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arXiv:2212.00053 · Physical Review Letters

Z2 Spin Liquids in the Higher Spin- S Kitaev Honeycomb Model: An Exact Deconfined Z2 Gauge Structure in a Nonintegrable Model

Han Ma

Published Apr 11, 2023• 27 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

The higher spin Kitaev model prominently features the extensive locally conserved quantities the same as the spin-1/2 Kitaev honeycomb model, although it is not exactly solvable. It remains an open question regarding the physical meaning of these conserved quantities in the higher spin model. In this Letter, by introducing a Majorana parton construction for a general spin-S we uncover that these conserved quantities are exactly the Z_{2} gauge fluxes in the general spin-S model, including the case of spin-1/2. Particularly, we find an even-odd effect that the Z_{2} gauge charges are fermions in the half integer spin model, but are bosons in the integer spin model. We further prove that the fermionic Z_{2} gauge charges are always deconfined; hence, the half integer spin Kitaev model would have nontrivial spin liquid ground states regardless of interaction strengths in the Hamiltonian. The bosonic Z_{2} gauge charges of the integer spin model, on the other hand, could condense, leading to a trivial product state, and this is indeed the case at the anisotropic limit of the model.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.130.156701

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The higher spin Kitaev model prominently features the extensive locally conserved quantities the same as the spin-1/2 Kitaev honeycomb model, although it is not exactly solvable. It remains an open question regarding the physical meaning of these conserved quantities in the higher spin model. In this Letter, by introducing a Majorana parton construction for a general spin-S we uncover that these conserved quantities are exactly the Z_{2} gauge fluxes in the general spin-S model, including the case of spin-1/2. Particularly, we find an even-odd effect that the Z_{2} gauge charges are fermions in the half integer spin model, but are bosons in the integer spin model. We further prove that the fermionic Z_{2} gauge charges are always deconfined; hence, the half integer spin Kitaev model would have nontrivial spin liquid ground states regardless of interaction strengths in the Hamiltonian. The bosonic Z_{2} gauge charges of the integer spin model, on the other hand, could condense, leading to a trivial product state, and this is indeed the case at the anisotropic limit of the model.
The nonintegrable higher spin Kitaev honeycomb model has an exact Z_{2} gauge structure, which exclusively identifies quantum spin liquid in the half-integer spin Kitaev model. But its constraints for the integer-spin Kitaev model are much limited, and even trivially gapped insulators cannot be excluded. The physical implications of exact Z_{2} gauge structure, especially Z_{2} fluxes, in integer-spin models remain largely unexplored. In this Letter, we theoretically show that a spin-S Yao-Lee model [a spin-orbital model with SU(2) spin-rotation symmetry] possesses a topologically nontrivial quantum spin-orbital liquid ground state for any spin (both integer and half-integer spin) by constructing exact deconfined fermionic Z_{2} gauge charges. We further show that the conserved Z_{2} flux can also demonstrate the intriguing spin fractionalization phenomena in the non-Abelian topological order phase of the spin-1 Yao-Lee model. Its deconfined Z_{2} vortex excitation carries fractionalized spin-1/2 quantum number in the low-energy subspace, which is also a non-Abelian anyon. Our exact manifestation of spin fractionalization in an integer-spin model is rather rare in previous studies, and is absent in the Kitaev honeycomb model.
Abstract The S=3/2 Kitaev honeycomb model (KHM) is a quantum spin liquid (QSL) state coupled to a static Z2 gauge field. Employing an SO(6) Majorana representation of spin3/2’s, we find an exact representation of the conserved plaquette fluxes in terms of static Z2 gauge fields akin to the S=1/2 KHM which enables us to treat the remaining interacting matter fermion sector in a parton mean-field theory. We uncover a ground-state phase diagram consisting of gapped and gapless QSLs. Our parton description is in quantitative agreement with numerical simulations, and is furthermore corroborated by the addition of a [001] single ion anisotropy (SIA) which continuously connects the gapless Dirac QSL of our model with that of the S=1/2 KHM. In the presence of a weak [111] SIA, we discuss an emergent chiral QSL within a perturbation theory.
Emergent gauge theories take a prominent role in the description of quantum matter, supporting deconfined phases with topological order and fractionalized excitations. A common construction of \mathbb{Z}_2 ℤ 2 lattice gauge theories, first introduced by Wegner, involves Ising gauge spins placed on links and subject to a discrete \mathbb{Z}_2 ℤ 2 Gauss law constraint. As shown by Kitaev, \mathbb{Z}_2 ℤ 2 lattice gauge theories also emerge in the exact solution of certain spin systems with bond-dependent interactions. In this context, the \mathbb{Z}_2 ℤ 2 gauge field is constructed from Majorana fermions, with gauge constraints given by the parity of Majorana fermions on each site. In this work, we provide an explicit Jordan-Wigner transformation that maps between these two formulations on the square lattice, where the Kitaev-type gauge theory emerges as the exact solution of a spin-orbital (Kugel-Khomskii) Hamiltonian. We then apply our mapping to study local perturbations to the spin-orbital Hamiltonian, which correspond to anisotropic interactions between electric-field variables in the \mathbb{Z}_2 ℤ 2 gauge theory. These are shown to induce anisotropic confinement that is characterized by emergence of weakly-coupled one-dimensional spin chains. We study the nature of these phases and corresponding confinement transitions in both absence and presence of itinerant fermionic matter degrees of freedom. Finally, we discuss how our mapping can be applied to the Kitaev spin-1/2 model on the honeycomb lattice.
We discuss a class of lattice S = 12 quantum Hamiltonians with bond-dependent Ising couplings and a mutually "anticommuting" algebra of extensively many local Z2 conserved charges that was explicated by Pujari [arXiv:2407.06236]. This mutual algebra is reminiscent of the spin-1 2 Pauli matrix algebra but encoded in the structure of local conserved charges. These models have finite residual entropy density in the ground state with a simple but nontrivial degeneracy counting and concomitant quantum spin liquidity as proved by Pujari [arXiv:2407.06236]. The spin liquidity relies on a geometrically site-interlinked character of the local conserved Z2 charges that is rather natural in the presence of an anticommuting structure. One may contrast this with, for example, the bond-interlinked character of the local conserved Z2 charges on the hexagonal plaquettes of the Kitaev honeycomb spin-21 model, which leads to a mutually commuting local algebra. In this work, we make several exact statements on the kinds of many-body orders that can be present within the class of anticommuting quantum spin liquids coexisting with extensive residual ground state entropy. We elucidate the differences between the many-body order in these models and that found in some gapped quantum spin liquids whose canonical example is the Kitaev toric code. The toric code belongs to the more general class of Levin-Wen or string net constructions that possess mutually commuting algebras for the local conserved charges. We also point out a mutually commuting algebra with local support that is naturally expressed as multilinear Majorana forms in the Kitaev representation of these quantum spin liquids. They capture quantum resonances spread across the lattice in anticommuting Z2 quantum spin liquids.
The formation of quantum spin liquids in frustrated magnets represents an exciting possibility due to the rather exotic features they harbor, including fractionalized excitations and emergent gauge fields. \nUnfortunately, they are notoriously difficult to study as there are often no good analytical methods available and quantum Monte Carlo simulations are hindered by the negative sign problem. \nThe Kitaev honeycomb model is a notable exception of a frustrated quantum model which is exactly solvable and which hosts a number of distinct quantum spin liquid ground states. \nAs such, it allows for a rare opportunity to study the physics of spin liquids with full analytical control. \n \nIn this thesis, we study the fractionalization of spin-1/2 moments into Majorana fermions and an emergent Z2 gauge field in a generalization of the Kitaev honeycomb model to a number of three-dimensional lattices. \nWhile the excitations of the gauge field are always gapped, the fermionic quasiparticles may exhibit a gapless dispersion, forming fully two-dimensional Fermi surfaces, symmetry protected nodal lines, or topological Weyl nodes. \nWe show that one can deduce rather general constraints on the possible gapless excitations by making use of an object called the projective symmetry group. \nIn doing so we provide a scheme for classifying the various gapless Kitaev spin liquids. \nA thorough analysis is carried out for a number of these spin liquids, primarily investigating the stability of the gapless modes and the novel features resulting from their sometimes non-trivial topology, as well as their effects on certain equal-time correlation functions.
While most of the features of the Kitaev honeycomb model are already clarified from the combined Z2{\mathbb Z}_2Z2​ plaquette and Majorana fermion picture, we show that retrieving the exact quantum many-body form gives a clue to fix the remaining issues on its spin liquid property. We provide an exact two-dimensional tensor network description of a full set of solutions from a random product state, by sequential quantum-number projection and Gutzwiller projection, both expressed as local matrix-product operators of dimension D=2D=2D=2. The ground and excited states share the same bond dimension yet exhibit distinct Schmidt spectra, distinguishing their area-law and volume-law entanglement. We demonstrate that the topological entanglement entropy emerges {\it for all eigenstates only after} the Gutzwiller projection onto the physical spin Hilbert space, where the gauge constraint removes exactly half of the Schmidt states. This establishes that excited states are likewise topologically ordered. We further show that there exists a projection-induced collapse of the wave function into a single gauge sector in the Parton mean-field states that is known to give a good description of the spin liquids. The demonstrations on the S=1/2S=1/2S=1/2 kagome and triangular Heisenberg models suggest that the present perspective is applied to a wider class of models hosting Z2{\mathbb Z}_2Z2​ spin liquids. Our finding visualizes a bulk-boundary correspondence with the Wilson-loop characterization of topological order.