arXiv:1009.5140 · Physical Review B
Multicolored quantum dimer models, resonating valence-bond states, color visons, and the triangular-lattice t2g spin-orbital system
Bruce Normand
Abstract
The spin-orbital model for triply degenerate ${t}_{2g}$ electrons on a triangular lattice has been shown to be dominated by dimers. The phase diagram contains both strongly resonating, compound spin-orbital dimer states and quasistatic, spin-singlet valence-bond (VB) states. To elucidate the nature of the true ground state in these different regimes, the model is mapped to a number of quantum dimer models (QDMs), each of which has three dimer colors. The generic multicolored QDM, illustrated for the two- and three-color cases, possesses a topological color structure, ``color vison'' excitations, and broad regions of resonating VB phases. The specific models are analyzed to gain further insight into the likely ground states in the superexchange and direct-exchange limits of the electronic Hamiltonian, and they suggest a strong tendency toward VB order in all cases.