Recent work has shown that the triangular lattice spin-$\frac{1}{2} {J}_{1}\ensuremath{-}{J}_{2}$ Heisenberg and XXZ antiferromagnets may exhibit coplanar or supersolid orders proximate to a gapless Dirac spin-liquid phase. We explore a distinct $\text{SU}(2N)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}\text{SU}(M)$ fermionic parton approach, complemented by variational Monte Carlo calculations for the spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ model, to study the phase diagram of these models. We also calculate their dynamical spin response including parton interactions within a random-phase approximation, and discuss implications for neutron scattering on triangular lattice cobaltates ${\mathrm{Ba}}_{3}{\mathrm{CoSb}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}_{9}, {\mathrm{Na}}_{2}\mathrm{BaCo}{({\mathrm{PO}}_{4})}_{2}, {\mathrm{K}}_{2}\mathrm{Co}{({\mathrm{SeO}}_{3})}_{2}, {\mathrm{Rb}}_{2}\mathrm{Co}{({\mathrm{SeO}}_{3})}_{2}$, and Yb-based magnet ${\mathrm{KYbSe}}_{2}$.
Recent work has shown that the triangular lattice spin-21J1\ensuremath−J2 Heisenberg and XXZ antiferromagnets may exhibit coplanar or supersolid orders proximate to a gapless Dirac spin-liquid phase. We explore a distinct SU(2N)\ifmmode×\else\texttimes\fiSU(M) fermionic parton approach, complemented by variational Monte Carlo calculations for the spin-21 model, to study the phase diagram of these models. We also calculate their dynamical spin response including parton interactions within a random-phase approximation, and discuss implications for neutron scattering on triangular lattice cobaltates Ba3CoSb2O9,Na2BaCo(PO4)2,K2Co(SeO3)2,Rb2Co(SeO3)2, and Yb-based magnet KYbSe2.
By using Gutzwiller projected fermionic wave functions and variational Monte Carlo technique, we study the spin-1/2 Heisenberg model with the first-neighbor (J1), second-neighbor (J2), and additional scalar chiral interaction ${J}_{\ensuremath{\chi}}{\mathbf{S}}_{i}\ifmmode\cdot\else\textperiodcentered\fi{}({\mathbf{S}}_{j}\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{\mathbf{S}}_{k})$ on the triangular lattice. In the nonmagnetic phase of the ${J}_{1}\ensuremath{-}{J}_{2}$ triangular model with $0.08\ensuremath{\lesssim}{J}_{2}/{J}_{1}\ensuremath{\lesssim}0.16$, recent density-matrix renormalization group (DMRG) studies [Zhu and White, Phys. Rev. B 92, 041105(R) (2015) and Hu, Gong, Zhu, and Sheng, Phys. Rev. B 92, 140403(R) (2015)] find a possible gapped spin liquid with the signal of a competition between a chiral and a Z2 spin liquid. Motivated by the DMRG results, we consider the chiral interaction ${J}_{\ensuremath{\chi}}{\mathbf{S}}_{i}\ifmmode\cdot\else\textperiodcentered\fi{}({\mathbf{S}}_{j}\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{\mathbf{S}}_{k})$ as a perturbation for this nonmagnetic phase. We find that with growing ${J}_{\ensuremath{\chi}}$, the gapless U(1) Dirac spin liquid, which has the best variational energy for ${J}_{\ensuremath{\chi}}=0$, exhibits the energy instability towards a gapped spin liquid with nontrivial magnetic fluxes and nonzero chiral order. We calculate topological Chern number and ground-state degeneracy, both of which identify this flux state as the chiral spin liquid with fractionalized Chern number C=1/2 and twofold topological degeneracy. Our results indicate a positive direction to stabilize a chiral spin liquid near the nonmagnetic phase of the ${J}_{1}\ensuremath{-}{J}_{2}$ triangular model.
Dynamics and stability of U(1) spin liquids beyond mean-field theory: Triangular-lattice J1-J2 Heisenberg model
Quantum spin liquids (QSLs) are long-range entangled phases of frustrated magnets exhibiting fractionalised spin excitations. In two dimensions, there is limited analytical understanding of their excitation spectra beyond parton mean-field theories, which fail to capture many features of the finite frequency dynamical response. We use a self-consistent mean-field theory combined with the random phase approximation (RPA) for the J1-J2 Heisenberg model on the triangular lattice to describe the strong spinon-spinon interactions of the U(1) Dirac QSL. We obtain quantitative results for the dynamical spin structure factor and phase diagram compatible with comprehensive numerical efforts. We show the continuum response at the Brillouin zone corners is described by a spinon-exciton hybridised with monopole gauge excitations. We further show that the transition from the QSL to 120-degree coplanar order is in the QED3 O(3)-GN universality class. We extend the method to chiral QSLs and XXZ anisotropy, and discuss its broad range of applicability to other models and for describing inelastic neutron scattering experiments in KYbSe2.
Recent theoretical and experimental work suggests that the honeycomb cobaltates, initially proposed as candidate Kitaev quantum magnets, are in fact described by a pseudospin-1/2 easy-plane spin Hamiltonian with nearest-neighbor ferromagnetic (FM) exchange J1 being frustrated by antiferromagnetic third-neighbor exchange J3 and weaker compass anisotropies. Using exact diagonalization and density-matrix renormalization group (DMRG) calculations, we show that this model exhibits FM order at small J3/J1 and zigzag (ZZ) order at large J3/J1, separated by an intermediate phase, which we label as $\stackrel{\ifmmode \tilde{}\else \~{}\fi{}}{\mathrm{SL}}$. This $\stackrel{\ifmmode \tilde{}\else \~{}\fi{}}{\mathrm{SL}}$ phase is shown to exhibit spin-liquid-like correlations in DMRG, although we cannot preclude weak broken symmetries, e.g., weak Ising type N\'eel order, given the limits on our explored system sizes. Using a modified parton mean field theory and variational Monte Carlo on Gutzwiller projected wave functions, we show that the optimal FM and ZZ orders as well as the intermediate $\stackrel{\ifmmode \tilde{}\else \~{}\fi{}}{\mathrm{SL}}$ state are proximate to a ``parent'' Dirac spin liquid (SL). This Dirac SL is shown to capture the broad continuum in the temperature and magnetic field dependent terahertz spectroscopy of BaCo2(AsO4)2, and the reported low-temperature metallic thermal conductivity in Na2Co2TeO6 and BaCo2(AsO4)2 upon incorporating disorder-induced broadening.
We study the spin-1/2 Heisenberg model on the triangular lattice with the nearest-neighbor J1>0, the next-nearest-neighobr J2>0 Heisenberg interactions, and the additional scalar chiral interaction ${J}_{\ensuremath{\chi}}({\stackrel{P\vec}{S}}_{i}\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{\stackrel{P\vec}{S}}_{j})\ifmmode\cdot\else\textperiodcentered\fi{}{\stackrel{P\vec}{S}}_{k}$ for the three spins in all the triangles using large-scale density matrix renormalization group calculation on cylinder geometry. With increasing J2 (${J}_{2}/{J}_{1}\ensuremath{\le}0.3$) and ${J}_{\ensuremath{\chi}}$ (${J}_{\ensuremath{\chi}}/{J}_{1}\ensuremath{\le}1.0$) interactions, we establish a quantum phase diagram with the magnetically ordered ${120}^{\ensuremath{\circ}}$, stripe, and noncoplanar tetrahedral phase. In between these magnetic order phases, we find a chiral spin liquid (CSL) phase, which is identified as a $\ensuremath{\nu}=1/2$ bosonic fractional quantum Hall state with possible spontaneous rotational symmetry breaking. By switching on the chiral interaction, we find that the previously identified spin liquid in the ${J}_{1}\ensuremath{-}{J}_{2}$ triangular model ($0.08\ensuremath{\lesssim}{J}_{2}/{J}_{1}\ensuremath{\lesssim}0.15$) shows a phase transition to the CSL phase at very small ${J}_{\ensuremath{\chi}}$. We also compute the spin triplet gap in both spin liquid phases, and our finite-size results suggest a large gap in the odd topological sector but a small or vanishing gap in the even sector. We discuss the implications of our results on the nature of the spin liquid phases.
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.
The nature of quantum spin liquids is studied for the spin-1/2 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model on a square lattice containing exchange interactions between nearest-neighbor sites, J1, and those between next-nearest-neighbor sites, J2. We perform variational Monte Carlo simulations together with the quantum-number-projection technique and clarify the phase diagram in the ground state together with its excitation spectra. We obtain the nonmagnetic phase in the region 0.4<J2/J1≤0.6 sandwiched by the staggered and stripe antiferromagnetic (AF) phases. Our direct calculations of the spin gap support the notion that the triplet excitation from the singlet ground state is gapless in the range of 0.4<J2/J1≤0.5, while the gapped valence-bond-crystal (VBC) phase is stabilized for 0.5<J2/J1≤0.6. The VBC order is likely to have the columnar symmetry with a spontaneous symmetry breaking of the C4v symmetry. The power-law behaviors of the spin-spin and dimer-dimer correlation functions in the gapless region are consistent with the emergence of the algebraic quantum-spin-liquid phase (critical phase). The exponent of the spin correlation ⟨S(0)S(r)⟩∝1/rz+η at a long distance r appears to increase from z+η∼1 at J2/J1∼0.4 toward the continuous transition to the VBC phase at J1/J1∼0.5. Our results, however, do not fully exclude the possibility of a direct quantum transition between the staggered AF and VBC phases with a wide critical region and deconfined criticality.