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arXiv:2411.16526 · Physical review. B./Physical review. B

Unusual Coulomb phase physics in the arctic square ice

Johann Coraux, Nicolas Rougemaille

Published Nov 19, 2024• 1 citation
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

The square ice is a two-dimensional spin liquid hosting a Coulomb phase physics. When constrained under specific boundary conditions, the so-called domain-wall boundary conditions, a phase separation occurs that leads to the formation of a spin liquid confined within a disk surrounded by magnetically ordered regions. Here, we numerically characterize the ground-state properties of this spin liquid, coined the arctic square ice in reference to a phenomenon known in statistical mechanics. Our results reveal that both the vertex distributions and the magnetic correlations are inhomogeneous within the liquid region, and they exhibit a radial dependence. If these properties resemble those of the conventional square ice close to the center of the disk, they evolve continuously as the disk perimeter is approached. There, the spin liquid orders. As a result, pinch points, signaling the presence of algebraic spin correlations, coexist with magnetic Bragg peaks in the magnetic structure factor computed within the disk. The arctic square ice thus appears as an unconventional Coulomb phase sharing common features with a fragmented spin liquid, albeit on a charge-neutral vacuum.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.110.174432

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The square ice is a two-dimensional spin liquid hosting a Coulomb phase physics. When constrained under specific boundary conditions, the so-called domain-wall boundary conditions, a phase separation occurs that leads to the formation of a spin liquid confined within a disk surrounded by magnetically ordered regions. Here, we numerically characterize the ground-state properties of this spin liquid, coined the arctic square ice in reference to a phenomenon known in statistical mechanics. Our results reveal that both the vertex distributions and the magnetic correlations are inhomogeneous within the liquid region, and they exhibit a radial dependence. If these properties resemble those of the conventional square ice close to the center of the disk, they evolve continuously as the disk perimeter is approached. There, the spin liquid orders. As a result, pinch points, signaling the presence of algebraic spin correlations, coexist with magnetic Bragg peaks in the magnetic structure factor computed within the disk. The arctic square ice thus appears as an unconventional Coulomb phase sharing common features with a fragmented spin liquid, albeit on a charge-neutral vacuum.
Under certain boundary conditions, the square ice model exhibits a phase separation in which the core of the system is disordered while its outer region remains ordered. This phenomenon, known as the "arctic circle," has been studied theoretically in combinatorial mathematics and statistical mechanics. Here, we realize the physics of the arctic circle experimentally for the first time, using a programmable lattice of superconducting qubits, and investigate its properties under the prism of a highly frustrated magnet. Our work reveals two unexpected properties. First, the disordered spin manifold confined within the arctic curve is a spin liquid whose average spin texture resembles that of an antivortex, i.e., it is a topologically charged Coulomb phase. Second, monopole quasiparticle excitations, which are totally absent in theoretical works, can be isolated in a phase-separated system. Remarkably, a monopole segregation mechanism is observed, in which the monopoles are sorted according to the magnetic charge and magnetic moment they carry, without the application of an external driving force.
The emergence of order and geometric limit shapes in a three-dimensional (3D) Coulomb phase subject to domain wall boundary conditions (DWBC) is investigated. While the arctic circle phenomenon -- the spatial segregation of frozen and fluctuating degrees of freedom -- is well-established in the two-dimensional six-vertex model (square ice), its extension to 3D remains largely unexplored. A cubic lattice model with Ising degrees of freedom living on the edges, whose ground state manifold is governed by a divergence-free (3-in/3-out) local constraint, is considered. In the bulk, this model realizes a classical spin liquid characterized by algebraic correlations and pinch-point singularities in reciprocal space. It is demonstrated that applying DWBC partially lifts the extensive ground state degeneracy, inducing long-range magnetic order in the thermodynamic limit. Despite this ordering, it is found that the system retains a fluctuating component that exhibits the signature of a Coulomb phase. Finally, by mapping the local vertex polarization density, compelling numerical support is provided for a 3D generalization of the arctic limit shape, bridging the gap between topological constraints and emergent geometry in higher dimensions.
Abstract Motivated by quantum quenches in spin chains, a one-dimensional toy-model of fermionic particles evolving in imaginary-time from a domain-wall initial state is solved. The main interest of this toy-model is that it exhibits the arctic circle phenomenon, namely a spatial phase separation between a critically fluctuating region and a frozen region. Large-scale correlations inside the critical region are expressed in terms of correlators in a (euclidean) two-dimensional massless Dirac field theory. It is observed that this theory is inhomogenous: the metric is position-dependent, so it is in fact a Dirac theory in curved space. The technique used to solve the toy-model is then extended to deal with the transfer matrices of other models: dimers on the honeycomb and square lattice, and the six-vertex model at the free fermion point ( Δ = 0 ). In all cases, explicit expressions are given for the long-range correlations in the critical region, as well as for the underlying Dirac action. Although the setup developed here is heavily based on fermionic observables, the results can be translated into the language of height configurations and of the gaussian free field, via bosonization. Correlations close to the phase boundary and the generic appearance of Airy processes in all these models are also briefly revisited in the appendix.
We show that quantum square ice-namely, the two-dimensional version of proton or spin ice with tunable quantum tunneling of the electric or magnetic dipole moment-exhibits a quantum spin-liquid phase supporting fractionalized spinons. This phase corresponds to a thermally induced, deconfined quantum Coulomb phase of a two-dimensional lattice gauge theory. It emerges at finite, yet exceedingly low temperatures from the melting of two distinct order-by-disorder phases appearing in the ground state: a plaquette valence-bond solid for low tunneling; and a canted Néel state for stronger tunneling. The latter phases appear via the highly nonlinear effect of quantum fluctuations within the degenerate manifold of ice-rule states, and they can be identified as the two competing ground states of a discrete lattice gauge theory (quantum link model) emerging as the effective Hamiltonian of the system within degenerate perturbation theory.
The emergence of fractionalized quasiparticles in quantum spin liquids has served a wealth of unconventional phenomena in frustrated magnets. In our work, we explore the various domain patterns of such fractionalized quasiparticles, especially focusing on charge defects in U(1) quantum spin liquids. We claim that emergent long range interaction between charge defects leads to characteristic structures with distinct length scales, where they can be controlled via the ratio of interaction strengths. In this context, the spin ice phase is the dilute gas of weakly interacting charges, whereas, the macroscopic population of charge defects naturally develops charge ordering for large Coulomb interaction limit. Interestingly, we find that the competing spin interactions could naturally give rise to stabilize the mosaic structure of charge defects in the absence of uniform ordering. They are characterized by liquid-like correlations having a finite length scale. The emergence of such intermediate order in the mosaic structure is confirmed by both dynamical and static correlations. By establishing the microscopic spin Hamiltonian, we also present the distinctive signatures in static spin correlation to detect such spatial structure of charge defects. We speculate that the domain pattern of defect population might be a potential hallmark to reveal unusual dynamical properties observed in spin liquids.
Spiral spin liquids possess a subextensively degenerate ground-state manifold, represented by a continuum of energy minima in reciprocal space. Since a small change of the spiral state wavevector requires a global change of the spin configuration in real space, it is a priori unclear how such systems can fluctuate within the degenerate ground state manifold. Only recently it was proposed that momentum vortices are responsible for the liquidity of the spiral phase and that these systems are closely related to an emergent rank-2 U(1) gauge theory [H. Yan and J. Reuther, Phys. Rev. Research 4, 023175 (2022)]. As a consequence of this gauge structure, four-fold pinch-point singularities were found in a generalized spin correlator. In this article, we use classical Monte Carlo and molecular dynamics calculations to embed the previously studied spiral spin liquid into a broader phase diagram of the square lattice XY model. We find a multitude of unusual phases and phase transitions surrounding the spiral spin liquid such as an effective four-state Potts transition into a colinear double-striped phase resulting from the spontaneous breaking of two coupled Z2\mathbb{Z}_2Z2​ symmetries. Since this phase is stabilized by entropic effects selecting the momenta away from the spiral manifold, it undergoes a re-entrance phenomenon at low temperatures into a nematic spiral phase. We also observe a region of parameters where the phase transition into the spiral spin liquid does not break any symmetries and where the critical exponents do not match those of standard universality classes. We study the importance of momentum vortices in driving this phase transition and discuss the possibility of a Kosterlitz-Thouless transition of momentum vortices. Finally, we explore the regime where the rank-2 U(1) gauge theory is valid by investigating the four-fold pinch point singularities across the phase diagram