Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:2004.01716

PhD Thesis: Searching for an emergent SU(4) symmetry in real materials

Masahiko G. Yamada

Published Apr 3, 2020• 0 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

The enhancement of the spin-space symmetry from the usual $\mathrm{SU}(2)$ to $\mathrm{SU}(N)$ with $N>2$ is promising for finding nontrivial quantum spin liquids, but the realization of $\mathrm{SU}(N)$ spin systems in real materials is still challenging. Although there is a proposal in cold atomic systems, in magnetic materials with a spin-orbital degree of freedom it is difficult to achieve the $\mathrm{SU}(N)$ symmetry by fine tuning. Here we propose a new mechanism by which the $\mathrm{SU}(4)$ symmetry emerges in the strong spin-orbit coupling limit. In $d^1$ transition metal compounds with edge-sharing anion octahedra, the spin-orbit coupling gives rise to strongly bond-dependent and apparently $\mathrm{SU}(4)$-breaking hopping between the $J_\textrm{eff}=3/2$ quartets. However, in the honeycomb structure, a gauge transformation maps the system to an $\mathrm{SU}(4)$-symmetric Hubbard model, which means that the system has a hidden symmetry in spite of its large spin-orbit coupling. In the strong repulsion limit at quarter filling, as expected in $α$-ZrCl$_3,$ the low-energy effective model is the $\mathrm{SU}(4)$ Heisenberg model on the honeycomb lattice, which cannot have a trivial gapped ground state and is expected to host a gapless spin-orbital liquid. In such quantum spin-orbital liquids, both the spin and orbital degrees of freedom become fractionalized and correlated together at low temperature due to the strong frustrated interactions between them. Similarly to spinons in pure quantum spin liquids, quantum spin-orbital liquids can host not only spinon excitations, but also fermionic "orbitalon" excitations at low temperature, which we have named here in distinction from orbitons in the symmetry-broken Jahn-Teller phases.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.2004.01716

Related papers

SU(4)-symmetric quantum spin-orbital liquids on various lattices

Masahiko G. Yamada, Masaki Oshikawa, George Jackeli

An emergent SU(4) symmetry discovered in the microscopic model for d1 honeycomb materials [M. G. Yamada, M. Oshikawa, and G. Jackeli, ] has enabled us to tailor exotic SU(4) models in real materials. In the honeycomb structure, the emergent SU(4) Heisenberg model would potentially have a quantum spin-orbital liquid ground state due to the , and we can also expect similar spin-orbital liquids in three-dimensional versions of the honeycomb lattice. In such quantum spin-orbital liquids, both the spin and orbital degrees of freedom become fractionalized and entangled together due to the strong frustrated interactions between them. Similarly to spinons in pure quantum spin liquids, quantum spin-orbital liquids can host not only spinon excitations, but also fermionic excitations at low temperature.

arXiv:2103.17076•Physical review. B./Physical review. B•Dec 30, 2021•17 citations

Emergent SU ( 4 ) Symmetry in α − ZrCl 3 and Crystalline Spin-Orbital Liquids

Masahiko G. Yamada, Masaki Oshikawa, George Jackeli

While the enhancement of spin-space symmetry from the usual SU(2) to SU(N) is promising for finding nontrivial quantum spin liquids, its realization in magnetic materials remains challenging. Here, we propose a new mechanism by which SU(4) symmetry emerges in the strong spin-orbit coupling limit. In d^{1} transition metal compounds with edge-sharing anion octahedra, the spin-orbit coupling gives rise to strongly bond-dependent and apparently SU(4)-breaking hopping between the J_{eff}=3/2 quartets. However, in the honeycomb structure, a gauge transformation maps the system to an SU(4)-symmetric Hubbard model. In the strong repulsion limit at quarter filling, as realized in α-ZrCl_{3}, the low-energy effective model is the SU(4) Heisenberg model on the honeycomb lattice, which cannot have a trivial gapped ground state and is expected to host a gapless spin-orbital liquid. By generalizing this model to other three-dimensional lattices, we also propose crystalline spin-orbital liquids protected by this emergent SU(4) symmetry and space group symmetries.

arXiv:1709.05252•Physical Review Letters•Aug 27, 2018•88 citations

Proximate Quantum Spin Liquids in Frustrated Magnets

Anjishnu Bose

Frustrated magnetism provides a rich platform for realizing exotic quantum phases in condensed matter systems. Among these, quantum spin liquids (QSLs) are a particularly intriguing class of states that exhibit no magnetic ordering and preserve all symmetries down to zero temperature. Just as conventional magnets can be thought of as spin crystals,QSLs represent their liquid analogs. This thesis explores two broad types of QSLs in two-dimensional magnets, with a focus on their dynamic properties and the nature of transitions from conventional magnetic states into QSL phases. QSLs are topological phases that host fractionalized excitations known as spinons. In these states, mobile spinons are coupled to an emergent gauge field, forming a highly entangled phase of matter. The first part of this thesis focuses on Dirac spin liquids (DSLs), a class of QSLs where spinons exhibit a gapless Dirac dispersion. To study the dynamicsof these spin liquids beyond leading-order mean-field theory, we develop a novel large-N fermionic limit of gapless spinons. In this limit, all gauge excitations are suppressed, and the leading-order corrections instead arise from order parameter fluctuations, which may condense and drive transitions into symmetry-broken phases from the parent DSL. Incorporating random phase approximation (RPA) corrections to the spin susceptibility, we find that sharp, spin-wave–like modes are recovered in the excitation spectrum. This methodology successfully captures characteristic features of the dynamics near phase transitions and in weakly symmetry-broken phases proximate to a DSL. We apply this approach to microscopic models, including the J1-J2 XXZ model on the triangular lattice and the J1-J3 XXZ model on the honeycomb lattice. These models closely represent a wide range of frustrated materials, such as triangular and honeycomb cobaltates and triangular ytterbium compounds. Our theoretical predictions show excellent agreement with experimentally measured inelastic neutron scattering spectra from these materials. Gapless spinons can also sometimes become gapped through chiral symmetry breaking, leading to the formation of a chiral spin liquid (CSL). The CSL is an archetypal bosonic realization of a fractional quantum Hall (FQH) state at half-filling, and has been proposed as a time-reversal–breaking ground state in a variety of frustrated spin models. The second part of this thesis addresses the intriguing possibility of realizing a CSL through the "melting" of a chiral spin crystal—a conventional magnet with non-coplanar ordering. Such a transition offers a physically appealing analogue to the melting of a Wigner crystal into a fermionic FQH liquid. Focusing on the kagome lattice, where chiral interactions are knownto stabilize a CSL ground state, we study the effects of additional long-range Heisenberg interactions and demonstrate a phase transition into a non-coplanar octahedral magnetic order. To describe the universal class of transition between a CSL and a non-coplanar anti-ferromagnetic order, we then develop a novel Chern-Simons–matter field theory framework, constrained by symmetry principles and symmetry fractionalization patterns. This thesis thus provides new insights into the dynamical signatures and phase transitions of quantum spin liquids, offering a bridge between theoretical models and experimental observations in frustrated magnetic systems.

•Oct 1, 2025•0 citations

Thermodynamic signature of the $\mathrm{SU}(4)$ spin-orbital liquid and symmetry fractionalization from the Lieb-Schultz-Mattis theorem

Masahiko G. Yamada, Satoshi Fujimoto

The $\mathrm{SU}(4)$ Heisenberg model on the honeycomb lattice is expected to host a quantum spin-orbital liquid at low temperature with an astonishing candidate material, $α$-ZrCl$_3$. We employed the canonical thermal pure quantum state method to investigate the finite-temperature phase of this model. Exploiting the full symmetry of $\mathrm{SU}(4)$, the calculation up to a 24-site cluster, which is equivalent to 48 sites in the spin-1/2 language, is possible. This state-of-the-art computation with large-scale parallelization enables us to capture the thermodynamic properties of the $\mathrm{SU}(4)$ Heisenberg model on the honeycomb lattice. In particular, the specific heat shows a characteristic peak-and-shoulder structure, which should be related to the nature of the low-temperature quantum spin-orbital liquid phase. We also discuss what can be concluded from the assumption that the ground state is gapped and symmetric in view of the generalized Lieb-Schultz-Mattis theorem.

arXiv:2111.14470•Nov 29, 2021•0 citations

SU(4) Heisenberg model on the honeycomb lattice with exchange-frustrated perturbations: Implications for twistronics and Mott insulators

W. M. H. Natori, Rajah P. Nutakki, Rodrigo G. Pereira +1 more

The SU(4)-symmetric spin-orbital model on the honeycomb lattice was recently studied in connection to correlated insulators such as the ${e}_{g}$ Mott insulator ${\mathrm{Ba}}_{3}{\mathrm{CuSb}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}_{9}$ and the insulating phase of magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene at quarter filling. Here we provide a unified discussion of these systems by investigating an extended model that includes the effects of Hund's coupling and anisotropic, orbital-dependent exchange interactions. Using a combination of mean-field theory, linear flavor-wave theory, and variational Monte Carlo, we show that this model harbors a quantum spin-orbital liquid over a wide parameter regime around the SU(4)-symmetric point. For large Hund's coupling, a ferromagnetic antiferro-orbital ordered state appears, while a valence-bond crystal combined with a vortex orbital state is stabilized by dominant orbital-dependent exchange interactions.

arXiv:1908.09224•Physical review. B./Physical review. B•Nov 21, 2019•43 citations

Classification of spin liquids on the square lattice with strong spin-orbit coupling

Johannes Reuther, Shu-Ping Lee, Jason Alicea

Spin liquids represent exotic types of quantum matter that evade conventional symmetry-breaking order even at zero temperature. Exhaustive classifications of spin liquids have been carried out in several systems, particularly in the presence of full SU(2) spin-rotation symmetry. Real magnetic compounds, however, generically break SU(2) spin symmetry as a result of spin-orbit coupling---which in many materials provides an ``order one'' effect. We generalize previous works by using the projective symmetry group method to classify ${\mathbb{Z}}_{2}$ spin liquids on the square lattice when SU(2) spin symmetry is maximally lifted. We find that, counterintuitively, the lifting of spin symmetry actually results in vastly more spin-liquid phases compared to SU(2)-invariant systems. A generic feature of the SU(2)-broken case is that the spinons naturally undergo $p+ip$ pairing; consequently, many of these ${\mathbb{Z}}_{2}$ spin liquids feature a topologically nontrivial spinon band structure supporting gapless Majorana edge states. We study in detail several spin-liquid phases with varying numbers of gapless edge states and discuss their topological protection. The edge states are often protected by a combination of time reversal and lattice symmetries and hence resemble recently proposed topological crystalline superconductors.

arXiv:1407.4124•Physical Review B•Nov 14, 2014•28 citations
The enhancement of the spin-space symmetry from the usual SU(2)\mathrm{SU}(2)SU(2) to SU(N)\mathrm{SU}(N)SU(N) with N>2N>2N>2 is promising for finding nontrivial quantum spin liquids, but the realization of SU(N)\mathrm{SU}(N)SU(N) spin systems in real materials is still challenging. Although there is a proposal in cold atomic systems, in magnetic materials with a spin-orbital degree of freedom it is difficult to achieve the SU(N)\mathrm{SU}(N)SU(N) symmetry by fine tuning. Here we propose a new mechanism by which the SU(4)\mathrm{SU}(4)SU(4) symmetry emerges in the strong spin-orbit coupling limit. In d1d^1d1 transition metal compounds with edge-sharing anion octahedra, the spin-orbit coupling gives rise to strongly bond-dependent and apparently SU(4)\mathrm{SU}(4)SU(4)-breaking hopping between the Jeff=3/2J_\textrm{eff}=3/2Jeff​=3/2 quartets. However, in the honeycomb structure, a gauge transformation maps the system to an SU(4)\mathrm{SU}(4)SU(4)-symmetric Hubbard model, which means that the system has a hidden symmetry in spite of its large spin-orbit coupling. In the strong repulsion limit at quarter filling, as expected in ααα-ZrCl3,_3,3​, the low-energy effective model is the SU(4)\mathrm{SU}(4)SU(4) Heisenberg model on the honeycomb lattice, which cannot have a trivial gapped ground state and is expected to host a gapless spin-orbital liquid. In such quantum spin-orbital liquids, both the spin and orbital degrees of freedom become fractionalized and correlated together at low temperature due to the strong frustrated interactions between them. Similarly to spinons in pure quantum spin liquids, quantum spin-orbital liquids can host not only spinon excitations, but also fermionic "orbitalon" excitations at low temperature, which we have named here in distinction from orbitons in the symmetry-broken Jahn-Teller phases.
An emergent SU(4) symmetry discovered in the microscopic model for d1 honeycomb materials [M. G. Yamada, M. Oshikawa, and G. Jackeli, ] has enabled us to tailor exotic SU(4) models in real materials. In the honeycomb structure, the emergent SU(4) Heisenberg model would potentially have a quantum spin-orbital liquid ground state due to the , and we can also expect similar spin-orbital liquids in three-dimensional versions of the honeycomb lattice. In such quantum spin-orbital liquids, both the spin and orbital degrees of freedom become fractionalized and entangled together due to the strong frustrated interactions between them. Similarly to spinons in pure quantum spin liquids, quantum spin-orbital liquids can host not only spinon excitations, but also fermionic excitations at low temperature.
While the enhancement of spin-space symmetry from the usual SU(2) to SU(N) is promising for finding nontrivial quantum spin liquids, its realization in magnetic materials remains challenging. Here, we propose a new mechanism by which SU(4) symmetry emerges in the strong spin-orbit coupling limit. In d^{1} transition metal compounds with edge-sharing anion octahedra, the spin-orbit coupling gives rise to strongly bond-dependent and apparently SU(4)-breaking hopping between the J_{eff}=3/2 quartets. However, in the honeycomb structure, a gauge transformation maps the system to an SU(4)-symmetric Hubbard model. In the strong repulsion limit at quarter filling, as realized in α-ZrCl_{3}, the low-energy effective model is the SU(4) Heisenberg model on the honeycomb lattice, which cannot have a trivial gapped ground state and is expected to host a gapless spin-orbital liquid. By generalizing this model to other three-dimensional lattices, we also propose crystalline spin-orbital liquids protected by this emergent SU(4) symmetry and space group symmetries.
Frustrated magnetism provides a rich platform for realizing exotic quantum phases in condensed matter systems. Among these, quantum spin liquids (QSLs) are a particularly intriguing class of states that exhibit no magnetic ordering and preserve all symmetries down to zero temperature. Just as conventional magnets can be thought of as spin crystals,QSLs represent their liquid analogs. This thesis explores two broad types of QSLs in two-dimensional magnets, with a focus on their dynamic properties and the nature of transitions from conventional magnetic states into QSL phases. QSLs are topological phases that host fractionalized excitations known as spinons. In these states, mobile spinons are coupled to an emergent gauge field, forming a highly entangled phase of matter. The first part of this thesis focuses on Dirac spin liquids (DSLs), a class of QSLs where spinons exhibit a gapless Dirac dispersion. To study the dynamicsof these spin liquids beyond leading-order mean-field theory, we develop a novel large-N fermionic limit of gapless spinons. In this limit, all gauge excitations are suppressed, and the leading-order corrections instead arise from order parameter fluctuations, which may condense and drive transitions into symmetry-broken phases from the parent DSL. Incorporating random phase approximation (RPA) corrections to the spin susceptibility, we find that sharp, spin-wave–like modes are recovered in the excitation spectrum. This methodology successfully captures characteristic features of the dynamics near phase transitions and in weakly symmetry-broken phases proximate to a DSL. We apply this approach to microscopic models, including the J1-J2 XXZ model on the triangular lattice and the J1-J3 XXZ model on the honeycomb lattice. These models closely represent a wide range of frustrated materials, such as triangular and honeycomb cobaltates and triangular ytterbium compounds. Our theoretical predictions show excellent agreement with experimentally measured inelastic neutron scattering spectra from these materials. Gapless spinons can also sometimes become gapped through chiral symmetry breaking, leading to the formation of a chiral spin liquid (CSL). The CSL is an archetypal bosonic realization of a fractional quantum Hall (FQH) state at half-filling, and has been proposed as a time-reversal–breaking ground state in a variety of frustrated spin models. The second part of this thesis addresses the intriguing possibility of realizing a CSL through the "melting" of a chiral spin crystal—a conventional magnet with non-coplanar ordering. Such a transition offers a physically appealing analogue to the melting of a Wigner crystal into a fermionic FQH liquid. Focusing on the kagome lattice, where chiral interactions are knownto stabilize a CSL ground state, we study the effects of additional long-range Heisenberg interactions and demonstrate a phase transition into a non-coplanar octahedral magnetic order. To describe the universal class of transition between a CSL and a non-coplanar anti-ferromagnetic order, we then develop a novel Chern-Simons–matter field theory framework, constrained by symmetry principles and symmetry fractionalization patterns. This thesis thus provides new insights into the dynamical signatures and phase transitions of quantum spin liquids, offering a bridge between theoretical models and experimental observations in frustrated magnetic systems.
Thermodynamic signature of the SU(4)\mathrm{SU}(4)SU(4) spin-orbital liquid and symmetry fractionalization from the Lieb-Schultz-Mattis theorem
The SU(4)\mathrm{SU}(4)SU(4) Heisenberg model on the honeycomb lattice is expected to host a quantum spin-orbital liquid at low temperature with an astonishing candidate material, ααα-ZrCl3_33​. We employed the canonical thermal pure quantum state method to investigate the finite-temperature phase of this model. Exploiting the full symmetry of SU(4)\mathrm{SU}(4)SU(4), the calculation up to a 24-site cluster, which is equivalent to 48 sites in the spin-1/2 language, is possible. This state-of-the-art computation with large-scale parallelization enables us to capture the thermodynamic properties of the SU(4)\mathrm{SU}(4)SU(4) Heisenberg model on the honeycomb lattice. In particular, the specific heat shows a characteristic peak-and-shoulder structure, which should be related to the nature of the low-temperature quantum spin-orbital liquid phase. We also discuss what can be concluded from the assumption that the ground state is gapped and symmetric in view of the generalized Lieb-Schultz-Mattis theorem.
The SU(4)-symmetric spin-orbital model on the honeycomb lattice was recently studied in connection to correlated insulators such as the eg{e}_{g}eg​ Mott insulator Ba3CuSb2O9{\mathrm{Ba}}_{3}{\mathrm{CuSb}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}_{9}Ba3​CuSb2​O9​ and the insulating phase of magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene at quarter filling. Here we provide a unified discussion of these systems by investigating an extended model that includes the effects of Hund's coupling and anisotropic, orbital-dependent exchange interactions. Using a combination of mean-field theory, linear flavor-wave theory, and variational Monte Carlo, we show that this model harbors a quantum spin-orbital liquid over a wide parameter regime around the SU(4)-symmetric point. For large Hund's coupling, a ferromagnetic antiferro-orbital ordered state appears, while a valence-bond crystal combined with a vortex orbital state is stabilized by dominant orbital-dependent exchange interactions.
Spin liquids represent exotic types of quantum matter that evade conventional symmetry-breaking order even at zero temperature. Exhaustive classifications of spin liquids have been carried out in several systems, particularly in the presence of full SU(2) spin-rotation symmetry. Real magnetic compounds, however, generically break SU(2) spin symmetry as a result of spin-orbit coupling---which in many materials provides an ``order one'' effect. We generalize previous works by using the projective symmetry group method to classify Z2{\mathbb{Z}}_{2}Z2​ spin liquids on the square lattice when SU(2) spin symmetry is maximally lifted. We find that, counterintuitively, the lifting of spin symmetry actually results in vastly more spin-liquid phases compared to SU(2)-invariant systems. A generic feature of the SU(2)-broken case is that the spinons naturally undergo p+ipp+ipp+ip pairing; consequently, many of these Z2{\mathbb{Z}}_{2}Z2​ spin liquids feature a topologically nontrivial spinon band structure supporting gapless Majorana edge states. We study in detail several spin-liquid phases with varying numbers of gapless edge states and discuss their topological protection. The edge states are often protected by a combination of time reversal and lattice symmetries and hence resemble recently proposed topological crystalline superconductors.