Motivated by recent numerical discovery of a gapped spin liquid phase in spin-
1/2 triangular-lattice ${J}_{1}\ensuremath{-}{J}_{2}$ Heisenberg model, we classify symmetric
Z2 spin liquids on triangular lattice in the Abrikosov-fermion representation. We find 20 phases with distinct spinon symmetry quantum numbers, eight of which have their counterparts in the Schwinger-boson representation. Among them we identify two promising candidates (#1 and #20), which can realize a gapped
Z2 spin liquid with up to next nearest neighbor mean-field amplitudes. We analyze their neighboring magnetic orders and valence bond solid patterns, and find one state (#20) that is connected to 120-degree Neel order by a continuous quantum phase transition. We also identify gapped nematic
Z2 spin liquids in the neighborhood of the symmetric states and find three promising candidates (#1, #6, and #20).
Motivated by the recent numerical evidence [Z. Meng, T. Lang, S. Wessel, F. Assaad, and A. Muramatsu, Nature (London) 464, 847 (2010)] of a short-range resonating valence bond state in the honeycomb lattice Hubbard model, we consider Schwinger boson mean field theories of possible spin liquid states on honeycomb lattice. From general stability considerations the possible spin liquids will have gapped spinons coupled to
Z2 gauge field. We apply the projective symmetry group method to classify possible
Z2 spin liquid states within this formalism on honeycomb lattice. It is found that there are only two relevant
Z2 states, differed by the value of gauge flux, zero or $\ensuremath{\pi}$, in the elementary hexagon. The zero-flux state is a promising candidate for the observed spin liquid and continuous phase transition into commensurate N\'eel order. We also derive the critical field theory for this transition, which is the well-studied O(4) invariant theory [A. V. Chubukov, T. Senthil, and S. Sachdev, Phys. Rev. Lett. 72, 2089 (1994); A. V. Chubukov, S. Sachdev, and T. Senthil, Nucl. Phys. B 426, 601 (1994); S. V. Isakov, T. Senthil, and Y. B. Kim, Phys. Rev. B 72, 174417 (2005)], and has an irrelevant coupling between Higgs and boson fields with cubic power of spatial derivatives as required by lattice symmetry. This is in sharp contrast to the conventional theory [S. Sachdev and N. Read, Int. J. Mod. Phys. B 5, 219 (1991)], where such transition generically leads to incommensurate magnetic order. In this scenario the
Z2 spin liquid could be close to a tricritical point. Soft boson modes will exist at seven different wave vectors. This will show up as low-frequency dynamical spin susceptibility peaks not only at the $\ensuremath{\Gamma}$ point (the N\'eel order wave vector) but also at Brillouin-zone-edge center
M points and twelve other points. Some simple properties of the $\ensuremath{\pi}$-flux state are studied as well. Symmetry allowed further neighbor mean field ansatz are derived in appendices which can be used in future theoretical works along this direction.
Spin liquids are novel states of matter with fractionalized excitations. A recent numerical study of Hubbard model on a honeycomb lattice\cite{Meng2010} indicates that a gapped spin liquid phase exists close to the Mott transition. Using Projective Symmetry Group, we classify all the possible spin liquid states by Schwinger fermion mean-field approach. We find there is only one fully gapped spin liquid candidate state: "Sublattice Pairing State" that can be realized up to the 3rd neighbor mean-field amplitudes, and is in the neighborhood of the Mott transition. We propose this state as the spin liquid phase discovered in the numerical work. To understand whether SPS can be realized in the Hubbard model, we study the mean-field phase diagram in the
J1−J2 spin-1/2 model and find an s-wave pairing state. We argue that s-wave pairing state is not a stable phase and the true ground state may be SPS. A scenario of a continuous phase transition from SPS to the semimetal phase is proposed. This work also provides guideline for future variational studies of Gutzwiller projected wavefunctions.
Motivated by recent experimental and numerical evidence of deconfined quantum critical points and quantum spin liquid states in the spin-
1/2 Heisenberg model on the Shastry-Sutherland lattice, we studied possible symmetric spin liquid states and their proximate ordered states under Schwinger boson formalism. We found a symmetric gapped
Z2 spin liquid state for intermediate model parameter
0.66<J1/J2<0.71 under the mean-field approximation. The Schwinger boson mean-field picture is partially supported by exact-diagonalization and self-consistent spin wave theory results.
We theoretically investigate, within Schwinger-boson mean-field theory, the transition from a gapped
Z2 quantum spin liquid, in a ${J}_{1}\text{\ensuremath{-}}{J}_{2}$ Heisenberg spin-
21 system in a honeycomb lattice, to a chiral
Z2 spin-liquid phase under the presence of time-reversal symmetry-breaking scalar chiral interaction (with amplitude ${J}_{\ensuremath{\chi}}$). We numerically obtain a phase diagram of this ${J}_{1}\text{\ensuremath{-}}{J}_{2}\text{\ensuremath{-}}{J}_{\ensuremath{\chi}}$ system, where different ground states are distinguished based on the gap and the nature of excitation spectrum, topological invariant of the excitations, the nature of spin-spin correlation, and the symmetries of the mean-field parameters. The chiral
Z2 state is characterized by the nontrivial Chern number of the excitation bands and lack of long-range magnetic order, which leads to a large thermal Hall coefficient.
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
Z2 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
Z2 states, we study the subset of U(1) phases variationally in the antiferromagnetic ${J}_{1}\text{\ensuremath{-}}{J}_{2}\text{\ensuremath{-}}{J}_{d}$ Heisenberg model on the kagome lattice. We discuss static spin structure factors and symmetry constraints on the bulk spectra of these phases.