lattice to fermions coupled to a Chern-Simons gauge field on the kagome lattice. This transformation requires us to consistently define a Chern-Simons term on the kagome lattice. We find that the chirality term leads to a chiral spin liquid even in the absence of an uniform magnetic field, with an effective spin Hall conductance of $sxy = frac{1}{2}$ in the regime of $XY$ anisotropy. The Dzyaloshinkii-Moriya term also leads a similar chiral spin liquid but only when this term is not too strong. An external magnetic field also has the possibility of giving rise to additional plateaus which also behave like chiral spin liquids in the $XY$ regime. Finally, we consider the effects of a ring-exchange term and find that, provided its coupling constant is large enough, it may trigger a phase transition into a chiral spin liquid by the spontaneous breaking of time-reversal invariance.
In the field of frustrated magnetism, Kitaev models provide a unique framework to study the phenomena of spin fractionalization and emergent lattice gauge theories in two and three spatial dimensions. Their ground states are quantum spin liquids, which can typically be described in terms of a Majorana band structure and an ordering of the underlying $mathbb{Z}_2$ gauge structure. Here we provide a comprehensive classification of the gauge physics of a family of elementary three-dimensional Kitaev models, discussing how their thermodynamics and ground state order depends on the underlying lattice geometry. Using large-scale, sign-free quantum Monte Carlo simulations we show that the ground-state gauge order can generally be understood in terms of the length of elementary plaquettes -- a result which extends the applicability of Liebs theorem to lattice geometries beyond its original scope. At finite temperatures, the proliferation of (gapped) vison excitations destroys the gauge order at a critical temperature scale, which we show to correlate with the size of vison gap for the family of three-dimensional Kitaev models. We also discuss two notable exceptions where the lattice structure gives rise to gauge frustration or intertwines the gauge ordering with time-reversal symmetry breaking. In a more general context, the thermodynamic gauge transitions in such 3D Kitaev models are one of the most natural settings for phase transitions beyond the standard Landau-Ginzburg-Wilson paradigm.