Anomalous thermal conductivity and magnetic torque response in the honeycomb magnet $alpha$-RuCl$_3$

We report on the unusual behavior of the in-plane thermal conductivity ($kappa$) and torque ($tau$) response in the Kitaev-Heisenberg material $alpha$-RuCl$_3$. $kappa$ shows a striking enhancement with linear growth beyond H = 7 T, where magnetic order disappears, while $tau$ for both of the in-plane symmetry directions shows an anomaly at the same field. The temperature- and field-dependence of $kappa$ are far more complex than conventional phonon and magnon contributions, and require us to invoke the presence of unconventional spin excitations whose properties are characteristic of a field-induced spin-liquid phase related to the enigmatic physics of the Kitaev model in an applied magnetic field