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arXiv:2608.02727

Spin-charge separation in the triangular-lattice Hofstadter-Hubbard model

Yuntian Gu, Hui Yang, Zhehao Dai, Yantao Wu

Published Aug 3, 2026• 0 citations
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Abstract

Recent experiments in moiré materials have enabled the realization of a variety of exotic quantum phases. In this context, the Hofstadter-Hubbard model has been proposed as a possible setting for hosting chiral spin liquid. Concurrently, significant progress has been recently made in the computational methods for two-dimensional many-body fermion systems, which makes numerically studying this challenging model a real possibility in genuine 2D geometry. Motivated by these advances, we investigate the putative chiral spin liquid phase in the triangular-lattice Hofstadter-Hubbard model using variational Monte Carlo with neural quantum states (NQS) and projected entangled pair states (PEPS). We observe spin-charge separation directly in real space through numerical spin-pumping simulation and real-time spin and charge motion. In addition, in the context of anyonic superconductivity conjectured in this model, we find a positive two-electron binding energy on small systems, but it decreases below our numerical resolution as the system size increases. Our work demonstrates NQS and PEPS as powerful tools, capable of cross-checking each other, for diagnosing topological order and fractionalized excitations in strongly correlated electronic systems.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.2608.02727

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Recent experiments in moiré materials have enabled the realization of a variety of exotic quantum phases. In this context, the Hofstadter-Hubbard model has been proposed as a possible setting for hosting chiral spin liquid. Concurrently, significant progress has been recently made in the computational methods for two-dimensional many-body fermion systems, which makes numerically studying this challenging model a real possibility in genuine 2D geometry. Motivated by these advances, we investigate the putative chiral spin liquid phase in the triangular-lattice Hofstadter-Hubbard model using variational Monte Carlo with neural quantum states (NQS) and projected entangled pair states (PEPS). We observe spin-charge separation directly in real space through numerical spin-pumping simulation and real-time spin and charge motion. In addition, in the context of anyonic superconductivity conjectured in this model, we find a positive two-electron binding energy on small systems, but it decreases below our numerical resolution as the system size increases. Our work demonstrates NQS and PEPS as powerful tools, capable of cross-checking each other, for diagnosing topological order and fractionalized excitations in strongly correlated electronic systems.
Recent advances in moiré engineering motivate the study of lattice models of strongly-correlated electrons subjected to substantial orbital magnetic flux. We analyze the triangular lattice Hofstadter-Hubbard model at one-quarter flux quantum per plaquette and a density of one electron per site, where a chiral spin liquid phase may exist between weak-coupling integer quantum Hall and strong-coupling 120∘^\circ∘ antiferromagnetic phases. We use matrix product state methods and analytical arguments to investigate this model compactified to cylinders of finite circumference. We uncover a glide particle-hole symmetry operation which, we argue, is spontaneously broken at the quantum Hall to spin liquid transition on odd-circumference cylinders. We numerically verify the spontaneous symmetry breaking and further demonstrate that this transition is associated with algebraic long-range correlations of various spin-singlet, charge-neutral operators. For even-circumference cylinders, the transition becomes a crossover associated with a large correlation length that grows substantially with circumference. Our findings suggest that in the two-dimensional limit, the transition to a chiral spin liquid phase is continuous and features critical fluctuations of the current.
We investigate the interface separating two topologically distinct insulating phases of matter using extensive density-matrix renormalization group calculations to study the triangular-lattice Hofstadter-Hubbard model with a spatially varying interaction strength, chosen to realize both integer quantum Hall and chiral spin liquid states in different spatial regions. We find that the integer quantum Hall-chiral spin liquid interface hosts a spinless charged excitation that is bound to the interface. This mode at the interface is identified through charge and spin pumping, and by direct calculations of low-lying excited states. We also characterize bulk excitations in both phases, finding evidence for fractionalization in the chiral spin liquid and for spin-triplet exciton formation in the integer quantum Hall phase.
Demonstrating superconductivity in purely repulsive Hubbard models is a compelling goal which underscores the counter-intuitive ability of Coulomb interactions to mediate superconductivity. Here, we present numerical evidence for robust superconductivity in a triangular Hubbard-Hofstadter model at π/2π/2π/2 flux per plaquette. Employing infinite density matrix renormalization group calculations on infinite cylinders of finite circumference, we observe superconducting ground states for a wide range of dopings, whose pair-correlations strengthen as the 2D limit is approached. At a density of one electron per site, Hubbard interactions have been reported to drive the insulating parent state of the superconductor from an integer quantum Hall (IQH) state to a chiral spin liquid (CSL). Our findings give credence to a recent proposal that proximity to the IQH-CSL transition serves to make chiral superconductivity energetically favorable on doping, and also correctly predicts the nature of the edge modes in the superconductor. On the CSL side, this suggests the superconductor can be thought of as arising from Laughlin's `anyon superconductivity' mechanism. Thus the Hubbard-Hofstadter model studied here offers a clean and experimentally accessible setup, potentially realizable in moiré heterostructures, for exploring the properties of anyonic matter at finite density and the interplay of topological order, quantum criticality and superconductivity.
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By using Gutzwiller projected fermionic wave functions and variational Monte Carlo technique, we study the spin-1/21/21/2 Heisenberg model with the first-neighbor (J1{J}_{1}J1​), second-neighbor (J2{J}_{2}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{Z}_{2}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=1/2C=1/2C=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.
Understanding how a parent insulating state shapes the superconductivity that emerges upon doping is a long-standing problem dating back to Anderson's resonating-valence-bond proposal. The triangular-lattice Hofstadter-Hubbard model with π/2π/2π/2 flux per plaquette offers an ideal setting: at half filling it hosts two distinct parent states---an integer quantum Hall insulator and a chiral spin liquid---separated by a topological phase transition. Using neural quantum states on tori of up to 432432432 sites, we present strong evidence that the transition is continuous, with a vanishing 2e2e2e charge gap and critical charge fluctuations. Upon doping, we find a topological superconductor on either side of the transition. While the pairing order parameter remains nearly unchanged across the transition, the superfluid stiffness is strongly enhanced near the critical point. The energy scale of the superconductor is therefore set not by which parent state is doped, but by proximity to the transition between them. Our results establish neural quantum states as a powerful tool for understanding the interplay between unconventional electronic correlations and superconductivity.