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arXiv:2505.23409 · Physical review. B./Physical review. B

Parton mean-field theory of a Rydberg quantum spin liquid induced by density-dependent Peierls phases

Benno Bock, Simon Ohler, Michael Fleischhauer

Published Aug 25, 2025• 0 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We derive a parton mean-field Hamiltonian for Rydberg excitations on a honeycomb lattice with nearest and density-dependent, complex next-nearest neighbor hopping. Numerical results obtained from exact diagonalization of small systems have given indications for a ground state that is a chiral spin liquid (CSL) []. Here we provide further evidence for this. Calculating the ground-state wavefunction self-consistently, we show that the mean-field Hamiltonian fulfills the requirements for a CSL ground state, resulting from a projected symmetry group classification and verify the expected twofold topological degeneracy on a torus. Furthermore we find very good overlap with the ground-state wavefunctions obtained by exact diagonalization of the original Hamiltonian.

DOI
10.1103/bh7y-k8x9

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We derive a parton mean-field Hamiltonian for Rydberg excitations on a honeycomb lattice with nearest and density-dependent, complex next-nearest neighbor hopping. Numerical results obtained from exact diagonalization of small systems have given indications for a ground state that is a chiral spin liquid (CSL) []. Here we provide further evidence for this. Calculating the ground-state wavefunction self-consistently, we show that the mean-field Hamiltonian fulfills the requirements for a CSL ground state, resulting from a projected symmetry group classification and verify the expected twofold topological degeneracy on a torus. Furthermore we find very good overlap with the ground-state wavefunctions obtained by exact diagonalization of the original Hamiltonian.
We show that the nonlinear transport of bosonic excitations in a two-dimensional honeycomb lattice of spin-orbit-coupled Rydberg atoms gives rise to disordered quantum phases which are topological and may be candidates for quantum spin liquids. As recently demonstrated by Lienhard et al. [Phys. Rev. X 10, 021031 (2020)] the spin-orbit coupling breaks time-reversal and chiral symmetries and leads to a tunable density-dependent complex hopping of spin excitations which behave as hard-core bosons. Using exact diagonalization (ED), we numerically investigate the phase diagram resulting from the competition between density-dependent and direct transport terms as well as density-density interactions. In mean-field approximation there is a phase transition from a condensate to a ${120}^{\ensuremath{\circ}}$ phase when the amplitude of the complex hopping exceeds that of the direct one. In the full model a new phase emerges close to the mean-field critical point as a result of quantum correlations induced by the density dependence of the complex hopping. We show that without density-density interactions this phase is a genuine disordered one, has large spin chirality, and is characterized by a nontrivial many-body Chern number. The Chern number is found to be robust to disorder. ED simulations of small lattices with up to 30 lattice sites give indications for a nondegenerate ground state with finite spin and collective gaps and thus for a bosonic integer quantum Hall phase, protected by U(1)\mathrm{U}(1)U(1) symmetry. On the other hand, while staying finite, the many-body gap varies substantially when different twisted boundary conditions are applied, which points to a gapless phase. For very strong negative nonlinear hopping amplitudes we find another disordered regime with vanishing spin gap. This phase also has a large spin chirality and could be a gapless spin liquid but lies outside the parameter regime experimentally accessible in the Rydberg system.
We investigate the nature of quantum phases arising in chiral interacting Hamiltonians recently realized in Rydberg atom arrays. We classify all possible fermionic chiral spin liquids with U(1)\mathrm{U}(1)U(1) global symmetry using parton construction on the honeycomb lattice. The resulting classification includes six distinct classes of gapped quantum spin liquids: the corresponding variational wavefunctions obtained from two of these classes accurately describe the Rydberg many-body ground state at 1/21/21/2 and 1/41/41/4 particle density. Complementing this analysis with tensor network simulations, we conclude that both particle filling sectors host a spin liquid with the same topological order of a $\ensuremath{\nu}\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}1/2$ fractional quantum Hall effect. At density 1/21/21/2, our results clarify the phase diagram of the model, while at density 1/41/41/4, they provide an explicit construction of the ground-state wavefunction with almost unit overlap with the microscopic one. These findings pave the way to the use of parton wavefunctions to guide the discovery of quantum spin liquids in chiral Rydberg models.
Quantum spin liquids are novel phases of matter whose physical properties cannot be captured within the conventional framework of phase transitions. These quantum states are characterized by excitations, called spinons, carrying a fractional value of the integer spin. A description based on a mean-field approximation leads to effective gauge theory. Due to this gauge freedom symmetry group operations act via projective symmetry group (PSG) representations, which can be used to classify quantum states beyond the conventional method. This introducing discussion is found in Chapters 2-6. A preceding PSG classification on the square lattice, which took spin rotational symmetry breaking terms into account, showed that the resulting mean-field states could exhibit topologically non-trivial spinon bands. In Chapter 7, only those el- ements of this Classification are studied, which lead to short-ranged mean-field models. The mutual effect of spinons and visons is scrutinized by adding static configurations of a background gauge field. Spinons and visons form composite ob- jects, which in the case of topological spinon bands, are described by Majorana zero modes. An exact mapping corroborates the relation to topological supercon- ductors and vortices. The effect of multiple visons is investigated, and a possible experimental signature is exposed. Chapter 8 explains how spinon mean-field theory can be used to derive a phe- nomenological effective model for the compound Ca 10 Cr 7 O 28 . A material that was recently proposed as a quantum spin liquid. This low-energy theory consists of spinon hopping processes. The underlying bilayer kagome structure can be simpli- fied to an effective honeycomb lattice. The dynamical spin structure factor is calcu- lated and compared to neutron scattering data. It is discussed how f -wave pairing of spinons can explain small deviations from a linear temperature dependency observed in heat capacity measurements at the low temperatures. This pairing mechanism breaks the U (1) invariance group of the pure hopping model and renders a coherent picture of Ca 10 Cr 7 O 28 being a Z 2 quantum spin liquid. Chapter 9 carries out a PSG classification for the simple-, body centered-, and face centered cubic lattices. Despite a large number of possible PSG representations, only very few describe short-ranged mean-field states. These mean-field models are constructed up to third neighbor couplings and calculated in a self-consistent manner. It is found that the energy is lower for non-trivial sign patterns induced by non-trivial representations of the symmetry generators. Higher neighbor extensions, including pairing terms, yield lower mean-field ground state energies compared to extensions with only hopping terms. For the fcc lattice, a first neighbor state could be identified, which exhibits symmetry protected zero-energy modes.
Abstract Quantum spin liquids are elusive but paradigmatic examples of strongly correlated quantum states that are characterized by long-range quantum entanglement. Recently, signatures of a gapped topological Z2{{\mathbb{Z}}}_{2}Z2​ Z 2 spin liquid have been observed in a system of Rydberg atoms; however, the full capability of these platforms to realize quantum spin liquids extends far beyond this state alone. Here, we propose the realization of a different class of spin liquids in a honeycomb array of Rydberg atoms. Exploring the system’s quantum phase diagram using density-matrix renormalization group and exact diagonalization calculations, we identify several density-wave-ordered phases and a trimer spin liquid ground state with an emergent U(1) × U(1) local symmetry. This liquid state originates from superpositions of classical trimer configurations on the dual triangular lattice in the regime where third-nearest-neighbor atoms lie within the Rydberg blockade radius. Finally, we discuss the conditions to enhance the preparation fidelity of this state by a general Rydberg-blockade-based projection mechanism, test the robustness of the trimer spin liquid phase in a range of realistic parameters, and outline methods for its experimental detection.
The frustrated XY model on the honeycomb lattice has drawn lots of attention because of the potential emergence of chiral spin liquid (CSL) with the increasing of frustrations or competing interactions. In this paper, we study the extended spin-12\frac{1}{2}21​ XY model with nearest-neighbor (J1)({J}_{1})(J1​), and next-nearest-neighbor (J2)({J}_{2})(J2​) interactions in the presence of a three-spins chiral $({J}_{\ensuremath{\chi}})$ term using density matrix renormalization group methods. We obtain a quantum phase diagram with both conventionally ordered and topologically ordered phases. In particular, the long-sought Kalmeyer-Laughlin CSL is shown to emerge under a small ${J}_{\ensuremath{\chi}}$ perturbation due to the interplay of the magnetic frustration and chiral interactions. The CSL, which is a nonmagnetic phase, is identified by the scalar chiral order, the finite spin gap on a torus, and the chiral entanglement spectrum described by chiral SU(2)1SU{(2)}_{1}SU(2)1​ conformal field theory.
At strong repulsion, the triangular-lattice Hubbard model is described by s=1/2 spins with nearest-neighbor antiferromagnetic Heisenberg interactions and exhibits conventional 120° order. Using the infinite density matrix renormalization group and exact diagonalization, we study the effect of the additional four-spin interactions naturally generated from the underlying Mott-insulator physics of electrons as the repulsion decreases. Although these interactions have historically been connected with a gapless ground state with emergent spinon Fermi surface, we find that, at physically relevant parameters, they stabilize a chiral spin liquid (CSL) of Kalmeyer-Laughlin (KL) type, clarifying observations in recent studies of the Hubbard model. We then present a self-consistent solution based on a mean-field rewriting of the interaction to obtain a Hamiltonian with similarities to the parent Hamiltonian of the KL state, providing a physical understanding for the origin of the CSL.